Grinding it out, day after day

SteveNYC · May 7, 2012

Quote from Agassi:

Why are houses in the U.S. and Canada built from wood? In most other countries bricks and cement is used. I really don't get this because wood really burns down fast. On the other hand, very few homes made from brick and cement really burn down.

Great question. Wood sux.

Probably b/c wood is cheap.

Most US homes are garbage. Flimsy POS.

My house in Asia designed by a French architect puts US homes to shame. No wood except wooden doors,

lescor · May 7, 2012

Quote from kcgoogler:

Hello Lescor, another question:

how are you making the volume you are making. Not looking for specifics but in general. Whenever i am trying to increase volume to cover my expenses i am getting creamed out. So going back to sticking to the systems.

In your case though, you refer sometimes that a small size in a say 50$ stock is around 300shares. Then you might add another couple more if you dont have a good feel. Trading this small will not give the volume you are trading at.. what does your usual trade size look like (yes; depends on stock price and risk; but generally..).

I mean how do you break down the 300-400k shares you do per day on average:
2 or 3 core systems: how many trades? how much stock per trade?

You have broken down your profits etc a bunch of times in the posts on this thread; do you mind breaking down your volume a bit.. keeping it general ofcourse.

Thanks!
-gariki

It depends on the strategies. In my core strategies, I can easily have 5000 shares of something. I have the experience and stats to feel comfortable trading that size. If I have 300 shares of something, it's probably in a system with a lot of risk where I don't like to get very big, or it's a trade I'm just trying to make pocket change on- there might not be a specific plan for it, just something I'm taking a shot at.

boba15 · May 14, 2012

Quote from lescor:

It depends on the strategies. In my core strategies, I can easily have 5000 shares of something. I have the experience and stats to feel comfortable trading that size. If I have 300 shares of something, it's probably in a system with a lot of risk where I don't like to get very big, or it's a trade I'm just trying to make pocket change on- there might not be a specific plan for it, just something I'm taking a shot at.

I guess, the original question was about the way you scale in/out of these 5000 shares. Maybe you can share how you closed your positions on that "fat finder day" couple years ago when you got filled with opg on many illiquid stocks? I think that could be quite illustrative. Do you use any algos offered by echo/ib? Custom stuff? Scale orders? Thanks.

kcgoogler · May 14, 2012

Quote from boba15:

I guess, the original question was about the way you scale in/out of these 5000 shares.

Nope. I got the answer i was looking for. Thanks lescor.

-gariki

luisHK · May 14, 2012

Quote from SteveNYC:

Great question. Wood sux.

Probably b/c wood is cheap.

Most US homes are garbage. Flimsy POS.

My house in Asia designed by a French architect puts US homes to shame. No wood except wooden doors,

Possibly in Canada it has something to do with climate. Wood is great in cold climate, and quite popular even north of the artic circle.

boba15 · May 14, 2012

Quote from kcgoogler:

Nope. I got the answer i was looking for. Thanks lescor.

-gariki

Shall we then proceed with my question?

kcgoogler · May 15, 2012

Quote from boba15:

Shall we then proceed with my question?

feel free to. I was just pointing to the fact that your guess was not quite right and i got my answer. No offense.

-gariki

Rehoboth · May 20, 2012

Quote from SteveNYC:

My house in Asia designed by a French architect puts US homes to shame. No wood except wooden doors,

I didnt know Peugeot made trailers or double-wides with wooden doors.

5pyd3r · Sep 5, 2012

I'm a longtime lurker on this forum and recently back to trading full time after about three years out.

Using this thread to introduce myself since it has been an amazing read and figured I might as well resurrect it to see if Mr. Lescor is still around?

Just wondering how this year is going so far. I'm barely getting my feet wet so nothing to report here but how about others subscribed to this thread?

Thanks,

Spy

lescor · Sep 5, 2012

Still around, still trading every day. On pace for lowest year ever, though still better than a real job. My volume is down quite a bit, but things have been decently consistent, and I place a lot of importance on that.

Truly in 'grind it out' mode right now, waiting for intermittent flashes of opportunity and hopefully a better overall environment down the road.