diablo272

Thanks MK and Tams, I will look into it further.

I remember seeing a volume breakdown in a post on TL a while back, I think it was for the NYSE, it showed volume divided by percentage into categories such as retail, institutional, black box, etc. I can't find that post anymore, and I'm wondering if someone can tell me where I can find this kind of data. I looked on the NYX/NYSE sites and Google, but I wasn't able to find what I'm looking for. Thanks.

Invaluable information James, thanks so much for sharing.

Another question I just thought of: I know from your LinkedIn profile that you went to school in the US, and you're now in Japan. Is it realistic for me to be considering a move to Japan when my spoken and written Japanese would be sub par, considering the industry I'm in? I know I could trade retail while living in Japan, so I'm not exactly worried, but I'm just curious as to your experience since you have traded institutionally there, and I am also considering an institutional career. Sorry for asking so many questions, don't feel obliged to answer if you're too busy.

Interesting, I will investigate a possible equivalent of that here in the US. Coincidentally, I'll also check out that Career Cross site more thoroughly, because I am considering relocating to Japan after I finish school. Thanks again.

Thank you James, that was exactly the kind of information I was looking for, especially the part about how a track record is the resume of a trader. I will look into what a head hunter is, and how I would contact one. I do not have 3+ years of profitability yet, but this is still valuable information to have. Thanks again.

I apologize for resurrecting an old thread, but I figured it would be better than starting a new one. I am considering prop trading. I've been on the websites of several of the more "respected" U.S. firms such as First New York, Jane St., and Chicago Trading, and it seems that they are interested in people with degrees in finance, econ, or math fields. I do not have a background in anything like that (in fact, I'm pretty bad at math). If I'm simply a profitable futures trader, might I still appeal to these firms? I know there probably won't be a simple yes/no answer to this question, but I'm curious as I have no experience in any trading arena besides the one on my screen. I am not interested in the arcade type firms that require a deposit. The primary reason for my interest in a prop setting is so I can learn about trading from a different perspective. Thanks. Edit: I should add that I would also be interested in trading at a hedge fund or investment bank, though I don't know who accessible that would be to someone like me who has no experience other than retail.

O, how I wish we had a lunch break on exchanges in the US like they do in Asia...Tams, since you seem to be familiar with the HSI, can you tell me what the tick size is for the mini futures contract? On the HK exchange site it lists $10HKD/index point, but that seems pretty small, since that is only ~$1.30USD according to Google.

I am interested in this as well. My only contribution is that the answer you get will not be a concrete amount. This is because you can even get slippage if you're only trading one contract, it's just that as you go up in size, it becomes more and more likely that you will get slippage on at least some of those contracts. And are you using AON orders, or no? If you really want to get an IDEA (only an idea, since no sim is the same as live trading) of this, trade this system on a replay, or I imagine you could use the backtest function within NT using increasing size as the only variable. Also you can just open a DOM at any point during NY and Globex hours and look at the size of the inside bid and ask. It would be ideal if you could somehow connect the inside BxA of the DOM to a spreadsheet, so each time the sizes of the inside BxA change, they would be recorded into the spreadsheet, and then you could average these over a series of days, weeks, and months, and you might have a decent picture of market depth at different times of the day. I have no idea if something like that is possible without knowledge of programming, though. Another thing to think about is that you may just want to program your system for the ES instead of YM. So I am aware of ways that I can get this information myself, and before I increase my size past a certain amount, I will certainly begin work on this, but I am personally just interested in the experiences of those who trade or have traded larger size live on the YM. Also, if you have experience trading larger size on NQ or ES, that is pertinent info as well. Thanks.

If you aren't willing to spend hours learning the software, this may not be the business for you. Personally I don't think I'd be comfortable trading live on a platform that I didn't have several hours of screen time on beforehand.

I read that and I was thinking a big WTF??? but then i saw that it was from 2000 .

I read about these a while back, and I never purchased them, but the idea intrigued me, so I did some research, and the retail and professional reviews that I could find were positive for the most part. Some reviews said that they didn't seem to help with fatigue or clarity, but most said the glasses helped with more. I should add that I have no idea if these reviews were credible or not. If I remember correctly, PC Mag (I think it was PC Mag) reviewed them, and their last paragraph in the review was something like : "These glasses don't really do anything, but they look cool, so you should buy them anyway!" No wonder most people think PC Mag is a joke. I came to the conclusion that adjusting the colors on my monitor would help me more, and I didn't want to be wearing glasses all the time.

Congratulations to you and her both, I just think it's incredible that someone so young can even get a HANDLE on trading. Excellent.

Maybe he just wasn't cut out to be a trader.

This is a fascinating discussion. I've always wondered: how do you learn about things like this besides working at a firm that uses this kind of software?

I'm not sure how you'd do it in TDA's platform since I've never used it before, but in TOS I think you'd just click the small button in the top right of the screen that says "Detach this layout in a separate window" when you hover over it. Then just drag the new window to the second screen and maximize.

Good luck with that, staying in shape is very important. Personally, I will never purchase something like that to get exercise. If you really want to get in shape, run 7-14 miles/day depending on how much you can handle (14 miles is not for the casual runner usually as it is hard on your body), do push-ups and sit-ups, add a lifting routine if you want to add muscle mass, and stretch a lot. You will be able to eat and drink whatever you want, and you should be in the best shape you've ever been in. Simple and effective. PS: Not knocking you personally BF, I just think that those video routines are a waste of money and kind of a trap for people who don't know how to stay fit. PPS: I don't have any in depth knowledge of p90x. PPPS: Any exercise is better than no exercise, so if p90x is all you have, go for it.

I like NT for the most part, though you should check out the official NT forums and read about some issues people have with it, in terms of speed. I haven't had many performance problems with it, but you should be aware of them. I don't program, so I can't offer my opinion there. I don't find that I need another program besides NT. I do use Think or Swim to look at other contracts and equities, but that is only because I don't get data for them through Zen-Fire. If I could view these contracts in Ninja with Zen, I would just do that, since NT is far superior to TOS for what I do (though I can't complain since TOS is free).

I didn't know that, thanks for clarifying. I've only used NT through Mirus, so that is my only experience with the free version of NT.

I don't know of any for FTSE, but the list below should get you started on other markets anyway. Note that I think some of the symbols listed in the link are wrong, for example, it lists the Nasdaq tick index as $tict, when it is actually $tickq. Anyway, it's a start: Index Symbols

Just a small addition to Tams' post above: You can trade live with the free version of Ninja, but you won't have access to the ATM function (I think it stands for "Advanced Trade Management"), which basically allows you to predefine a stop and a target, so both orders are placed simultaneously as soon as your entry order is filled. It is quite useful, and I always use it, but it isn't absolutely necessary depending on what you style is. Regarding cost though, I believe Ninja is about $60/month if you lease it for 3 months, which is the shortest lease they offer, and AmiBroker is even cheaper as Tams mentioned, so they are both among the most affordable platforms you will find.

Try downloading the newest version of your video card's drivers, that's about the only thing I can think of right now. Also check and see if that's a common problem by paying a visit to some itunes forums (I'm sure they exist). On topic, I use foobar to listen to music while I trade. It's nothing fancy, but I really like it.

I found this post on "Crisis Control" interesting and have nominated it accordingly for "Topic Of The Month July, 2009"

What does ISV stand for? Also one thing that I can add is: if you do open another account, don't only fund it with the minimum margin requirements. What I mean is, if your broker requires $500/contract and you trade 10 contracts usually, don't fund the backup account with only $5000. If the trade goes against you, the broker can liquidate the position, which would defeat the purpose of having the backup broker altogether.

Good luck with your move James.