Time & Sales

[vale46]

Hi,

New to the world of trading. Thanks for all the information here and the great videos Soul. I have a question regarding software. I notice you use tradestation for all your charting and tape reading. Do other software platforms show the tape in the same way that tradestation does? Is it just a time and sales setting in other programs? If anyone has used or is using software that can display the tape in the same way tradestation does I'd appreciate it. I've seen tons of windows that look like the attached image, but none like tradestation. Is this even the right image?

Im asking as it seems a lot of traders have 2 accounts, trade ten times to get tradestation free and continue with another broker. I'd prefer to have one account with a really good/fast broker. No-one seems to use or recommend tradestation as a broker.

Thanks

Rossi Fan

[walterw]

Hi Vale, what you attached its called DOM (depth of market),wich comes on trading platforms softwares, what you are looking for is Time and Sales... TS is the one you see on Souls videos, you can also have that on regular data service softwares like esignal, qcharts, realtick etc... normally dom softwares unfortunately do not include time and sales... hope helps Walter.

[Soultrader]

Yes, exactly what walter said. Check to see if the software comes with a time of sales. Sometimes brokers will ask you what it is and why you need it. Swtich brokers.

Alot of trading platforms should have it. The DOM you showed on the pic for Tradestation is called the Matrix. Other platforms will refer to it as the price ladder.

[notouch]

I think newbie traders should steer well clear of time & sales, except maybe as an educational exercise.

[cooter]

	Quote:	notouch
	I think newbie traders should steer well clear of time & sales, except maybe as an educational exercise.

Why? Any premise for your blanket statement?

[notouch]

I think a newbie needs something concrete to work with, like VSA for example. I've yet to see a workable tape reading strategy and tape readers usually fall back on claims that it's a "feeling" that can't be explained. I think any newbie hoping to scalp a few ticks on the basis of some mysterious "feeling" is in for trouble.

[vale46]

Thanks for the replies. Learnt something new. I'll start trawling through the VSA thread. I figured tape reading would be difficult, well not difficult just time consuming to master. I've seen some of huberts videos on trade the markets and Souls here and I like the 'simplicity' of tape reading. In any case Im definitely open to any ideas and strategies

Successful futures trading is a long term objective of mine, Im definitely not looking for a quick buck.

I'll be posting plenty more questions

[walterw]

	Quote:	notouch
	I think a newbie needs something concrete to work with, like VSA for example. I've yet to see a workable tape reading strategy and tape readers usually fall back on claims that it's a "feeling" that can't be explained. I think any newbie hoping to scalp a few ticks on the basis of some mysterious "feeling" is in for trouble.

Tape reading is not easy, vsa isnt as well... and the "feeling" of tape is not subjective I think... you feel how the tape goes wild with super amount of buy/sell contracts, or you feel how the tape is stuck... there are clear empiric and objective events on tape...

I think any aproach has to be dwelt as dificult or easy you want to make it...

If you WANT to learn it you will.... be newby or not... cheers Walter.

[torero]

I don't claim to be tape reading expert and don't use it as my primary tool of trading, charting is. But having it as a companion tool will help see the pace of the buying and the selling. So this would give a good context when charts are not showing such pace. I usually look for pullback/rallies accompanying slow pace to check if it's a good spot to get in with the trend. This is especially helpful to see if the trend's pace is exhausting or not.

[notouch]

Unless you're scalping for a few ticks I don't think there's anything you can get from tape reading that you can't get from a candlestick chart with volume. A fast tape just means more volume. More green doesn't mean more buyers (of course there's always an equal number of buyers and sellers in futures trading) it just means more contracts are made at the offer and you can use a bid/ask delta indicator for that if you really think you need it. Reading the chart allows greater objectivity in your trading.