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When I was spending time in the trading room, I found the managers to be cordial and open to my questions regarding the meaning of the data bombarding me and various strategies of trading. I did not feel pressured to hurry to set up an account or deposit funds. |
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In fact, I was permitted to use a computer with all the usual software to simulate trading for days at a time without anyone ever asking me to open an account. This might not have been available to me had someone needed my seat for live trading. Fortunately, every time I visited, there was always at least one empty seat. They were aware that I had not gone through their training program and did not pressure me to do so. |
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There were other new traders also there to learn who, after a couple of visits, would be called into a manager's office and asked to make a deposit if they wished to stay. It was not altogether clear why they were given less latitude than I. |
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For those who don't like to spend many hours alone, the trading room offers the opportunity to chat with other traders when they are taking short breaks or between trades and looking for distractions. In addition, at the trading room I visited, an effort was made to encourage after-hours camaraderie by going out for drinks together at the end of the week. Some will find this option of having other traders with whom to talk shop and socialize appealing. |
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In some trading rooms, one or two of the more experienced traders will be hooked up to a microphone, calling out their trades as they are getting in and out of positions. No one is ever directly pressured to join in. But there is some indirect pressure by suggestion for others to join these leaders, making it a group bet rather than that of just one individual. |
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This can be viewed in two wayseither as a supportive group effort that pumps up the individual trader's confidence that he or she is making the right moveor as a not so subtle pressure to jump in and follow the herd. While the experienced and self-sufficient trader is less likely to be influenced by the "group think" mentality, the novice is more susceptible to it. |
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This aspect of the trading room seemed only to further jack up the anxiety level in what was already a stressful scene. Additionally, it may also foster competitiveness among the traders. |
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If you want to trade with others around you, using state-of-the-art systems and software and direct connections that are super-speedy, the trading room may be your best bet. But you had |
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