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Fractional cent trades are not gone. They live in some of those dark pools of liquidity you hear about.

It's a tough strategy to backtest because there is a great deal of discretion that goes into dealing with news.

$5M bp, some drawdowns ok, no money up and no risk to me? I'd put together an income yeilding, hedged portfolio, trade around positions to enhance returns. Should be able to do 10-15% without too much difficulty, generating $5-700k a year. I'd give up 25% for this deal, no problem...

NO. If you look at a chart of a spread and remove the symbol, it looks like a typical stock chart. Non-directional means you are not relying on general market direction, but the pair can certainly move up or down and trend like any stock.

Both percentage return on capital and net dollars earned are important, but not equally important to all traders. You need to make the $'s to pay the bills and if you are trading prop and sweep your profits monthly or trade with no capital up, % returns don't mean much at all. At some point...

You can also use HydraTrade or Sterling.

If you buy by placing a limit order a penny above the ask, you are still removing liquidity. You need to join or penny the bid, or place a buy somewhere between the spread and hope someone hits you. Then you'll be adding liquidity and will be paid a credit (assuming you are routing to an ecn...

This is one of the first things I'd address. If you want to be a long term successful trader, learn to be generally risk averse, especially when starting out. Most people on the outside looking in figure daytraders are risk cowboys who swing a big line and are either up or down huge on a...

The qualifications are: a) a pulse b) breathing c) conscious good luck!

I get on the phone, or im the ops guy in the office and say "I need 5000 MBI, can you get a locate?" He calls around to locate the shares for me and a few minutes later he says "you're good". I don't know if it costs them or not, but it doesn't cost me anything.

No charge for located stock. Certain stocks are borrowable, but earn very little short credit for overnights.

I either let the market tell me i'm wrong and exit, or I use a profit target combined with a time out. I'm a big fan of time stops actually. If the trade has a positive expectancy, I might as well give it as much time to work as I can, often right to the close. Or I try to identify a time...

I've noticed a HUGE increase in the number of hard to borrow stocks in the last few weeks. I have been able to get locates on several of them, but we don't get dinged for it. There may be an interest rate associated with holding them overnight though.

Please explain how the evil market makers do this. I'd like to know how to buy cheaper shares after hours too.

So are you an economist or a trader? If the latter, the numbers don't matter, 'WHY' doesn't matter. All that matters is how you handle the reaction to the catalyst. Pontificate and whine all you want, in this business it's all about the dollars. You can join the party or cry in the corner.

You call this a massive bear market?

Excel. Can't beat it

This question has been answered on this site dozens of times. On the ex date the stock will drop by the amount of the dividend, plus or minus whatever it is doing as a result of news or the market in general. If you come in short on the ex date, you will pay the dividend to the holder of...

Can you make as much or more on the same capital base? Maybe. Can you do it with the same capital base and less risk? I doubt it. Daytrading lets you control your risk more, you can play a much tighter game. It also allows you to use your capital more efficiently by utilizing higher...

I disagree completely with the previous post. I believe that you have to make it a deeply held core belief that you never ever know what is going to happen with any particular trade or the market in general. If you accept that the outcome of each individual trade is random, then accepting a...