Gene, Please forgive my naivete regarding decimal trading but doesn't it make it easier in some aspects. For example if you are wrong about the direction of a stock and you have to get out, you can get out with a much smaller loss now that we have such tiny spreads.
Blue Star, Think of it this way, A day trader will make between .020 and .08, if he is a skilled trader. The difference between making & losing is very small. The best day trader I have ever seen , made almost .20 per trade, in a very good year(He can't make this today). If I'm a daytrader and I'm right and the spread is 1/16 and I make 4 ticks(.0625 X 4= .25) ,I made $250.00.Now if I'm right, I make (.010 X 4= .040) or $40.00! It is now very hard to "take" money out of the markets. The "scalp" game is over. We must adjust our trading strategy. Market Makers like NITE & TSCO who make a living off the Bid-ASK spread are having a very hard time, since there is no Bid-ASK spread or .01, which is as low as I hope the spread will go. Gene Weissman Lieber & Weissman Sec., L.L.C. gweissman@stocktrade.net
Gene, I think you touch the core of one of the great transitions that professional traders have had to make in this market, more specifically professional equities scalpers. Traders need to adapt to survive, that much is certain. But the move from scalper to a form closer to position trader is a large leap. As you expand the length of a trade, you expand its complexity also. Many Van Buren traders have had to make this adjustment over the past months. It has not been an easy transition, but it has been a necessary one. Further, I am convinced that undestanding forms of trading not as dependent on volatility and momentum make one a trader better equipped to make it in this business over the long haul.