I used to LOVE trading and buying baseball cards when I was in my teens. I had a very bad strategy though and NEVER made money. I bought cards and sold cards, but somehow never understood how to make money doing it. I realized to just enjoy having the cards. So now, I have a bunch of cards that I take out of my closet about once every 5 years and look at them. I reminisce sometimes about how little I understood about money when I got into trading them. But mostly I just enjoy looking at them. The older they are, the better.I knew a bunch of guys who had a TON of these 1953 Reprint Topps trading cards. The Mantles were about $20 each. I had 2 of them. I remember this one guy who had about 50 of them...if not more. They were all in this plastic case. I so badly wanted to own ALL of them. He told me he would buy my Mantle card for $10. I knew he would put my card in his case and eventually sell it for $20. It was very soon after these cards came out, and he was the only guy with a lot of Mantles.
One month later I went to another card show and I saw a lot more tables with guys who had tons of 1953 Topps Reprint Mantle cards. They were selling them for $15. Then I came across that first guy I saw. And he was selling his Mantle cards for $12! Who would buy the cards for $15 when someone else was selling them for $12?! Probably people who didn't know there was a guy selling them for $12, that's who!
What would have been a great idea back then would have been to hand out a list at the entrance of the card show. This list would show all the people selling the Mantle cards. On the top line they would show this card guy selling his 50 Mantle cards for $12 each. Listed underneath that would be the next card dealer selling his Mantle cards for $15 each. As soon as the first guy was sold out, the next guy would be the best offer. That list would have been what essentially ECNs are. They are a list of the buyers and sellers of stock, futures, forex, etc...listing them in order of highest bidding price and lowest selling price.
In Stocks and Futures, this is how it is done. But for some reason, Forex is NOT QUITE THERE YET! There are a few ECNs popping up, giving traders the ability to see the best prices offered and bid, but there are also a lot more "card dealers" selling their Mantle cards for $15, hoping you are not aware of that ECN out there selling the card for $12!
