Who Am I Up Against?

[Yatman1]

Can someone give me a breakdown of who/what is involved in a given market at any one time and the relevant influence on price/direction they have.

To use an example, i've mostly traded spot forex market GBP/USD. My basic understanding is as follows.

In order of influence:

-The central banks buy/sell in order to dictate currency value
-Institutions/banks i.e wholesale like deutsche bank will trade speculative but probably more on behalf of global corporate clients hedging against currency fluctuations and trade their goods globally
-Hedge Funds etc purely speculative trying to ride the trends that the above two categories create
-Mr Day trader & co trying to identify and profit from the actions of the above three

and thats about all i've grasped so far (maybe completely off base?)

Appreciate if experienced traders can add to this list or give more insight and how things would work in major equity & commodity markets?

 

[oiltanker]

we are up against our own false beliefs of what trading is about and how much [or little] we need to know to make money imo.

 

[bbmac]

Can someone give me a breakdown of who/what is involved in a given market at any one time and the relevant influence on price/direction they have.

To use an example, i've mostly traded spot forex market GBP/USD. My basic understanding is as follows.

In order of influence:

-The central banks buy/sell in order to dictate currency value
-Institutions/banks i.e wholesale like deutsche bank will trade speculative but probably more on behalf of global corporate clients hedging against currency fluctuations and trade their goods globally
-Hedge Funds etc purely speculative trying to ride the trends that the above two categories create
-Mr Day trader & co trying to identify and profit from the actions of the above three

and thats about all i've grasped so far (maybe completely off base?)

Appreciate if experienced traders can add to this list or give more insight and how things would work in major equity & commodity markets?

You've got it, except to say that some central banks are more directly interventionist than others in respect of a policy of influencing exchange rates. I also endorse the comments in post above. For retail traders it probably doesn't matter who are the counter parties of our trades as is is just as likely to be your broker, what is more importnat is having a proven trading edge and the psychological skills to firstly understand it's strengths/weaknesses/historical strike rate (important for calculating own risk tolerances)and so impliment it profitably.

g/L

 

[neil]

The biggest enemy is yourself. A cliche but a truism nonetheless

 

[trader_dante]

Can someone give me a breakdown of who/what is involved in a given market at any one time and the relevant influence on price/direction they have.

To use an example, i've mostly traded spot forex market GBP/USD. My basic understanding is as follows.

In order of influence:

-The central banks buy/sell in order to dictate currency value
-Institutions/banks i.e wholesale like deutsche bank will trade speculative but probably more on behalf of global corporate clients hedging against currency fluctuations and trade their goods globally
-Hedge Funds etc purely speculative trying to ride the trends that the above two categories create
-Mr Day trader & co trying to identify and profit from the actions of the above three

and thats about all i've grasped so far (maybe completely off base?)

Appreciate if experienced traders can add to this list or give more insight and how things would work in major equity & commodity markets?

Hmmm, I wrote a long post on every single participants activities a while back...can't seem to find it now.

 

[Technically Fundamental]

Hmmm, I wrote a long post on every single participants activities a while back...can't seem to find it now.

Did you find it? That would be an interesting read. Where the hell did you learn that stuff?

 

[trader_dante]

Did you find it? That would be an interesting read. Where the hell did you learn that stuff?

Niederhoffer.

This wasn't the post but it's along similar lines: http://www.trade2win.com/boards/first-steps/42770-welcome.html

 

[Technically Fundamental]

You know what I actually knew that stuff. Its another thing trying to decipher when these types of activities are coming into play based on PA alone. My IG limited risk account doesnt exactly give a lot of info.

 

[HaloTrader]

You know what I actually knew that stuff. Its another thing trying to decipher when these types of activities are coming into play based on PA alone. My IG limited risk account doesnt exactly give a lot of info.

Limited risk account is difficult i found... Depends on your strategy, but i was trying to scalp 10 pips at a time, lost money + confidence, next day i change the account and i make money on identical trades, the spread and stop loss distance was killing me.

 

[Technically Fundamental]

Who you use?