Tape reading

Originally posted by Scalpa


....and the only book I've found while looking for books on scalping was "Day Trade Online" by Christopher Farrell. It taught me a couple of things, but I was a bit disappointed at how old everything was (no decimilization).

Was that the same book you found?

-Scalpa
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Yep, that's the book. It sucks, but worth the read. Don't buy it, borrow it.

I don't think I've met one person who's tried to learn day trading through a retail account that's succeeded, excpet for the go-go days, but by now, they've lost it all. Not that there aren't, but it's hard to find them.
 
Originally posted by calibertrader


Yep, that's the book. It sucks, but worth the read. Don't buy it, borrow it.

I don't think I've met one person who's tried to learn day trading through a retail account that's succeeded, excpet for the go-go days, but by now, they've lost it all. Not that there aren't, but it's hard to find them.
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The thing that really struck me as a little odd was how much capital he was risking per each trade; all to scalp a couple of teenies. It doesn't sound logical to me to risk upwards of $100K to maybe make a couple hundred of bucks. I wonder if this guy even makes money trading. :confused:

That's why I stick to scalping cheaper stocks. You don't have to risk a lot of capital to make good money on a single trade, but the other advantage is the cheaper the stock, the larger percentage gap between the bid and ask. For example, SUNW is trading at $2.81 x $2.82 let's say. That bid x ask gap is 1 cent, right? But 1 cent of $2.82 is only .35% (.0035) of $2.82. Then try a stock that's only 10 cents (like Worldcom): $.10 x $.11. In this example the bid ask spread is 10%! I think this is one of the reasons why people made so much money scalping Worldcom back in July. The other contributing factors being the extremely high volume and surprisingly low volatility.

What's your idea of a retail account? Like your typical online broker? If so, you just met someone that does succeed. I've averaged $3800 a day since the beginning to middle of July. My average does go down everyday, but only because I was making a killing on Worldcom. This week I averaged $1950/day. Monday was actually the first day in over a month that I lost money. I lost $2,000 on Monday, but quickly made it back thanks in part to a $30,000 short position in Oracle the day before they announced earnings. :D

-Scalpa
 
I want to start Daytrading and Learn how to Read the Tape
(I have no previous experience) and I cant see how a book is going to help you. The best chance you have is to get taught by someone who earns money doing it,
 
Originally posted by Scalpa



What's your idea of a retail account? Like your typical online broker? If so, you just met someone that does succeed. I've averaged $3800 a day since the beginning to middle of July. My average does go down everyday, but only because I was making a killing on Worldcom. This week I averaged $1950/day. Monday was actually the first day in over a month that I lost money. I lost $2,000 on Monday, but quickly made it back thanks in part to a $30,000 short position in Oracle the day before they announced earnings. :D

-Scalpa
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I didn't say no one succeeded, just that it is rare to find someone.
 
Originally posted by toby400
Came across this book in the UK.


http://www.tradetowin.com/contents_page.htm


Is this tape reading ?:confused:
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In my opinion, judging from the table of content, this book is closer to the original meaning of tape reading than what most mean when use this term. Simple staring at T&S/Level 2, trying to gauge the strength at this very moment leads to pure scalping for cents, while tape reading in its true sense is capable of much more. Principles of tape reading allow to distinguish the smart money action from that of the majority. Original tape readers of times of Jesse Livermore used those principles, and they work today just as fine. They are applicable in any time frame, and longer time frames would require looking at the chart, from intraday and higher depending of trader's objectives.

Pure T&S/Level 2 reading narrows this method to very small time frame and tiny profit objectives. While this style is valid, this understanding is just too narrow and gives tape reading bad name among those that try to work for more than several cents.

I didn't read this book and can't tell how good it is as describing the method itself though.

Again, all above is IMO.

Vad
 
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