Nice day!

I am up Nikkeis on the day but I am coming closer to reaching a decision that I'm not going to trade them. All instruments are susceptible to the slamming through bids and offers, but the Nikkei is the worst I have ever seen. I was long some and scaled out on a nice pop and then on my other half I just could not get out. You would think that if I'm literally number TEN in the queue that I would get a fill... but they stalled for 10 seconds, and traded straight through the bid ... at one of those prices, ZERO traded at the offer. We're talking about slamming through 20 index points with literally no one except the guy hitting the bid getting filled on the offer. I've realized what the machines do here because I see it every day (by "see it" I mean, "experience it")... if you want to buy, and wait for the offers to get in the double digits, and take that offer, chances are it will not go. Only when the offer is quite large does it go all at once, and so there's no opportunity to get a quick fill and immediately be on the right side. Once the offer goes, if you immediately bid at the new bid, the machines easily know what the starting bid quantity was (say there were 400 on the offer and someone took 500 -- they know that the original bid quantity is 100). Even getting in as fast as humanly possible, there is a very small chance of a fill there, as the machines won't hit past 100 on the bid, leaving you at the front of the queue, while they now take the new offer. It's the most machine-driven product I've ever traded. In the above scenario, with many humans, there'd be at least a few who hit that small bid. But, I suspect I may be the only human trading MJNK, despite its massive volume Sorry for rant on your thread, but I can't post it really anywhere else, I know you'll understand what I'm talking about

Josh,
Why do you do it to yourself....what is it about the Nikkei that you like so much?
Even my Japan-based trading mates don't like the local market.
Your struggle kind of highlights why the HSI/HHI are good markets...lots of locals on the keyboards and not too much algo tricks going on..with the lower depth you do see it when the big orders just vacuum all the standing orders and the market rips instantly, but I'm rarely on the wrong side (luckily)
I'm assuming you moved your stop on the remaining contracts to break-even after the first target was hit?
Unless the price moves past your target by 1 tick I wouldn't assume a fill....(from my experience).

How about the SPI (ASX) contract as an alternative? Single point spread and $25 BPV + cheap Bro via AMP.

You know, I'm not sure really. There's something about single digits in the order book that I just don't like, and there's something about 1000 lots that I do like ... But, when volatility comes into a market like ES on a day like today, it also suffers the same problems... you must take liquidity, really, to maintain sanity. Yes, the HSI certainly does have its 20 tick, one-way moves as well, but the single tick per point (unlike the 5 per on Nikkeis) does make it easier to salvage a tick or two when needing to get out.

I don't keep an actual stop in the market when I trade, and I was prepared to scratch it, but once it hovered around my price, that's when the 3-tick slam happened quickly. In this case a stop would have been great, but typically, I find that stops cost me money.

SPI ... I looked into that some time ago, but after looking at a CFD of the action, I can't say I'm too eager to trade that market. I'd say Japan, China, and US is enough to drive me crazy enough already

You know, I'm not sure really. There's something about single digits in the order book that I just don't like, and there's something about 1000 lots that I do like

13 Mar 2020

Trading results for the week 9-13 March 20
Crazy volatility - had to use market orders just to get in as it's nuts....50tic moves in 1 second ?!!