how far ahead of us is institutional trading?

[MarkBrown]

the extremes that some will go thru to gain, maintain and dominate are far beyond the comprehension of most in the business, even some professionals have no idea.

it's not hopeless though because you can detect them like radar and sonar, build a strategy around them. follow the footprints.

 

[Slow Learning Elf]

Yes... Direct Exchange Feeds

Like I said, direct exchange feeds can be re-distributed via a provider or you can connect directly if you have the technology for it. It's a PITA to deal with, but you get meaningful improvement in speed and you can try to gain minuscule edges. The little examples (in no particular order) are parsing directly on FPGA, doing partial parsing for adversity signals, separating channels by priority etc. I am not a specialist myself, just been around HFT people enough.

 

[maxinger]

It doesn't matter whether institutional traders are ahead or behind me.

I just want to be a step or two behind the herd.

 

[Drawdown Addict]

Wtf are private feeds?
There are only 2 types of feed:
SIP consolidated
Direct exchange feeds

None of them can be viewed or named 'private' as everybody can access them (provided they have the money and the technical infrastructure).

https://academic.oup.com/cmlj/article-pdf/19/1/1/56333861/kmad027.pdf

 

[rb7]

Yes... Direct Exchange Feeds, like Pico.net is a private (for pay feed you can subscribe too - this needed to be said ?) and are faster... much faster than SIP which is a public feed. So, Pico.net sells their ROUTED AND NORMALIZED PRIVATE DIRECT exchange feed at a cost of 2K to 8K depending on your needs

Here is interesting PDF White Paper on this...

https://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/hender/nbbo.pdf

Pico is just another market data vendor. They are still slower than direct exchange feed.
The terms 'private' and 'public' are misleading. Anyone can subscribe to both.

 

[2rosy]

I just felt like we are just fucked as retail traders all the time because we are always behind what the institutions are doing

Retail doesn't do what institutions do. Retail doesn't even do what institutions did 30 or 40+ years ago.

 

[Sprout]

Pico is just another market data vendor. They are still slower than direct exchange feed.
The terms 'private' and 'public' are misleading. Anyone can subscribe to both.

Maybe @Databento could provide more clarity

https://databento.com/blog/proprietary-feeds-vs-sip-data

 

[Darc]

Retail doesn't do what institutions do. Retail doesn't even do what institutions did 30 or 40+ years ago.

I wouldn't say that. I'd say retail Traders on ET don't do what Institutions do. Because ET is generally populated by Day Traders and Scalpers, and with the odd exception of a few here, those Day Traders and Scalpers aren't as professional as Institutions.

Sadly, Jim Simons, Paul Tudor Jones and the like aren't ET Alumni. I'll be the first

 

[mute9003]

where do you guys even learn all this.
i want to learn about all this stuff but itsvery hard to find information.
its so scattered
im assuming you have to work for an institution to get some type of formal training to learn this stuff? at least what seems like when i watch older traders that are good like oliver velez and others. they all went through institutional machine before they went on their own.
and they are the ones who seem to have a better understanding of how market actually works. and they are the ones who hang around the longest

 

[2rosy]

where do you guys even learn all this.
i want to learn about all this stuff but itsvery hard to find information.
its so scattered
im assuming you have to work for an institution to get some type of formal training to learn this stuff? at least what seems like when i watch older traders that are good like oliver velez and others. they all went through institutional machine before they went on their own.
and they are the ones who seem to have a better understanding of how market actually works. and they are the ones who hang around the longest

Get lucky. End up in a city with a niche industry at the beginning of technological upheaval.