Is Trading Itself a Bad Trade? I Analyzed the Industry- Prove Me Wrong
- Thread starter cityboy12
- Start date
You forgot to switch accounts before posting this.
Of course. I would always 100% recommend doing things legally and ethically. There are plenty of legal ways to profit in this world without resorting to unethical and illegal acts. HFT funds, essentially front-run orders...but do it legally ...as an example.
Steve Cohen, however, it must be noted, did not go to jail but the authorities took away his permissions to manage money as punishment. You can use him as a case study of a certain 'mind-set' not an example of how to behave.
This is just my own observation, FWIW. You start out by making some incendiary observations that are essentially outdated by twenty years. I read your OP, and it's like watching a Seinfeld rerun. I felt compelled to get out my Soundgarden and Nirvana CD's from storage.
Like the concept of brokers. I personally don't use a broker and I tell my clients to dispense with their brokers - I require a direct clearing firm with a risk manager that knows how to correctly margin a spread position. That eliminates 99 percent of "brokers". Portfolio Managers are a breed in precipitous decline - most every fund these days is run by an army of quants. Even for your loathed and scorned retail traders - quite a few of them have been using automation for at least a decade. Ninja Trader started up in 2003. CQG has relegated their traditional charting platform to an afterthought with Integrated Client, and Trading Technologies has pretty much deplatformed X-Trader in favor of their quantitative systems trader tool suite. Most of these 'retail types' you deride - at least here in the States, don't require your services. They require a deep discount and a very good ECN interface.
From my viewpoint you're trying to incite with really outdated opinions that are largely irrelevant in 2019. Much ado about nothing really.
I wish everyone good fortune and the very best.
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I agree that the brokerage industry is in decline (due to regulations etc)....I refer you to my previous posts (my first one in particular) where I mention this.
To repeat again. I have worked in both and advisory and discretionary capacity but also within online discount brokers and other platforms. In all cases, I made money and the businesses did also as there are still millions of clients who require their services and the companies are alive and well (albeit declining). Some clients require (for example) an FX platform for their MT4 whilst others (usually the older generation) like to speak to a human advisor to place trades and recommend trades. Different client have different needs.
I think you misunderstand what a broker is...this can be a regulated individual but also a platform which offers execution services. Countless examples are on ET. All of them charge a commission per trade. I could go into the very very shady practices of many (stop hunting, aggressive sales practices, mis-quotes etc). The average retail client does not have the capital to obtain low fees and genuine direct market access which automatically puts them at a disadvantage. Please let me know who you use as an ECN and also their fees and minimum capital.
And as far as automation is concerned, it is simply a means to trade. The fact that you set up an algo on Ninja Trader does not give you much of an edge in and of itself. You still have to program/design it. The same extremely high statistical probability of failure exists as would be the case if you traded manually.
Your under-resourced algo will be competing against funds with billions of capital with teams of quants and access to the markets milliseconds in front of your trade. Not much of an edge that I can see or have seen any evidence for.
I noticed you charge $7500 for training. Do you have an audited P&L you can post up?
To repeat again. I have worked in both and advisory and discretionary capacity but also within online discount brokers and other platforms. In all cases, I made money and the businesses did also as there are still millions of clients who require their services and the companies are alive and well (albeit declining). Some clients require (for example) an FX platform for their MT4 whilst others (usually the older generation) like to speak to a human advisor to place trades and recommend trades. Different client have different needs.
I think you misunderstand what a broker is...this can be a regulated individual but also a platform which offers execution services. Countless examples are on ET. All of them charge a commission per trade. I could go into the very very shady practices of many (stop hunting, aggressive sales practices, mis-quotes etc). The average retail client does not have the capital to obtain low fees and genuine direct market access which automatically puts them at a disadvantage. Please let me know who you use as an ECN and also their fees and minimum capital.
And as far as automation is concerned, it is simply a means to trade. The fact that you set up an algo on Ninja Trader does not give you much of an edge in and of itself. You still have to program/design it. The same extremely high statistical probability of failure exists as would be the case if you traded manually.
Your under-resourced algo will be competing against funds with billions of capital with teams of quants and access to the markets milliseconds in front of your trade. Not much of an edge that I can see or have seen any evidence for.
I noticed you charge $7500 for training. Do you have an audited P&L you can post up?
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Good points, good post, Trend magnet. Even though i enjoyed that post; a smaller % of traders make it. I would not even call firm like VIRT a trading co[WSJ calls them that]; they're market makers.
And while i mostly agree with you post ;averaging down on GM , DAL, AMR was a killer/bankrupt. NOT a stock tip or prediction.
I have no problem, I will have to blank out my name and NI number as I am a regulated individual and will not incur reputational risk. Then, in all probability, you will say my payslips are fake. Then a new cycle of accusations will be launched from other viewers (further conspiracy theories and ad hominem attacks).
Please, however, remember the premise of the thread is in the title...it is not whether I am a good/bad trader...but if trading itself is a good trade using conventional trading analysis. I refer you to the title again.