What year are you living in? Seriously. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to phone my stockbroker to put in an order. I use E.F. Hutton now, but I'm thinking of switching to Drexel.
I'm living in 2010, Just like you. But, you and I may be the only one's here that remember Drexel Burnham Lambert. The gap yesterday was the specialist in SWM moving AWAY from his basis. That's the gap. $70.23 (a nice round number) to $64.55. Cleaned out a bunch of stops. Then on down to $42.30. Intra-day low is ALWAYS the specialist. From there he covered (about where their the OP enterned) and took advantage of order flow. I.e. the book Today's a new day. Safe to assume it won't be AS volatile. And.............there's now 30 points of resistance to the high. It's broke. The "real" question is which side , net net, the specialist is on. My guess would be long because: 1. He made a princely sum yesterday. 2. Institutional bargain hunters 3. Should make some attempt to re-test. But at 30 points, it's futile. 4. The momentum in the downslide of the market as slowed and expiration is approaching (upward bias). Did YOU know the specialist can be long and short simultaneously? Yep, I most definitely respect the ax. He's the man I trade against. Not you. You're who I would toy with. For entertainment purposes. Just for grins, count the # of posts that make NO mention of SWM. As for me, I'll check back noonish for more unrelated drivel (not to be confused with drexel).
Hey, I suppose there's a slight chance that you're right and NYSE specialists are somehow still relevant to a slight degree. All I know is it's been years since they had the privilege of printing/manipulating stock prices wherever the hell they felt like taking them. I also know that when I put in an NYSE order these days, I get filled right away, as opposed to the olden days when the specialist would hold every order indefinitely, to fill me at the moment and price of his choosing. I <i>also</i> know that LAB's massive specialist operation, covering 700 listed symbols, just sold for a paltry $25 mil. How much could they possibly be raking in these days in <b>permanent ownership</b> of specialist rights to an NYSE symbol is worth less than $36K?
Broke my rule on revisiting the thread... I had the pleasure of chatting with a GS floor specialist on a recent Vegas trip. She said we as daytraders have more access to information, and the ability to trade on that information than specialists these days. The only time now a specialist is really working is the open, the close, and the handling of large orders. As far as I could tell they really aren't significant to the movement of stocks, especially thicker high volume stuff. They are no longer the "ax" on anything except maybe thin small caps.
you are probably right The only person to blame for my losses is generally myself and my broken rules-good setups in thicker stocks work like charm--if they dont generally its something I ve missed or been too eager to pull the trigger before the set up is there. As far as info goes so many traders ( good ones) stick together in chat rooms etc that dissemination of information is almost instantaneous but every once in a while you get crazy stuff like SWM. Seriously I know most RTM guys lost money on that but I could find any reason to go long that one--once it started falling it just kept on going.
One was either a genious or fool to have tried SWM yesterday. It was a big gap down first thing so I was watching its chart with nine others. Market was up and in bounce mode so I was focused on long plays. I was thinking SWM short (before its plunge) because it gapped down on news and the first hour's bounce was stalled. But the eps miss wasn't that bad and the patent news not that exciting. With the market up, I put it on my "mental ignore list." I was tempted to short it when it went to new daily lows at 62 but with the market up a news "not that bad" I skipped it. I played mentally with trying a bounce on the support at 58ish but it had fallen fast on volume and the bounce volume was weakish. The plunge after was really extraordinary and hard to anticipate IMHO. Truth be told, I had to leave my trading desk before it took the plunge under 57 to 44. I have used the 8 period ema on the one-minute charts as a trailing stop to scalp plunges in the past, but I missed this one entirely.
It would take TOO MUCH time to discuss the specialist, with nothing to gain. So some quick bullet points. 1. In 1969 there were about 200 specialist firms. Other than Neehan, you wouldn't even have heard of them. Today, all indications are about (7). NYSE no longer divulges info. Hence they were virtually all acquired. These aquistions, benevolence??? 2. Since 1949, they've been exempt from Fed Regs T and U. They're all able to use 20 to 1 leverage. Ushered in the 1949-66 bull. 3. Despite 24 hours, regionals, ECN's. THEY open the stock. Yesterday was a prime example of making a material amount with the flick of a wrist in POOF, one second. Cleaning out stops was a by-product. 4. The open in theory is to clean out the most open orders and their "role" is to maintain a fair and orderly market. "Fair" in a rigged game. The open is the ONE price that all participants get. Thereafter a spread. Close is a bookkeeping entry. It's what the masses focus upon. Strong closes on Fridays keep the masses in over the weekend. Any closes, at times can be a far cry from the intra-day action. 5. LaBranche, as a stock is a joke. Despite the selling price, I would suggest its a money maker. 6. Take the shares outstanding, multiply by the prevailing price. That's how much money is "involved". Most stock doesn't float or doesn't turn very often. When dividend paying stocks go ex, you can bet the specialist has a larger than normal inventory posture. On pay day, they're probably lean. The basis for the DNR order. You can ponder voting rights for EACH share on your own. 7. Specialist isn't always the ax. A negotiated block for an agent to get rid of (or acquire) without disrupting the price can be the ax until the block order is filled. Additionally, negoiated blocks do not have to appear on tape. IF they appear, could be for propoganda purposes. 8. Decilmalization may have caused a little turmoil. Not much. 9. Too much typing to continue. But trading against a market maker who has an inventory posture, and.........at times, a tax-segregated omnibus account for the purpose of capital gains. You wanna be on the same side as the specialist. Period. he's the man that can make your day or...........humble you. SWM yesterday, case in point.
This is the most useless drivel on ET years (and that says alot). No wonder you were buying CFC the whole way down. You're stuck in a bygone era.
This is a SWM thread What about SWM? Help me out with my losing position in SXE. What should I do? I like being stalked. YOU are reading every single word I write.