Tracking large block trades real time

S

stockoptionist

I have found that not all high volume breakouts are the same. Breakouts made largely by momentum traders are more likely to fail than ones with institutional participation. Does anyone know of any program that can scan the market real time for large block trades? Thanks in advance.
 
assuming that there is a way to locate large block trades, either by just watching T&S or maybe some better way...

...how do you determine whether those trades indicate that an institution is entering or exiting a position?

a large player could be creating momentum if entering, or possibly just exiting into strength. somebody has to be on both sides of every trade

...is there any way to tell which it is?
 
There are no hard-and-fast rules for determining that. Just as you said, I usually look at T&S. Sometimes, those large block traders will do head fakes but posting huge blocks at the bid as well as the ask prices so as to create confusion. Sometimes, they don't of course. And if they do and when they are accumulating, they usually set ridiculously high ask prices so that nobody will buy them. They just want to create panic retail selling so that they can buy the shares at cheaper prices. On the other hand, if they are distributing, they will make huge size bids at ridiculously low prices so that nobody would be willing to sell to them. They want to create a panic buy so that they can unload the shares. But, I still find reading the charts to be more reliable, because at the end of the day, if there is sufficient accumulation or distribution, it will show no matter how much they head fake in the course of the day.

 
If you use RealTick, you can easily set up a Ticker that scans your basket of stocks and displays only those trades that are above whatever minimum limit you specify.
 
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