Is Trading Dying Out?

...and don't get too "high" on yourself, I remember the first day Barron put this site online and PM'd me in #daytraders to check it out with an invitation to join and I did
 
My congratulations on your restraint in posting so relatively little since joining. My first alias joined 2/1/02. Alas, I do not suffer from your modesty.
 
I've been on here sinse 2004 under a different name at the time, and I've also noticed the decline as well. In some ways its not that bad really. The ones that can trade, and the ones that employed proper MM such as myself, are the ones that have stuck around.

It's kind of nice actually to not see the same damn threads pop up every week, and listen to all the amatures talk trash and ruin good threads. On the other hand, I've made friends with some members here that are no longer around or very rarely post. Traders have a sport life span in deed. Take our newest member "bambamw", and a few other new members...track them for 6months to a year. If they're still posting on ET, maybe they have what it takes :)

kon
 
Quote from Arthur Deco:

...I do not suffer from your modesty.
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...and thankfully I don't either!

We're here to talk about trading, if you have something to offer more than an opinion (we all have a hole) then put it on the table, otherwise don't waste space...that's been My motto, hence not many nonsense posts, bar this one! :)

And I can't see, though I understand & see where people come from, why you would be so disrespectful and derogatory when all I said essentially was that after so many years here & in this business I have reflections and feel emotion for what's past, what many of us still here have all been thru, and for a moment it caused me to reflect on all of it...sheesh man show Me your colors and what You're made of...and after looking at your posts all I see is drivel, maybe you should take the time and expend an effort to read Mine but I know your type and you won't so that's it bitch ;)
 
Quote from Coolio:

I cannot remember the exact report but there some sort of number pumped out by the CMR Group in Chicago and they have reported that the small timers have hit the road.

I guess there is a real dearth of 1-3 contract positions which is the hallmark of the small timer.

Funny, because some Senator was bitching about daytraders the other day when the market was down huge. On that day, I was listening to tradersaudio and it wasn't even the local professionals on the floor .. it was all JPMorgan, and Goldman coming in with the 1000 lots to the S&P pits.

Also consider, unless you have $30,000 you can no longer day trade.

Watch for an explosion in FOREX trading.
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I really love these posts about all the 1000 lots that come into the S&P pit.

The most recent big down day was June 29th with the S&P down more than 36 points. So, what was the S&P pit volume for the day? Only 30,358 contracts for the SEPT contract. So, how many 1000 lot orders could have possibly come into the pit? Or are those big Wall Street houses just spoofers?
 
I've logged a few hours on this forum and as time goes on, I find myself posting less on ET. As your trading career progresses, either 1) you blow up and are gone or 2) you find your way and forums provide very little value to you as time goes on.

Factor in the many threads of rubbish around here and there's not much value to an experienced trader.
 
Quote from MarketOwl:

I remember viewing the trading threads back in 2006, 2007, 2008 and they were lively with lots of activity but things have gotten a lot quieter in 2010.

Are there that many fewer traders out there? Have they gone bust? Are the high frequency traders and the bots sucking the life out of the markets?

Is this just an Elitetrader phenomena or is this happening elsewhere? I have only noticed it on Elitetrader.

The volatility has come back, but the traders don't seem to have.
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One thing for certain is that pit traders are going out of existence as we speak. Just 10 years ago, more than 80% of S&P futures contracts traded in the pit. Now more than 80% trade electronically. As a result, the rule of the game have completely changed. HFT and algo have clearly contributed in such a paradigm shift.

It's almost frightening to envision where retail traders will be on the food chain in the next 10 years. Sadly we have no voice in the matter. Everything is stacked in favor of large institutions and hedge funds. What we need is a collective bargaining.

PERHAPS WE SHOULD FORM A UNION!
 
Quote from schizo:

One thing for certain is that pit traders are going out of existence as we speak. Just 10 years ago, more than 80% of S&P futures contracts traded in the pit. Now more than 80% trade electronically. As a result, the rule of the game have completely changed. HFT and algo have clearly contributed in such a paradigm shift.

It's almost frightening to envision where retail traders will be on the food chain in the next 10 years. Sadly we have no voice in the matter. Everything is stacked in favor of large institutions and hedge funds. What we need is a collective bargaining.

PERHAPS WE SHOULD FORM A UNION!
More...

I've got around this issue by trading a longer time frame.
My theory is, shorter the time frame, more noise (HFT) more commissions relative to return, more energy expended, more frequent slippage, more stress etc.
My observation is that a trend is a trend, ie whether a short or long trend, it all comes out in the wash, you could possible trade a 12 monthly bar chart and still have the same returns ( just guessing but using as an example)
I've gone longer term to decrease the energy i expend and the commissions I pay. I'm not into being an adrenalin junky either. :p
 
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