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Interesting thread... I have used both the ADX and EMA with some success in the past, but I don't like the built-in lag. They also take time to stabilize when beginning a data series. I have not used Keltner or MACD, so I cannot comment on them. Alex, how do you you trade the EMA...

Stuff happens maybe 3 or 4 times per year. It's usually someting different and totally unexpected.

That is what I do. When someting goes wrong or unexpected, get flat as quickly as possible. My app monitors portfolio updates and flags anything unexpected. The TWS now has a portfolio page that does the same thing.

While I haven't used them, I have heard that the courses available from the Government Printing Office (GPO) are good. At least they should be cheap. I have heard that these are the same courses they use to train foreign service officers.

I agree completely. I trade both Nasdaq and NYSE, and MOO and LOO orders are o.k. on NYSE but lethal on Nasdaq. You have to bid or offer a little bit at a time looking for liquidity on Nasdaq. There are about 2 or 3 dozen stocks that have very good liquidity on Nasdaq. [rwk]

If trading were easy, everybody would be doing it. Jobs as an institutional trader are extremely competitive, and the working conditions and culture of greed are deplorable. The only benefit is the potential to make a bundle of money and retire early. You can do that and still not know how...

The lifestyle and workday vary greatly depending on whether you are an employee, independent money manager, or individual trader. I don't know very much about becoming employed as a trader, but it sounds extremely competitive and probably involves a lot of luck. To become a money manager, the...

This is correct but may not be the whole story for every trader. I had a C corporation for my consulting, and I re-made it into a trading business. After a few years I analyzed my tax saving and the cost of running the entity (taxes, accounting fees, etc). I found I was spending $2 for every...

It is my understanding that if you dump your stock at market with enough size, you can theoretically drive the price to zero. In reality, bargain hunters will usually step in and prevent that from happening. Sometimes it doesn't take much size to move the price a dollar or two.

This is an interesting idea, and one that I have been contemplating. But I don't think it is as simple as it sounds. The IRS considers trading gains as miscellaneous unearned income. (That unearned part sounds kind of cheeky, as though it is somehow undeserved.:p ) That means we need to use...

Is there any advantage to version 1.6? [rwk]

I rolled back to 1.5.0_13 just yesterday to try to fix a disconnect problem. The older version did not fix the problem, but I noticed the TWS seems to load faster. That's the only difference I have noticed so far. Here is the link to Java...

Two thoughts... There will always be new people entering the market and using old data that shows the edge. Their hammering away at it will keep it from re-emerging. It's like reprocessing old mine tailings. There is just enough left there to keep people fascinated and hooked. As the...

The dollar got hammered today, big-time.

I believe that market prices are determined by fundamentals most of the time. The problem, from the trader's perspective, is which fundamentals are moving things right now? It changes all the time. There can also be divergences from fundamental value, but as JM Keynes pointed out, "the...

I'm doing both buying and selling in an app that I wrote. My app monitors open positions, closing them when certain conditions are met. Sometimes it buys replacements for closed positions. It also monitors total p&l and bails when the loss reaches a threshold. All orders, buys and sells, are...

I think the largest number of orders at one time has been 10 on each of two apps with no problem. [rwk]

I think we agree on this. My primary point was that it is possible to create a computer program that makes good money. I was told years ago that it could not be done. I related my own experience, not to boast, but to support my point. I am now working an an ATS that, if successful, will...

That has been true, but I suspect times are changing. Traders are now coming up with automated trading systems (ATS) that anybody can run. Skill is still required, but now it is in building the ATS. I have an ATS that just passed the 48-month milestone, and it has averaged 3.13% per month...

If Tradestation is doing a lot of disk access, you might be able to speed it up a lot by putting the data into a RAM disk. You will need a lot of RAM to get any benefit. If your software is doing a lot of screen re-painting, you can usually speed it up simply by minimizing the program while...