Question from a homegamer: For you good guys who have been around successful traders (especially you Mav, with all your experience dealing with a large number of traders) I would appreciate your take on Jason Leavitt's comments starting at approximately the 43:00 minute mark. In a nut shell, he said they (successful traders) specialize in doing one thing very well (and he provides examples). Would you say that is true .... sorta true ..... etc? Thank you.
By default, being on a trading floor requires specialization. Traders are in a pit trading a single product or set of products. They need to earn their spot in the pit and their share of the order flow. Specialization ends up being a truly beneficial byproduct of that focus. You are surrounded by others who are just as focused and interested in that specific area as you are. They may not like the same trades you like but you understand what is going on around you in great detail. By contrats, the downside of this amazing online universe of products to trade and tools to trade them with is the lack of limits. Each trader needs to find their way to something that works and develop it. It becomes very important block out the information overload and style drift that the interview mentions because there is just an endless menu of things to choose from or try out. The distractions can easily cause you to not stick with something that is really promising if you would just dig in and commit to it. This thread seems o embody that idea of limits with a very clear focus on ACD and yet, even in that limited category, there are a vast number of permutations and styles.
Well said. Focus is very important. We are deluged with data, most of which is pure noise. The best traders are able to extract the tiny bits of useful data from this large population and better yet, have the patience to do so.
Mav there is a post somewhere in here that I cannot find right now, but you talked of tops being formed on good news and vice versa. Not to sure of the timeframe that you were discussing when making the post, but could this be a similar case with Crude?
Today would be the opposite, the opec cuts should be sending oil higher. If oil were at 52 week highs this would be the sell of the century. Unfortunately my Delorean is in the shop.