hey fellas, I've just recently started as a trainee at a proprietary firm (we deal with NYSE stocks), and I am learning the ins and outs of scalping. Basically, reading the time and sales window, as well as the NYSE specialist openbook, level 2 quote. I was wondering if anyone could shed some lights on how all of these tie together. So far the only thing i know is to spot uptick and downtick (to see whether the crowd sways more towards the sell or buy side) but i have no clue as to how to spot a fake bid/offer, a refresh order, a specialist intervention.... and also i'm not 100% sure about the representation of the time and sale screen in general. Could anyone show me a few t hings on the subject? Or explain how this works? Also, i'm looking for a good book/mag for what i'm doing, if anyone know a good one please let me know, since most books or mag tend concentrate on technical analysis. Hope to hear from you all soon.
look at the open book, who is on the bid, on the ask, the size they are displaying, now while doing this look at time and sales and see what is being printed. Learn to look for patterns and correlations between what is being shown and what is being printed. Is the specialist showing 100 and big size is going off on the bid ? Learn to look for the big blocks being printed and what was happening prior to that, the spec gets large buy and sell orders and often has to work them in. Has he been on the ask for a long time showing size trying to scare sellers to hit him on the ask and at the bid showing little size as 100,200 ,300 lots are hitting the bid ? Then when he lifts does the stock fade ? Does a large block print as a buy after this action ? Also keep time and sales on after 4 as many times blocks trades go off after the close which is the spec filling big orders he had for the day. Was the stock down 2 % on the day yet multiple 100k blocks were being bought after 4:00 ? I don't know of any books that can actually teach you how to read the tape. The best thing you can do is spend hours and hours watching it happen and over time you will see it.