Thanks again, Livingston - looking forward to the PM! Thiago, I was on the futures floor, but left to pursue another, unrelated project I'd always wanted to try. Now, I'm interested in equites, and think that in time a lot of the trading floors as they existed on the CBOT and CME will be electronic. I could be wrong...I just see more opportunites and a chance to moderate risk a bit more in the equities. But, it's new, thus my gratitude to Livingston for being willing to share with us, and the chance to learn!
Very occasionally, I take a peek at the P/L thread, although I generally try to avoid it. Although you do not sport the highest numbers, you seem to have the highest win ratio. Near as I can figure, you only reported 3 down days this year, each of which was modest in comparison to your overwhelmingly disproportionate winning days. To be candid, I find myself somewhat skeptical. Perhaps this skepticism is more a reflection of my own limitations than anything else. Even so, I didn't think that even the legendary traders of our day (or any other, for that matter) have been nearly as consistent as you report to be. What prevents you from upping your size to test the limit of the scalability of your trading method? After all the capital that you have accumulated, that is certainly what would be on my mind.
trader56- very interesting! 1.Losing wrong as in not yet know the proper way to do things, 2.Losing right meaning keeping tight stops, small loses, 3.Breakeven is a big step as one is profitable before comissions 4.Profitability...sky's the limit, comfortable operating/trading with large lots... Livingston, I've just started to learn how to trade and currently I'm using 100 lots for learning and just be in the market and learn...can you give me a scope of a time guide to where one is comfortable trading 1000 lots scalping?...(btw, what lot do you trade with?) I am scalping as well and the comissions are a real drag with scalping...how do you operate with scalping to make a nice living with the cost of comissions, ecn fees, etc...? I use technical analysis when I scalp although of course reading the tape is first. I look at how the market is doing, the sector, if the stock is on support, resistance (for breakouts), etc... I use openbook to trade as well and it is kind of contradictory to what Maverick has been talking about, though he doesn't use the openbook, because in the openbook, you can see the price level where the institutional sellers/buyers are with huge size. P.S. thanks for the notes Livingston, got them today and will read them tonight! FNF
Probably my own self doubt to some extent. Deep down, I know I need to and should, but it means sacrificing a level of trading that I am comfortable with in the short run. I know its only a matter of time, but the longer I put it off, the more frustrated I am with myself. Its something I have to deal with and am aware of and, hopefully, it wont take too long to get to that next level.
Ok, I'll admit my ignorance and total novice status regarding equities here LOL! I asked Livingston about the "open book," but in order to not waste his time with basic nonsense, did a Googgle search. NYSE OpenBook is the continually-updated list of limit orders waiting to be filled. In futures this would be the broker's "deck" - all those held orders away from the current market - i.e. offers above the current offer, and bids below the current bid. So...if you're as clueless as I am, maybe now you've got at least one more clue!
I try to initiate with 2-3k shares and than build up if its going my way, and sometimes I break my discipiline and build anyways...i think it took me about 6 months to build to 1k lots, but every traders has his own learning curve and personality...so a time frame or a benchmark dosent really exist...some traders are more aggresive, some are conservative...that being said, one thing you must take into account is that your trading career is not a race, its a marathon...you will eventually get up to 1k shares, but you must take baby steps, dont just size up instantly because you want to make more money...
Hi Livingston, It appears you answered a question I had about scaling in or pyramiding. It sounds like this IS something you'll do. Could you give an example, if you have time, as to how you might evaluate and handle such a situation? How important is this strategy to your P&L bottom line? Thanks!
Hi Livingston, Can I also have a copy of the notes? Thanks. I'm beginning to understand tape now and really like it a lot.