Hi, Fred
Perhaps the best way to explain it is to describe what I do when I enter a trade thru Schwab, and when I enter one thru Realtick - which is just the trade name for the trading system.
1. SCHWAB : Call up the Schwab screen, enter user ID, password, and I usually go to "positions" to make sure I'm playing with the same deck Schwab is. Then I wait a minute for the page to load. Confirm we agree that my position and cash is what I think it is, go to order entry page. Wait another minute for the order entry page to load. Enter order, filling in four boxes, send order. Wait 30 seconds for the confirm order page to appear, push the confirm button.
After this, enter the black hole. It can take Schwab ten minutes to confirm an order that I know from watching the Realtick screen had to have been executed. I know it because I can see from Realtick that MASH (the acronym for Schwab's market maker) showed my order, often taking a minute or more after I entered it to represent it, and that in due course it disappeared, meaning it had filled.
Okay, now you finally get your confirm, after you've pushed the "change, cancel" button 5 or 6 times. 10 minutes later, you have another order you want to enter. But Schwab has dropped you, and you get a "disconnected" message and have to start the process all over again.
Maybe other online firms are different, but that's a fair description, I think, of the Schwab process. And please believe me, I think Schwab is a good firm.
2. Realtick.
At 8:00 A.M. est I logon by entering my password. I immediately have my watchlist page up and running, access to how much I have available to trade on and my current position. Instantly, once I've loaded the system and it has accepted me.
Now, let's assume there is news about ORCL, so I load a Time and Sales for ORCL, see that it's trading down a ton and tell myself (which BTW I probably won't) that ORCL will get a bounce. So I bring up a Level II screen for ORCL and enter an offer on an ECN to buy ORCL at 31 1/2. Maybe it gets filled, maybe it doesn't, but I have the ability to trade pre-market.
The trading day begins. I have my watchlist, and I can also have Level II screens for individual stocks that tell me how the market makers are bidding and offering. But let's just say I do it the lazy man's way and hit the bid button from my watchlist and edit the screen to buy 1000 ORCL at 32 on ISLD (an ECN), and afterwards create a level II screen to see how I'm doing. My bid is is already there (it takes 1/2 second on a bad day) if it's the inside bid. If it disappears I don't need a confirmation - I know I've been filled. But in any case the confirmation is immediate. If you put in a limit order at 9:30 and it fills at 3:00, you'll be informed - immediately.
The system stays with you all day - no drop-offs for inactivity. Also charting on demand with your indicators.
The key word is immediate. You know exactly where you are at all times.
Of course there's a downside - you can overtrade, so discipline becomes all the more important. The ability to become in effect a market maker can lead to hubris, and hubris is the best way to lose money. But it you can control it, it's the only way go.
BTW, I have no connection of any sort other than customer, with MBT or ABW. |
