hey, Turok.. naa, this is the gross. etrade doesn't itemize the commissions, ecn, and sec fees until midnight. my commissions'll be $17.60 (4400 * .004), and the add/remove liquidity and sec fees should be around $4.
Write a book about how to make money using Level II quotes being sure to use many buzz words and paradigm shifts to sufficiently obfuscate what you are saying, and then get a few shills to give it positive reviews and wah-lah, you have the way to make money off of it. Other than that, sorry I can't help. DS
Nice work on your posts. I too use E*trade Pro and you did a very nice job on illustrating your trades. Way to fully disclose your trading so no ET trolls can jump on you! I scalp on nasdaq on bigger cap stocks such as RIMM, APOL, YHOO, EBAY, AMZN etc. I combine a 1 minute chart with the Level II to pick entries. I think everyone has to find a trading style that fits their personality. For me I find that the Level II is still useful for the stocks that I trade. I tried using the Level II on highly liquid stocks like INTC, CSCO, MSFT and found it to be less useful as a trading tool. One of the high edge scalping strategies that I employ is when there is a significant spike on the 1 minute candle and a certain MM pops up a wall and stops the move. You recognize it on the Level II as a flash that the MM wants to stop the move at a certain price level and a trade through by about 2 cents, quickly followed by the same MM sitting back at the original price he wishes to put the wall up. It happens pretty quickly, perhaps only about 15 trades will get filled out of market by the 2 cents, and the whole move lasting maybe 2-3 seconds. T&S is usually printing really quickly at this point. However, once the MM sits at the level for the 2nd time, I always join him. Usually I'll get a fill instantaneously as the momentum is still strong but usually the price reverses in the next one minute candle and I take a quick 3-9 cent profit. However, on the rare occasion that the MM lifts the wall and I'm left with a quick paper loss, I make a decision when to average down so when the momentum is over, I usually get out flat or with a manageable loss ~5 cents and collect on the ECN rebates on both sides. This is a strategy that I use because I feel comfortable with it. I don't suggest anyone try it on big size to experiment because it is fading momentum and there have been occasions when I've been run over pretty bad when the futures and the stock just won't turn. But like I said, gotta find something that works for you. The Level II can be a useful tool if you discover a strategy with it.