Aight, I've been doing pretty good with NYSE by reading the tape, Open Book and watching the chart. But on weeks like this one, I wish I was trading Naz. Just the TASR alone would have been all I needed on days when NYSE is almost dead with pathetic ranges and specialists are looking to screw over day traders since the big money is taking a break. I've noticed the Naz guys do not even have time and sales and just watch the book of their favorite MM. Also there is a lot of watch of the ECNs. Some of the guys barely even look at the chart. It seems very new to me. Basically if I want to trade both, what are the differences and similarities in the transition between NYSE and Naz. What are the adjusments I should be ready to make if I want to try Naz.
The NASDAQ is way better to trade. I watch market depth, mms and ecn's and if you are on a stock long enough you will see patterns, I hate the NYSE, Volatility on NASDAQ is the best. I made more money after hours, eg IMCL and DELL yesterday (than during normal market hours)when the market is thin and very volatile. Good Luck on the NASDAQ.
Mecro, What type of NYSE stocks do you usually trade using tape reading? High volume thick stocks or thin stocks? Is is safe to say that Naz stocks would more trade like thicker NYSE stocks?!
Uhm when I think about it, I trade all from the illiquid to the most known names. Some of the stocks I started trading in the summer used to do barely half a mil a day and now do about 2-3 mil a day. I just got to know how they trade and basically know the companies and what's going on. I am starting to move away from the lower volume to higher volume stocks for some reason. But I will play with the illiquids here and there. From what I understand, big Naz stocks like MSFT trade just like GE, GM, F names on NYSE. Thats great but I'm looking at Nazdaq for different type of moves and as an alternative. I see no reason why I should not be able to trade both day after day but would like to know the adjustments I should be ready to make on the spot.
For one thing, the tape is different. NAZ has many duplications. A matched order can get shown as 20.21 and 20.25 (buy and sell, MM pocket the .04) The level2 book is full of phantom bids/offers. You can post an order and cancel it immediately on NAZ stocks, except SOES. Depth can be illusory. ECN books have time stamps. Firm, standing orders will be easy to spot cuz they stay there. NYSE takes some time to cancel an order. AMEX, forget it, those bastards pocket the order and decide whether they recieved your cancel order or not. Naz, the chart will tell all.