Chameleons are known for their ability to change color to mingle with their surroundings and thus go unnoticed by the prey!
But few people know that Chameleons have very long ballistic tongues (in some species longer than their own body) which can hit the prey in about 30 thousandths of a second.
It can travel at accelerations exceeding 400 m/sq.sec, or about 41 G force (many fighter jets can break at half that G force)!!!
The Chameleon's tongue (thanks to catapult motion) accelerates from 0 to 6 meters per second speed in about 20 milliseconds - many times faster acceleration than the most sophisticated missile on Earth!
At the tip of the elastic tongue there is a muscular, club-like structure covered in thick mucus that forms a suction cup.
Once the tip sticks to a prey item, it is drawn quickly back into the mouth, where the chameleon's strong jaws crush it and it is consumed.
Where do you find chameleons?
In jungle?
Think again.
In financial jungle?
You got it!!!
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Once I put a buy order for one lot of CNX-IT at 4264.
It got executed at 4274.
I was confused!
I checked the live quotes.
It was still 4264 !
I couldn't digest a loss of 1000 bucks even before the start of the trade for no apparent fault of mine! (In those days one CNX-IT lot was of 100 units)
I checked and checked and checked.
Everything seemed right!
What had gone wrong that had caused that gap of 10 points?
Finally I spotted it - the Chameleon!
I had placed a "market order" instead of "limit order"!
When you place a "market order" the terminal computer executes your order at whatever price is on offer in the order queue!
And when you place a "limit order" the terminal computer executes the order within the limit ordered by you!
When I had placed the market order for one lot of CNX-IT at 4264, a seller with Limit order at 4274 must have lopped up my poor market order with its 10-point long tongue without a deserving "Thank you!".
Later I found out that an army of such professional chameleon computer trading terminals play this game with full seriousness throughout the trading day!
All they are progammed to do is - keep placing Limit buy orders few notches below the constantly moving spot and keep placing Limit sell orders few notches above constantly moving spot price!!!
If their "predator" order is not executed in a few seconds and the spot has moved by that time, the order is automatically revised!!!
This way the broker terminal is not just a broker but a trader too!
That seems foul !
The referee is playing too!!!
But that's the way it has been happening! Albeit - the Chameleon hidden way!
These computer chameleon terminal programmes do this at lighening speed in stocks and indices where volumes/liquidity is very high to keep their game going!
They keep lopping up the "insects" sitting lame duck with "market order"!
Like Chameleons they can't be spotted as they keep appearing in the garb of "a trader in the queue"!
End of the day, they go home with a truck full of pennies!
Remember, you just need 4 million quarter pennies to make a million dollars!
Since that day I have made it a habit to stay away from these Chameleons by placing only "Limit order" except when I want to get out of a Frothy Frenzy or a stampede!
1 comment:
...............must have lopped up my poor market order with its 10-point long tongue without a deserving "Thank you!".
ROFLMAoooooooooooooo
"Thank you!"
"Thank you!"
"Thank you!"
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