General Discussions on TT

[samtron]

So that other threads are not diverted I have started this thread for General Chit Chat as related to TT. Please use it for random questions, thoughts, ideas etc etc

I will kick it off with the following:

It was announced to-day that the NASDAQ has bid again for the LSE. (2.7 bl GBP)

If the offer is accepted how, if any, will it effect us?

 

[Glenn]

The Nasdaq exchange technology is slower than that of the LSE. Sounds like a step backwards.
A group of global banks are also bidding.
Glenn

 

[Nastrader]

So that other threads are not diverted I have started this thread for General Chit Chat as related to TT. Please use it for random questions, thoughts, ideas etc etc

I will kick it off with the following:

It was announced to-day that the NASDAQ has bid again for the LSE. (2.7 bl GBP)

If the offer is accepted how, if any, will it effect us?

Hi Samtron,

I don't think you have anything to worry about, since according to the latest news it doesn't seem like this will happen. But, the Nasdaq Stock Symbol = NDAQ, has been in a strong uptrend today (+ 1.64 % Chng Open, or up $1.20 as of 17:46 [EU] ) due to the Pre-Market news. Don’t know if you have briefing, so here is their latest news on NDAQ’s bid for LSE:

Start Quote:
12:15 NDAQ NASDAQ: Announces final offer for LSE; deal does not seem likely in the near term - Prudential (37.59 +1.02) -Update-
Prudential notes that NDAQ announced that it has made its final offer for the London Stock Exchange at 1243 pence/share. The LSE's board rejected the offer this morning. Firm feels there is a very small chance that the deal is consummated in the near term. In Nasdaq's favor, firm says LSE faces new competition in the form of a consortium of investment banks who are starting a competing marketplace, which could reduce the market value of the LSE. On the other hand, firm says LSE's board appears to feel that it is a consolidator and not a seller. The firm believes that the chances NDAQ is able to garner the 20%+ additional LSE shares needed to assume control of the board are very low in the near term, particularly without board recommendation.
End Quote.

Nas

 

[samtron]

The bid has been rejected :cheesy:
I was more worried about commissions, trading shares on the LSE the commissions are a lot higher than trading on the NASDAQ.


BTW
The NASDAQ is CLOSED on THURSDAY This WEEK (thanksgiving)

 

[samtron]

Hi Gang,
Fri 24 nov 06

After the holiday yesterday ,the NASDAQ is only open for half a day today and trading will be light.

 

[samtron]

Hi gang!
Thanksgiving also heralds the start of the Xmas shopping season in th US. I was just wondering what impact the festive season in general ( especially the month December) has on Trading the Nasdaq.
I would imagine volumes are lighter and therefore TT is "more" difficult?
Should I pack-in now till January and head for the Bahamas?

 

[Nastrader]

Hi gang!
Thanksgiving also heralds the start of the Xmas shopping season in th US. I was just wondering what impact the festive season in general ( especially the month December) has on Trading the Nasdaq.
I would imagine volumes are lighter and therefore TT is "more" difficult?
Should I pack-in now till January and head for the Bahamas?

Hi Samtron,

Technically speaking in TA my opinion doesn't count - LOL. So I'll post an attachment of the Dow to indicate Decembers Volatility & Volume.

As the Dow's Monthly Chart indicates, the Volume is better than our Summer Months, and the Volatility is about average, but this is due to the weeks prior to Xmas.

Therefore, the Weekly Chart indicate's that prior to Xmas day, volume may be better than average.

The Weekly Chart also indicates that during the week between Xmas and New Year's is a very slow time for the Markets - see attached wkly chart.

Nas

 

[samtron]

Hi Samtron,

Technically speaking in TA my opinion doesn't count - LOL. So I'll post an attachment of the Dow to indicate Decembers Volatility & Volume.

As the Dow's Monthly Chart indicates, the Volume is better than our Summer Months, and the Volatility is about average, but this is due to the weeks prior to Xmas.

Therefore, the Weekly Chart indicate's that prior to Xmas day, volume may be better than average.

The Weekly Chart also indicates that during the week between Xmas and New Year's is a very slow time for the Markets - see attached wkly chart.

Nas

Cheers Nas,
Very useful info.

I got no excuses now to start the xmas holidays early. Cheers Buddy

 

[samtron]

Any one watch last nights program on BBC about the British Economy (Snow and Snow)
They had an interview with the head of trading at a City Bank, and in the background was the massive trading hall with the traders at work- most had multi-flat screen set ups. Some of the guys get annual bonuses exceeding million.
Now has any one worked in such an environment? because my question is are these guys using "engines" or are they eyeballing charts and looking for TA set-ups (aka samtron ) Sorry if this sound like a naive question but I would be interested to know.

 

[rajibde]

Any one watch last nights program on BBC about the British Economy (Snow and Snow)
They had an interview with the head of trading at a City Bank, and in the background was the massive trading hall with the traders at work- most had multi-flat screen set ups. Some of the guys get annual bonuses exceeding million.
Now has any one worked in such an environment? because my question is are these guys using "engines" or are they eyeballing charts and looking for TA set-ups (aka samtron ) Sorry if this sound like a naive question but I would be interested to know.

Hi Samtron,

I've never been there but from what G1 has mentioned before on 'program traders' , my impression is that they do have 'engines' (much complicated ones I'm sure) with which they buy/sell-remember G1's notes on VWAP and its significance to the price movement?

Raj

 

[samtron]

Hi Samtron,

I've never been there but from what G1 has mentioned before on 'program traders' , my impression is that they do have 'engines' (much complicated ones I'm sure) with which they buy/sell-remember G1's notes on VWAP and its significance to the price movement?

Raj

I not so sure Raj, because if that was the case most traders in the room would get very similar results and there would be no need to pay BIG bonuses ?

 

[rajibde]

I not so sure Raj, because if that was the case most traders in the room would get very similar results and there would be no need to pay BIG bonuses ?

You are possib. right Samtron (as mentioned -I've never seen it myself) but my reasoning is that different traders trade in different time frames + the 'engines' may not necessarily work the same for all of them as basically trading is an art (I Think) and not an exact science although to decrease the subjectivity and emotions in our decisions, we (I) use maths (statistical analysis). How else can we explain the OB/OS conditions and reversals on a non trending day?
It would be interesting to know the pros experience on this topic.

 

[leovirgo]

Any one watch last nights program on BBC about the British Economy (Snow and Snow)
They had an interview with the head of trading at a City Bank, and in the background was the massive trading hall with the traders at work- most had multi-flat screen set ups. Some of the guys get annual bonuses exceeding million.
Now has any one worked in such an environment? because my question is are these guys using "engines" or are they eyeballing charts and looking for TA set-ups (aka samtron ) Sorry if this sound like a naive question but I would be interested to know.

A friend of mine is a manager with billiondollar equity hedge fund in NY. I had a rare glimpse of how hedgefunds work. Strategic decisions come from fund managers who use their analysts report and programmed research data for market direction and pick their selections. Traders have to accumulate(buy) or liquidate(sell) a given order, e.g, say for $300m worth of AAPL stocks over five days. So traders have to do it. Conventional TA, as we know it, like CCI and Stochastics, does not matter to them.

Having said that, hedge fund managers like Steve Cohen are more into active trading. He has never said what he uses for his kind of trading. I would love to know more about him.. here is the source..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_A._Cohen

regards,..

 

[Glenn]

10 months later..

After visiting Iraj last August, it appeared that a lot of work lay ahead to put a Tradestation system together. So it turned out !
A workable system was produced many months ago, and has been in use ever since. This was followed by periodic tweaking and modification as ideas came to mind.
Attached is a pic of the current Radar set-up.
Whether much of it is anything like what Iraj does I have no idea, but nonethless it works well.
A few Radars are invisible because they are only used to generate audible signals.

I found that scaling position sizing during a trade depending on the different timescale signals was too much to do and intead adopted a simpler approach. As I tend to get easily distrated by family activity after school is out, this is the best compromise at present. However this tends to mean that trades are done quickly and the bigger moves are missed.

Just thought it might be interesting to some while the TT board is quiet.
And of course, thanks to Iraj for his time and generosity.
Glenn

 

[evostik]

Hi There Glenn,

Hope you are well. It looks like you have been busy!

A (first) question if I may? What is CRSA, B, and C?

Cheers

Steve

 

[Glenn]

Hi There Glenn,

Hope you are well. It looks like you have been busy!

A (first) question if I may? What is CRSA, B, and C?

Cheers

Steve

Hi Steve
CRS is Comparative Relative Strength (as distinct to Relative Strength).
It compares the movement of the stock to an Index in different timeframes (A,B,C) using GV's
I tried to use Iraj's 'Indu-Diverge' indicator but never really understood what it was doing, so decided to write my own.
If the market moves up and the stock moves up 'faster', then it shows Long Strong.(LSTR). If the stock moves up slower it shows Long Weak (Lwk).
If the market moves up and the stock moves down it shows Long Contrary (LCon).
Vice versa for a down market.

It has a variety of uses depending on how you are trading at the time e.g. You can often see a number of stocks moving strongly together in tandem in a short timeframe and soon after the Index will follow, which triggers other stocks to move. i.e. start of trend in lowest timeframe.

Hope you are well and prospering.
Cheers
Glenn

 

[evostik]

Glenn, sounds a great tool - I remember, now, you saying you were going to do some work on such. I think you should put it on ebay!

BTW, what did you decide about volume factor in the end (for the box b/o)?

Cheers

Steve

 

[Glenn]

Glenn, sounds a great tool - I remember, now, you saying you were going to do some work on such. I think you should put it on ebay!

BTW, what did you decide about volume factor in the end (for the box b/o)?

Cheers

Steve

CRS is pretty straighforward to code compared to some of the other stuff. I'm sure anyone could write it.

Box B/o - At the moment the volume is only taken into account in the lowest timeframe. Higher timeframes don't use it. This may change if and when longer term trading becomes possible.
However there doesn't appear to be much difference with or without volume.

Glenn

 

[rajibde]

Some newbie(like me) can find it helpful

Hi All,

A few things which although have been mentioned many times in the BB but I found it the hard way that the advice is very important-

1) Technical trading lacks its effectiveness on low volume days eg. Christmas week, 4th July week etc.- so it is best to STAY AWAY from the market especially from Intraday trading on these days- these are the best times( I have realised ) to go on a vacation. General market volume is very important for intraday trading (also holds true for the lunch hours-as has been mentioned bfore).

2)I had always wondered that how can G1 be so successful in keeping his emotions out of the decisions while he is trading Intraday- well I am aware that he uses the system mechanically and follows it very methodically...well I tried to do it but always found it difficult (but of course my TS is also not half as sophisticated as G1's I guess)- till something what G1 mentioned in his post struck me- He mentioned that his main revenue (or income ) is generated from his swing trades .... I have tried to adapt this thought by concentrating on swing trades and doing very few intraday trades (the ones which completely fit the bill)-this for me has removed most of the stress while trading intraday as I am not chasing an Intraday target for the particular day- this in turn has improved my trading results not only while swing trading but greatly while trading intraday.

3) Lastly- I have stopped putting a daily target while I trade and instead try to look for a weekly target-the intention was to consider it as business and not a job- this has also helped me to remove the stress from my trading and my trading balance consequently has become healthy...(oops I've said it now..)

Things can be greatly different from person to person- in my case I found the wrong decisions which I have taken in the past while trading has been as a result of stress (pressure to achieve etc. etc...trying to decide in a short reaction time)- I could find a way around it as mentioned above.
Thought that I must mention it on the BB and even if any one person finds it helpful..well it is worth the effort.

Best wishes and Happy Trading

Raj

 

[evostik]

Hi Raj

Great to here you are doing well. You make some interesting points. Regarding "stress" though, don't you find you are kinda replacing the fast pace stress of daytrading with the 'worry' of holding overnight?

Cheers

Steve