we're all trading with huge disadvantages, Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded. Size and technology do matter. Retail futures is becomimg a cat and mouse game and we know who the mice are.
No offense, but it seems like you have a really bad attitude. Trading with leverage is difficult both mentally and in the literal sense. I think you should either be 100% automated or just not trade at all. I am guessing you are 100% discretionary and that is where you fail mentally? I had/have the same problems. I just came to terms with not being able to handle it mentally.
its brilliant! (where do we do lunch, so I can review the prospectus and maybe signup (sic) ) that thesis statement, that business plan, that response was brilliant! you and your buds are already more than 50% on your way to success, solely based on surviving the acid test on these threads, as well as clarifying your thoughts in a comprehensive, understandable manner. PS. so what you're saying is you're rebranding yourselves from being proprietary traders (hft's) into a hedge fund (self managed) and pooled group strength (collective size = possible self clearing status). not bad PSS. might be time to find out what so many thousands of previous stock traders became when they walked out the doors earlier, just a thought
So what you think the disadvantage of LTCM fund was? They had the size, they had the technology and even 2 Nobel Laureates. They lost it all because it is all about decisions. Open an account with IB and you pay $1 to flip 100 SPY at a time. Do you have what it takes to make money? If you do not, size will make it worse for you. Do you think the 1000 lot guys out there care what you do with your 1 lot? You are constantly trying to reverse the burden of proof here. Your are the one who has the idea and you have to prove it is good. You are pushing others to prove it for you. Ninna gave you a very simple mathematical proof that your size will be essentially no advantage. Maybe you have less operational cost but you will remain a small fish and will will stil have to make decisions. I get the idea that you think that size is an escape from bad decisions, especially when a lot of people decide. Do not forget this: markets can go only up or down. You have to choose from two alternative, yet 95% of traders lose. It is about the quality of decisions.
Sure is a lot of defensive sarcasm flying this way! Makes you wonder why. Well, I'm just bashing out ideas, trying to find a thread that could be realistically pusued. It's all academic perhaps but interesting just the same. I wouldn't say trying to gain an advantage through working with other retail traders in a co-operative manner was 'a really bad attitude'. My attitude is pessimistic, yes, but things can be created from dissatisfaction. Rarely the other way around. I'd say those who are aggressively sarcastic and dismissive have more attitude issues. At this point I will state that I have a family relative who works for one of the biggest global banks. She's on the software procurement side and deals with trading front end implementation, data handling etc, etc among other aspects of banking software needs, for the miles of trading desks that the bank has around the planet. She cannot disclose much, even to me, because of the legal restrictions she has signed but take it from me guys: retail is a joke to them. They have basic advantages that we can never have (although I've looked at some of them in the above 'plan'). As has already been pointed out, even your broker data feed is a network. We go through too many 'hands' and our proximity to the exchanges is too great. In my view (you're welcome to your own) scalping futures at retail level is unrealistic for the discretionary trader. Machines may be able to do it with longer time frames and larger drawdowns. The average guy coming to this business with his broker feed and $5000 account, $5 r/t etc is destined to fail. I don't like to see so many come to the game with high hopes and a credit card loan only to be exploited by the system which is designed to rob you. If this is a bad attitude then I make no apologies.
The OP makes the assumption that the banks know what they are doing, and small speculators do not. If history is any indication, this assumption is plain wrong. I didn't need any bailout, for instance. Trading is a game against nature. What others do matter, but what you do is more important. IMO small speculators have an enormous advantage over the larger traders/banks/etc. Not talking about the 1 lot gamblers found in trading forums though.
No, this is not true, it's just you haven't learned how to trade (yet), therefore you have this illusion, maybe you will ever learn it, maybe you won't ... hard to tell, it took me years and I am considered on the bright side (but then again on the floor they say that is a disadvantage). It can be done, but it's going to be extremely hard to learn ... 10000 hours/a few years is not an exageration