Well I'm the new guy here. A little about me. I was a stockbroker for a few years back in 1985-90 and left that business because I was nothing but a glorified salesman. I've always kept track of the market and always loved it, so when I sold my staffing agency 6 years ago I decided to try my hand as a full time trader. What a dumb idea that was. After 4 years of studying everything imaginable and losing an insane amount of money not to mention my health and time as well as a few good women, it all started to make sense and come together. This year was my first good year and I wanted to share this journal as my way of telling you to NOT even try this unless your are as insane and nuts as I am because you really do have to be a masochist to go through what I went through to get here but if your are nuts then you might as well learn a little bit from me. I Swing Trade a small account right now (what's left of the profits I had from the sale of my business) so I'm by now means a big shot or a guru. It will take me a considerable amount of time with the funds I have left to build back to my original account size I started with 6 years ago but I have no choice now. I'm pot committed as they say in poker. I will be taking trades based off a 1 hour candle but my style is based on technical as well as fundamental analysis and I'm a big believer in using multi-timeframe analysis. I will warn you right now that I am slow to trade but when I do I usually trade my max size allowed which some people do not feel comfortable with but I place good stops and do not feel uncomfortable losing 10-20% or more one a single trade. The reason is because I am so selective and I would rather have a 80% win ratio and hardly trade much then be constantly trading and only bat 60%. I am a big believe in trading Strength and Weakness. Some people call this trend trading but I really don't like that term so I call it Strength and Weakness. I hope that you enjoy the journal and I hope even more that I do.
Hey welcome aboard! We have something in common. Not many Brokers and/or RIA's on here. I'm a Series 7 Broker and 66 RIA. Oh yes, being a Broker is all sales, and just isn't me. I keep the 7 just in case I want to go prop sometime, but may be letting the 7 go away as I don't want to have to deal with FINRA. I decided to get away from the sales model years ago, and go performance only RIA rather than pitching. Again, welcome aboard!
Out all CRM with a $1 loss This market is just nutzo and I haven't been able to read it well lately. I'm going to focus on my Forex account for the next several months. I have counted over 30 Gaps in the last 60 days of trading the SPY and that's just market makers and institutions playing games with the equities markets. I will leave that to the big money boys and focus on FX till this bs stabilizes.
Let me point out a rule you should learn here - Don't short strong stocks when they appear to weaken. You have a very low probability of success with this type of trade. Instead of looking to short into the weakness, you should have been buying CRM. Just because a stock has gone parabolic doesn't mean it's going to roll over for you. The trend is your friend!
Why not trade like the big boys, I am not talking about size... I mean in the way they trade. I can tell you if you mimic the way they trade you will have a much better chance of success. This I know from being taught by several successful market makers myself. Secondly, why are you giving up on the equities after one trade. Right now trading equities have been amazing for the past 20 days I think you are just looking in the wrong places ie shorting stong stocks especially this one the daily looks like a conveyor belt to the upside. It would take a major catalyst to change the direction of the stock. Furthermore, try to stick to stocks in which you have an edge in. I am posting to help and not bash. Best of luck trading and if you ever want to review a trade or discuss a potential trade shoot me a message and I will try to get back asap.
Thanks for the replies guys lol 1. Please read my thread I clearly stated CRM was a rare counter trend trade for me. A stock like CRM has huge R:R I can risk $4 and make $20 so I don't need to be right on these too many times to make good money. 2. I'm NOT "giving up" on equities, I'm taking a short break because the FX markets are making me more money right now. I will continue to monitor for trades as always. My FX thread is here: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2962011#post2962011