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OPENING POSITION
August 2000

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In a real trading room, you're in the line of sight (and voice) of all your compatriots so you can see and hear who and what's active and judge how active. In a real trading room, you can get a feel for the market just as you can from being in a pit when trading. Off-floor traders are starting to put together that experience over the Internet, but right now it's audio only.

There's software that gives you the noise of pit calls. This month's STOCKS & COMMODITIES interview is with Philip Berber of CyBerCorp, an electronic direct-access brokerage with maybe 5,000 traders in its stable; CyBerCorp has added live CyBerChat to its offerings, and the reception has been warm. Voice and inflection carry much of the message that is lost in typing. Some of the excitement level carries through with the audio. You still can't see your trading brethren, but over time, you can get a sense of them.

I don't think this change is a trivial one. Isolation has always been the bane of individual investors. No matter how many newsfeeds, datafeeds, economic reports, or company filings you get, no matter how many books you read or classes you attend, there's nothing nearly as effective as on-the-job experience. If you're one of a group of 30 to 50 traders trading the world, it's more likely that one of you will come up with the salient information from the tidal flow of information going by. In a group, you can get more information, and in a sense, you get it prescreened. You're in touch with the trading gossip, which also can be important. If you're by yourself, it's only whatever you can or want to handle.

Not only that, there are the ideas and techniques that come up in between trades in routine conversation. Even when you aren't trading the same issues, techniques passed between trading partners can be invaluable. Tools, computations, quick answers to off-the-wall questions, and frank, usually ribald, assessments of significance can all be yours in a trading group. You have someone -- sometimes many someones -- to bounce ideas off, a feedback you can't duplicate on your own.

Mentoring also occurs when one trader takes an interest in another, passing along stories of his or her mistakes and triumphs, just as they may have been passed to that trader. If you're trading alone in your office, you can't do that, nor can you learn to judge the mettle of those with whom you trade. In the pits or on the floor, you can see the face and hear the voice of the guy on the other side of the trade. That direct contact is going away, but increasingly, you can at least take the measure of those who are trading when you do.

A lot of Websites offer chat as a sideline. Some of them even do audio these days, but it's often evident that most of the chatters are not in the market trading. Joining a group with money on the floor is a truly different experience. An almost team-like atmosphere develops, and pretty soon, it really is "us against them." Together, you commiserate on the bad reactions, and together, you celebrate the breakouts. The bond of a hunting party develops, and the final benefit becomes apparent: you are not necessarily alone in your trading, even if you must keep up. And with that in mind,