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)Nov 6th, 4:10:02 PMKFS.CATNew High: +0.01. Next resistance 4.20 from 11/5/2009.more
New low (filtered)Nov 6th, 5:40:01 PMLSG.CATNew Low: -0.01. Next support 3.61 from 11/5/2009.more
Crossed above close (confirmed)Nov 6th, 6:59:37 PMAVIIPrice crossed above close (1.44). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed below close (confirmed)Nov 6th, 5:00:04 PMANDEPrice crossed below close (26.06). Confirmed by volume.more
ConsolidationNov 6th, 7:59:56 PMABKStrong consolidation (Improving). $1.16-1.18. Shares: 7,611,795. Time: 6 hours 57 minutes.more
Running upNov 6th, 7:58:59 PMSWKSRunning up: +0.12 in less than one minute.more
Running downNov 6th, 7:59:25 PMSIRIRunning down: -0.005 in less than one minute.more
Running up (confirmed)Nov 6th, 6:59:37 PMAVIIRunning up: +0.06 in 3 hours 3 minutes. Confirmed by volume.more
Running down (confirmed)Nov 6th, 7:03:22 PMTKORunning down briskly: -0.066 in 3 hours 10 minutes. Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed above 200 day moving averageNov 6th, 4:10:02 PMCMT.CATPrice crossed above 200 day SMA (1.1154). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed below 200 day moving averageNov 6th, 4:01:28 PMDYNPrice crossed below 200 day SMA (1.9466). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed above 50 day moving averageNov 6th, 4:46:46 PMUNSPrice crossed above 50 day SMA (29.709). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed below 50 day moving averageNov 6th, 4:52:48 PMXLPrice crossed below 50 day SMA (17.1528). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed above 20 day moving averageNov 6th, 6:17:34 PMTRGTPrice crossed above 20 day SMA (20.0575). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed below 20 day moving averageNov 6th, 4:00:49 PMGEPrice crossed below 20 day SMA (15.35). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed above VWAPNov 6th, 6:59:37 PMAVIIPrice crossed above VWAP (1.4547). Confirmed by volume.more
Crossed below VWAPNov 6th, 5:00:04 PMSMSIPrice crossed below VWAP (7.1596). Confirmed by volume.more
Channel breakoutNov 6th, 8:00:00 PMXTOChannel breakout from $42.93-43.26, 8 hours 17 minutes.more
Channel breakdownNov 6th, 7:58:52 PMTZAChannel breakdown from $12.89-13.10, 8 hours 57 minutes.more
Block tradeNov 6th, 7:03:22 PMTKOBlock trade. At the bid. (NASDAQ)more

See Also

Block Trade, Noise, VWAP