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I've always assumed that programs keep the cash and futures in line sync. In that sense, programs probably slightly reduce volatility and keeps the market honest. But the impact of programs on volatility is slight compared to world events, corporate action etc ... I maintain that volatility...

Don't know if anyone caught this in the AM, but .... to the best of my knowledge, UN Ambassadors do not usually quit and criticize their premiers. Especially premiers of a major oil producing nation :D

I wish I were papertrading :D My brokerage statement is available somewhere on this site, so I'll leave it as an exercise for you to figure out what kind of trader I am. Its like Soros says - you don't have to know everything about a market, you just have to know something about it better...

... I've increased my leverage and brought in my stops and targets to try to maintain the same P&L opportunity as in higher vol days. the one nice thing I have to say about days like this is that I can lower my tension by placing tighter than normal stops without incremental fear of them...

Thanks for the info, I looked up the CME rules and found provision under Rule 581 for a Globex Market Maker Program - anyone knows what this is? Also, I know the order book on Globex is visible to all but the stops are supposed to be invisible (and in trading they do feel that way when I...

I'm assuming that ES orders are executed in the following priority: 1) price 2) time stamp 3) size Does anyone know if this is accurate? It sometimes takes me forever to get executed when buying on the bid. And I always put my exit orders several minutes in advance. Granted that as...

... & Cramer are rumoured to be the same as Cohen, buying the first call. For what it's worth. The premise of securities law is to create a "level playing field". It is a flawed premise that can sometimes be a false security blanket for the Average Joe. The playing fields are not and probably...

Some of the books mentioned above are quite interesting. In addition, I would recommend Triumph of the Optimist for a history of markets. Jim Rogers used to teach a class at Columbia where he would bring students through a particular boom-bust in history for each class. That is a great way...

... which is why they are exempt from registration under 34 & 33 Act.

I've studied reverse splits for the 1995-2000 ish period (don't remember exact dates). Majority of companies who reversed split were heading lower before the split and proceeded to continue along with their trajectory after the split. Usually reverse splits are engineered to get around a...

I respectfully submit that a better way to define bang for buck is to take avg daily range x multiplier / margin per contract. That's dividing profit opportunity by capital requirement.

Making money by squeezing the bid-ask spread from your home PC? Will wonders never cease! :D

A smaller tick size is definitely a wealth transfer from the market maker to the speculator. Anyone who doesn't believe this needs to go have a drink with the dozens of traders fired from the equity floors of Wall Street. Of course, not all speculators will benefit equitably from said wealth...

.... I have to believe that somehow, somewhere, someone in the universe is nicking me by the tick size bid-ask spread everytime I put on a trade. I get filled on sales at the offer and buys at the bid far less than 50%, so someone is sneaking off with food from my table. So smaller tick...

Trading is a great vocation - with room for many personalities and styles. Some are intellectuals, some are mathematical, some are tactical, some are strategic. It's a great game. Fun to play, very addicitive. But make no mistake about the ecology of trading. 90% of the participants are on...

bdixon, if you can point me to the right article, that would be great! I don't do these exotic macro spreads myself either, but it is interesting to learn about them for future reference. I understand butterfly effects on a conceptual level, but am not sure how it could be rigourously...

... believes in things like an IBM/Yen spread trade. It's certainly testible and plausible (esp once you buy into this interconnected / butterfly effect business). The incredulity that most people would automatically greet such a spread trade is also a good barrier to entry. There are...

bdixon, thanks for the Wolfram link - I GET it now. The formula is recursive. Formulas (2), (3), (4) and (5) provide the key explantions. duh - I should have remembered that chaos stuff always starts with recursion. I guess one of the consequences is that certain small changes in the...

bdixon, thanks for the link. I don't think I understand the math behind the page. in f(x)=a*(1-x)*x, I assume y = f(x) is plotted on the vertical and x is plotted on the horizontal. Is "a" a constant? I guess not. Also, I don't understand how the plots can keep diverging ... this...

I'm still somewhat in the dark. But its probably because of perspective - there are a thousand ways to look at the market and because I'm locked into one I have trouble seeing others. I don't get why the probability tree becomes so funky in the second picture.