How to Determine Position Size to Limit Slippage?

Generally....over 25 starts to partial.....but usually not a prob...its according to what is going on, volume and time of day......

Michael B.




Quote from Boomer:

what kind of size can you do on the es without slippage? how many contracts can you get off in one lot? thanks....
 
during liquid times, u can see at least 1000 contracts on the best bid and offer. during less liquid times, a few hundred contracts.
during crazy times (unemployment reports and the like), that's a different story.

to put this to dollar terms, even 200 contracts on the best bid and offer would equate to around 10 million dollars worth of risk that you can easily get out off with a click of a mouse.

extremely liquid!






Quote from Boomer:

what kind of size can you do on the es without slippage? how many contracts can you get off in one lot? thanks....
 
The generalized solution for trading over a full range of equities on any fractal and optimizing capital appreciation is two fold.

My basic strategy is to attain high money velocity firstly by picking the better fractals. Our basic difference may be the amount of capital involved.

You scalp it turns out.

The two facets involved are individual trades and the magnitude of the market.

Here are the two bottom line rules. You can back into the details of getting to this strategic answer.

1. Through the RTHs maintain a maximum cummulative trading activity. My maximum number is 10% of total cummulative volume for RTH that day in that equity in that market. (There is a liquidity Q, of course but that is built into basics of approach that anyone develops.

2. Trade at the T&S mode block size as it changes through out RTH. Mode means most frequently occuring in the contemporary moments.

General nature of things. You need to use capital to make money. Therefore, you must distribute capital over as many opportunities as required to apply all capital. For non equities you can "ladder" entries and "ladder" exits keeping a mean amount of capital at play. For all excursions as you maintain a % of cummulative volume, you will find that you will be blocking with one entry size and exiting with a smaller exit size. The Constant is amount of capital in entry vs exit. Therefore, you will do fewr entries (time separation greater) and more exits. Your target net profit yields the Constant.

As you get this stuff down, you will find that you can make much more money. About three improvements will get you to an order of magnitude difference.

Some of the comments in this thread are kinda lame.
 
Stocks suck personnaly I have never succeeded to buy stocks without these @#!\§% cutting my order into pieces , better go to future only for that single reason :D.

Quote from mazotrade:

Slippage has become a significant factor in my market equity order entries and exits. The specialists or market makers seem to see me coming from a mile away and ream me on market orders. I need some advice.

First off, I'm a scalper. I buy on momentum, ride for a modest gain, then jump out before the stock turns south. It's simplistic, and has limitations, but it works for me.

Naturally, I find I cannot place limit orders for sizeable amounts of shares without getting partial fills. A partial fill is fine on the entry, as it is a self-limiting way to measure the liquidity of that stock at that time. The way I see it, it's often best not to buy more shares than you can get on a limit order, so you don't get caught holding more than you can unload easily, assuming comparable liquidity.

Exit limits are another matter. I don't want to get a partial fill on my exit if I desperately want to get out completely. So, I'd like to stay with market orders on my exits.

I realize that I will incur slippage on any market order. Sometimes, when the stock is moving my way on the exit, I actually get positive slippage, which is gravy. But I notice that, even when I'm exiting a stock with positive momentum, more often than not I get negative slippage despite the fact that I've placed my market sell order at a lower price than the current ask. That's when I know the specialists are robbing me because my order is big and sticks out like a sore thumb.

My question is simple: How do I determine how many shares to trade at market to keep slippage at REASONABLE levels on both entry and exit? How do I keep under the radar of the specialist? I use Trade Station, which has "peg" orders. Haven't tried this feature yet. Any comments?

It seems obvious that slippage depends on volume and volatility or liquidity. I need to QUANTIFY these variables to detrmine the number of shares I should trade. Is there a formula? Is this subject the chapter of a book? Any useful links out there for this subject? I'd be grateful for any assistance. Thanks - John
 
Hi, mazotrade

The general rule:
Open Outcry exchanges have big slippage; Direct Access exchanges have almost no slippage.
If you want very low-sometime zero- slippage try E-mini futures;
E-mini Nasdaq-100 Futures, Mini Dow Futures or E-Mini S&P 500 Futures. Paper trade a few weeks and see which is ok for you.
(Start with Dow, than Nasdaq and the last S&P. I will stay with Dow because of ok volatility and tick size). Much better than scalping stocks:
-100% Electronic Environment
-better leverage
-less taxes to pay and easy reporting
-no wash sales rule
and a lot more.
Good trading
 
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