Who to listen to at ET?

Overnight said:
He's active right now on this thread. Could you provide a specific options term that does not exist that he uses/has used in the past so he could address it?
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TheDawn said:
I am putting the two of you, you and @newwurldmn on "Ignore" since you two have shit to offer and I am not wasting my time and energy on shit. Lord knows I have already wasted too much.
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I put him on "Ignore" for a reason. Please see the reason above. Not going to go back on my words. If he really wants to explain his terms, why don't you have @Darc ask him? He is new here on ET and wants to learn. He just went through his journal and didn't understand anything.
Darc said:
I went and checked out one of Des's journals. I didn't understand a word he said LMAO
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So ask @Darc to ask your "option god" to explain his journal and the terms that he uses in the journal. I really don't give a shit about him; I am just exposing him for what I think he is but if he's able to explain his terms well and everybody ends up really learning something from him, then that's good. That's what ET should be all about.
 
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taowave said:
Would you prefer to trade Flys and other 4 leg structures at 1.50 per option??Each Way??

Yes my main business is a form of market making..On a good trade,I make 5 F-n cents.Its gotten much more competitive and its down to 2 cents..Thats the life of what you would call a "market maker",one without 2 sided flow who picks his spots...

FWIW,I can only do what I do because of zero commisions. In 6 months,I have spent 120k in commisions.Under the old structure,I would be somehwere between 550k and 700k...

I think you should stop using the term retail..Its a nice way of saying inexperienced/dumb...

This is a tough game with very small edges...
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Ok I am really confused here. I am not saying this as a passive aggressiveness but am really confused. You said your business is a form of market making, so are you a market maker that takes the other side of our transactions or are you trading just like us but in a way like market makers? The 5 F-n cents that you make, is that the commission that you earn from making market or is that the commission that you pay to trade like us retail traders? In one paragraph you say you make 5 F-n cents to 2 cents, and then in another paragraph you say you pay $120K in commissions. Which one is it? And what do you mean by the "old structure"? As far as I know, we are still under PFOF; nothing is changed. So what's this "old structure" and what's the new structure?

Again, not arguing, but really trying to learn here.
 
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taowave said:
Its not too late to walk back...

Commision structures go down with bigger size..yikes
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That's why I said:
TheDawn said:
Yeah that's the only or probably biggest advantage retail traders have over professional investors/traders is that we face lower fees like data subscription fees and lower commission not because of pfof but because of our trading size being smaller.
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Our commission maybe higher on a per-share basis but because our trading size is smaller, the overall commission that we pay might be smaller. And I said "probably". And this is another problem with the PFOF is that there is no transparency. There has been several invitations for all the MM's to present their cost structures and describe their business models more and until now they have all refused. If they are really giving us retail traders a deal like what they advocate, why are they so afraid of showing it? What's their concern?
 
Good questions..Im an ex floor trader who used to make markets.That my be my one skill..

If the market is .95 bid,at 1.45,I may offer 100 at 1.40 while leaning against another option. I do that over and over,inputting as many as 400x orders per day,hopefully getting filled on 3-5 percent.

The 5 cents WAS my average scalp/spread I would put on.Its gotten infinitely harder,and it appears I am lucky to take out a risk free 2 cents.

It's both..I was making 5 cents per trade, i.e 500 bucks per 100 lot scalps,flys,verts calenders or whatever structure I turn the initial trade into.All I need is one very good fill . I trade so much,that my all in trading costs are at 120k as of today.

By old structure,I meant being charged commish..At IB,I would pay as much as 6 bucks per fly..Im now at 1 dollar max..That a massive difference.I couldn't do what I do with the old commison structure..

PFOF is the best thing that ever happened for the niche I carved out.



TheDawn said:
Ok I am really confused here. I am saying this as a passive aggressiveness but am really confused. You said your business is a form of market making, so are you a market maker that takes the other side of our transactions or are you trading just like us but in a way like market makers? The 5 F-n cents that you make, is that the commission that you earn from making market or is that the commission that you pay to trade like us retail traders? In one paragraph you say you make 5 F-n cents to 2 cents, and then in another paragraph you say you pay $120K in commissions. Which one is it? And what do you mean by the "old structure"? As far as I know, we are still under PFOF; nothing is changed. So what's this "old structure" and what's the new structure?

Again, not arguing, but really trying to learn here.
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taowave said:
No RMM....

I pick and choose my spots in options typically less than a buck and improve the markets...

Its an f-ing grind,and got put in the penalty box for 3 months due to placing/cancelling 390+ orders per day...Labeled a pro,and once that happens,you are basically hitting bids/taking offers...

Didnt have a real down day for over 1.5 years (other than a silly mark),but the demand for upside cheapos has evaporated..along with my P and L
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I didn't realize that placing / cancelling some amount of orders per day could get you labeled as a pro... I may place / cancel over 100 orders on some days, but I don't think I have gotten close to 390 / day. I don't see any mention of that limit from IB:

https://ibkr.info/node/2369

Oh...read your later post. You're no longer at IB. Curious, what broker offers commission free trading for options that supports an API...assuming that you don't enter and cancel 400 orders/day manually as that would be hell.
 
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For any one calender month,you have to average less than 390 orders per day,filled or not.

Being labeled a PRO is pure hell if you hope to sell close to the offer/buy close to the bid..And you will be in the penalty box for 90 days..

Sadly,I am the numnut who manually enters 390 trades per day,and with edge vanishing, I may have to take actual risk...



ET180 said:
I didn't realize that placing / cancelling some amount of orders per day could get you labeled as a pro... I may place / cancel over 100 orders on some days, but I don't think I have gotten close to 390 / day. I don't see any mention of that limit from IB:

https://ibkr.info/node/2369

Oh...read your later post. You're no longer at IB. Curious, what broker offers commission free trading for options that supports an API...assuming that you don't enter and cancel 400 orders/day manually as that would be hell.
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I see...

https://support.tastyworks.com/supp...0435379-390-professional-orders-rule-390-rule

I'm surprised that the retail trader is still able to find arbitrage opportunities in the market.

Earlier, when you stated:

"If the market is .95 bid,at 1.45,I may offer 100 at 1.40 while leaning against another option."

What do you mean by leaning against another option? You can't lock/hold another option so what happens if your order executes and then the option you were leaning against changes or is cancelled?
 
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