He's not looking for "online interaction". In contrast, he's looking for "in person interaction". Thus, skype, chat rooms, discussion forums. IM or whatever is not a surrogate mother for such. I know and understand his situation very well...been there and done that. In fact, that's what I have right now as a "retail trader" trading from home and I'm looking forward to getting away from this again. As for the additional overhead cost...that's the cost for the "in person" interaction. However, my profit level improved via the in person office environment not because we were like minded considering we traded different trading instruments. The major improvement I saw was the money management concentration, discipline, preparation et cetera. I'm not saying he'll have the same improvement nor will I expect the same to occur when I go back to an office trading environment. The point I'm making is that there's a chance that if there's an improved trading performance...it offsets the cost of having the office. However, that's my personal experience and your personal office trading experience may be much different than my. Mark
And I'm the exact opposite - I like trading from my home office, with either music or my broker's 'aquawk' going in the background. I don't think I'd be happy in a communal trading environment with other traders IN PERSON. As for trader interaction, the one (free) chat room I've been in for a few years and the quasi-two-way 'squawk' from my broker is more than enough for me. But each to their own, obviously.
I think you may have misunderstood my point Mark. I know the OP wants some real trader-to-trader interactions. Not playing the masquerade parties online. The question is: do you have to do it eyeball-to-eyeball? You have seen some of those trading room pictures... hundreds of traders gathered in one room, working... and they ignore each other! Because what/how everybody trades is different. I was talking about skype conference calls via the internet. Or you can get some "meet me" numbers from Sprint or AT&T. It's real-time, interactive conference calls. Not a relayed chat. You talk to your buddies while your eyes are fixed on your own trading screens. "Oh you can't see the other guy's screen...". How about using something like WebEx to share your screens? You want to pay thousands of dollars of monthly rents so you can high-five someone?
I was in a similar situation few years back. Bored to tears trading from home while my wife was at work. However I had grave privacy and compatibility concerns of sharing an office with other traders, so I opted to share an office with non traders. Via craigslist which lists hundred of ads for shared office space. I found this shared office in a cool building full of artists in Manhattan, shared an office with 3 others, they were mostly graphic designers and one marketed independent films. Really nice laid back people, no one ever asked me about my trading. Rent was about $500/mo. As you can see from the various posters on ET, traders, well, how shall i say this, are quirky or some downright emotionally unstable.
A few traders in London run a similar arrangement http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=180747
Geeesh...shared office with non traders. That never crossed my mind...thanks for the tip. When I had a shared office...it wasn't for the purpose of seeing what's on the other guys screen. It only cost me about $350 shared rent back then in the 90's and I hope it shouldn't cost me much more this time around unless I'm looking for some luxuries associated with having an office in some new office complex. I plan on continuing using my real time online interactions (e.g. free chat room, skype and twitter group). I just need that in person trading interaction to complete the package for me. Mark
Skype has been great for me. Like-minded traders, trading the exact same thing in the same time frame, extra sets of eyes to catch setups forming, good discussions, some heated debates, all good IMHO. Skype vs an actual shared office has the added advantage that when you call your trade, you can't see your trading roomies roll their eyes as they place the mic on mute and say, "WTF is s/he doing that for???"
I am sure you can find some animated GIFs for rolling eyeballs. Then blast it to your buddies via Yahoo IM, ND! Ask Petsamo. LOL