Hey guys, I've been a prop equity trader for 7 years and trading remotely from Seattle for the past 2. I saw on this thread that you had a few meetings and I wonder if you ever came up with any plans for having a physical location in the Northwest. I was out on the east coast a few weeks ago, talking with some old trading friends. There was some genuine interest in moving out of New York and opening an office in Seattle. Please let me know if there's any local interest in an office, or maybe we could get together and trade over a network like Skype, as some of my buddies back east are doing. Just getting burnt out & dysmotivated trading by myself. Thanks.
Anyone still around from this thread? New in town, looking for some traders in Bellevue/Seattle area to socialize!
Good luck on this one, tiger. Last poster was 6 years ago. But there could be passer-byes like me that are from your area and you may catch their attention. Be sure you leave an email address for them to contact you. I'm in Lakewood, near Tacoma. I have been here for 37 years. I did serious day trading of stocks in the 1990's but life finally got in the way and I got rusty. It is something you have to stay consistent with. Heck, it took me nine months before consistently making money each month. Long learning curve, I prefer not to get back into again. For about 8 years I did not trade. I became a fan of things economic on the financial cable channels, CNBC, Bloomberg, starting about 2004. I recorded 8 hours during each weekday. I could pick and watch what I was looking for (interested in) in and complete those 8 hours in 3 to 3 1/2 hours. One day in the summer of 2008, I woke up and saw something that subconsciously was incubating in my mind for those 4 years of watching the financial cable channels: Charts with two stock plots. What did they all have in common ? Obvious ! The plots converged and diverged from each other over the time period of the chart. So I made my first trade in 8 years: Short one stock simultaneously going Long another stock based purely on their relationship to each other on the chart. It worked out so well for the six months of 2008, I traded 45 times the first 9 months of calendar 2009 (no trades the last three months) with stellar results.... gainers to total trades ratio was outrageous. Disclosure: In absolute numbers of dollars gained, it would not water anyone's eyes. I was still experimenting. Surveying each trade on an annualized return was very good, as a whole. Importantly though, considering I got out of trades way too prematurely, the on-going stock plots of the trades I had gotten out of confirmed the wisdom of what I was doing. I left way too much on the table, getting out of trades early. I discovered eventually there were others doing similar to what I discovered for myself. They called it pairs trading. However, generally, I got the sense their trading was very momentum driven. My technique is much more leisurely. However, in my own trading, it became clear there was money to be made intra-day, daily, or weekly in a position. Heck, you could add monthly to that list. In the end, pairs trading is not sexy, the way I do it. It is consistent with small gains. Sort of like the turtle winning the race against the hare. It is a short learning curve. The direction of the market indexes are irrelevant. Yes, there is fast money to be made as referred to in the last paragraph, particularly when monitoring a few positions daily. Even today I like to take advantage of that. But I prefer a more leisurely pace these days. I am retired as of 18 months ago and would like to develop an information exchange among like-minded souls. Something for everyone....the day trader, the swing trader, the longer term investor. I will be very busy this summer, though. I would probably not be a good candidate for who you are looking for. I am geographically challenged from you and risk adverse (with lots of exceptions, LOL). And I am busy this summer selling a rental house and preparing my itinerary for my next trip to South America this winter. However, one more head in the same game is wonderful. Email me or keep a dialogue going on this board so others in your area know your objective/s.
Just like you I am a market addict and retired close to a year ago. I have been doing prop trading in investment banks/HFs for 10+ years and decided enough is enough. Finance is just not as sexy as it used to be . Part of the reason we moved to Seattle area is to get away from the markets for a bit and enjoy life more. But old habits never dies..... Where you going in Latin America? I lived in Brazil for a few years back in late 90's. It's a great place to visit!
Some questions about S. America stock markets, below, in the next to last paragraph. Thanks for the background, tiger. Welcome to Seattle. I was reminded yesterday, Sunday, what a great place it is. My wife and I don't go there much but wish we did. Now with retirement, maybe it will be different. She said about yesterday in Seattle, what a fantastic day. We did the Mariners game....second time only for us in the new ball park: Beautiful day, fantastic park, great attendees, and Felix was pitching. After that, it was picnic on the grassy knoll with the great view at the north end of Pike's Market, and then into the Market and local shops and bistros. And that is just a tiny tip of the iceberg for what Seattle has to offer. No overseas vacation experiences until a driving one for a month in Spain and Portugal, spring 2009. That trip was pivotal in our lives. We realized there is beautiful life for retired blokes outside the boundaries of what appeared to be then--and now confirmed three years later--an acceleration of downward quality of life inside USA. So we are on a mission to explore over a series of winters global locations we like and initially make our snow bird destinations. More importantly, in time, should it be wise to live overseas permanently and we have enough silver to bribe the border guards, we will know which place to flee to. Our first winter in retirement was Colombia and Ecuador this last Jan thru April. Our next will be Peru, Argentina, Uruguay, possibly Chile. Essential filters for us are locations with stable to growing economy and currency strength. Might you know about trading stock markets in Brazil or any S. American country ? Are there direct trading platforms ? Is there tick by tick following software ? Is there plenty of volume/liquidity ? Is shorting done and widely acceptable ? Of course everything would be in the native language. What little Spanish I know is small, broken and chopped, but there is hope for improvement. Portuguese ? Forget it. It the answers to these questions are in the affirmatives, I would like to trade there, too. Depending on the mix of yes's and no's, longer term pair trading would be acceptable should it be impractical to be able to have convenient, quick access to daily stock plots. Future winters are planned for the Mediterranean and western Pacific / south Asia. (Yes, there are healthy nations on the Mediterranean !) I figured three years ago the Euro would fall mightily and am so far just a very little correct. The idea has been to put Europe off till there be a dramatically improved position for U.S. dollar / Euro before we go back there. We're patient.
I used to trade stock and derivatives in Brazil. But that was many years ago before the recent bull market in emerging markets. From what i hear the volume is still good and people are doing very well. Compare to the US, there is a limited number of instruments you can trade. Pairs trading might be limited to only the top stocks. We are very happy about the move to Seattle so far. Weather is nice, people are nice and schools are good. Now, we just have to make it through the winter!
Well, you are inspiring that as a gringo (I suppose) you traded in a foreign country. But, yes, I had delusions of wonderful trading in S. America because I wanted to move my total net assets (cash) off shore this year and put them in trading with whatever local currency I was at. Thank you for bringing me back to earth with the limitations. Maybe happier hunting when in Europe a few Decembers from now. Looks like I will have to hold some cash back in deteriorating dollars for continuing trading in with my current U.S. brokerage. Of course that will be ok against the Euro, but I can't be sure Europe will be our final choice a few years from now to be our always go-to winter destination. I'm glad you chose Seattle. The factors you are enjoying you cited are important ones. If you don't have to get in traffic at the worst times and if you can leave town in some of the winter, you will be just about perfect. We DO love our 37 years here. Just hope the state can be solvent. ....btw..... I just went Short HOT and Long HST. Check the charts. Historically widest spread. Time for reversion to the mean. Frankly, easily 3/4 of the time the current momentum of the pair works against me initially, but I love that. It allows me to add a second layer when the time is right. I've been 3 layers sometimes; rarly, but that is ok. These additional layers ALWAYS made good and the biggest gainers.
Ref last post: HOT - short HST - long It has been 7 trading days since I entered the trade, and it has been ripping for me the last two days. But there is way much more way to go. Charts seen here on ET page: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=237628&perpage=6&pagenumber=43
If by any chance someone stumbles on to my post (the last one regarding Long HOT and Short HST), check the Trading forum / Charts of Note at this date and ones I posted for a few days before starting on Aug 1. It has been a terrific one and I believe more to go with it. My real point here, is if one is a pairs trader or considering it, PM me and let's share some nominations for good trades. In time, I intend to have a web site up for this purpose. Right now, I have a rental house to sell and other life events to deal with. (Yes, even in my new Retired life !)