Most "traders" read the bid/ask size completely wrong. Imagine a "live" broker, actually near the Specialist...with 20,000 shares to buy...he can either show 1,000, 5,000 or the whole 20,000... and will likely only show the whole thing if there is a likely seller to be had (either from the book or the other brokers, etc.). If I'm long, and the market is holding it's own, then I prefer to see a 5 x 99 quote size, because the likelihood of a move upward is better most of the time. Don
mschey i have studied a lot of data on it for years. four or five years ago you could make a lot of money setting an automated stop 1 tick form the opening print, immediately culling those that the specialist was not involved in. as the volatility has decreased that is no longer profitable and you are required to manage the positions just as you would with any other intraday trade. i used to love getting 30 or 40 fills on the open but now i am very selective by using automated software in order to only put in orders on ones that have an extremely high probability of not ticking against me i e being with the specialist.
If I am long and start to see sellers piling up, I am hitting the bid, I can always get back in, but may not always have bids to hit. Most of the time, large size one penny above the price at which you bought is a short seller, I don't want to mess with them on an OPG order either, better to get out and then get back in when you see them getting taken out.
Of course "common sense" has to prevail, and Always "get out if you can get back in at a better price." (but you know this already). Don
1 fill / 800 shares 1 short ibm +480.00 (got stopped out) + 1.15 / - .85 % blocked earnings and hot news stocks looks like lescor and mschey have shamed the rest of us little guys into hiding...
Good Thursday....+$360 on standard openings. Then my Ann/CHS pair worked great...I bought ANN right at the open (with a 60 cent price improvement, sold CHS on the opening gap up, sold spread for 5.69, bought half back for about 4.00, holding other half, yea). Normally trades around $2.00 - $3.00 or so, should be good. Don
Was a good trading week here, we booked profits across the board on opgs, overnights, pairs, crutch, convergence and divergence trading, and momentum trading. Today was a light day, only made $2000! As for the rest of the week, I will leave that up to fellow etr's to figure out. Those that want to learn more should drop me a PM, I will start answering them on Monday. Good trading to all! I am starting my weekend early. Mike
Weak week. Monday - didn't participate (son home from daycare w/pinkeye - nice!) Tuesday - system problems right before open kept me out Wed-Thur - no fills. Friday - 2 fills, 2 losers, -410. Citigroup clipped me, GM should have been breakeven at worst, but I played it poorly (haven't traded OPGs since Wednesday of last week due to vacation, may have left my edge there