Understanding the Squawk

TGregg

TGregg

Kermit recently pointed me to a couple free squawk box trials. I probably forgot to thank him, so thanks Kermit :D. Anyway, I've been listening to a demo at http://www.xsquawk.com/asx/spdemo.asx and have heard plenty of phrases that I do not understand. Here's a list of them:

5 even half
5 even 20
5 even 30
485 20
485 even
475 even
bid 5 bid 5 even 20
5s are trading even 20
2 even 3 even
2 even bid cloe
42 bid cloe
now 2 halfs are trading two halves at locals
2 even on 50 cloe
Cloe getting hit
The 50 line trade
2s are still trading on 2 even half 2 even half
2 half 80 2 half 80
2 even half 2 even 20
180 two even

The first thing I noticed, is the guy never seems to say "quarter". Do S&P futures tick in half points in the pits? Secondly, I'm hoping that somebody could help me understand these comments. Some seem apparent (like "2 half 80" might mean 80 contracts (must be the big ones, not the minis if this is important) traded at xx2.5), but most are mysterious to me. "Cloe" means close, I think. But what "42 bid cloe" means is kinda strange.

"Locals" might be "Low Close", meaning low since the close. Maybe. I dunno. Anyway, any help would be appreciated.
 
yeah, you need a lot of help! but understandably so, its very confusing if you new to it... most of these phrase you have listed are just quoting hte market and these are the pit traded contracts not the minis, and they trade in tenths... they just call out the last number so 978.5 is called 8 and 1/2... evens are the round numbers i.e 980 traded is evens trade...
locals are independent pit traders, youll also hear paper trade which is institutions...
takes time to learn and get used to but it can be helpful at times.
hope this helps to get you started.
 
Thanks Ron. Yeah, I had the part about they are not saying the whole price already. Maybe when the guy says "5 even half" he means 5 contracts traded at xx5.00. And when he says 5 even 20, that's 20 contracts at xx5.00.
 
"locals" are the guys in the pit. "paper" means customer orders.


Are you in Chicago or NYC?? if so, you should attend a mock trading session at CME, NYMEX.....any place will do. you will quickly get a handle on the basic lingo.
 
Quote from FinStat:

"locals" are the guys in the pit. "paper" means customer orders.


Are you in Chicago or NYC?? if so, you should attend a mock trading session at CME, NYMEX.....any place will do. you will quickly get a handle on the basic lingo.
More...

Nah, I'm in Charlotte, NC :(. This lingo is pretty interesting, I'd like to pick up some understanding. It'd be way cool to stand on the floor some day, if just to watch.
 
Ahhhh, I see. He didn't say 475 even. He said 470 5 even. Meaning (I suppose) the bid was xx4.70 and the ask was xx5.00.
 
You are just this close to understanding it TGregg. It works better if you are watching the price at the same time.

First the proper way in the Spoo pit is "bid price on size, size at ask price" If the contract is 976.80, you might yell 75 bid on 20, and I might yell back 20 at 85. You are bidding 976.75 on 20 cars, and I am offering to sell 20 at 976.85.

Given that, and looking at your notes, the price of the contract is in the 480's, wow.

So you are hearing the broadcaster say....

485.00 at 485.50. Or in his language, "5 even at a half." No size quoted. Usually they won't quote size unless it is 50 cars or more.

He proceeds as the bid stays the same but the offer drops...

5 even 30, 5 even 20, which is as before 485.00 bid, 485.20 offered.

So 2 even and 3 even might mean 482.00 and 483.00.

Then he reminds everyone where the full price is and repeats the whole value by saying... 485even, which means 485.00, then 485.20.

Then he sees a couple of bids at 485.05, back then it traded in 5's. Then 485.05 trades. Then the bid falls back to 485.00 and the offer is 485.20.

At one point, probably lunch, the spread was 50 points, and 482.00 was trading, meaning they were selling, and the offer was 482.50 (a half)

Then the bid is 482.50, the offer is 482.80, and finally the bid drops back to 482.00, and the offer is 482.50, then it drops to 482.20.
 
That explains a lot, thank you Jordan. The phrases I picked are not one after another, I didn't list similar ones. And, there was a rate cute in the middle.

As usual it's way past my bedtime. But, what about phrases like "42 bid cloe"? Does that mean . . . hmmm. . . I can't even make a guess.

And what about the phrase "one eighty two even"? There clearly are subtleties to this that I do not yet understand. Very interesting stuff, though.
 
one eighty two even would be 481.80 bid, 482.00 offered. He will just say the last whole number most of the time and then every 30 seconds or so say the entire price.


42 bid cloe is full of possibilities without hearing it myself. Is he saying 482.00 bid, locals... meaning no size... or if your CLOE could be Louie, which is what Louis Borsellino goes by in the pits, the broacaster could be saying 482 bid Louie. Or Cloe might be a trading group like OJO group, or Pru, or Sollie (Soloman Bros).
 
Quote from TGregg:


But, what about phrases like "42 bid cloe"? Does that mean . . . hmmm. . . I can't even make a guess.
More...

He is just telling who is bidding as jordan said. 'cloe' is a trader in the pit. others may be:
5 half bid "merrill"; "chi-corp", "morgan", "bank one", "hammer", many others.
 
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