I'm talking NYSE. So far september has been a big dissapointment. The volatility has been pretty good, but the low volume has made it hard to capitalize on some of the moves. Hopefully with September 11th behind us it will get better. It is much easier to make money when you see 20k shares stepping down on a stock than when it is 500 share trades dropping the stock. Todays action wasn't anymore encouraging. I was hoping the big boys would step up to the plate and do some real buying. There was none though. It has been a real pain trading 10k positions of some of the mid cappers lately. I've been taking a closer look at some of the large caps lately in search of liquidity. Started trading IBM, AIG, BAC some. And with them i often feel more like a futures trader.
I know how you feel, there is still money to be made, but you have to watch 4 walls of paint dry before a decent move occurs. The specialists and institutions are playing some nasty games. One minute 10K on the bid, you get long, suddenly the 10K flips to the offer. And when the 10K is real, there's one opportunity to get in on the trade with a decent spread and then the stock is off to the moon, and back down just as fast. Hopefully, once the jewish holiday season is over on Monday, we can get through the rest of the week without any terrorist incidents, and news starts to flow out of companies more regularly, the volume and volatility will pick up.
you actually worry about 10K on the bid or offer? that can get taken out pretty quickly, you know....lean on larger size than 10K if thats your game- and i really think that trading trying to lean on size is worthless- too many market makers/ specialists put the size there JUST to TRICK you into buying/ selling.....
Yes, yes and more yes - [except the part of the big boys buying? They buy if they think the market is going up - what would make them think that today - patriotism?] nitro
Those sizes are still real aren't they? They can't renege on them if they post them, as far as I understand... Correct me if I'm wrong. By the way, a related question, how come there haven't been many really extreme large cap movers (especially on the downsize) lately. There used to be several companies like that each day (e.g.BestBuy etc), now it's about 1 in two weeks.... (even when QQQ drops 3 or 4%!) Are we at the end of the earnings season and not in to see this stuff until we get closer to the next one? Weird.
Rarely - I am always on two stocks at the same time, and if one or both goes against me then, well then it is even juicier and I ADD. If it goes too much against me then I get out... nitro