Rick,
SOES is faster than ARCA because ARCA spends a couple of seconds checking the ECN's before preferencing a market maker.
Usually I go in with an ARCA buy at the bid + 1/16,which may or may not be the ask, but occasionally I go in at the bid. While you are unlikely to get taken out by a market maker without him getting a 1/16 th, you may get taken out by an ECN.
I prefer to enter positions using limit orders and exit using the equivalent of market orders (hitting the quote). My rationale is that a missed entry is a missed opportunity (there is always another bus coming along) but with a missed exit I lose my hard earned profit (bird in the hand and all that).
With respect to Stochastics, I am using long ones, typically about 2 hours, on 1 minute charts to try to catch the major intraday swings. There are smaller swings within that timeframe that could be played using shorter stochastics.
I also try to stay on the 'right' side of the market using TICK, TRIN and COMPX. Unfortunately TICK and TRIN are NYSE indicators, so to compensate I also try to keep an eye on the following link to monitor Nasdaq better.
quote.yahoo.com
You can calculate a TRIN for Nasdaq in a few seconds using the formula
(Adv / Decl) / (Up Vol / Down Vol)
Values less than 1 are bullish, greater than 1 are bearish, but you probably already know this.
Have a great weekend.
John |