What is this, your very first post you post a possibly outlandish rumor. What are your intentions of posting this. I work at Hold Brothers and I, nor any of the traders I work with or know there have been asked to reduce their payouts or increase thier commissions. Also, we received our pay checks on time also. So, if they are out of money, how could they have done this???
Why bother trading if your not taking 10k positions??? That is really a incredible statement to make. Seriously, you can make good money trading 500-1000 share lots. If the volume is light then getting out of a 10k position can be very difficult. I know of a few traders who do no more then 4k lots and probably make 2-3k a day. That is like 400-600k a year. I guess they better quite trading since it really isn't worth it to them.
Because some traders actually do know how to trade for 30-50 cents instead of scalping 4-5 cents on 10k shares. Your statement that implies real traders should do 10k or more per trade shows that in fact you do not really know the different ways of scalping and making money. Especially when it comes to low risk trading. You really should not even be posting because you do not understand the issue. BTW, now if you do want to short 10k of WYE it is gonna take longer. Imagine trying to short 10k of a stock doing average daily of about 1 mil. You will be sitting there for hours. So it affects even your super trader strategy.
WIth all due respect, you are a total piker. Anyone not scalping 50,000 shares, or position trading 100,000 shares, is wasting his or her time. I mean, c'mon people, are you in this to make money or not?
If Bill Gates makes $50,000.00 per hour does he lose money to stoop and pick up a $100.00 bill from the sidewalk? Michael B.
I agree with waggie945 and others here. Yes bullets gone is an edge lost. But Bullets is not the only edge a trader has. The real edge is within the trader and his/her ability to adapt. Edges come and go. Imagine the market as a terrain will all kinds of roadways to get to the top. You can choose the highway and a fast running ferrari with all the speed, glory and no speed limit. Ahhh but the rules change midway. A governor needs to be installed on your carb. Max speed is limited to a crawl. Well.... get on the 4x4 slow speed but climbup the rocky hillside, no ferrari can match your results.... Many ways to skin the cat.... Cheers.
traders come and traders go. the good ones adapt and that is great. but from 1996 - 2002 were some killer years when a trader with balls could have made a killing. many of us did. now that market volatility hurts and bullets are gone there are gonna be fewer awesome traders and many struggling ones. many of us came in to clean up profits while they were there. I am sure many can make a living trading in the current atmosphere. but making a living and making a killing are 2 different things. killings are far and few in between these days. day trading blows these days compared to days of old. how many of my buddies remember the good old days. we thought we'd trade till we were 80 years old. not anymore. the fun is gone. i used to love going in to work. we all did - and now many of us don't anymore. shrinking commissions (.005 and less per share) and tougher conditions and no more bullet revenue = tough times for the industry. I am sure Don has some good ideas but in all reality this could be the last straw. a few big firms and handful of good traders will survive but the good times are over. people swarm in to make the bucks while they can and then they adapt and move on to new money making ventures. A real estate agent recently told me how during the refi craze he had 150 brokers in his office - now that rates are stable and refis are down - there are 5 brokers. smart ones came - took advantage - and left when the going was still good. many traders did and will do the same. is a shame - but is the reality of this world. good luck to all you still hanging on. hang tight!
I agree with your summary of the current conditions. And as I have mentioned in a previous post, I really believe that the answer is FUTURES.
I definitely think the bullets being gone will really hurt many firms because there was a HUGE markup in bullets. How many firms can afford to give up another revenue source with trading vol down and with commission prices under pressure like they have been that last couple of years. It will be interesting to see if these weaker firms will continue their strategy of trying to hang on until "it picks up again" which is not really a realistic strategy.