Once I knew a man. He was a machine. He was before the time of automation. He was one of those special ones... One morning, I walk in at my usual time (6:30am) and I see JM already in the office. He only started a few weeks ago, but everyone saw that he had the bug and perhaps the skills. I go over to him just as the sun is starting to hit the windows overlooking the river. I ask him, "what ya doin' here so early?" He says, "I'm testing some ideas". I said, "mind if I look?" He says go ahead and I look at the screen.... He has 200+ orders already! And he's still typing! Yeah, I said it, he is MANUALLY typing in hundreds of orders. As time goes by I see him almost every morning like this. During the day when I see him, he is typing ALL day to make adjustments. We had no OCO's in stocks, we still had the uptick rule, specialists were still spreading stocks and raping people - but IF you caught the prints, talk about free money,...basically, it was a different time. To manage hundreds of positions manually? Does anyone still do this? Are there others? No look typing - this kid typed FAST, manually adjusting hundreds of positions throughout the day (the most I know about is +\- 300 different stocks at one time....I never saw anything like it...He was definitely playing a video game. We should have given him a joystick instead. With so many positions, he never had time to marry his positions. So one day, I talk to my boss about JM. I asked him, "does he make money?" Boss looks at me and answers with a serious look that says , "won't believe HOW much he makes". I ask if he trades SIZE. He says, his typical trades are in 100 share lots up to 300 share lots. :eek: He made millions and then from what I hear lost it all when he changed his methods...I could be wrong. Just a babble on a sat morning.
he lost it all when he changes his methods? perhaps he was'nt able to adapt to a changing market. trading is being able to constantly adapt. its like a good hitter that can only hit fast balls. he is not a good hitter if he can only hit fast balls.