Not the prints on ecns necessarily but the ecn activity. How quickly they start bidding up or down when the NYSE up or down ticks. These buy or sell programs on NYSE issues tend to show their hand if you force them. Like sometimes, when the spread is more than a penny (say 5 cents), I'll keep bidding to tighten the spread, hoping to get a buy program to follow me. If he does, I generally know that there is a buyer at that level. Testing the waters like this has helped me get a better read on situations.
Maverick how do you know that huge buyer/ seller is over ? Do you recognize that only when specialist spreads out and fills huge prints up or down?
True, you dont know who is on the other end but it still gives you hints as to supply and demand within a certain price level and possible direction for later in the day.
Hey today I started 2 trade NQU6 by looking only at the tape{TAS}, no level two no chart... is was amazingly easy scalping that thing with the tape... I´ve been trying to scalp it based on level 2 for the last week and I was getting killed most of the time... too much noise, too much bluffing, too much no good info. The tape is plain simple, I watch only the price, no size... as I see the price rising I buy if I see it falling I sell...It makes it easier to catch the move when it´s starting and exit when it ends...
Maverick74 you used to say "... You will notice there is a bid at .55 for 200 shares and you will see large prints going off at .57. You will never see the stock trade at the bid. This is your buyer. You would want to be buying the stock around this area. And since you know the buyer is resting at .57, as soon as the price trades, you know to get out. " Does this mean that bid .55 200 shares, offer is some price higher than .57, say, .60. And large prints go off between the bid and offer, which here is .57, and none goes off at .55? If I am wrong please correct me buy a example. Thanks in advance
yeah I see that really often especially during market open where the specialist would spread up huge, then prints go off with unbelievable size. I believe this is also a good time to try go New York market as chances are, you may get price improvement. But if you are not fast enough or something, the specialist would print it, gap it, then fill you...