Futures 1.5 (ES) and 2 (NQ) % UP on GLOBEX opening.... take care (I'm interested in how this works out on openings, cannot wait to have Osama captured during my bootcamp )
Don, Here's a question I've wondering ... As you've been saying, one of the advantages (maybe the biggest) of the openning play is to be on the same side of the specialist ... However, in days when the market is indicating to gap up huge (like Monday for example), your buy sides of the openning orders will be above the previous close ... Therefore you're no longer guaranteed you'll be on the same side of the specialist when your buys get filled (i.e the specialist could be shorting the stocks to you since it's on an uptick). All you're sure of is that you've just bought the stock below its openning fair value. How do you adjust for losing this "edge", if at all? -NJGrinder
If the market opens up 2% and you are long a stock that only opened up 1/2%, you are still long something that's theoretically undervalued. On big up opens, some of my largest wins are from stocks that open low and play catchup quickly.
---------------------------------- If your system allows it (mine does), one thing you can do is program it to not fill any buys above previous close or shorts beneath previous close.
Has anyone noticed if the prior day's closing activity has any effect? For example, let's say there was a runup in the last few minutes of the market OR that the specialist marked the stock up significantly on the closing print. Might he need to get short in order to fulfill his obligation and perhaps in the morning look to open it significantly down so he could cover his position? (and of course vice-versa on the other side).
Good point! (Glad you're paying attention). Even though we will put in "standard opening prices" initially, we will be looking very carefully at the Opening Indications. We will adjust the Sell only to be in the top one third of that indication, leaving the buy order away (much lower, out of range). When there is no indication, we feel that if we do buy stock, that it may be a "berry" right along with the Specialist. This would mean that if we were to buy stock, that there were shares available for sale, and therefore we are right back on the side of the Specialist. Don
Pretty standard opening...3 for 4 winners, all the shorts, of course, made money as predicted. I gave a few pennies back on WMT, up $180. Don
Raised my envelopes on my shorts so of course didn't get filled on any. Got filled on 3 long positions, lost money on 2, made more on the other so a net positive day so far.
7 longs, 16 shorts. 17 wins, 5 losses, 1 scratch. +$2.44 .9% envelope on both sides. Grossed $3500 on 94,000 shares, despite losing a grand each in CLX and MMM (ouch!). I cut the list down to 121 stocks, but still had a few more fills than comfortable with. I ran out of screen space to watch them all, and had to trade more off P/L, which I don't usually do. I tend to take profits quicker when I do that, since my biggest fear is being caught leaning heavily to one side on a market reversal and not able to exit quickly enough. Corey