Hello guys.. I've been attempting to find the 'Ax', a term in a book by Tharp and Brian June (Financial Freedom via Day Trading), or essentially the 1 or several market makers controlling the direction. But what I read isn't matching what's on my screen. Either the book is too old, or my level 2 isn't providing enough info. For instance there is no "best" column. Easy enough to see if other platforms offer that. But the players have completely different names. The book talks about: JPMS, MLCO, FLTT, DBKS, MCSO, WARR, HRZG, GSCO, DEAN, LEGG, DLJP, MLCO, NITE, SLKS, MASH, BTRD, INCA, ARCA, ATTN, ISLD. But on my level 2 screen, only a few of those show up. What does show up that Karp doesn't mention is ARCX, CINN, NSDQ, LEHM, EDGX, EDGA, MADF, COWN, NFSC, TWPT, STFL, AGED, ETRD I feel like maybe I'm not seeing all the bids I need to be seeing, maybe the names have changed over the years or ?? I want to know who is a market maker, a retail broker, institutional ECNS, or Trading group and so forth. Any guidance for me?
Reading Market Players Yes the players have changed, also more hidden identity/orders then ever before with new ATS's. Sometimes you can get tells looking at display size who maybe who, but is only a guess. Bottom line is your research material is dated and now you must tape read or watch patterns of quote updates to get a tell on direction. Greg
I tried getting into L2 for a while but yes, it's very outdated and prone to huge amounts of manipulation. Good for finding out all the levels of support and resistance though, although you could get those from a chart. Anyways, charts never lie
Orders are hidden, MMIDs are anonymous, volume is refreshed. Don't go down the L2 route, you're 10 years late. That book is outdated.