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To: PartyTime who wrote (11298)	2/26/2000 5:16:00 PM
From: Jon Tara	Respond to of 18366

PT, IMO, L2 is only useful for making split-second trading decisions. If you are planning on holding a position for only, say, 5 minutes, then you MUST use L2. If you are position trading, I think you would be better served by having GOOD intra-day charts available to you. I would concentrate on learnings how to read 1 or 2-minute bar charts and tick charts. You might want to consider some of the "entry level" versions of the kinds of real-time quote products that have L2 as an option. L2 will cost you typically $100/month additional. $50/month goes to NASDAQ, and is unavoidable. (But some brokers will pay this for you if you get the quotes from them and do enough trades per month. IMO, though, you are better-off paying for it and getting cheaper commissions elsewhere. You would get commissions <$10 AND free L2...) And then the vendor typically charges you about $50/month to feed you the L2 quotes, so $100 total - in ADDITION to a base fee. You might get it somewhat cheaper, but the exchange fee sets the bottom line. You can get 1-2 week trials from many of the vendors, so there is no harm in trying it out, though! It is easy to get lulled by the pretty flashing lights. And it is easy to see what you want to see. That is why I recommend getting a good book (and avoid those over-priced $100 books pitched online and in the backs of magazines - they are written from the same paranoid view you've come across on RB. Stick with a $30 or less book from Amazon from a major publisher - there is no need to pay a fortune for xeroxed crap...). There are SO many people mis-using L2, which is why I caution you to discount online lore. BTW, the book I suggested has a lot of good pictures. :) No, really, it has the best illulstrations of L2 setups that I have seen. Very clear.