Soultrader

That... I cant quite disclose here. Just that I dont pay for CQG usage... a firm pays for it. I need something at home for OSE and CME data only.

Hi guys, So Ive been using CQG for some time now and though most of you will say its PRICEY!....I have somehow become hooked to a point where I can not switch over to another platform. (maybe TS again) There is a charting format called TimeFlow in CQG which is pretty much the same as the bid/ask indicator available on TL! but coloring the price bars instead of volume. The following illustration will show this. The bar is color coded separating the percentage of volume traded at the ask price vs bid. Green = trades at the ask. Red = trades at the bid. The width and the brightness of the colors reflect the relative total executed volume. Wide, brightly colored bars indicate heavy trading and thin, dark bars indicate low executed volume. Here is a chart in action. The question is, can anyone replicate this in tradestation? I say this because I am absolutely obsessed with this charting package and when I do go back to TS I need it. Its become an addiction to a point where I can no longer view candlesticks as green bars on a candlestick chart can actually appear weak in a TradeFlow chart. Thanks!

very much looking forward to it mea, as I have been wanting to start a thread on it as well. I will add my inputs on the thread also. Thanks.

Thanks for the comments, I will definitely check this out.

Curious to see traders methods of meditation. Been studying NLP for some time which led to hypnosis... eventually into self-hypnosis. For me I tend to relax my mind to eliminte all thoughts and create a moment of blankness. What do you all do meditate or ease your mind? Thanks!

Looking for a few books to help me with mental discipline and calming of the mind. Saw this one on amazon and curious to see if anyone is familiar with it and your thoughts on it. The Practicing Mind: Bringing Discipline and Focus Into Your Life Thanks!

Hi all, I have added a little feature which allows you to add a status comment under your username similar to facebook. Enjoy!

Hi atto, Thanks for the notice. These bugs are something I have been trying to fix for quite some time. A few coders have tried to fix this issue but have failed so far. I may have to reconsider a new book review system if I can not fix this. I will keep you posted. Thanks for the notice.

It would be nice if mods can use this too... but from what I can see it is only available for admins. So for mods, please pm me if there are any issues. Thanks.

Hi all, I have added a new feature which allows members to be banned from certain threads. Although the usage of this functionality will be extremely limited, please pm me if you feel it would be appropiate to ban certain members from replying to particular threads. Reasons? The user might just be an ass. The user is creating hostility. The user is killing the thread. All sorts of reasons for this features. Thanks.

Thanks fw. The voting thing... I just realized it is a serious bug in the system. Must of been altered when i upgraded the forum system as this review system is a custom function. This is going to take some time to fix as this custom review system is very unstable with many errors and the developer changed recently. Ill see what I can do.

Theres a reason why I ranked this book all 5. All of the titles are indeed classic stock speculation books. Though I owe most of them seperately, a compliation of these titles makes it a great deal for the readers. Below are the list of titles included in this book. Speculation as a Fine Art and Thoughts on Life 1880 Duncan on Investment and Speculation - 1895 The Game in Wall Street - 1898 The ABC of Stock Speculation - 1903 Wall Street Speculation - 1904 The Pitfalls of Speculation - 1906 Studies in Tape Reading - 1910 Psychology of the Stock Market - 1912 One-Way Pockets - 1917 Tidal Swings of the Stock Market - 1918 How I Trade and Invest in Stocks and Bonds - 1922 Stock Market Barometer - 1922 Volume 2 contains further titles as well and definitely worth buying both volumes to keep in your trading library. You can get it on amazon for about $10 a volume... more economical than paying $15-$20 or so per individual book which I had done in the past. One of the biggest reasons why I enjoy reading classic books from the early 1900's is because these operators are the pioneers of speculation. Everything that gets published in the recent years are nothing but just a revised version of the concepts and ideas formulated by these stock market pioneers. They are the originators and why not learn trading from the roots? It will all make sense once you have read enough of these early pioneers who relied soley on price action, volume, and human psychology.

Heres another great book by one of my favorite authors Humphrey Neill. For those who are familiar with Le Bon's "The Crowd", you will find this a pleasant read. For most traders, contrary thinking is nothing new. "When everybody thinks alike, Everyone is likely to be wrong." From fading breakouts to oil prices increasing after Saudi states an increase in production... all ideas that can be profitable ONLY if one can apply the art of contrary thinking successfully. While the majority are wrong on many occasions (such as tops and bottoms), the herd are right at times as well (in the middle of a trend). Hopefully those who approach trading have a mind of their own. Otherwise, I do believe trading is a tough challenge if you have always been a part of the herd or what Orwell calls "groupthink". Placing trades, taking losses, creating a strategy, etc... are elements of trading that one needs to do on his own. If you find yourself asking for trading execution advice or questions like "Are you long/short?" you may need to pick this book up and learn what mindset is required in this game where money is transferred from the many to the few. Only the ones with a bold and independant mind will survive this game. A recommended read.

RIP... this is quite sad as I am a big fan of him. A true genius. He will be missed.

Article here: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/22/obama.speculators.ap/index.html

It really depends on the role of the trader. Banks will have a mixture of traders... sales traders, program traders, arbs, prop, etc... Been to various banks here in the Tokyo area and I would say 80% of all "traders" have no need for charts. Fixed income traders look at numbers most of the time, program traders just press buttons, sales traders just need price quotes... Although you will usually see 1 or 2 charts on their screens most of them have no clue how to read one. A JP Morgan trader once told he was not so chart proficient. He had the most ugliest trendlines in place.... made no sense at all. I think prop traders are the ones that rely on charts the most... though I have seen some of the best traders trade without charts. A big time trader here told me that he doesnt need charts as he can visualize it all in his head. He simply relies on %. So, in conclusion charts is just a tool one can use. there are so many other ways to trade the markets.

Article here: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/20080620TDY01305.htm

This thread will focus on past mania's using excerpts from various books. Please feel free to join me. Below is a few excerpts from Humphrey Neill in his book The Art of Contrary Thinking. "Goethe, the great poet-philosopher, once wrote: "I find more and more that it is well to be on the side of the minority, since it is always the more intelligent." The Dutch Tulip Mania "For a moment we shall drop back three centuries. In 1634 one of the most extraordinary public manias in all recorded history took place in Holland. To this day it is referred to as the "Tulipmania." The rage to own tulips - particulary rare specimens - engulfed the entire nation. It is impossible for us to visualize this craze, but it happened. There is no doubt about that. Prices for tulips reached fantastic heights. By 1636 the demands for tulip speculation caused rare species to be traded in on the stock exchanges of Amsterdam and other Dutch cities. Soon everybody was gambling in tulips. Like all manias, the author tells us, "everyone imagined that the passion for tulips would last forever, and the wealthy from every part of the world would send to Holland, and pay whatever prices were asked for the. The riches of Europe would then be concentrated on the shores of Zuyder Zee, and poverty banished from the favoured clime of Holland." Tulip jobbers, like stockjibbers, speculated in the rise and fall of "tulip stocks." For a while everybody made money. Many inidividuals grew suddenly rich, the author tells us - and "Nobles, citizens, farmers, mechanics, seamen, footmen, and maid-servants, even chimney-sweeps and old-clothes-women, dabbled in tulips." As the mania spread people did the most outrageous things to get in on the get-rich-quick tulip game. Homes and properties were sold at ridiculous prices to get cash for tulip speculation. The mania spent itself, of course, as all such mass hysterias do, but left in its wake countless broken pocketbooks. When the collapse came prices fell far faster than they rose. Then, as so often happens, people turned to the government for some relief from their financial distress. The whole complicated aftermath was finally referred to the Provincial Council at The Hague and "it was confidently expected that the wisdom of this body would invent some measure by which credit would be restored." The mania had been so widespread that all business was affected and the general financial situation of the nation put in jeopardy. This august body, however, deliberated and stalled. They could think of no cure-all for the morning after, so they "allowed the matter to rest" and cure itself. We're told that the commerce of the country suffered a severe shock, "from which it was many years ere it recovered." For more reading please refer to The Art of Contrary Thinking by Humphrey Neill. To learn more about the Dutch Tulip Mania, refer to Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay. For further reading on crowd psychology, refer to The Crowd by Gustave Le Bon.

Interesting article from The Economist: http://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?source=hptextfeature&story_id=11579107

Article here: http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/19/news/newsmakers/bear_cioffi.fortune/index.htm?cnn=yes

Note: I have moved this thread to the Technical Analysis section as I find it better suited. Zdo, I have re-instated your post as well. Thanks.

Not sure what you mean by similar... the JGB is relatively thin with bid/ask usually less than 20 lots. When the markets move fast, you can expect people to withdraw their bid/ask... it will usually catch you off guard and cause some slippage. Yesterday, my fill slipped a few ticks as I was trying to lean on a heavy bid... instead they pulled away causing price to drop 10 ticks or so instantly. Also note that 1 tick on JGB is roughly $100. So pretty big contract here. But heres a very good snapshot of a composite profile on the JGB: http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/6/mp-trading-with-market-profile-3135-19.html#post40353

Chart of JGB composite profile going back from beginning of 2008. Pretty interesting stuff.

Heres a little input from my own observations. Profiting from greed is similar to what the consumer mentality is like in Japan. Japanese consumers are one of the most brand oriented beings on this planet....in other words we are extremely materialistic or some like to call in fashion. Young professionals making less than $3,000 a month will go out to spend that $2,000 on a Louis Vuitton bag, etc.... The consumer mindset of Japan is that high prices must mean better quality and more popularity. While lower prices may indicate a fault with the product. Which is why many Japanese consumers will pay retail for items when they know the same item is available for a 20% discount at a discount store. Strange isnt it? I have heard many times when business men would tell me they would rather stick to their current supplier even though prices are higher because of the relationship they have. Understandable.... but similar mindset. In other words, the higher the price the more likely it is to attract more buyers as consumers feel they are missing out and need to own something expensive which they can feel good about. Of course, this is dependant on the product but in most cases works for luxury items such as branded goods, accessories, jewlery, etc.... I think in each and every trading day there is a wholesale price and a retail price. The only way to profit is by buying at wholesale prices and selling it at retail prices. Now with trading, those who buy at retail prices still expect to flip it to make a profit. Professionals know this and therefore can sense these emotional heights of greed. Which is why we sell at high prices and buy at low prices. The exact opposite of the typical consumer mentality.

I believe alleyb posted a good reply to this question somewhere. Basically MP can be used with any market. Though you may find some markets that work better than the other. For example, I dont use MP methodologies on the Nikkei due to the huge gaps. This market is more of a scalp a few ticks type market. On the other hand, I use MP to spot levels and to determine where price is relative to value.... whether price is wanting to move out of value, whether price is being rejected above/below value, etc... for the Japanese Government Bonds.