I do understand what you are saying. Thank you for clarifying that PDT rule for me. I don't trade stocks so I'm not familiar with it. I trade only ES, NQ & YM and sometimes Euro Currency Futures. I'm not tryna be difficult I just trade'em as I see'em. For the sake of the competition though you can't put Stock trading rules on Futures trading. that would not be fair.
Bob....Cathy may in fact be a better trader than you... Congrats WTG Cathy Michael B. P.S. How are you trading ER2?...do you use a methodology you care to share? I have been watching the er2 lately....what percentage of the stocks that make up that index are in SP500?...NQ100?
Having watched Amt trade a couple of times Im sure just as he added on the way up he scaled out on the way down. The market got all the way back to his starting point I think.
Oh lordy. I really thought I was quite clear that this was to be a swing trading competition. Personally, I thought it was obvious that swing precluded daytrading; ie, trades opened and closed on the same day; minus stops on losers (or simple bails, for other reasons besides price.) To T-Rex and others who have posted clear daytrades, I really do appreciate your enthusiasm for trading. That's much better than the usual crap on ET these days. However, I really did want to keep this a pure swing trading thread. I had imagined people holding positions for like a minimum of 3-5 days, although the requirement is overnight. I had imagined people being a little selective in their trades; not just 'oh, a competition. quick, better find something to trade'. Although that is a personal choice. Guys, it also really would be a much better idea to hold off on the congratulations for winning trades. I'm not a fun cop, but posts like that just tend act as catalysts for further thread degradation. A modicum of maturity in this matter would be greatly appreciated. Also, traders needn't feel they have to report their current profit or loss situation, as I will tally everybody's results at the end of the week and report on open positions. In fact, I would prefer it if this was the case, as it tends to keep the thread tidier for people trying to follow it. I apologize for being away today. I'm actually on vacation, recovering from a previous daytrading career )) and I wasn't home all day. But you needn't worry. If this thread begins working how I think it can, I'll be monitoring everything. Any questions, just post here or PM. Magna, I'm going to ask for some more intensive moderating on this thread over the next couple of weeks, if that's okay with you. (Yep, I realize you have a life too, and you're probably already stretched.) I think if we can keep a tight ship on this thread in that time, those with a serious interest in it can really make it a good one by then, and hopefully want to keep it that way. So, if with advance apologies to all, if we could begin deleting posts that are to do with day trading, back patting, trade discussion by others save the actual trader making the trade and any other inevitable BS that is part and parcel of ET, I think it would really help this thread work. In other words, lets focus on the swing trades. AMT, quite a hefty position you built up there today. No problem with that, I guess, however the Adds would have to have been closed out to comply with overnight margin rules. I'd like to hear your, or anyone elses, suggestion for how to handle this one. T-Rex, nothing personal, but I'd prefer it if you only posted swing trades on this journal please. And continued any other discussions on anything else on another thread. Otherwise, I'll have to ask magna to delete your posts. I'm not sure whether that's possible, but if so, I think it would be the best idea. The same goes for everyone else. I've got some stocks on my watchlist that I'll be looking to take a position in the next day or so, depending on what's going down (not literally) in the broader market. Post 'em when I make 'em. To other participants, thanks for joining in. Hopefully we ride out these rough patches in the beginning, so stick with us a bit longer! To casual readers, why not join in?
lindq, for the purposes of this thread swing trading means trades held at least over one night. Beyond that, exactly how long trades are to be held is very much up to the trader. I don't think there's any point to trying to get a stricter definition than that. Some traders hold overnight hoping to capitalize on a follow through from the previous day's action; some pull back buyers hold until the previous swing high is met; others try to exceed that swing high, taking maybe 3-10 days to do it. There's just far too much variation in sytles and goals do get stricter. However, just to recap, the trade must be held for at least overnight. There are going to be situations where the trade needs to be closed on the same day if a price stop is hit, and this is understandable. This should be a rare occurrence, however, as it's a good idea to set initial stops at a distance equal to at least the instrument's ATR, just to stop you getting taken out by 'random' price action. ctrader's idea of 3 daytrades in a 5 day period, inline with PDT rules is a good idea and one I recommend we adopt. Also, part of the definition of 'swing' might be that technical analysis decisions are made off the daily chart, rather than 5-minute or hourly charts. Of course, many daytraders also use the daily, however I think for swing trading, the kind I am talking about, the daily would be the shortest period you'd go for. In the end, all I can ask is that you the thread a chance at succeeding before throwing in the towel.
Yes OldT, that is very much the point. I'm no futures expert, but I don't think there's any broker out there that would let you hold 20 ES overnight with a $25k account, so I'm not sure how this trade should be handled. I'd like to hear your opinion.
It is the Russell 2000....all small cap stocks. I use a 185 tick chart because it is not very liquid to trade. Against the background of a 15min and 60 minute chart......for swings along with the daily. It is a funny future to trade. It has nice trends, but slippage in unreal! And I can only recommend it for swing trades, you are likely to lose a lot of money scalping as it is $100 per point, $10 per tick and it jumps them all the time. I intend to hold this until sometime in January. Maybe a quick slip in and out for a day if I see a pullback developing.