MidKnight

Thanks for fixing up those attachments Urmablume. Interesting charts. I do agree that there are more useful things to look at then price of the futures. I'm at a loss how to proceed in dialogue, because it appears you don't want divulge any specifics - which is fine. Thanks a lot for your post. All my best, MK

Hmm...I can't seem to see the chart from the original post. Would you mind re-posting it? Or maybe something funny with the forum? Or maybe with my setup here.... I agree with the value of thinking outside the box. Maybe in this thread you will give a hint or two so as to narrow the infinity of space outside the box With kind regards, MK

I'll keep an eye out for any TV rips...

All the best with the venture Steve. I hope to see you back in a couple of months. With kind regards, MK

Thanks Steve, I will explore this further. I'm wondering if tracking the spread between the advertised price vs the theoretical price of the ATM calls/puts can offer any directional insights. I will explore it further. All my best, MK

Steve, Out of curiosity, which IV are you using, the calls of puts? Or perhaps, the put IV for downside range and the call IV for the upside range? IVolatility doesn't deal to international markets so I have to try and make do with the best I can. This is an end of day spreadsheet of all the IVs for all the options from the exchange. I assume you are using ATM IVs. My thanks in advance, MK

Button trader will do this too. In fact, you can even do it on the same instrument with button trader. Depending on your size relative to the initial trade it will take care of the new physical position. i.e. Initial position is short 3 units and you want to hedge this short by going long 2 units for a scalp. The logical position shows up as 2 trades that can each be managed independently. It will show up as your initial short 3 units and the hedge of being long 2 units. The physical position though is of course, short 1 unit. The nice thing about how button trader shows this to you as the trader as you can treat each trade totally independent and have faith that button trader will manage your true, physical position for you. All my best, MK

I'll drink to that - cheers! :beer:

Hi Darth version 3.0b, Not meaning to detract from the thread intent. But may I ask why all the effort here when something reasonably priced will easily do all this and more? Self-punishment? All my best, MK

Hi Steve, In your struggling traders thread I saw you mention the idea of characterizing the market but then DB jumped in and squashed any further comment so I didn't post my questions. If you would be interested in discussing more about that then I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one interested. My apologies for a brief distraction from the thread. All my best, MK

Ahuh, so you have the holy grail and posting charts of it will create edge erosion. Top secret PA patterns!

My experience on the stoxx was that the liquidity was good until the cash closed, which is basically around noon EST.

May I ask why this obvious? My best regards, MK

Hi head2k, In the absence of Atto, I would say that I have tried what you are saying. It sounds great in theory but the problem is that in hindsight it works great but in RT, not so great for me. This is because markets are probabilistic and when its an all or nothing approach, I have now reduced any ability to make money from being wrong, which of course is a possibility when dealing with markets. With kind regards, MK

Great post Atto. As you mention above, price moves in waves not bars, and I totally agree with that. However, volume consistently varies based on time of day. You will find that volume throughout the day is typically a smile. Because of this, I do not like to compare volume so much with prior volume at wave peaks/troughs to assess participation. Instead I prefer to measure the volume based on the degree of normal for that time of day. From there I believe I can get a better assessment of participation for that time of day. I wonder how you assess probability as the trade is under way? With kind regards, MK

Thanks kiwi. I didn't know about any menu on those icons. I get a 404 error currently when trying to mark forums as read. The URL is: http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums+/forumdisplay.php?do=markread As kiwi says above though, edit out the '+' and then it has seemed to work.

Hmmm....I would like to do this but I can't even find the mark forums read feature - where might I find that?

I would consider infinity if you offered more markets Tom. Finding an alternate broker for Asia (in my case Tokyo and Osaka) has been impossible.

In this biz you will feel like a piece of shit, depressed, dumb, elated, 'da man', pathetic, confused, frustrated, angry, neurotic, narcissistic, and exhausted. Sometimes all on the same day! Get used to it. Learn about yourself and you will figure out ways to deal with it, possibly as simple as the humble acceptance in being human and not superman. I have been fulltime for 4 years and only in my 4th year did some real noticeable improvements start to materialize. As to your prior comment about static stops and targets. What you are doing is static. Sure you picked them, but it doesn't adapt from one day to the next, or even from one trade to the next. This volatility will not last forever. 6 pt spoo ranges will return.

How can you say that? It sounds like you have followed all your rules. Nowhere did I read anything in that post about you breaking any rules. The day should not have been stellar, the result was the outcome of your rules - it just is. I personally do not like static stops or targets as to me, the markets require a more dynamic approach.

LOL - man that was funny! Thanks for the laughs. My best, MK

Hi David, I just use this as part of the discretionary toolset.... All my best, MK

Your wish is my command. Please find the attached delphiscript. This calls the builtin function normVol() which is really just using an X period MA and returning a value as a percentage based on the volume in relation to the average volume. I have tended to use a smallish number (50) on a 1min chart so it adapts throughout the day a bit quicker than if i used a multiday value. My best, MK mk_VolumeSpike_2.txt

Regarding graeme's comments about voice recording. I use a free opensource program called audacity to record my market comments and then save to mp3 in my trade log. Maybe you will find it useful. With kind regards, MK

Hi Dave, Something I do, is to normalize the volume and then X% above the norm is a volume spike. If you would like more clarification, I can post you my neoticker code for it. All my best, MK