A low latency E-Mini strategy

There are 1-2 market taking shops that dominate. There are many market making shops. Market making is not a winner take all environment because where you are in the queue determines when you get fill information which will sometimes put you ahead or behind other people. Also, the strategy is more vague. It can be defined as "sit in the market but try not to take toxic or informed flow". Many different trading profiles can accomplish this. When you are market taking the strategy is more "cross when the market is about to move". Lots of moves are initiated with rather simple and easy to understand triggers. The problem is that with everyone doing the same thing at exactly the same time there's more of a winner take all phenomenon.
 
Let's say you successfully develop this market making system with SAR (stop and reverse), if I can summarize it as such. But how are you going set your target and stop levels on those SAR positions? The SAR component makes your system trend following. I suspect that will give you a lot of false signals with a few good signals that will generate enough profit.

Also, how do you define high volume "spikes"? One trade transaction with enormous size or the sum of all volume in an interval like 1 minute?

I have tested then traded based on high volume "spikes", it is often difficult to see one trader hitting large orders cause unless another trader has large order, it comes across Time and sales as many orders being filled, so you really can't see if it was one trader or small herd of them.
 
Let's say you successfully develop this market making system with SAR (stop and reverse), if I can summarize it as such. But how are you going set your target and stop levels on those SAR positions? The SAR component makes your system trend following. I suspect that will give you a lot of false signals with a few good signals that will generate enough profit.

Also, how do you define high volume "spikes"? One trade transaction with enormous size or the sum of all volume in an interval like 1 minute?
If it is SAR, never any stops, you reversing into other direction? Extensive back testing only way to find what 90% of winning trades tells of targets, but unless you are other than retail, going to be tough doing volume of trades. Volume spikes can be caused cause of time stops, I use time stops, something has to occur in so much time or 'this" will then take place. So if a trader has a rule they must get out then press markets' supply to get out and market jumps, doesn't mean there is a trend, just someone having to get out, so often times these "spikes" have no meaning cause of price patterns or action, so your order going back to the mean becomes like a Bollinger band around price of just getting out in the middle. Think about it, your orders are the Bollinger Bands or percentage there of, you manually or automated seeking spike volumes and that is dictated as speed of market orders hitting Globex. You study Price and Bollinger bands long enough, you know when price is expanding for strong trend and when it is just flopping around. When price flopping around is when volume spikes works best.

One minute bars are like forever, if you watching the Dome, how long do you think 1000 lot market order would take during lunch time, 2 seconds? So what your program is set to cancel orders if price gets too close without quick approach.
 
With the raw data feed there's additional information that allows you to piece back together the large orders and distinguish them from the herd of individual trades. I thought it would be useful but then never tried writing a strategy to take advantage of the information because I can't trend follow if my life depended on it. And the 'bag of random heuristics' approach is so tedious to cull through. Certainly a profitable approach, but you never know how far you have to dig before finding something.
Hi,

What raw data feed are you referring to ?


Thanks.
 
Let's say you put in one contract buy/sell orders 1 and 2 ticks away from the best bid/offer. If the BBO is 2022.50 x 2022.75. You have at least two and probably more buy orders at 2022.25, 2022.00, etc. You have sell orders at 2023.00, 2023.25, etc.

As the BBO changes, after X milliseconds, you refresh your orders to be away from the BBO once again. The idea is that when a big sell or buy order wipes out multiple levels, you get notified of your fills and immediately cancel remaining orders, cover your position, and reverse directions (with more contracts than your feeler positions). Then fill X ticks away.

I ran something similar to this for a few years about 7 or 8 years ago with equities. Its simple market making
 
I ran something similar to this for a few years about 7 or 8 years ago with equities. Its simple market making

He's layering the book to detect toxic flow and then reversing directions (hoping for momentum ignition).
 
He's layering the book to detect toxic flow and then reversing directions (hoping for momentum ignition).

unless I am reading wrong he's putting bids and offers around the bbo (ie. making a market) and hoping for a sweep and reversal (not momentum)
 
why should any of the information you provided provide any edge whatsoever? (Serious question). You have no way of knowing whether that "swipe" was just a larger order and that it completed or whether this was the first reaction to some news that hit the tapes and may put you in the red by 20-30 full points within seconds and spit you out upside down....And what do you mean with "How many levels must be wiped out to make it worth it".

I have several strategies that take advantage of fast multi-level moves in various E-Minis. But, my mind is always churning and wondering about other possibilities. And since I do not have a setup capable of executing or even testing this low latency idea... I thought I'd throw it out there for discussion purposes.

Let's say you put in one contract buy/sell orders 1 and 2 ticks away from the best bid/offer. If the BBO is 2022.50 x 2022.75. You have at least two and probably more buy orders at 2022.25, 2022.00, etc. You have sell orders at 2023.00, 2023.25, etc.

As the BBO changes, after X milliseconds, you refresh your orders to be away from the BBO once again. The idea is that when a big sell or buy order wipes out multiple levels, you get notified of your fills and immediately cancel remaining orders, cover your position, and reverse directions (with more contracts than your feeler positions). Then fill X ticks away.

The question of course becomes, what is the probability of a continuing move that would force you to come away with a profit? How many levels must be wiped out to make it worth it, and what other factors need to be present in the market?

I'm sure people out there doing this. I simply don't have the data to look into this further. And even if I could, I couldn't execute at that speed. But it is fun to think about and it may spur other ideas that are possible with higher latency infrastructure.
 
second that. OP, if anything I would research the opposite, the infancy of momentum driven by large orders that cross the spread...oh well, I will not give much more away...

unless I am reading wrong he's putting bids and offers around the bbo (ie. making a market) and hoping for a sweep and reversal (not momentum)
 
Back
Top