Would anyone that uses a futures squawk box care to comment on the advantages and disadvantages,and if it has helped you make more money.
I have been known to use the box as an exit to my positions..I have yet to use it as an entry.....bring da noise
there are several threads about this if you search. Maybe one of the companies has a free trial? Opinions on the squawk are varied (just like traders)
Too much meaningless chatter, if the guy would shut up until something actually happened it would be much more tolerable. The backround noise tells you as much as the commentary.
You can get a free 3 day trial at www.los.net but you will need to download the withit player. I use the know guys who did well with them trading those high flyers, but they don't work as well as they use to when stocks like qlgc was driven mostly by a group of daytraders. Broadway trading uses them from what I've heard. Anyway, try it for yourself, it's not bad, you can actually feel the mkt starting to tank when you hear those big offers come in... faster than any print you see on your ticker.
It totally depends on your style. If you are a very short term scalper, it would be a help. Anything else, I doubt that it could do more for you than maybe help with timing on your entry. I mostly scalp and couldn't trade without it. The longer you listen to it, the more it grows on you, and the more you pick up from it.
Lescor, what exactly do you pick up from it? Heres what I listen to: 1) Pit noise 2) Comments like 'big paper buyer/seller', 'good selling here' 3) Certain MMs holding a level, if its the same one every time it hits a level, then they are not mentioned the next time the level is reached, look for the futures to go through BTW, I trade NAZ stocks, scalping
I'm mostly listening to the bids and offers as the spoos approach support and resistance levels. When things breakout, you'll catch it first by hearing them start to go over top of each other. Like 915.2 was a prior high and the bid/offer went from 5.0-5.2 to 5.2-5.5. That plus the noise in the pit tells you how much strength might be behind a move.