I only know a few cases where this level of paranoia is warranted. A trader I know would consistently account for 8-10-12% of the overall daily volume, using a fairly mechanical strategy. So he had attracted a lot of attention from the clearing firm (he hold exchange seats), rumour mills, as he would generate daily P&L of 400k on average. So he bought more seats, spread out his trading, and became less noticable on the radar screen.
Seems to me multiple accounts is the way to go anyways. Diversification in brokers is less risky---Brokers can go down for many reasons, think REFCO for a recent example. Then just divide your strategy between brokers and then randomly switch between brokers. Will acheive the same result and lessen risk if any broker were to find themselves squeezed for capital. Just a thought.
as Rufus said.....you would have to be MASSIVE to attract any type of attention at all. we are talking about exchnages that move 2 BILLION shares a day. I dont honestly know if the software companies go thorugh and look at everyones trades and spend hours trying to analyize how you do it......not a good way to spend time. There is not much new stuff out there that really makes a difference, and people that make really big money, sometimes use pretty simple indicators. as many of us believe....strategy is not as important as the person. The turtles are a perfect example...so is nicholas darvas. Rachael...unless you are moving $10,000,000+ per day unleveraged...i think you may cause yourself more work than it is worth. good luck
Simple breakouts, moving averages....breaking about a 52 week high or all time high. It doesnt have to have a 5 page long mathematical formula to a system!
My reply was only meant for 'paranoia' post(s). Hiding a strategy from software vendors implies that you bought some software in the first place. If you write your own trading system, you won't have this problem, unless you also worry about OS vendors. From reading the posts, I believe that most are worried by brokers finding out about strategies. Putting your code on a broker's server would be most dangerous. This has been discussed some time ago at ET.
I have developed my own system in excel (to trade the emini s&P) I want to use a software vendor to trade my system as well as send execute my orders. The system will send out exiting orders automatically once my initial orders are filled. I am thinking about using the TradeMaven Software. I am wondering - can they see my whole strategy or just the orders once they are sent out ? any input would be appreciated
The brokers are probably smart enough to realize that they would go broke peeking at profitable accounts. They don't know if your winning streak is due to a good system with solid risk management, using coolweb's time machine, just making lucky guesses or what.