hey guys! Today was pretty decent for me too! Raking in some dough! But it could have been major $$ had I hold on longer. What do you guys do to make yourself hold longer?? I mean how about those pullbacks(rallies in today's case)? Do you just ignore those and just hold until the close? Hmm.. I mean today was a good trend day, but one can't expect to short at the open and hold to the close everyday! So, what methods can one rely on to hold for a large part of the move rather just just getting 25 to 50 cents of the move?? any suggestions is welcome! trader99
trader99, what rally? i saw no rally. i saw a weak pullback or two, but nothing to shake me out of my firm conviction that we were going lower. PS candle, please, you make me blush. i don't deserve those wonderful remarks, do I? Oh, well, maybe i do. thanks. Brother Protrader#1
I use longer Intraday bars 15 then 30 for trailing stops. When the market surged down and made a large bar (midday) I knew things were coming to an end so tightened my stops. Didn't play second leg down but caught 90% of move. Also, you can tell a good rally or sell off day by the speed and breadth of the momentum. I dig my heels in when I see this and plan for a big day or small loss by keeping stops generous. As the day progresses I always leave about 20%+ of my profit on the table to give the stops room, as things capitulate I tighten my stops but never exit directly. On normal days I give up a lot of profit with wider stops, but on days like this it pays off. If you don't plan for days like this you'll probably be in and out all day or miss the bulk of the big moves.
ProTrader, I don't want to interrupt this mutual love-fest between you and the prescient Candle, especially since we know that everyone tells the truth here all the time...but I'm desperately trying to follow what you said about your play today. ABOUT 5 MIN. INTO THE OPEN I GRABBED MY SHORTS & HUNG ON FOR THE BIG RIDE DOWN! As you've said many times you only play Nasdaq stocks, the NDX gapped up 6 pts, went nowhere for the first 5 minutes, and was sitting at 1571 right where it opened. i saw a weak pullback or two, but nothing to shake me out of my firm conviction that we were going lower. I admire that conviction, and I assume by pullback you meant to type rally. In any case, between 9:35 and 9:56 the NDX rallied strongly to 1583, after you had grabbed your shorts and were hanging on for the ride down. In fact, it wasn't until 10:05, thirty-five minutes after the market opened, that the NDX finally made a lower high, and that was still 10 pts above it's open! So what convinced you in the first 5 minutes as you say, to short a number of stocks? And then what convinced you to hold onto your shorts while the NDX rallied strong and you were losing your rearend? It's easy to look at intraday charts now and explain the strength of your conviction, but how were you so convinced in realtime, while your capital was quickly dwindling away?
Magna I admire your intelligence and this reply. Thank you for being a part of this board! Sincearly Alex
Magna Protrader like his alter ego, Traderx uses the "Trading in Retrospect" system. I tried it also and lo and behold, it works. In retrospect I made over $3 on NVDA. I'm wondering whether I should use my gains to buy a Merc or a BMW. Of course, in retrospect, I'll pick the correct car.
Magna: Yeah! In fact, early during the day, I actually WENT LONG and make some decent $$. From the open to about around 10:10am EST. Only then did I start to short, which may have been a little "early", because it wasn't really crashing so I got out of my shorts too soon though I still made some money and came back shorting later but not as such good prices. But geez. If I had such hinsight, sure I would hold at such beautiful prices I had short no matter what and held out for 3-4pts move in the stocks I had. That's the question, I'm trying to figure out. So, my shorts were realistic but I didn't have the guts to stay for the entire ride... what do you guys do to hold longer?
trader99 I do not hold my short daytrade positions if they go .15 against me. Look I could always go short again. But after .15 then I'm out.