Do you know, who you are trading against?

J

JWT

I think it's usefull to know the composition of everyday market participants. Is there any source of info about how many individual traders are on the Nasdaq/Nyse and how much volume comes from different categories of traders,like mutual funds,individuals,etc?
 
Do you know, who you are trading against?

Myself, ergo my trading/business plan. There are buyers ready to purchase my goods, there are sellers ready to sell me theirs. All that matters is my trading/business plan.
 
JWT said:
I think it's usefull to know the composition of everyday market participants. Is there any source of info about how many individual traders are on the Nasdaq/Nyse and how much volume comes from different categories of traders,like mutual funds,individuals,etc?
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Can't see how that matters... unless you're trading large relative size against a small handle. Probably not even then.

Otherwise, we're all just small fish in a big pond. Does it really matter who eats us for lunch??
 
JWT said:
I think it's usefull to know the composition of everyday market participants. Is there any source of info about how many individual traders are on the Nasdaq/Nyse and how much volume comes from different categories of traders,like mutual funds,individuals,etc?
More...

You don't trade against someone or something, you trade with them.
 
Quite frankly I for one am happy to not know who is on the other side. If I truly believe that I have a quality entry signal I sure as hell don't want to second guess myself.

From my experience trading commercial OTC energy - it would matter. Specifically I would want to know if a producer was buying.

From my experience trading interest rates on the floor and on CBOT Project A (where the counterparty had an identifier) it has very little bearing on the market. Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are quite often filling customer orders - which could be hedging, could be customer spec.
 
I dont really care whos on the other side as long as I can see the volume at certain price levels to tell me whether the insti guys are buying or selling, so I can plan or adjust accordingly....
 
JWT said:
I think it's usefull to know the composition of everyday market participants. Is there any source of info about how many individual traders are on the Nasdaq/Nyse and how much volume comes from different categories of traders,like mutual funds,individuals,etc?
More...


I've a similar view of the previous responses.

Although, there is a Taxonomy of Trader Types by L. Harris

I don't know much of the forex website, but Harris's Trading and Exchanges is essential reading.

Taxonomy of Trader Types.png


My guess is that most retail fall into the class of Investors, Fledglings, Gamblers or Futile traders. The survivor's either fall into the class of Informed trader or my classification.

I don't really like the name but where my style of trading falls is a sub-class of the Parasitic/Order Anticipator type, specifically Sentiment-oriented technical trader. I don't have a need to co-locate like Front-runners nor risk as much capital as Squeezers.

ymmv
 
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