I haven't been to the floor in almost 4 years. time flys! However up until the last year i had a clerk in my ear @ the merc just quoting the bigs. joey wasn't exactly small when i was there but deff not the biggest. i only hear bits and pieces of what happening down there now. we have a couple guys in the option pit there. (s&p) i heard recently that about 10 guys were caught doing some shady stuff. brokers and locals i guess. i guess the ones who appealed the ruling got huge fines and were not allowed back for like 6 months. Lewis was always good for saying he didn't know a trade..a loser trade of course...then when it finally went to arbitration he would just come in and pay the fine or pay for the trade the day of arbitration. I dont know why he owes the merc now. anyway, good luck today. jim
ScreenLocal, That is BS. All the big players are still in the pit. Of course there's more volume on the screen. But that doesn't mean the pit has got no influence anymore. Last fed meeting, there was a big move down, then a retracement. AFter that retracement, Borsellino (the biggest local in S&P pit) pushed the market 8 points lower. I heard him do it. And the minis just followed. So there's definately an advantage when u use a squawkbox. --- you are incorrect. Joey is the biggest local left in the pit, but all the others that would do size have left. In addition, do you really think Joey pushed the market -800 on his own? Every guy in that pit trades more minis than majors -- including Joey. The reason your guys are reporting it on the box is because they have to have something to report. Think of it this way...the most Joey will ever do is 200 majors or 1000 minis on a position. I know at least 5 prop trading firms that will do 4 or 5 x that amount. These are the guys pushing the market and they have had a field day the last 3 years killing the locals with fake out moves. I have been a member for over 10 years and am still one of the few that will put on 500 or 600 minis, I have a trader on the floor for me that we keep on a headset and offset orders through. Believe or don't its up to you, but all the big boys are on the box, not in the pit.
so whats the consensus here? the box from the s@p pit or the emini from traders audio? also is traders audio better than trade the news for the s&p box
They both have demos so you can try them out. I thought the audio quality on tradersaudio's S&P pit was far worse than trade the news. The latter made it pretty easy to pick out individual traders' voices and hear what they were saying.
Hi Brent Hyll, I believe ya, don't worry. That's just the info I got. He was the only local in the pit selling that day while the rest was buying after the retracement, and then the day after I heard them talking about borsellino pounding it, that it was soo impressive and all. But you corrected me, so I know what it's like then nowadays. Thanks for that. -SL
I don't know much about the S&P pit but would imagine Borsellino is right more times than not so I would still want to know what he is doing. And who is to say he can't push the market 8 handles, in thin market conditions where every bid is pulling and he doesn't need to sell much to push it and trigerring stops along the way I could easily see that happening in the Spooz (I've seen Harris and Hardy do the equivalent in the 10yr, not often, but can still be done when everyone else is caught offsides). Of course the markets are much larger overall and someone trading 200 bigs/1000 minis doesn't move things as much as they used to, but probably still worthwhile info at that small price to pay every month. Same goes for the Treasuries, Crude Oil, Gold, etc., knowing what the biggest local is doing doesn't hurt things, some guys make most of the money in this business and I think trying to emulate them is a place to start then we all develop our own touch along the way.
MCurto, You cannot compare Joey B to Hardy...Joey is probably around the 10th to 20th biggest day trader in the SP (majors and minis combined). Hardy can move the 10's because he trades as large as the customers. Absolutely no way Joey can run a market for 800 pts in the SP. Now...back in 1999 and 2000 you bet he could and did and made millions and millions. Just a different game now. My point about the box is that the commercial ones are very stale here is why...if they say Joey is selling it means his hands are offering. But, is he working bids w/ a broker across the pit-or on the box? The answer is yes and yes. There is so little coming in from the dealers to the pit (except on very volatile days) that - and this is my opinion only - I think it is a huge detriment for most day traders to listen to the box. For the simple fact that nobody really knows what each trader is doing...too many disguise possibilities for the exit of a position.
The last i checked, they still do 100K volume on a good day in the pit. That's 500K minis. 500K should be considered significant. Shouldnt it?