The Perils of Day Trading:
One of the most popular software packages for day trading is "Real Tick". This is the software package that Watley uses for example. Ever been trading on Real Tick and had your whole screen lock up so you couldn't trade when a stock on your screen was running real hard?
Since I can't find anywhere specific to post this, I assume somebody will read it and link it to the right spot(s). I don't know if anyone has already noticed this or discussed it, but plenty of people I work with (including yours truly) found out the hard way. I had to figure this out on my own, but there is no reason you have to.
Anybody that uses Real Tick, or is planning on using it needs to be aware of the following:
The "market maker" box is the box that shows the stock along with the market makers and their bids and asks in real time. This is the box that we all use, anyone that uses Real Tick knows about this.
What you may not know is that you can set this box for a specific feature, which is a streaming real-time ticker of trades. It scrolls up and gives every trade in the stock. Many people have the MM box set up this way. The default setting is black background with red and green prices. You know the one?
Now, you can also program your screen for a separate box, called the "cascading ticker" that looks identical to this "inside the market maker box" streaming ticker, but is not contained inside the MM box.
They are pretty much identical, with one exception. The software will lock up and not let you enter a trade when any of these tickers moves too fast. It's one of these things that we all learn the hard way. If your screen has locked up, it's because of these damned tickers.
If you have your screen set up with one or more of these tickers, either the "outside the MM box" or the "inside the MM box" and the ticker is set on a really hot stock that is moving fast, you are out of business until that ticker slows down. Believe me, if you are short and get caught in a squeeze and your screen locks up, you will be real pissed, real fast.
The fix? Glad you axed.
First, get rid of the "inside the market maker box" scrolling ticker.
Change it to the separate "cascading ticker", (select "Ticker" and "cascade", configure it however you want, and then link that ticker to the market maker box. (You know how to link, I assume.) It's the same space requirement on the screen as the "inside the MM box" ticker.
Next, don't have any single stock set up in more than one cascading ticker.
If you get into a situation where your screen locks up, you just "x" on the ticker with the "hot" stock and get it off your screen, and do it fast, before the screen locks up totally. You will lose only that ticker, but the market maker box will stay up and you won't lock up the software, and you can execute your trade. If you had the scrolling ticker inside the MM box, you would have to "x" the entire box and then re-enter the stock in another box, but that box has the ticker inside the box too, doesn't it? So you are screwed until the stock cools off.
Every morning, when you set up your screen and enter the stocks you will be watching in the morning, set up some boring slow stocks on the market maker windows, and save that screen.
Then, after you have made your trade, you can exit the screen that you just erased the cascading ticker on, and bring up the saved screen, which has everything just as you had it at 9:30.
You will thank me for this at some point in the future. |
