insurance, something small traders will never have due to lack of wealth and knowledge unless if they join the house, their life will change.
emg, you're putting traders who work for the "house" on a pedestal compared to others. But I worked for or perhaps in the "house" as you put it. Wouldn't say it was that much of an advantage. In fact, some of the strategies were somewhat insane.
Lehman was not in the clique,with them out of the way,the other large houses are all together,no fear of any big players stealing thier woman,we've never seen market manipulation like this before, Lehman was big enough to stick it to the big guys,now they are gone
The point I was trying to make is that i know emg is in awe of larger traders, namely the "house" , because he believes they are invulnerable. I was just trying to show they are far from invulnerable due to many of them going bust. I do agree they have many advantages over the "smaller trader" ( i think emg means retail trader with a small acct). However, the smaller trader has many advantages over the institutional player as well.
wanna round out your thoughts.... and share your observations with many of us who live and trade outside of chicago and new york and perhaps federal reserves.... and thx
Lower overhead. Ability to chase smaller scale overlooked strategies. Access to any market in any timezone, without treading on the toes of another desk of gorillas. No list of excluded names.
Knowing that once a daytrade is put on, there is roughtly a 50/50 chance of price moving in the right direction, and any trade can last from a few seconds to a few hours. I'm lookeing for some ideas on trade management, once my strategy signals an entry. Has experience shown that entering a trade with the full position on at time of entry, (then lightening the position if the trade starts going against you and maintaining the full position if price moves in the right direction) is more effective than entering a trade with a partial position, then increasing size as price moves in the right direction? All constuctive responses are appreciated. --------------------------------------- ....there is roughtly a 50/50 chance of price moving in the right direction.... NO, it is not so. it is not a roughly 50/50 chance probability at all like most people led you to believe. if your entry into long or short positions depends on tossing a coin, head or tail probability, then your trade selection can be said that it is 50/50 chance to go for you or against you. most traders do not trade depending on a toss of a coin. instead they preselect their entry long or short position pending on certain set of criteria that undergone tedious testing or backtesting.... thus these traders' selection of a long or short position can no longer be considered as a random 50/50 chance selection.... can it....? ------------------------------ personally i tend to believe that you ought not attempt several contracts at a time yet at this point in time.... your question leads me to believe that you ought to sim trade one or two contracts first.... for at least 3 continuous months.... if you can prove to yourself first that during that period of time you have the discipline to do the same routine day in and day out and have shown profitability at the level acceptable to yourself.... then and only then, you should venture to place larger lot.... which at this time is still an elusive goal and objective--in my humble opinion. and if i am wrong in my guesstimation, pls accept my sincere apology herein and i am deeply sorrowful for opening my oversize large mouth. a penny for your thought, fellow traders.... good luck and good profitable trading, you all.