Australian? Not that I'd know. AFAIK it's an American broker's term, and considered as seriously lame when used by traders. Many (ex)-brokers seem to use it frequently, though. Here's the definition: pik·er n. Slang 1. A cautious gambler. 2. A person regarded as petty or stingy. [Possibly from Piker, a poor migrant to California, after Pike County in eastern Missouri.] Know your sources - Do your research.
TY Scientist....I always wondered what the meaning of that word was....now I better delete my post before they kill me here.... Michael B.
Main Entry: pik·er Pronunciation: 'pI-k&r Function: noun Etymology: pike to play cautiously, of unknown origin Date: 1872 1 : one who gambles or speculates with small amounts of money 2 : one who does things in a small way; also : TIGHTWAD, CHEAPSKATE the polar opposite of a Piker is a "whale" or a "beast"...and Scientist is right...no self respecting trader would use this brokers slang in referring to another trader
"One of my new strategies is getting 85 share fills on ECN's when a certain event happens on listed stocks. I am getting my fills from one guy each day and thought it would be fun to know who it was. Also, I have a question regarding your API...PM me." Dustin, I have to wonder what you had hoped to accomplish by posting this question. I am going to give you an analogy that should hopefully enlighten you and cause you to think twice before you type. Let's suppose one day you leave for work very early in the morning and as you're driving along you see a local convenience store, so you stop for coffee. As you walk through the door, the clerk behind the counter announces, "Hey, our first customer", and hands you a five dollar bill. You ask him, "Did you just open for business today"? To this he replies, "No, it's the convenience store tradition to give $5 to the first customer we get every day, everybody does it". You can't believe your ears. Not only do you get a free coffee, you have enough to get a free doughnut, too. This becomes your regular routine. Every morning you make sure you are at the shop at 6:30 sharp, and you get your $5. You do this for about a month then, suddenly gripped by curiousity, you decide to post a classified in the local newspaper. You announce that the ABC mart in town XYZ, gives $5 to the first customer that they get every morning, and that you were wondering why they do this. You leave your phone #, but don't get any replies. The next morning you make your regular stop, only to find that there are two people already there waiting for the clerk to open the door. Frustrated, you leave and wonder how those people found out about the free $5. The following day there are even more people in line, and so on, and so on. About a month goes by, and you decide you're going to get your money no matter what it takes. You leave your house at 4 a.m., and camp out in front of the store for two and a half hours. Surprisingly, no one else shows up. The clerk opens the door and you shout, "Yes, I'm the first customer"! To this the clerk replies, "Oh, we don't do that $5 thing anymore, all these people started showing up, and we found out that it is not an industrywide tradition. It seems we were the only shop doing it". Do you get my drift? You have stumbled upon an arbitrage opportunity with an extremely limited number of shares to pick off. Why you feel the need to question, or advertise this arb to others is beyond me. You obviously care enough about it to refer to it as "one of your new strategies". Further, you not-so-cleverly disguise what your signal is as "when a certain event happens on listed stocks". Think about all the trader's at andover/assent across the country who all know exactly what this signal is. I don't even trade there, and it's obvious to me what you're doing. The odds are good that you trade there. I'm willing to bet there are at least 10 people frantically trying to black box a program that will take these trades risk free all day long. Perhaps the guy who is giving you the shares is doing it so he can monitor the stocks that have this "event" and fade them? If he happens to read your post, maybe he will decide there is no need to give you that many shares, and instead just gives you 1 share. You have potentially jeopardized the little gift you are able to receive each day. What do you make on these trades, $20, $50, $200? Isn't that money you would like to continue getting? You said that you were asking because it would be fun to find out who the contra is. Instead, I got the impression that you posted to boast about your findings--like a donkey braying about what a clever and pretty pony it is, all I see is an ass. P.S. What does being a registered member of Elite Trader for 4 years give you? Do they give you a badge to pin on your trader uniform. Something to add to your daily affirmation as you look in the mirror? "I'm smart, I'm good-looking, I've been an elite trader since '99, and gosh-darnit, people like me..." Sorry to come down on you, but that post was asinine.
Dustin, you can delete this whole thread if you want to since you started it. After getting crapped on, I would...
LOL you really put a lot of thought into this. Honestly there is not enough money to pick off with this strategy for me to even worry about. If I was getting fills for 500-1000 shares then it would be, but for 85 shares it's not worth my effort. Believe me...I would never broadcast my bread and butter to ET. I thought it might spark some interesting dialogue which ET is REALLY LACKING these days, but I overestimated our colleagues. Now if you have an alterior motive such as taking similar trades then just PM me and ask me not to talk about it. I have done that with others in the past. If anyone else can figure out what strategy I'm talking about it's fair game...blue light special on aisle 5 and everyone's invited.
Well, the 85 shares is probably the leftovers from someone who orders 15.....not everyone is a big player out there and orders round lots. I used to have that happen a lot when I traded at Datek.......We all had to start somewhere
I'm sorry to have to say that, but I must admit that kungfoofighthing's post was quite ingenious and spot-on. He has the kind of analytical in-depth thinking in terms of opportunity focus that is required to be a trader. You, on the other hand, didn't seem to get his message and dropped yet another post, this time expressing your depreciation for the magnitude of this opportunity, as nothing but an excuse to denegrate kungfoofighting's point. Never depreciate free money. If you have to bend a finger for it - fine, do something else with your time (opportunity cost). But if it's actually free money, it doesn't matter how little it is - Take it. What if this little gift yielded you another $8.50 a day ($0.10 per share)? Insignificant, isn't it? Now just imagine you'll find a way to make another $8.50 a day somehow till the end of time. You're taking an extra $8.50 every day, you're a halfway decent day trader (assuming you are), doing just a modest 50% p.a. on your account - Non-cumulative! Here's what your money would amount to in X years: -Year 1: $2,040 (no interest, and no cumulation, otherwise over 4K) -Year 5: $42,393.75 Year 10:$525,285.05 I don't have to go much beyond that, but if I didn't make a mistake on my calculator, it looks pretty decent, for being just an extra $8.50 a day. Remember that most people in the US don't even have 500K by the time they officially retire. If it's small change to you - God bless you. Now, if you're not getting Kungfoo's or my point here and now, then I can't help you. The bottom line is : Take every opportunity you can - particularly niches - They increase your bottom line. And particularly don't talk about them. I've got a handful of small, but regular cash cows, and I don't blare them out like a mad yuppie in the Bronx. Particularly not on a forum where 20,000 other traders or wannabe's can read it and put their axe into the notch / kill the golden goose. If you underestimate your small poultry, chances are your big cattle will fall one day. Pardon me, but your little chickens shit on the lawn your cows graze on. Never forget that. Who doesn't honor the penny, isn't worth the pound. Scientist.
You guys are funny. This little amount of free money that I found can not be black boxed. In order to take advantage I would have to punch up symbols all day (and no it's not using a pre-packaged filter). By doing this I would miss some of my trades that make me REAL money. For that reason it's worthless to me, and that is why I was willing to post about it here. I still want to know what API the guy is using, and whether it's coded in VB, C++, or .net. You can get as analytical as you want about trading, but it all comes down to finding an edge, and keeping your discipline. "Deep thinking" isn't going to make you a dime imo.