one2: On the trading setup I am using for this bet you can't set both a stop and target, so I set the stop first then set alarms .20 from both the target and the stop to let me know if I am getting close. When I approach the target I cancel the stop, then enter the target. But the account that I have used for the past 8 years you can set both a stop and target as long as you have enough capital(or margin) to cover both sides of the trade. Let me know what trading platform you are using and I can tell you how to set it up.
02/11/09: On daily charts I would like to see 1-2 days of basing here on the markets to look for a continuation move lower,so staying in strict scalp mode today.
02/12/09: Today looks like a traders day...... SPY and DIA are setting up perfectly on the daily charts to move lower, so I will look to short them(or buy DXD SDS). The QQQQ on the other hand looks alittle bullish on the daily & there are alot of tech stocks setting up bullishly for this morning: AAPL ADBE CREE BRCM XLNX JNPR among others. So today as we gap down I will be looking VERY early to get into a long in one of the tech stocks, or let them move down and buy around the 10:00 reversal time. If we rally early I will then look to get into a SPY or DIA short. If the setup is good enough and depending on the time of day, I may look to carry some DIA or SPY short overnight. Overall this looks like the type of day that I usually get about 5 trades in due to the fact that various setups are taking place on the same day.
Well...as the chat room can tell you, I had my internet going in and out all day(past two days actually). 50+ mph winds in DC the past 2 days cut my connection down..which I realized when I had 7...YES SEVEN...orders not get filled, and I kept wondering why???? I finally found out that my connection was very weak & I kept getting bumped off. My trade today was a GREAT example of having a bogus connection: The actual entry for SDS SHOULD have been 81.61, Stop 81.30, which would have given me a target of 82.22(which was hit on a 5 min. bar)..... Instead my charts were backed up and the high I had for the entry bar was 81.90 (my entry was 81.92) which made my target a $1.50 gain. When I refreshed my charts I noticed that the setup had changed, but it was too late ,since I was already in a trade(with a setup that I would have took anyway) so I let it ride. Then, as I kept entering orders throughout the day NOTHING was getting filled. What I now realize is that I was always about 5 min. behind due to my internet.....welcome to the life of a REAL trader. Screw that simulation stuff you may see....this is what happens when you trade for REAL w/ REAL MONEY. Go back and read what my thoughts were for the morning, I was geared up to make alot of trades(for me) today, and this is what happens sometimes...and THAT'S part of trading....dealing with problems outside the box that may screw w/ your trading plan. Maybe it's a bad connection, or a cat ran across your keyboard and bought 1000 NVLS when you wanted to wait 5 min. more(true story), or as soon as you put an order in the whole page freezes(yes, true story too), or as soon as you put a short order in, news comes out that they caught Bin Laden(swear..that's true too, only to be declared as false about 1hr. later) Now here's the beauty: I'm not upset! I accept it and move on. It was just another day. If I look back at my trade log, it was just another -200 loss. There will be no notes saying WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN.....because, the way I look at it, if you are not trading at 100%(being emotion or connection, or any other factor) you should NOT be trading that day..plain and simple. Hope this helps ........ Hope a few caught the longs in adbe, aapl, xlnx.... tomorrow's a brand new day
Or in a rare moment of daring you put on 3 trades at once and before you can enter stops/targets, your platform simply vanishes from the screen as if it never existed...OK I don't feel individually jinxed now.
02/13/09: Well, the SPY and DIA once again tested the bottom level of this daily base, and once again they moved up. The stocks I posted yesterday(tech stocks) rallied well yesterday and I may look to them to scalp long today. As for the indexes, nothing looks good on the daily charts. I will strictly look for intraday setups to decide on a direction to play them today. QQQQ is still the strongest of the 3.