I am barely understanding the tape reading idea but assuming that I get the hang of it and you see these big bids/offers by specialists or commercial ones, when do you actually buy/short? At support/ resistance, high/lows, breakouts?
Firstly, I just want to aplogise in advance for sometimes taking a while to reply...i keep prety busy as im in the market most of the day...and afterwards, im training, and in meetings... Yes the specialist can be filling oders from his own inventory... And Yes I use openbook, if you are not using openbook, or dont have access to it, you are wasting time trading this market... I REPEAT YOU MUST TRADE WITH OPEN BOOK, ie. if you are trading interday...
I agree with you, I dont think it really matters.... Also to have access to that kind of information, knowing excatly if its a specialist order or a floor order from a bank is very hard to know...but you can get looks on the floor, if you are using a floor broker you can trust....
An offer... OK let me explaing to you how this business works.... When you join a prop firm, you dont get paid, you eat what you kill... its not a position for those who are weak in the heart... And instead of getting paid, at times you have to actually put up your own cap (as I did)...around 5k is the norm for begginers.... that money is yours, it sits in your account at the trading firm...you incurr all losses and take all profit (less commision and payout)....commision and payout is how the prop firms makes its money...In my experience usual turnaround once u start trading live is 6 to 8 months, if you work really hard, listen to your mentor (i.e. assuming hes a profitable trader), follow the rules, and adapt to the psychology of the game... now what kind of offer were you expecting ??
my brazillian friend, im glad you are very enthusiastic about the markets...when you get here, im going to have you sit behind me or another one of our senior traders, and i will show you... But to answer your question..you are buying in front of the buyers and selling in front of the shorts/reg sellers...breakouts, critical points and support/resistance areas are also very important entry points...
Hi Livingston! I just printed out your notes, and wanted to say THANK YOU! I know you're busy with your own trading, and really appreciate the time you're spending to help! A couple of quick questions if you have time: What does the SAI's mean? Also, can you explain the Open Book? I'll do search on these topics also, and after reading your notes over a few more times, will, undoubtedly, have more questions LOL! I did notice you said not to worry about technical analysis. I'll probably take some heat for this comment, but on the floor virtually none of the TA stuff is used - it was all about order flow. My experience is that most of TA isn't any better than random, especially indicators contructed from price data alone. My thanks again to you for your time and help!!
kjkent, Just a thought here, but what you might do is to open a small account and trade 100 shares (or even less), just to get the feel of trading. Guys who start on the futures floor are generally taught to concentrate on finding big leaners to bid and offer along with them, and to get trades on and then off their cards as fast as possible just to get more comfortable with the way things work. NO effort is made to worry about profits, only cutting losses, cutting losses, cutting losses! They used to say that you progressed from: Losing wrong to Losing right to Breakeven to Profitability Just something you might consider - hope it is food for thought...
Livingston, I am looking forward to the real deal. Got my 5k! Trader56, good food for thought indeed. I feel a bit better to know I am losing right! I think you have a big advantage in the game with your futures background! Why the switch to equities? Thiago.
Livingston showed me the ropes, and now I am on my own and able to make a nice living. Having access to a successful trader is a great asset that most dont ever get to experience.
I will pm you about the SAI'S and open book, As far as technical analysis concerned, I myself am not an expert on it, dont use it that much, im not going to buy/sell a stock because it made a double top bottom while crossing some fabionacci line However if there is a buyer bidding up a stock im on it like white on rice.... Other good entry points are critical levels, breakouts etc...