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Efrain R Portales wrote:
> Thanks for your input, Robert. I've been thinking about
> this
> 'cause sometimes it looks like ( coincidence?) somehow
> prices are headed all the way to my stop, then go the
> other
> way.
> Have a nice weekend.
>
> Efrain
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Short story:
Years ago before the govt got after the currency traders on
the Merc I was doing business with Lind-Waldock. Wasn't
overly happy with some of their fills. One day I went long
a Yen contract almost on the low. It bounced up sharply
from that low so I thought I better put a stop to protect
myself. I was still using stops at that time and wasn't
making any money. So I put a stop at a very oddball price,
at a place I figured no one else would put a stop. After
the initial rally they dropped the price to exactly my stop
& I was gone. That was the low on the short selloff.
Thereafter the contract went up sharply and I lost over a
$10,000 profit.
That ended L-W for me. Couldn't close my account fast
enough. I'm absolutely certain the broker handling my stop
told the scalpers and they picked me off. Remember, in a
lot of contracts the books can be thin and the scalpers can
do a lot of hanky panky.
I found out that where you do business is important. After
leaving L-W I went to a broker that used LIT, a big Chicago
clearing firm, to handle their orders. My fills improved
markedly. Later that broker switched to LFG, another big
Chicago clearing firm and I stayed with the broker & now LFG
handles my orders. Their fills have been equally good.
Many small brokers clear through these two firms.
Recently I found that a division of LFG handles orders at
about 1/2 of what I'm paying my old broker so I opened an
account there in addition to my old account. Since I'm more
of a position trader and don't do that many contracts a
month I haven't been that concerned about my commission
costs. Order handling is much more important to me. The
old broker has a top notch order desk at LFG. The discount
division has a different order desk and I'm trying them
out. Haven't done enough business yet to make a conclusion.
These big houses - LFG & LLC - don't tolerate sloppy order
handling in the pits and their volume enables them to get
the top floor broker in each pit.
Bob Doeden
Chicago
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