[stylelad]

I ve noticed that all your tape reading strategies are used mainly on thin stocks (I mean stocks where there are not many lots (bout 1-5) on every price level)..but how can we read the tape on stocks where we can find 200-300 lots on every price level (like Q, CDE, MOT etc.)???
Tx!

[Soultrader]

I think youre mistaking thin stocks with futures. All the tape reading videos show the emini index futures.

[stylelad]

so u mean tapereading of e-mini futeres is different from tapereading of stocks??
maybe i should move this thread to "Stosk trading" chapter of the forum??

[Soultrader]

Tape reading in general is the same. Except with thin stocks, its relatively easily to manipulate so i wouldnt trust the tape. Ill go ahead and move this thread over to the stock forum.

[Nick1984]

On stocks I've seen lots of traders put in "dummy" orders which can send a lot of people into a spin in order to help price move even a few cents in their favour. I stopped looking at the Level 2 because of that. On trading halts some one stock I was following worth only 65cents had some bids being placed up over $1.20 before quickly being withdrawn before the commencement of trading again. Lo and behold what happened a lot of noobies rushed in and bought up at these high prices expecting they were onto a miracle stock then price tanked all the way down to 70c all in the space of a couple of hours.

I don't trust tape on stocks at all!

[torero]

There is a difference between stocks and eminis: there are no market makers or specialists in eminis. This might the reason eminis tape reading might be more reliable. Another thing is the emini is used as a vehicle for hedging so the motives are different then in stocks.

[Dr Who]

Originally Posted by Nick1984 »

On stocks I've seen lots of traders put in "dummy" orders which can send a lot of people into a spin in order to help price move even a few cents in their favour. I don't trust tape on stocks at all!

Nick,

Tape reading and looking at the order depth are different. Reading the tape basically means reading WHAT HAS HAPPENED in the past tense sense.

I do trust it because it is what helps form tactics for the next session or time relevant session.