Institutional Trader


An institutional trader manages relatively large amounts of capital, compared to most traders.  Institutional traders will typically have larger positions and hold them for longer periods of time.  When they trade, they often trade large numbers of shares at once.

It's often said that institutional traders are the ones who really move the markets.  They create the large, sustained price changes.  Most of the noise in the markets comes from day traders, trying to see what the institutions are doing and acting accordingly.  The remaining investors do not make a serious impact on the market.

We offer a variety of longer term alerts, such as the VWAP and the 200 day moving average alerts, aimed specifically at the institutional investors.  We also offer a variety of shorter term alerts, like the block trade and running up alerts, specifically aimed at people trying to follow the institutional investors.

Alert Types

We offer the following alert types which are related to this topic.  Click on the icon for a detailed description of the alert, or click on the "more" link for additional examples of each type of alert.

Type Recent Examples More Examples
Time (NY) Symbol Message
New high (filtered)Mar 12th, 4:21:38 PMCCMMWNew High: +0.04. Next resistance 6.80 from 2/8/2010.more
New low (filtered)Mar 12th, 4:12:53 PMLNCMNew Low: -0.50. Next support 5.50 from 2/11/2010.more
Crossed above close (confirmed)Mar 12th, 4:46:46 PMFNM-SPrice crossed above close (1.05). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed below close (confirmed)Mar 12th, 7:28:07 PMUSEGPrice crossed below close (6.46). Confirmed by volume.more
ConsolidationMar 12th, 7:02:11 PMCYTXStrong consolidation (Improving). $6.02-6.04. Shares: 198,312. Time: 3 hours 10 minutes.more
Running upMar 12th, 7:58:31 PMSVURunning up: +0.07 in less than one minute.more
Running downMar 12th, 7:59:34 PMGNVCRunning down: -0.03 in less than one minute.more
Running up (confirmed)Mar 12th, 6:21:57 PMIGOIRunning up briskly: +0.07 in 2 hours 26 minutes. Confirmed by volume.more
Running down (confirmed)Mar 12th, 7:28:07 PMUSEGRunning down briskly: -0.29 in 3 hours 28 minutes. Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed above 200 day moving averageMar 12th, 4:20:21 PMATD.B.CATPrice crossed above 200 day SMA (18.3626). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed below 200 day moving averageMar 12th, 4:19:49 PMLGALPrice crossed below 200 day SMA (0.0083). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed above 50 day moving averageMar 12th, 4:23:00 PMGLGPrice crossed above 50 day SMA (2.9834). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed below 50 day moving averageMar 12th, 4:19:16 PMSOLUPrice crossed below 50 day SMA (0.024). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed above 20 day moving averageMar 12th, 4:46:46 PMFNM-SPrice crossed above 20 day SMA (1.0655). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed below 20 day moving averageMar 12th, 4:27:19 PMMSGPrice crossed below 20 day SMA (19.4975). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed above VWAPMar 12th, 4:56:49 PMOTEPrice crossed above VWAP (6.5716). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed below VWAPMar 12th, 7:28:07 PMUSEGPrice crossed below VWAP (6.3875). Confirmed by volume.more
Channel breakoutMar 12th, 8:00:00 PMCQPChannel breakout from $15.03-15.06, 4 hours 19 minutes.more
Channel breakdownMar 12th, 7:59:36 PMWMTChannel breakdown from $53.90-54.01, 8 hours 10 minutes.more
Block tradeMar 12th, 7:59:06 PMCBlock trade. At the ask. (NASDAQ)more

See Also

Block Trade, Noise, VWAP