Prices go up, and prices go down. Traders, algorithms, market makers, investors are monitoring for entry points, exit points, risk to open positions, size for new positions, spread from other markets, and it goes on. There is an endless cascade of money making strategies all related by the data they depend on. The actual execution data though is quite straight forward. The Tape. The Time & Sales is at the core of all markets. How much volume is trading, on what side of the market, and how are prices responding. There are many traders out there trading the tape, and the tape alone, considering all the other layers of information a distraction. To help these traders effectively monitor this core execution data, PriceSquawk introduced Trade Sounds in 2012. To this day Trade Sounds are what draws a lot of traders to using PriceSquawk, and why this is the first Widget we are introducing in the new PriceSquawk App.
The new PriceSquawk App stands alone from other PriceSquawk products, working entirely in the user’s browser, connected directly to datafeed providers for Crypto markets, Stocks and Futures i.e. It is not an add-on to a desktop trading platform. This means you can stream market audio wherever you have a modern browser and connectivity e.g. your phone or laptop. This untethered, web-based access enhances the flexibility for traders to monitor markets from anywhere.
The Trade Sounds widget serves the following functions:
- Easily identify if trades are executing against the Bid or Offer. Distinct Buy and Sell Trade sounds give insight as to what side of the market is active as well as the use of stereo sound.
- Identify changes in Price. Price goes up, so does pitch. Price goes down, so does pitch. Different sounds denote whether buying or selling market orders are dominant in the price movement.
- How much volume is trading. If there is elevated volume than play trade sounds louder. This correlates with the pace of the tape, and captures the change in size of trades.
- Identify the size of trades. The widget can be configured to play size specific alerts with different sounds for different tiers of size. For example trades over 500 contracts trigger a distinct sonic alert.
This widget serves the tape trader, or traders that want to add the tape to their trading toolkit, without the Time & Sales rapidly scrolling across their screen. It can add a layer of information to any trading strategy without impinging on screen real-estate and allows traders to efficiently parse critical market data audibly without inundating their visual focus. Simply open a Trade Sounds widget and tweak it for your market / strategy, then listen to the audio played in the background from your browser. At its simplest it can be used to audibly identify if there is any volatility opportunity in a market e.g. Is there price movement, or increased trading activity or conversely has the market dried up and its time to take a break. For years trading Bund futures, I used trade sounds to trigger when to focus on trading opportunities, executed through the DOM, and when to take a break and recharge. This extended my trading day and improved my focus when opportunity was present.
We will delve more into the specifics of the Trade Sound widget and other PriceSquawk App features soon. Happy listening!
