Hi i just wanted some opinions from people who trade listed for a living changing to nasdaq im a nyse profitable scalper is the learning curve shorter for someone who already trades the markets compared to a new trader or will it take me as long as a newbie even if i am a profitable listed trader going into nasdaq
Great question! Unfortunately, I'd be surprised if anyone has actually made this transition successfully over the last 4 yrs or so.
I never stopped trading either, been always curious about the group of you guys that seem to have this love affair of trying to figure out what the specialist is doing.
I think it depends on how you trade. If you are trading off of universal market principles then it should not be that bad. If your trading is based on trying to figure out what a specialist was doing then I would say a lot longer. If you were looking at univeral market principles plus watching how the specialist moves the stock then half of what you know should apply as well as the skill of reading the tape and volume as it applies to helping in timing your entries and exits. As an interesting question I wonder in a few months if that strategy will be as viable if the NYSE system changes to a more electronic platform.
It's not essential to my trading to know what the specialist is doing. Despite all of the conspiracy theories out there, specialists are very limited in when they are allowed to participate. I find that the price and volume action on the tape of NYSE stocks has a more predictable flow and feel to it. Before super soes/supermontage, I traded the Nasdaq exclusively. Now I find there is just way to much "noise" on the tape. How do you go about filtering the signals out of the Nasdaq noise?
This is very correct. I trade nyse,nasdaq , both of them seem the same to me. No difference at all, but I trade solely on trading principals, not specialist actions or level2. I do like NASDAQ more , because of the group of market makers instead of one specalist controlling one stock, This way its not one single person remebering your big lot and retracing to see if you are a weak hand with 100 share price change lots LOL!
Your thinking is backwards, the activity of one is much easier to figure than the activity of many. Specialists have tendencies and those tendencies can be taken advantage of.
Steve, Not exactly. While it may be easier for your trading style (scalping), I do not have time to learn the personal quirks of the specalist or do I want him to run up prices just because he feels like it.
There is no question about it, there is no way to disagree. It is much easier to read the activity of one as opposed to many. Its pure mathematics. One person has an agenda and many have many agendas. Many agendas=many variables.