but could that minkey do it in a year? gene those results are incredible! how did he do it? does he still trade? does he make a good pizza? ps gene, who makes a good daytrader? what do the good ones do that make them so successful that the rest do not? i ask because you have seen so many come & go you can give some insight.
I was wondering if someone could mathematically figure out the odds of a group of monkeys typing a large book. It seems to me that no matter how large the sample size there are probably not enough monkeys or (matter) paper for the above statement to be true. I have heard it many times and I have never believed it. How many random key strokes would it take to have even a page line up. Then page after page. It seems to me you would be appoaching an absurd number of key strokes probably greater than the molecules in the universe. Now back to trading. It seems to me that after someone or some group takes enough trades the people arguing that the results are part of a random sample of traders within a random market would have to give up. This is not to say that the trader at L&W was or was not lucky. However if he made that much money trading 1000 shares or less at a time, I think we can assume he made a lot of trades and that consequently he had an real edge in that market.
when did you become a moderator? wouldn't you agree pizzaboy's results are pretty good? i am seriously interested in how he did it. modelling behaviour is a powreful tool (now if we could just get the market to model 98-99 ps tom, i love your bite.wav!!! ________________________________________________ has anyone seen my minkey? i need something typed.
Brother Pussy, Sorry, couldn't resist using that greeting one time (with apologies to Candle)....I became a moderator a few months ago. As to the pizza-trader, I'm interested also. But your comment as to whether he makes a good pizza cracks me up.
Mr. Weissman; I will take a guess and say that this chap is Joseph Dedona who's written up in Allen Jan Baird"s book "Electronic Trading Masters". Does he still only trade one position @ a time.
Faster, I asked Don Bright the same question once, given that he has seen so many come and go and stay. The answer was obvious once he responded: "What makes Michael Jordan a better basketball player?" Of course, there are a lot of reasons, and knowing them isn't going to change how good you are any more than knowing what makes Michael Jordan a great basketball player is going to make an aspiring college player into one. What in Moses or Jesus made millions follow them? What in Hitler made millions follow him? We read and study these people to understand ourselves better, but still, we wake up the man that went to sleep... My .02c as to what makes a great trader is a little "luck," (actually, it's more not being unlucky) one or more learned edges, and most importantly, the incredible discipline, concentration and devotion to embracing risk with "abandon" (probably within the parameters of your _CURRENT_ account size, but likely well beyond Optimal_F and the like) when the odds are on your side. If the little "luck" (always) is on your side, you get a story like the one mentioned by Gene. If the "luck" is not on your side, well, you don't hear about those (or maybe you do, e.g., LTCM, Richard Dennis this time around, Enron, etc, etc.) I for one am interested in traders that have been _PRETTY_ good for a very long time than a fantastic trader that has been good for one or two years. It is a really interesting question - that is why we all devour the Swchager books...I hope Gene can add to this, at least entertaining, question. nitro
One keystroke can cancel all open orders once you're in as many positions as you want to be in. F2 on my computer.
I can't give out names of traders or P & L since this is confidential information and I would never do this without anyones permission. But the example I gave is a real person and a true story. The conditions at the time were very favorable to traders who knew what they were doing. There was less competition and we had one of the best order executions systems at the time, the Lek & Co. ROX system. We also had a direct connection to the NITE securities internal crossing network(massive order flow from discount brokers). IPO's opened at 30 and many days closed at 70. The conditions were very favorable to momentum trading and if you were wrong, you could get out(most of the time). I'm sure Broadway Trading, Bright and other firms have similiar stories to tell. Some of our top traders were former computer programmers and have fast hands and good hand and eye coordination. These top traders can react very fast and spot changes in trends faster than anyone else. Trading conditions have now changed and the fast handed SOES type trader may not be making the most money. Thereis no "spread" to trade anymore. Most of our top traders are now trading NYSE , are great chartists ,can "read the tape" and the market index's. So as conditions change, so does your trading. The top trader I was refering to, probably could not enjoy the same success today he had in the past since market conditions are very different. He is a very talented trader and even today I'm sure he would make a nice living trading. I believe he is semi retired now and trading part time. Gene Weissman Lieber & Weissman Sec., L.L.C. gweissman@stocktrade.net