ETers, Well, I have been trying to swing trade a little bit (daily charts, holding positions for a few days) and I thought I'd toss this out to the group to see what you think. I have a question for those who use fibonacci retracements, trendlines, and other forms of support/resistance to initiate trades. My question is how do go about finding these opportunities if/when you have to search through so many markets (stocks, for example) just to find one good setup? There have been cases where I have come across a stock that had a really great trade opportunity. The only problem was I discovered it after the fact (ie., a few days too late). To make matters worse, the probability that I would have found this trade before the stock made its move is almost zero because I would not have looked at this particular stock (maybe it was not in my "focus group"). So, are people really searching through hundreds of markets everyday just to find a few good trading opportunities? I find it hard to believe that people are doing this simply because it would take so much time to search through all of the stocks, futures, etc. I believe there are some companies out there that provide this type of service (search through markets and give you trade setups). Has anyone tried these? Which ones are recommended, if any? I think there are good opportunities for swing trades. I just think some of them are kind of hidden and I would like to be able to evaluate as many opportunities as possible. Your thoughts (as always) would be appreciated...
There are real time setup alert service like this: http://www.pristine.com/esp_product/index.html It is very easy!
What about a pattern scanner or criteria type of scanner- looking for a method is probably the most time consuming but once you've found something that works , the time you spend should decrease.
I scan through 200-300 stocks manually each day. I use a top down Sector approach. Sector then Components (stocks) = Trades I get 1-3 trades each day out of 200 stocks.
I send out my trading notes every day and they are read by floor traders and pros. alike. The actual portfolio is posted and you can see the kinds of trades we taking in real-time. You can check it out at: http://www.axis-analytics.com/ A sample is posted below...
I send out my trading notes every day and they are read by floor traders and pros. alike. The actual portfolio is posted and you can see the kinds of trades we taking in real-time. It cost nothing to try it out for 45 days athttp://www.axis-analytics.com/ A sample is posted below...
For my swing trades, I spend a few hours every weekend compiling my watchlist of symbols, and then determine my trigger points and stops, ensuring that the longer, more risky plays have a very good reward:risk and that the shorter, highly probably plays have at least a reward:risk near to 1:1...
NoiseTrader, you sounded like an economist. A good friend of mine who use to daytrade for a living thinks like yourself. He is very bright, but could not last daytrading. I was wondering if you make decent money for a living or just a commentator. For all I know, my economists are not good in trading because they think too much instead of reacting and following the market. You seem like an intelligent person, but when it comes to trading, it is another ball game. Is this true for you NoiseTrader?
Take a look at spydertraders journal. He anticipates BOs before they happen in stocks that are clones of eachother.