Tape Reading Large Orders CL

I take most trades confirmed. That day in CL I wanted to get short and I took non-confirmed trade, but had lower pivot highs prior to entry.

 

Many moons ago there was no such thing as iceberg orders. So traders/funds would show the whole order on the book. Like rosy said.... you could see a 8000 lot bid on the eurostoxx futures, and it was real. You could buy the offer aggressively, once that bid got down to 1000-1500 you could hit it, lose a tick. But a lot of times that big bid would hold the market, and it would bounce nicely off of that level. Your risk reward was greatly in your favor.

I traded on desks with a bunch of people who just did this all day, and most of them did well. It wasn't rocket science.

These days even if there weren't iceberg orders or big size showed up on the book that was real, computers are much much faster than humans. that game ended when the computers got involved.

It's the same with trading right as econ numbers come out. Years ago you could easily jump on board when a number came out that was not in line with expectations. These days they have computers that are programmed to act immediately and way faster than a human can. That game also is basically over. Also the moves were much bigger. Years ago a number came in out of line and the bonds would move 2-3 full points. These days a full point move is gigantic. Most of the moves are much smaller.

 

I missed most of intital selling in crude today. Later I took two short trades when pace of tape was still good. I prefer trades in crude when there is good trade speed.

 

Chi, so this is how it was done back in the day?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRRIV5oIETA

 

youtube says - the video is private.. could you please open this for us?

 

Try now: http://youtu.be/tRRIV5oIETA

 

I wish we could still trade like this. Spent a year trying to trade like this to figure out that I came late to the party. But I did learn how the market operate so It's all good.

http://youtu.be/Ozi_Tb2_1Sc
http://youtu.be/w_p1falWneE

 

yeah, i am in this game for 4 yrs and still wont say i figured it out... so would you please share with your fellow traders - how the markets operate exactly?

 

Market orders + limit orders.

 

That trade was more of luck than anything. Taking a shot in front of an auction. A kill or get killed trade.

As far as "leaning on a 400 lot " ? That's not really true as a 400 lot offer in the 30 yr is nothing . Perhaps in that video it stands out because the guy is trading right in front of an auction usually when the size is beyond thin in the order book.