Ugly game as I had the wrong biase today, but it still feels good to pull out the 7th game in a row, and you have to win the ugly ones too. 5500 shares each way on 6 of 10 shooting, +505 before commissions, +375 after, no bullets. Pre-Market: Sector wide retailor upgrade, MWD upgraded. 9:30: Had the full list of retailors for everyone on my squad but WMT opened unchanged, I didn't trust the news. Still took S and sold for a 15 cents profit on a gap-fill, very dumb as it wasn't against me, just that futures/WMT tanked and I thought it was a trap. It wasn't, stock went up a point. Went long SGY on energy move and lost a quarter. Took NOI and out for flat. 9:45: Took LM long 49.40 and out for flat as the stock tanked when XBD reversed. Did hit COF and scored 60 cents but missed that ultra-important pullback which I could have bought and made another 50 cents. Took CVS at 29.25 on RLX move and scored half a point. 10:00: I knew the RLX wasn't as strong as it should have been given the news. Took NKE and lost a quarter point as my entry was precisely the peak of futures. By now I am upset as I realized that I missed a very important opportunity to short, and I did not want to chase anything. No big game syndrome for me please, as yesterday was the best day I have had since May. 11:09: Tried to bottompick LIZ, when the future is downtrending, DO NOT pick bottoms, period. 2:00: Took 100 share ASW, out for a 5 cents loss as it squeezed 70 cents and caved in on me immediately. Took LLY on a bottompick and lost 20 cents, bottompicking doesn't work when future is downtrending, hello? I am extremely happy about the way SK is performing. He exceeded my expectations as I firmly believe that the difference of our skill is a LOT closer than the difference of our stats. That said, one of my traders has been on a losing streak since the day he got here. And he lost $2000 trading 200-300 shares in six games, the worst possible start. Every day it is just one big loser that kills him, and he just doesn't seem to have the discipline down cold to get out of his losers. I have full confidence in his ability to turn it around however, as I talked to him and I really liked the attitude he had. In the mean time Risk (as I have not received team performance monitoring tools yet) will probably cut him to 100 shares until we see a few upticks in his P&L. Since he came with SK's team, he has my commission rates, and even with 100 shares he can probably make a few bucks, stops the bleed, and he will be ok. He has that hunger and intensity I want, and he will be a great trader, but he must survive the learning curve without digging himself any deeper of a hole. Psychologically he is very vulnerable right now, and he will need a few games trading small to get the confidence back. I was able to add another confirmed talent to the team today, he should start after the New Year. So despite of an ugly game with my long biase, it was still a productive day, although more than ever I realize the mountain of hurdles for me and me team to overcome. Duff: I have no plan to miss a game unless I have to. Light volume days may be better for chart traders as there are less manipulation, usually one news story will dominate the day and everyone will trade that sector making for some easy money. That said if the day is choppy then it is a total nightmare as there are no bag holders present. Still, every game is winnable, just have to play them.
Once in a while Mother Luck smiles on me... that's why you always gotta be there for the game and wait for the opps and take em... a few weeks ago I had a great swing trade shorting ENE into oblivion ... the ENE trade was my best trade EVER. Today was another day of sheer luck.... I took 2000 ASW and made $16 per share i.e. $32,000, with commissions of about $40!! .... talk about a commission to profit ratio!! (0.1%) ... lol Today was my 2nd best trade this year by a mile, and a welcome relief from chipping away to put together $1k days. My two highlights of the year so far are: 1) ENE swing trade 2) ASW daytrade
Congratulations candle, great to hear . Just had a look at the chart and am very impressed. For a daytrade I personally would've held on for a maximum of a couple of points only, and certainly not after 12 o'clock when it bounced back a couple points from 15. Great stuff.
It held its 20 period moving average (5min candles) all day long... by letting greed get the better of me, I actually did better on this occasion... the fact that the 20 period moving average was intact fed my greed to hold for more.
How exactly did you make that much money? Were you able to get a bullet? There wasnt enough stock to borrow to short it naturally, and it certainly didnt retrace for 16 points (in total). Ace.
Hitman, Sorry about the trader who keeps losing. I don't want to sound heartless, but it would be very instructive if you could put up a summary of his day and what he did wrong. Was he in the same stocks as you? Where should he have exited his losers? How far did he let them go against him? Likely he has some sort of psychological problem that freezes him even though he knows a trade's no good. I have heard that hypnotism is very effective in treating such self-saboutaging behavior, although I have never tried it myself. No doubt there are traders at Worldco who have used hypnosis, although they might be reluctant to admit it.
Ace, The stock had a 20 point range! No I don't do bullets, because I am not a professional ... bullets allow you to short when there are no upticks... even if I had bullets, I probably wouldn't use them, since my preference is to short at a higher price on an upthrust orderflow of coverers ... I shorted into coverers i.e. I sold to willing buyers (the reverse logic applies when buying i.e. buy pullbacks when others are selling). If you really want something, short on a thrust of buying orderflow and fillage is perfectly feasible. This trade was NOTHING to do with skill, by the way... it was sheer LUCK... I obviously wasn't playing for 16 points, but the more carnage I saw, the more I held... the trade went from a tape reading scalp to a 20period moving average, 5min chart play, as a result of my sheer greed... admittedly, my trading discipline was poor on this trade, but once in a while emotions e.g. greed can work out... like it did today. Candle