i for one went to 100% cash not knowing what was going to happen. i think it was the right thing to do. turned out not to be very bad so far (as of 10:00 est). but i was long about $65k, and lost $800 before i got out. could have been worse. I am going to wait and see what happens before i go long again. anyone else?
I gave up trying to understand how the markets work a long time ago. I rely now almost exclusively on tested systems. I do not do much thinking anymore, just executing the systems, even when I had to buy some stocks this morning, when my emotions wanted me to sell everything. I also covered this morning some QQQQ and SPY I had shorted to hedge my long stocks.
I think he was referring to trades of january 17, not those of today. It would be smarter to add the date of the trades one is talking about, especially with the time and date errors from ET.
hahaha. newb? this coming from a hairdresser? i dont care to brag, but allow me to put your accusations to rest. 1. I run the entire central american wholesale govt. debt market my friend. i know all the heads of central banks in the region and hang out with the local Broker /dealer CEOs and their families on the weekends. I am the #2 guy on creating a market maker system in central america. I negotiate millions of dollars of debt in 3 different languages. this year Central american debt will become much more liquid world wide due to my partnership with the largest broker in the world. I have a sieres 7, 55, 63 66...and about to go to work on my series 3 just for the fun of it. I have a degree in finance and economics and have been trading since i left school (took a few years off to start a healtcare recruiting firm). and yes...i went to cash today. when you get a trifecta of bad news across the globe...i deem it wise if you are holding long positions.
dac, This guy hairdresser is the newb. I wasn't going to banter with him about it, however, one newb mistake is to underestimate the competition. I run a major hedge fund and have been trading the markets probably longer than he's alive. My size alone could move the market significantly. I also sold and am still selling. I don't care about a 5-10 handle move. I'm looking for the real thing. Something smells wrong and healthy markets don't behave this way. An imbalance of sell orders on the Nikkei is not something to be brushed off. Maybe the newbs are the ones buying this dip and will puke later?
Well i bought the ES at 1281.25 and reversed my position at 1286.75. So i"m up over 9 points. I don't trade on what i think. I have a system to follow. I never went wrong more than 2 points today, i do care about being wrong x handles. But that's probably because i'm a newbie.