DOM/T&S... A couple of comments. When the market is running, DOM may in fact be sampling the actual action. If you monitor IB, have you ever noticed that all changes on the depth are simultaneous, it is because it is sampling the actual DOM. The DOM is before the fact, it tells you how quickly an approaching depth change is coming. The T&S is the recording of what happened. Is it hyper??? Unequivocably, YES! The distinction to note is that their is a small subset of those changes which are actionable. It is alot tougher for sure. I mechanically dabble in this stuff from time to time, only because I know what is what on the DOM. I am paying the price, so to speak, to work out the subset of changes that are actionable, for the threads benefit of course... If you're sweeping, it is as EASY mentions that you only look at the DOM when sweeping has given the go to MONITOR DOM. It is important to keep off the DOM unless the pictures you have regarding the DOM are rock solid. Admittedly, I do things a bit backwards, I think about what is what in order to identify the picture, then overlay the preconcieved picture with the RT picture. It took me quite a while to work out the STR.NEUT.SQU pictures. But now it's a no turning back awakening. When I interned at Brookhaven National Laboratory, we would work out the equations, then detail the expectation, then do the experiment to see if the results verified the expectation. The reason was largely so that we could belief the accuracy of the physics concepts... It was absolutely mind blowing to find trajectories of particles and collection of particles following the details of expections so precisely. In this case T&S is precise and accurate. It states exactly what and where price changes occured. Describing what to do with T&S is another lengthy post. I find most T&S incomplete, but that's just me... MAK!
I realise now this is my interpretation of what´s happening, I´m not 100% sure I´m right. But if not, what is it that is taking place when there is a spread between bid/ask and orders are going of in between? It has to be market orders clashing with each other, doesn´t it? I think you call this "in-spread". Am I right here?
Mak, do you mean - 1. If someone buys 500 contracts at the market, you see someone stepping up with 500 contracts at ask in the orderbook BEFORE it is recorded in t&s? 2. Do you watch this directly on IB instead of the front-end because the front-end is lagging? I agree with everybody saying this is hyper, but i think it´s fun /Stalker
Repeated screw ups. Not a good sign when you enjoy screwing up. Reality checklist: How to know you are learning things wrong: you have zero results. How to know you are not meant to do this: you enjoy getting zero results. How to know you enjoy getting zero results: you repeat doing the things that get you zero results while making such comments as "but it's fun," "but i'm learning a lot," "i feel i'm close to getting this."
I´m not a market wizard who can learn this in a month or two. Good for you if you have instant results as soon as you try to learn something. If I was an experienced trader like I assume you are I´d be a little more humble and helpfull, but everybody´s different.
Being "humble" doesn't interest me, but I am very interested in being helpful to others. Unfortunately, the help I can offer is quite limited in most cases. What would you suggest as being most helpful to a person in your place? A self-assessment is required to answer that question, don't you think? When I see an earnest person digging himself into a hole, sometimes I get the urge to tell that person to discontinue digging even if the next step is unclear to me or if there should even be a next step. It is unclear to me how a person gets to a place where you seem to be if he is interested in getting results.
No matter what people tell you about focusing on this or that, you have to try a lot of stuff by yourself anyway when you try to learn something. Stupid stuff, stuff that´s not working, stuff you can´t handle and so on. Some people make the mistakes fast, for other people it takes a longer time, but I believe you have to do them yourself to a certain degree before you focus on what´s important.
Stalker, icarus has made a very critical and important point. Perhaps I have damaged this thread by putting in so much content that is not necessary at this point in time. Icarus is a vet and someone who I regard very highly given his experience and truth that we all must undergo a process. This is why I stress that I am only a peer amongst peers. He knows that success is a simple things and can require as few as 1 tool. The overall objective is the positive equity curve which accelerates as the process progresses. Crawling will cover a certain distance in a specific period of time. Walking covers the same distance in a shorter period of time. Running covers the same distance in an even shorter period of time, etc... Many of us here know that the very simplest in crawling is enough to get the job done. It is important to not take this for granted. Alot of what I have posted lately is rather advanced stuff since it is ultra micro. I largely hope that my posts go unnoticed but that is just me. I presume that most are like myself in that they see what fits there current level and if it is advanced for someone, that they would just pass it up. This is how I have treated many of Grob's posts, and you saw how recently, I had come to realize the same truth that Grob posted nearly 2 years ago. Perhaps I should scale things back a bit for the interim... A focus on what's important is right on. Not digging holes is very important. It is strange but because of continual self assessments, I find dead ends sooner rather than later... BUT, that's just me. MAK!
No two persons are alike or think alike. No person using words can convey his thoughts, impressions, experiences to another without something being lost in the transmission. I believe this to be the case even if the persons are sitting next to each other watching the same thing at the same time. This puts in perspective the absurdity of any notion of "teaching" others how to trade by putting words on a screen or on paper for them to read or by giving speeches. Well, avoiding sliding down slippery slopes is a good thing, so let's just say we do what we can with what is available to help others along. It just means there's a necessity for a person to demonstrate a thing for himself to truly know it and have it. It is not enough to nod in agreement and "accept" a thing, even a truth. It must be put to the test. A result must follow. Faith without works is dead. I do not think it is possible for a person to describe all the things he has learned in the process of growing an account from scratch to 3X initial capital trading the minimum over a period of months. There is no word that corresponds to what he has at that point. We use the vague word "skill" and that satisfies people who take hearing a familiar word for knowing something. Why does a person who has never grown an account discount doing so in as simple a manner as he is conscious of in favor of trying out things? Why bother, I guess. There is the notion that going more and more micro in monitoring the market is the key to something. What that something is, I'm not sure. In any case, I don't think anyone should be concerned about discussing "advanced" stuff on here for the same reason they shouldn't be concerned about discussing unadvanced stuff. There's not much difference in effect I can see between a person who nods in agreement with you but doesn't put it to the test himself and one who gets upset at what you say because it's "impossible" or bullshit and wants "proof" from others.