The difference in ES now versus years past (I have traded SPX options or ES since late 1999) is the structure of price movement. Before the directional turns or transitions were mostly rounded, cup & handle, 1-2-3 type sequences. That came from thicker open interest, two-way markets and deliberate accumulation => distribution behavior. Now the general price structure is all sudden v-turns, and most true turns follow higher high or lower low swings before a sharp reversal slams the other way. So it was easier in the past to add size on positions as the price action stepped higher or lower, and it was easier to trust what you saw because of more deliberate price action. Now the algos strip several strikes or handles going one way, take it a few ticks beyond to trigger resting stops and then rip back the opposite direction to clear that side, too. ES traders never really know if they are seeing a pullback against the "trend" or a complete out-of-blue reversal that's running deep the other way. ** Goes back to what I said earlier: nobody is coming forward saying how they are killing this market, racking up huge gains like they did (with blotters) back in 2007 - 2008. Unless a bunch of traders come forward with recent blotters showing six or seven figure days / week from the recent VIX spike to near 50, everything needed to know about then versus now is spoken within that silence
as I said before.. the survivors HAVE adapted. they adapted by trading smaller size for smaller relative gains from more trades and harder work in the process. that's the process of adaptation inside adverse conditions
yeah i have - STOP BITCHING LIKE A LITTLE GIRL if you dont like it, move to another market. it aint difficult. there are 100's of markets all over the globe. there is no rule that says ' thy must trade rigged usa markets'. in fact, given that no one in the whole wide world (yes there is civilisation outside usa borders) is buying $, youd also benefit from fx rates with your cash denominated in another currency. i bet with all your years of stated experience, you never thought of that! retail piker? you dont have to be. think big. act big. be bigger. eg look at canada. they havent suffered much at all sinse 2008. in the last few weeks the TSX 60 only lost 4%. hardly any hft there, and a vastly different rule book to any usa market. hope that helps genius!
I've told you once nicely to basically fuck off. I don't want to have to be abusive towards you but I will if you hassle me again. I sincerely hope you understand this simple message.
i'm not bitching,i'm pretty successful in what i'm doing and probably did better than 99.9% of ET members. i do understand that nothing last forever. no problem there.we talking about HFT and it's impact on trading here,right? i just provide real person,retail level trader experience. you can call it bitching,if you like...good luck with your trading career and good bye
maybe it is different in the stock markets- but saying that is the case in the futures is just a load of crap. i know when i click with 300 zn's and there is an offer of 297 i get all 297 and end up with a bid for 3- maybe if you try and click with 3 100 times it might not work, but one clicking into a resting bid or offer = you get all you want. and clubber you make me laugh calling me a "piker"- i do realize most people that post here are, but if you actually think you are a good trader... please come trade the treasury futures curve so i can pick you apart like i do the rest of the world every day.
the only people complaining about HFT are the guys who have been automated out of jobs. a "trader" is now an operational role, making sure nothing is out of wack.
One big difference between 2008 vs. 2011 is the bots are smarter during panic moves. In 2008 a good scanner could find some outrageous moves, like shooting fish in a barrel. The main reason imo is that the algos don't panic, and nobody uses humans to execute anymore. This is a large part of why you didn't see $500k+ days lately. Traders I know were putting up $50-100k days, but these were the same guys that would have done $100k-1M days a few years ago. For myself the past weeks have provided a few $10-20k days but nothing to get too excited about.