Saturday, August 22, 2009

Super Scalper

"Face your past without regrets. Handle your present with confidence. And prepare for the future without fear"

I have the opportunity of visiting a friend who is trading from another arcade. He specialise in market opening and closing of the Taiwan contract, an SGX product. He is among one of the best scalper I know who can trade more than a 1,000 contract round turn in half an hour, rarely holding a position for more than 3 seconds. The speed that he executes his trades is amazing.

I observe that he don't have any chart except the ladders for the different contracts occupying 2 full screens. With the Taiex contract (Taiwan Exchange product) side by side, he monitor it closely, through observation and anticipation of the market players' behaviour, he will then execute his trades. Somtimes, he does hedge his position against the Taiex when he feel been squeeze by the big boys.

I saw many of the traders from the floor previously and are now big traders on the electronic platform. Most of them don't have any charts on their screen, and these traders are making money big time! Many of the traders in the Phillip arcade don't look at charts too and these traders are also making money!!!

I used to trade without chart on the floor, what we need is quick action and reaction to the market movement, mostly making money from the "YUM" trades or hijacking trades from the order fillers with our speed advantage. After going electronic, I have to learn how to read charts with so many markets to monitor, combining them with price action to execute my trades.

My friend showed me he made US$2,500/- for the morning less comm of US$1,500/-, his nett profit was about US$1,000/- for half and hour's work and he will be going home to sleep before coming back at 1 pm to trade the closing. He showed me last month's profit of about US$15,000/- nett and scratch trade rebates of about US$7,000/- from SGX (Extra Bonus).

This is one scapler who faces those "Algos" head on without fear and excuses. He told me "it's all in the mind", be "Fearless". How I wish I can manage this "Fear" factor a little better. Probably due to age, as we grow older, we tend to mellow down and becomes a bit more risk adverse.

Profit for the special account went back to S$13,217/- reducing the Topix/Nikkei spread to 1 contract.

4 comments:

Jules said...

I did the same sometime last year - for a few sessions - and on one particular day trading the NQ, after 31 rounds I ended the day in the green by USD 1700 if I remember correctly :-)

And I heard too that many floor traders who made it actually traded this way.

But it's definitely very, very bad for the eyes :-)

I am really looking forward to seeing you trade :-)

Trust that you're feeling better this week?

Fat88Trader said...

Thank you, I am feeling much better now, what a relief.

Yes, most successful floor traders are mostly scalpers, young and energetic, full of drive.

Looking and eyeballing the screen the whole day is tiring, we must also learn how to relax and take short break, walk around and chat with fellow traders. I do take some health supplement for the eye, it does help.

I don't think we have much of a choice.


The market is consolidating and trending up which make trading a little tough this few months.

Since you have made USD1,700 once before at the end of the day, I believe there is a lot of potential for you to grow further.

I don't know what type of trader you are, I suppose a little bit of scalping and short term day trading.

Try different trading platforms especially the TT (Trading Technologies) and feel the difference. They offer free usage for a month before you decide to sign up with them. One month notice for termination, no question ask.

To be a elite trader, go for the best.

I hope not to disappoint you on that day, see you :-)

Arbitrageur said...

How do you guys scalp? Anything to look out for when looking at the market depth?

I am a beginner trying out TT Xtrader account. Been watching the ES tape without much consistency.
Can anyone guide me?

alitergalen said...
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