That's (the HI) awesome lescor, best of luck with it. Let us know how you get on and consider setting up a page at www.firstgiving.com so that those who wish can sponsor you if you qualify.
Yeah, we either did everything by hand, or subscribed to the Daily Graphs chart books and filled in the days between the weekly issues. I can actually remember doing 5 minute charts by hand. LOL. Made it a little hard to use the restroom. OldTrader
and i remember the crazy looks i would get when i said i was a "technician". to the fundamentalist we techs were all wierdos. and to the stock guys, us commodity guys were trailer trash...
That's nice kid, I was trading using a Telex machine early seventies, than upgraded to a quotron in 77. I believe my first trading comp was an IBM 386 in the early 90's. Here is where I was on that fateful day in 87. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=1003102 Rennick out
36, but been at it for what seems a lifetime ('92 or so), must count for something. This thread could be one of the best (if not THE BEST) going right now on ET - some good chit! Got interested in the markets through a WS analyst that lived down the street from me when I was a kid. He gave my mom some GREAT tips ( you know the rare kind, the ones that make money, like WMT way back then). He commuted to work everyday at 5:00 AM from rural NJ (yes it does exist, rural NJ that is) and didn't get home at night most times until 8 - 10 PM. I always thought there had to be a better way trading. Hard to believe that when I was in college (early 90's) there was no Internet, at least the way we know it now. I can't even imagine plotting all the TA by hand with a calculator as some here obviously had to do. If anything all the TA gobbly-gook available now hinders before it helps. Hats off the the real old school/old farts, I only hope I make it that long. Sometimes the solitude can be taxing, but I guess it just makes the will more resolute in the end. At least my closest loved one is my daily personal assitant, running numbers for me and keeping up with earnings, some indicators, news etc..(God she must really love me even in all the madness!) Eye on the prize! Pura Vida!
Not sure I agree with you. Back in those days a round trip was $50 on 1000 shares, assuming you avoided additional ECN charges. So making a teeny netted you just over $12. With commissions so dirt cheap today I can make 3 cents on 1000 shares and net more than the teeny netted me 10 years ago. Whereas I agree decimals made it tougher in some ways the reduction in trading costs offset that in many ways too.
I agree about access to cheaper commissions is much easier these days. Sorry, I never traded for .03, that is just a waste of time, I generally traded for 1/4's and 1/2's. Nowadays' I almost exclusively trade futures. Good trading! el surdo
54. First got interested when a bar buddy made like 300K trading a stock called Verbatim. I think this was just before the '87 crash. Never had a Quotrek, but I did have a sat dish with Bonneville Market Data and ran the DOS verson of Ensign. I traded Spoos through Lind-Waldock. Had to call the orders in. That's when it was $500/pt. vs $50 for the emini now. PS I heard that 50 is the new 30.
How do you know when you are getting old? When you sit down to take a crap and your balls hit the water. Cheers.
EricP reminded me (ever so politely) that I qualify for "old fart" status. 45Y. Started trading the SP500 (pit traded) 1996. Also traded currency and bonds futures. Some stock trading in the late 90s, and have been focusing more and more on stocks since 2005 or so.