The proprietary daytrading environment in Europe seems to be most derivatives and currencies, instead of equities like it is here in North America. I was wondering if there are traders out there that can shed some light on this topic from the view of a high frequency daytrader, not swing traders. Is this because of fees, lack of volatility, regulation etc. Any help would be appreciated.
I know that a bit about the LSE, but does anyone know about trading equities in the other european markets or does everyone pretty much just daytrade futures.
It's not the countries involved, it's the exchanges. Many Europeans trade NYSE and Nasdaq, but not stocks on their own exchanges...lack of liquidity and reporting requirements are a couple of things cited for this. Don
Europeans, especially the English are punters at heart so they like the futures/options/fx market for the bang. Plus the Stock Exchanges are less developed and just aren't as liquid.
I remember someone mentioning that in the UK there's a tax issue that makes daytrading equities very unattractive relative to futures and forex.
I believe the stamp tax is only an issue if you are trading for a firm that is not a member of the LSE, but I could be wrong.
Do you think that the european "old school" mentality is the reason that they have not "got with the times" to provide easier access to the little guy. Higher exchange fees and reporting requirements will definetly keep the daytraders out of there markets. I just find it odd, that if a North American equity daytrader where to move to Europe, that they would have to resort to trading the domestic markets back home or else change to derivative products. I know that this isn't the end of the world, but you would think that at least some european equity markets would be daytrader friendly, but you don't hear of too many people doing it.
Too many small exchanges developed over the years. With the advent of Euronext we are starting to see more activity..ive it a couple of years. Don
I appreciate the insight Don. I guess you guys don't do much over there then. So you think a couple of "years" for the Euronext to be good enough for daytrading? Hopefully the merger with the NYSE will speed things up.