What do you consider to be the most valuable thing you've learned from a post on ET?

Discussion in 'Trading' started by remogul92, Nov 17, 2019.

  1. For me, the most valuable thing I've learned is that I'm not alone trying to figure out how to be a consistently profitable trader. Before, I wasn't connected to a group of similar like minded people trying to do the same thing, so I used to think that there was this core group of people out there that horded all this knowledge about trading and that I was the only one left out. Now I know there are lots of people out here working to try to do the same thing.

    I encourage everyone to keep at it. I am.
     
  2. Probability is important.
     
  3. Nobert

    Nobert

    An episode from 1994 ,, The New Market Wizards'' :
    (from interview with Bill Lipschutz)

    ,, ==== Are there any trades that stand out from your early days as a currency trader? ====
    In 1983, in the very early days of currency options trading on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, one of the specialists was quoting a particular option at a price that was obviously off by 100 points. I bought fifty. Since this was a deep-in-the-money option, I immediately sold the underlying market and locked in a risk-free profit. [A deep-in-the-money option is just like an outright contract, with the added advantage that if the market has an extreme move the maximum risk is theoretically limited.] I asked my broker whether the specialist was still offering to sell more options at the same price. "Yes," he replied, "the offer is still there." "Buy another fifty," I said.

    At the time, I was the only currency options trader on the Philadelphia Exchange that regularly traded in fifties. The entire daily volume in the market was only about two or three hundred contracts. I did another fifty, another fifty, and another fifty. Then Goldman Sachs came in and did fifty. All of a sudden, the specialist had sold three to four hundred of these options. He obviously thought he had a locked-in arbitrage profit, but he had done his arithmetic wrong. I knew exactly what was happening. Finally, I said to my broker, "Ask him if he wants to do one thousand." "Just a second," he answered. The broker came back a half-minute later and said, "He'll do one thousand at this price." The specialist had backed off his offer, but he was obviously still off by almost 100 points in his quote. Finally I said to my broker, "Tell him to call me on my outside line." The specialist calls me up and says, "What are you doing?" I respond, "What are you doing?" He asks, "Do you really want to do one thousand?" I answer, "Listen, you're off by a big figure on your price." "What are you talking about?" he exclaims. I start walking him through the numbers. Before I finish he says, "I've got to go," and the phone goes dead.

    I got off the phone and thought about it for a few minutes. I realized that holding him to the trade would put him out of business-a development that would be bad for the exchange and terrible for the product [currency options], which we were just beginning to trade in a significant way. I called my broker and said, "Break all the trades after the first fifty." At about the same time, my outside phone line rang. The specialist was on the other end of the line. "I can't believe it!" he exclaimed, agonizing over the immensity of his error. "This is going to put me out of business." I said, "Don't worry about it, I'm breaking all the trades, except the first fifty." (By the way, Goldman refused to break any of the 150 they had done. Years later, after the specialist company had gone out of business, and the individual specialist had become the head trader for the largest market maker on the floor, he always made it very difficult for Goldman on the floor.) My action of breaking the trades represented a long-term business decision, which I didn't think about a lot at the time, but which I agonized over for years afterward.

    ==== Why is that? ====
    I have a reputation as being one of the most-if not the most-hard-assed players in the market. I never, ever, ever, ever, cut anybody a break, because I figured that at Salomon everybody was trying to knock us off. I was sure that if the tables were reversed, no one would ever give us a break. My view was always that these are the rules of the game. I don't give any quarter, and I don't expect any quarter.''

    And here, if you give a quarter or two, - you might expect one or two return. Some of the members will share, even without asking.
     
    Last edited: Nov 17, 2019
  4. SteveM

    SteveM

    June 8th, 2011: https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/bitcoin-thread-anyone.221836/

    A $30,000 investment based on this guy's recommendation in 2011 would have been worth $17.8 million dollars by December 2017.
     
  5. Well said Nobert. I agree. And great story you shared to drive the point home.
     
    Nobert likes this.
  6. ET180

    ET180

    Tommcginnis told me about the position delta feature in IB TWS.
     
  7. destriero

    destriero

    SteveM likes this.
  8. Doesn’t surprise me. Tommcginnis seems to know a lot about many things.
     
    BlueWaterSailor likes this.
  9. SPAN Margin
    Cross-Hedge
    Correlation Trading
    Co-integration
    Statistical Arbitrage
    Index Arbitrage
    Capital Efficiency
    Spread Trading
    Volatility Adjusted Notional Position Sizing
    IB TWS EXCEL API (VBA Script)
    ThinkorSwim (thinkScript)
    Margin Mechanics
    Yield Curve / Equity Market / Volatility Trading
    Synthetics Using Options

    A lot more, look up members sle, destreiro, bone, Maverick74 for markets and trading
     
    TooEffingOld, remogul92 and Nobert like this.
  10. I personally am very thankful for ET memebers the past few years. Although I am not profitable yet, I now have a path forward to take to become profit.

    What I a have learned from ET is:

    1. It will take time
    2. It will take the right practice
    3. I am not alone in my journey towards sucess.
    4. My edge is my trading experience and skills.

    Also, LOTS of members have really helped me. ALOT.

    I like I can come to ET and ask questions.
     
    #10     Nov 17, 2019