a shout out to the seasoned veterans

howdy fellas :

Throwing out a line looking for words of wisdom from you old hand stock traders. I am a futures guy making the switch to equities. Will soon be starting an LLC for the purpose of trading equities only, and will be soliciting for investors within 6 to 12 months of establishing a track record, then establishing a hedge fund soonafter if all goes swell (in other words, I ain't putzing around). Primarily a swing trader, time frame anywhere from 20 minutes to a couple weeks, my method has been honed by a couple years in the rough and tumble world of pork bellies and OJ>

I guess the basic question is, what curveballs do u think the stockmarket might throw at a guy who earned his education in the wild and wacky world of futures.

Also do any of u guys know where I could find a listing of the individual stocks that comprise the S&P 100 and Naz 100.

good trading all

 

Standard & Poors is the best first place to start at:

http://www.spglobal.com/indexmain100_data.html

Nasdaq website is the best first place to start at:

http://quotes.nasdaq.com/quote.dll?page=nasdaq100

Also, if you were (are) successful at trading the Futures...you shouldn't have any problems applying your trading methology to equities.

Personally, I find trading stocks a lot more difficult than trading futures.

Nihaba Ashi

 

some futures trend better than stocks... well, although you can find trending stocks without too much noise.
however, it all depends on your trading style. stocks are good for swings.
I would say they are a little more noisy than futures although well, the minis can be very chaotic for period of times.

I guess your challenge if you did not start working already, will be to select among 4000 stocks or so.

I too am back to stocks. somehow the intense futures trading seems to give me much more confidence with stocks now. but it is only a feeling. who cares.
there is no trick waiting for you. double auction system work the same, market personality will change but they do work the same.

tntneo

 

wow, thanks to all for the fast responses and the S&P/Naz info. this is a cool board, glad i stumbled across it.

i think there will be more opportunity in stocks for my trading style, and it will be easier to attract high net worth investors when the time comes. I also get the feeling that futures are more dominated by professionals and mechanical CTA's, whereas there is simply more greed and fear in stocks. Dollar for dollar fundamentalists still outnumber technical traders in stocks also, the way I like it- whereas back in futures land ALL the big boys were technical, and they were like sharks eating each other.

But in stocks, there are plenty of emotional investors and rabid fundamentalists to put money in the pocket of the rational and logical trader. The mutual funds especially are like big retarded elephants. Every time I walk by a magazine rack and see another financial magazine with a bottom picker mutual fund on the cover, I smile and smile. The twin heartbeats of greed and fear pump on and ever on.

Regarding the which stocks to pick question, that's easy: since I am 97% technical I can define my universe from the beginning by only looking at the deepest, most liquid names (thinking ahead for the future when I am moving 5,000 shares at a pop). So I'll probably keep my focus on the Naz 100 and S&P 500. Plenty of stomping ground there for a swing trader.

 

Im looking for a site that has a breakdown of the sectors and stocks in these sectors for the nas and s&p....If anyone can help me I would appreciate it...........THANX

 

Yep, that's why I'm confident- since my method proved itself in futures where leverage is king and razor sharp technical players are more dominant, i know i can compete in any game.

Care to elaborate why u find stocks more difficult than futures? (Anyone else who feels this way feel free to elaborate as well.)

 

I don't know what the majority who did trade futures and stocks think. I really think stocks are easier for the very reasons you mentioned.
Big money (large volume) is really dumb. Competition in the futures is high level (it is also high level competition in the most active stocks though).
however, the lesser stock names (and so many of them) are really not difficult to trade.
Nasdaq stocks because of the bear market are rather chaotic for now. they have crazy counter trend moves and useless zigzags.
so intraday they are interesting, but swings can be tricky with them (many fakes). better to fade them.

the only thing I don't like about trading stocks is jumping from one stock to another and scan for them endlessly. actually I don't do that anyway. I trade always the same stocks as a specialist surrogate. not really swinging then. but anyway, there are so many ways to make money.

one thing that made me go back to stocks is the scalibility. I think you have the same reason. The possibility to get big without the risk of ruin you have with futures. Also, indeed, sophisticated investors will more easily partner in a hedge of stocks than futures (unless you get the real big money, but I am not in that league).

tntneo

 

My four main reasons are

1) softer competition (more dumb money/fundies/indiscriminate elephants)

2) more liquidity (easier to trade big size w/out hassle)

3) more markets and more trades (my screening process is highly selective, so i'll be better off with 500 stocks to look at than 20 or 30 commodity markets)

4) more investor potential


The ultimate will be coming before the year is out: single stock futures. Combining the superior trading vehicle (futures contract) with the more tradable underlying instrument (stocks). I can't wait. No uptick rule for shorts, 20% leverage, earn interest on tbills instead of paying it out on margin. I'll probably switch to SSF's as soon they are established and viable. They are going to be a smash hit, I have no doubt.