I Have Been Trading Since Before The Internet-1990

[torontoman]

You youngsters. You're so young. I remember dying to get the newspaper to find out how my stocks did the day before. The only way to get a real-time quote was to call your personal broker, do the pleasantries, then ask for the quote. And even then, he had to call the floor while you are on hold for a few minutes.

Oh yes, the good old days. When I was young, I had to walk 5 kilometers to school, uphill both ways....Okay. I digress.

 

[NQscalper]

I only go back to mid '98, but I'll say this much, I would kill to go back to fractions and 1/4 spreads. This penny nonsense has made levelII pointless (does anyone even look at it anymore?) Stocks would move a few levels and there was actually real money there. I lost so much money after the change, I just couldn't adapt. Thats why I turned to futures.

 

[libertad]

Excellent Commentary
..........................................................

A bit of technology nostalgia.....

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Pneunamic tubes...MER boardroom...watching the pneunamic tape...

Quotron...one quote at a time...
ADP

Point and figure...Refco Machines..
Graph paper

Apple 2+

IBM PC

DBC... Bonneville... satellitte
Ensign

Instinet quotron....placing bids between bid ask

Real tick... Arca ...Direct Access

Speer Leeds REDI

Hammer
Light Speed
Sonic
Blackwood


Genesis
Quotetracker
Amibroker
Ninja Trader

Next ....

more independent black boxes and
individualized programming

 

[Learner]

Have my serious respect to or the pre-internet veterans

 

[HoundDogOne]

Quote from NQscalper:

I only go back to mid '98, but I'll say this much, I would kill to go back to fractions and 1/4 spreads. This penny nonsense has made levelII pointless (does anyone even look at it anymore?) Stocks would move a few levels and there was actually real money there. I lost so much money after the change, I just couldn't adapt. Thats why I turned to futures.

That's why there can be a legitimate debate:

Was it easier to start trading and make money in mid-90s or 2007?

mid-90s

Pro:
=> 1/8 min spread, often flip for 1/4 or 3/8
=> you kept your place in line, this was a big deal
=> more market inefficiency in general

Con:
=> $30 trade minumum
=> less liquidity overall
=> no internet, limited technology

Today 2007

Pro:

=> internet technology
=> fees 90% lower
=> greater liquidity, more losers trading

Con:

=> decimalization and fragmentation
=> markets more efficient
=> cheating more widespread at all levels

For me it's a wash.
Profitable in 1995... and profitable in 2007.

 

[dsq]

I remember how i got my graphs in the 90's....Investors business daily published a book of charts for every saturday.There was a chart book for nasdaq and nyse stocks.The charts were excellent.There were 4 stock charts to a page on each side...I think there was a total of 2000 charts per book.These books were very helpful in my trading.

I remember me and my friends picking out sysquest sytems as a very interesting looking chart.In fact so interesting we couldnt stop yapping and dreaming about it.We all agreed we had to buy a lot of it.Anyway when the trading started we waited till the last hour to buy it...It was at 6.50-75 ...i ended up buying 6000 shares(i was on the phone with my broker watching my quotetrek as i saw my orders were being the last filled at 6.75)...right after the stock took off into the close and finished at 9.50 or so!!!!!!
The next morning i unloaded all of it at 11.00...It was my most profitable trade ever.The stock went to 18.00 that week but went bust within months.


Anyway yes i liked it better when it traded in fractions because just 3 or 4 upticks meant you were up 75-100 cents in short order(this is based on 1/4 pt spreads...however most of my stocks traded half pts so that was really good money: psft,atml,lrcx,tncr,adbe,alsc).

 

[dsq]

just bumping up this one...

 

[drsteph]

I remember going with my dad to the old WTC to pickup the weekly commodity chart books that they sold there in the bookshop. You would then have to chart your own bars for the next month on paper or so until the next edition came out. Pre-personal computer - when you had to know someone to get access to computer time & hope you knew a programmer.

God, it must have been so much easier back then! All fear and greed. And can you even imagine trading options? How would you price them? Like making a sports book.

Nice thread - brought back nice memories of my dad & watching opsail '76 from the merrill tower across from the wtc. Over 30 years ago. Bicentennial quarters. How far we have gone from that point.

 

[man]

Quote from HoundDogOne:

Exactly. Same as in poker.

The future is Bots manned by Pros...
Or complex Algo Systems manned by Pros.

Only people that are not Expert Players...
Believe that pure Bots can be competitive.

agreed. i do not see myself in a position to compete
with the pure bots. at the moment my system development
is still dependent on where i direct it to. i would think
that future pureBots will constantly develop on their
own.

 

[torontoman]

Quote from drsteph:

I remember going with my dad to the old WTC to pickup the weekly commodity chart books that they sold there in the bookshop. You would then have to chart your own bars for the next month on paper or so until the next edition came out. Pre-personal computer - when you had to know someone to get access to computer time & hope you knew a programmer.

God, it must have been so much easier back then! All fear and greed. And can you even imagine trading options? How would you price them? Like making a sports book.

Nice thread - brought back nice memories of my dad & watching opsail '76 from the merrill tower across from the wtc. Over 30 years ago. Bicentennial quarters. How far we have gone from that point.

I traded options back then. It was difficult until MacMillan came out with his "Options as a Strategic Investment" book. That was so popular when it came out for the option trader. That was THE book.