I've been trading stock for about 4 years now. I've had some success with the method I'm about to describe. I made 60%, 40% and 22% over the last three years, respectively. Last year I tried to hold myself to another method and failed miserably at it, so I decided to go back to my old trading plan, which gave me the 22% you see for last year. I decided to "tweak" the plan a bit, which I believe can bring much higher returns. I'm projecting 1% per week, which is a 68% yield/year. I'm currently at 5% for this years first 2 weeks, so I think my improvements are doing their job. The trading plan works well as long as you can pick the right kinds of stocks. I'm still tweaking it for better results, but am too lazy and ignorant to run it through an elaborate back testing platform. This is my weakness. If I had the drive of some of you out there, I wouldn't be writing this thread. THIS IS A CHALLENGE/REQUEST TO ANY AND ALL. IF YOU CAN FIND A WAY TO IMPROVE THIS METHOD OF TRADING, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I'M desperate FOR KNOWLEDGE. Many people have asked me why I don't just hold longer. The reason is that I learned to trade stock right at the beginning of the worst bear market in history. Going long in a very bad down market is a very hard thing to do - that is, hard to make money, easy too lose. The plan ended up as a hit and run strategy (1 to 2 days hold max). I also have observed that trying to hold over the past year or two also ended (for me anyway) in big losses due to some wild days of market volatility. You could be up 10-20% on a stock and watch some or all of it get taken away in just a couple of days of holding through the market corrections. I decided not to get caught up in the hysteria of the market and just develop a trading plan to eliminate the wild swings. I'd like to find a way to hold longer, but am too afraid due to previous experiences. If you have the answer to the "hold longer" problem, please let me know. I'm willing to entertain any suggestion, such as, indicators, MA's, etc... In future postings, I'll do my best to describe what I'm doing to make money: stock pics for the day and week; screen dumps showing the stock I traded, details of the trade, etc...
These are the bases I'm watching for tomorrow. Most are within 3% of their pivot points in that base. With the rally being reported as ending today, it should be interesting to see how many breakout. I usually see a couple breakouts/day in a rally. Downtrends can be more challenging. ADLR ALO BSMD CBK CEN CHUX DIET GG GIL HSP NINE NXTP PCR PKD SA SVL SVR TLWT TSCM TSU WTHN
Hi gkishot, It only looks complicated (I think). When I start to show the details, I hope you might change your mind. thanks for your reply
as i understand it you are daytrading but waiting for the opportunity to come along. "out of my past 13 trades (4 months of trading)," So the popular image of day traders continually entering orders does not apply to you. i like it
What percentage of your capital do you risk in each trade? "how many shares I can buy at the pivot price"
I have no strategy for shorting as of yet. I've spend most of my time trying to develop going long. When the bear market hits, I'll develop a strategy for that. I have shorted in the past with success, based on the inverse of my trading plan (for what it's worth). I'm currently trading with $10 K (although my account has more in it - satisfies that rediculous $25k min day trading rule). The largest size I've traded with based on my capital is 3000 shares.