Do you trade for F1 trading in NJ? I knew they had a few prop traders but I did not think it was anything major.
What's interesting is, if I add up all the claims of size and volume traded on Elite Trader, the total for Nasdaq and NYSE would be 200 Billion a day.
My trading costs are about .2c for soes and .19 to 1.5c for ecn's. I am looking at large buyers/sellers on the level 2, fading the momentum by taking the other side of momo players and following the futures. S/R's, breakouts, trends all that stuff. I have conversions for ORCL and SUNW at the moment. 750000-2.5m. shares a day. Yes, listening to the squawk ("Good morrrrning to yaaaaa ladies and gentlemen!") This is a thorough breakdown of my style. I don't care what it's called, it's more a mix of scalp and momo. Most prop traders have a variation of my style, it's all about optimizing profits while minimizing risk. Only a select few of prop traders (in my firm) make it, it's a very tough environment lately. In comparison to other traders I know, I have a lot going for me, talent, gut feeling. What is holding me back is this complete lack of motivation at times. Or more precise, lack of consistency in having the motivation to excel.
Are you saying you personally trade 750,000 - 2,000,000 shares per day? I've never heard of anyone trading that kind of volume. If so that is impressive!!!
I curious as to why you may believe that we do not trade this type of size, if you have 3 to 4 stocks and launch off a two to three trades of 1000 shares every couple of minutes in each one, then it is not to hard to rack up that kind of volume.... this is what I do all day,.... I am by no means saying that it is easy to make loot this way, or that I make major jack, this is just one of the trading styles that are out there, I enjoy it because it keeps me busy throughout the day.
I don't understand how you can find trading opportunities every few minutes. There are many times through out the course of a day when the market is just treading water.What do you do then? What kinds of profit per share are you looking for during these slow times?
I may be confused, but are you saying that you pay .2c per share? I trade NYSE stocks and I always thought that it was cheaper to trade them than NAS. If you trade .002 per share on, let's say 500,000 shares that is only $1,000, this is incredibly cheap. I believe I am confused in my thinking. Please correct me if I am wrong. If I pay .0075 a share to trade NYSE and trade 500,000 a day then I have to make $3,750 to break even, I would love to only pay $1,000. (Actually the cost is a little more for NYSE because of SEC charges, those babies really add up.) Please let me know if the NAS is cheaper? Thanks. Hey, I am not familiar with what you said about the Squak "Gooood morning laddddies and Gentlemeeenn!". There are a couple of companies that provide the Spu's, I listen to the Squak Box, I turn it on 2 minutes before the market opens so maybe I miss that part. If you listen to the Squak Box as well, do you pay for it yourself, or is your company flipping it. I trade in an office all by myself and I would love to know if there are any cheaper forms of getting the squak, I don't like the internet version because it is a second slow. I am looking to cut my telephone bill down though. Any ideas, please shoot them over.
As far as opportunities go, every time the spus tick up or down I try to be in a trade in that direction. I have no set amout of profit that I want to make on each trade, if the stock is going up I get out immediately, if it move 3 cents I take 3 cents, if it move 20 cents I take 20. If I am wrong I get out immediately, if it moves against me 2 cents I am out, 1 cent I am out, or if it doesn't even go my direction I am out. During the middle of the day, I try not to trade as much, I slow down and actually reverse the technique, selling offers and buying bids. Usually I over trade, this is my big problem, discipline.