How to be a profitable short-term trader in a high frequency world

EP 077: How to be a profitable short-term trader in a high frequency world w/ Dennis Dick

Dennis first started out meddling with penny stocks, before soon joining a well-established prop firm known as; Bright Trading—this was in the late 90’s. To this day Dennis remains with the same firm, still as an active short-term equities trader, but also as their Market Structure Analyst.

If his voice sounds familiar, that’s probably because he’s the co-host of Benzinga’s PreMarket Prep live morning show too.

Some of the key talking points that come up over the next 60 minutes, include; scalping, surviving as a short-term trader in a high frequency world, various order types, and the opportunities that can be found trading the open (this is actually where Dennis makes 50% of his money each day—within the first five minutes).

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[madaztrader]

Loved this one! Dennis's chat really confirms a lot of things I've suspected for awhile now from a scalping perspective. You got yourself a new fan, Dennis! :)

[AerialPenn]

Premarket prep has moved away from Benzinga as of US election day 2024 but the show is still going strong every morning from 8 to 9am. Triple D, Joel and Christian do a great job with the show and they have a good behind the scenes crew too. Another chat with Triple D would be awesome even if you just did a catch up episode that was half as long as did one with someone else thats similar like Kenny Glick. I LOVEDDDD that episode and I know of Kenny from Pre Market Prep when he has come on as a guest. I'm going through these old interviews of names I recognize you have an amazing library of guests. Thanks for the great show

[asieretxebeste]

I have listened to this particular episode at least 5 times. Markets are still not efficient, and I think it it's even beautiful to make a profit while giving assets the price they should have. Thank you very much Aaron!! (and Dennis for being so open)

[YourGamingPill]

this was the best interview iv'e seen on this channel, this guy clearly knows what he is talking about, get him on the show again please. what he said about the HFT algo's changed my view completely so i can now understand exactly what these algo's are doing to use my limit orders as a hedge. great stuff.

[joseflores]

Advice and techniques still relevant today. Crazy wisdom

[dejancorovic]

This one was sooo good. Do the episode #2 with Dennis ::-)

[Debjit]

About Anton Kreil well as per my understanding, he has an Investment banker background and his style is more as of a fund manager rather than a prop trader, yes he has handled forex desk but again its entirely with a different style they tend to make short-term positions and trade the market with macroeconomics and numbers. In short, they are in asset building and then sell the asset (fund) when it grows large enough to some other larger investment group. Obviously, not much use for retail traders in terms of trading style but definitely can learn a lot about the market from the macro perspective, things you can actually learn in macroeconomics and applied finance.

Well it's just my opinion :)

Thanks to Aaron for doing such a wonderful job by bringing so many experienced traders life experience to us.

[duanejackson]

I think you could still do opening scalping, I get what he's saying about the high frequency traders, but I think if you set it up so you are on both ends of the trade, so you would have to buy in at least by closing, then set a limit order for what you thought you could scalp, and also set a buy order at the low end of your anticipated swing.

[hasanz]

Great interview, should bring this guy back. He said he makes makes a lot of his money in the first 5 mins, ie, at the open. But I wonder is it on positions he initiated previous day or on new (scalping) positions? Should've clarified that.

[conradsurowka]

So, a marketable limit order is just a limit order on the closest bid/ask to current price? Taking into account you’re trading something with minimal spread.

[ndb]

What an awesome interview.  So much information that I think my brain melted the first time.  Was a joy to replay.

[presidentobummer]

You can have fun with the HFTs on small caps. Bid up the price when you want to sell to them, or lower the price if you want to buy by simply offering under them with a hundred shares. They will pile up over each other and not even cancel when you cancel. Sometimes you can even manipulate the price by doing that.

[dheerajnihalani]

Great interview mate, just so much wisdom

[eddyvideostar]

At 37:5 minutes,  a marketable limit order is just a limit order to buy at the offer/ask price.

[jennerb]

This one answered alot of questions that I had about spreads and order prority and HFT and Ive only been trading 6 months and I know its easy to be profitable in the curent August 2020 market enviroment. I just hope I dont lose it all when the market crashes

[jaelott]

If i may politely second that, I'd like to see Anton Kreil on the show.

-great job on the show btw, I'm always learning something new from watching it... will like in itunes when i get back to my desktop!

[sauravshukla]

From my personal past four month trading experience, scalping is more profitable and easier to trade than on longer time frame.

[JamesParus]

the market neutral trading is a nice idea. also lot of good info. just have to listen it couple of times to understand it.

[duanejackson]

At about 30 minutes and he's talking Market orders and limit orders, I found the exact same thing I need to increase it in the amount of pennies in order to get an order filled. But I swing trade, so I'm in the market for a bit longer, and of course as long as it goes in the right direction losing a few pennies to get in was a small price to pay to ensure I get in. Otherwise I don't want to lose the opportunity of keeping the money locked up on an order when it doesn't get filled.

[Brokanglass]

"1999 it was alot easier" because there wasnt so much algo HTF arbitrage since the tech revolution. so many retail traders find that as soon as they enter they are red until they get out then the stock keeps on its way. anyone who has put their own money on the market has noticed that the way it eats you up is a bit fishy at best. i once lost three times on on ticker as it climbed 40% in twenety minutes and i was long all three times. it taught me the true nature of the "market".