The most difficult thing for us to teach is when to bid and offer or sweep. To sweep means to pay the offer and potentially through the offer if you want to get long. I set my sweep key to pay the offer or through the offer by up to three cents. This is a matter of preference. Some traders set their sweep key to pay through for up to ten cents. So if I want to buy STT when the 18 ARCA seller lifts, that seller lifts and I press my sweep key, then my sweep key will hunt for the best price possible all the way up to 18.04. I cannot just write a lecture on bidding and offering or sweeping and expect our traders to master this topic. I cannot even produce a few videos to explain all of the different scenarios when you ought to bid and offer or sweep. This takes years to learn. It requires a feel for the market. It requires thought about your bidding and offering and sweeping strategy. It requires experience.

GMan, who we taught, does it very well. I am actually amazed at his trading skill. GMan is just an outstanding trader. But this is the last thing that new traders master. These skills are consequential. Let’s discuss a hypothetical to illustrate this point. Trader A possesses excellent trading ideas and understands when to buy and sell. But Trader A does not have excellent bidding and offering or sweeping skills. Trader B possesses excellent trading ideas and understands when to buy and sell. Trader B possesses well developed bidding and offering or sweeping skills. Trader A cannot become a consistently profitable intraday trader. Trader B will be a superstar.

One of our most affable traders shared his tape with us this week. He hasn’t been trading that long. He probably needs another six months of skill development before we will find out just how good he can be. But he is probably the most interested in the markets of anyone on our desk, save Steve. Most importantly he is one of those traders I just love working with.

But then we watched his tape. After watching his tape I walked away extremely encouraged. On three of his trades I calculated he cost himself an extra $170. This trader paid the offer at times where he should have bid. And that was only three trades. Imagine what this would mean over the course of a month. Imagine how much better his results will be after he fully develops these bidding and offering or sweeping skills. We will just keep working on these skills with video review until they are fully developed. After we clean up his bidding and offering he will take another huge step forward.

I seem to be on the mailing list of all these trading teaching services. And there is so much excellent education out there today. But sadly too much of it is focused on reading simple charting patterns. As if that is all that is required to become a profitable trader. That is not the way to start a trading career. First, you must learn how to trade. First, you must develop trading skills. You must develop your craft. And one of those skills that you must develop, and will take some time to master, is when to bid and offer or sweep. And this will cause some frustration. And your trading results will be inconsistent as you learn.

These inconsistent results do not demonstrate that you are a poor trader. These results demonstrate that your trading skills are not yet fully developed. But when you master them you will be able to trade any market, from anywhere, and for the rest of your trading career.

Enjoy your weekend.