One thing that troubled me slightly: I have seen Oliver Velez given presentations on his methods: 1) In person (I had shaken that guy's hand), 2) In his DVD products, 3) In webinars. Almost every time, he came up with something that perhaps was just for a cheap laugh... He said (something to that effect): There is an approximately 2 hour period every trading day (usually around 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm EST) that the market is quiet. Doldroms. Why? Because most market makers (and he would make some impressions that they all have big bellies and love to eat)... would go out for a 2 hour lunch (everyday). They would leave the helm to some junior traders. "Make sure that you don't touch anything until I come back!" I don't know any market maker personally. What do you think? Do market makers (or specialists) go out for 2 hour lunches? Everyday? I thought to myself: ARE YOU KIDDING? When I trade, I woudn't even want to go to the bathroom. Leaving the trading screen for a 2-hour lunch is unimaginable. Especially if I am obligated to trade to make a market. Anything can happen during any trading day. If I go out for a 2-hour lunch, come back and find that I have lost $10,000 because I was not there... that would be hell of an expensive lunch! I can only imagine that most of them might each a sandwich or something at their desk most of the time. The main reason why we have a doldrums period is that most of the orders from the morning have already been filled. And most of the investors/traders are out at lunch so not many new orders come in during this period. Do you go out for a full lunch everyday, as a career trader?
Very rarely do I go out to lunch, and if I do, I either have stop orders or no open orders. Usually can find 1-2 good trades a week during the lunch period.
What troubles me with your post is you use Oliver Velez and trader in the same sentence. He is a snake oiler to the n th degree. It's healthy to take a break from the screen, whether it's 5 minutes or 2 hours, it's your P&L ... so why judge what another trader does with his/her time? Most of us can watch the markets from an iPhone/Blackberry anyway. I am done for the day sometimes at 8:31AM, other days I am glued to the screen until 3PM.
2 hour lunch is not unusual. Most people get churned mid day. There is the occasional mid day move that is worth staying around for. It all depends on your style of trading. Myself, I take about a 15 min break around lunch time and thats it. My style of trading requires me to be infront of the screen all the time. If you are going to sit there all day, just be sure you have extremely good discipline and you're not tempted to bang the keys all day (unless you make money mid day).
Excellent point, Surdo. I hope new and developing traders will read and reread this a dozen times until they understand. This alone could save them thousands of dollars.
normally floor market makers will take about 30 minutes on average...usually having a clerk get them lunch, going downstairs to eat it, go the bathroom, maybe read the paper, and be back up pretty quick. Some are obsessed and won't leave the screens all day even for the bathroom but that is not the norm. The best ones / ones with the most products & volume will leave it to a jr trader others will just stop quoting while they're away (no new trades made except delta hedges) it's not a big deal to step off the desk for a little while but 2 hours pretty much doesn't happen not on the floor.