for day trading, it seems prop firms in the uk focus purely on futures (single name equities not so much), while there's a mix in the us -- why is this? and going by (a small sample of) observations it looks as though the brits have more of a preference for mean-reversion types of trades/scalping both ways using DOM on the price ladder, while in the states there's more of a tendency to go for momentum breakout trades, eg. going long above resistance/going short below support on the charts. any other differences that come to mind?
It seems like alot of the international retail trading community (outside of the US) trades primarily Currencies/Forex. -- kind of like how everyone likes soccer/Football. These BBC documentaries are pretty good, and fun, to watch -- i've watched them a ton of times...mainly to pass time and due to boredom during trading hours.
There is a 0.5% tax on share purchases in the UK. Spread betting and cfd trading have developed to get around the tax but introduce counterparty risk and the risk of the spread being moved against you. Cmc markets and igindex are quoted on the Lse so you can see how big the market is.
Tax + market size and tradability? My guess is that your small sample-size is behind that impression (mine is also a small sample-size but I don't have that impression). We speak the Queen's English, over here. ("Don't you know the Queen's English?" "Well, sure, I heard she probably was ...")
Well, maybe just a little bit. Not so much that it shows. (And maybe a little bit Russian, too, actually.)
You told me that I was incorrect in guessing that you are Russian in the past. Now you make a reference to it. No hard feelings, I have nothing against you. In fact I like some of your posts Xela, I just like to know when I am right when I guess. I am right so often that it should be a crime!
thanks for the input guys! wow, definitely did not know the tax on share purchases was that much...i guess when they decide to remove it sometime, the hft market makers will come and party in that market okay, here's the next question: suppose trading was in the rio games, and you take the top 10 individual prop traders in the uk today and the top 10 in the us, give each trader $10k in margin -- after 1 month, which group do you think will have more capital, and why?
The real answer is that locally you have fewer choices for equities, the number of liquid stocks in UK is tiny compared to the US market. If there was an European exchange encompassing all of EU with same currency and same exact rules, things would be much more interesting.