What software are you using? I assumue you have a multimonitor display. I have noticed that you mainly trade breakouts out of bases.. which is smilar to the type of trading I do. Do you use buystop orders or do you use limits. Also do you wait for the 5min bar to close before entering on the breakout? Also.. you mentioned that you trade leaders / laggards.... what exactly does that mean? --MIKE
I use Esignal for data. Yes i have a multimonitor display. I dont usually use buy stops, usually limits, but ocassionaly if im following more than one stock ill use a stop buy order. Yes i usally wait untill first bar is closed. Leader and laggers ....winner and losers of the day...basically the strongest stocks intraday and weakest intraday...also sectors.
9-10-03 Nice trend day...breakdowns were working very well today. I took SOHU long after the open @37.05 scaled out half at 37.50, and dumped the other half at 37.39 because the market was showing weaknes. Got short KlAC @ 57.02. It had a textbook 5 min base forming and the market was getting weak. I scaled ou half at 56.50 and dumped the other half at 56.64. After lunch i shorted SNPS @ 64.03 after it broke down on its second base of the day. It was a very weak stock for the day, but i knew it was very over extended when i got in it. I guess i figured we would end up trending into the afternoon and wanted to be short. It worked out good for me, and i could of got some nice change out of it, but keep holding through afternoon. The over extended stock buyers came in and it took my stop at 64.21. Small loss not a big deal. I know what i did wrong and i learned from my mistake. I took ESRX long as a scalp @60.11 later in the aftenoon. Jumped nice but ended up getting out at .15. I was to afraid to be long in a weak market, at least i got out with a tiny profit. I took QQQ short (33.26)about 45 min before the close because i figured there would be more selling and it wasnt a high risk trade. I should of know though the Q's dont move much. I ended up taking .08 out of it at 33.18. Just another little scalp i guess, but at least in the green. grossed +$166.30 on 1600 shares. I need to catch up on some school work tonight, and also work on the business plan for the midwest division of the firm i trade for. So looks like i have a busy scedule ahead of me
Good shot on SOHU. On the 30 min you can see that you can run it every day. The volume and long first bar really give you some juice every day. At least a buck and a half per share. You can see by the flags you can pick the direction right off. I think you have a steady thing going now. 30,000 a year on your present capital will be easy. I would begin to ease on up on the round lots.
jpomerenke, Textbook examples of following the prevailing trend. Keep doing that and you'll go a long way in this business.
9-11-03 Today being 9-11 i was deffently optemistic of trading. A few minutes before the open my internet went down. Not a good way to start the day. 45 min later it came back up, and my Esignal was telling me that someone was using my Username. It was just a glitch in the system, but my day was not starting out good by anymeans. I was mad i missed the open seeing as 75% of my profit comes from the first hour. I went from a good mood before the open to in a bad mood by the time my internet came back up. I questioned if i should even trade today, but i decided to mellow out and just go with the flow. My trading today shows that i wasnt all here today. i was overtrading, deviating from my plan, and not even paying attention to the markets at all. But i got lucky and walked away with a decent profit on the day for not being able to trade the first hour. I got long GE at around 9:40cst at 31.30 and got out before the close at 31.55. I took NVDA and YHOO short at 10:05 when the market started to break down. These both were a couple of the weakest shares on the Nasdaq. Took NVDA short at 18.38 it broke down nicely, but the market bounced hard off yesterdays lows and stopped me out at 18.50. YHOO took short at 34.29, smae thing happend, bounced hard and stopped me out at .34. At 10:30 i took CIT long at 29.05. It had a very nice base set in and broke that. I had to end up holding it all day but i ended up selling it at .60. Trade of the day. I took AAPL long at 22.62 at around noon. It had a very nice dailyc chart, and that was the high for the last 2 days. Great swing setup, just didnt follow through very well. Sold end of day at 22.55 I took CHIR long later in the afternoon at .22. Market was strong, It was one of the stronger stocks in the market, it had a nice base from resting all day. I somehow got double the sahres i wanted. Not sure if i pushed buy twice or what happened. Sold half of them soon after i bought. Ended up selling them at a average of .20. That was a good scalp trade setup and i managed it horrible. Like i said i knew i shouldnt of ben trading today. My head wasnt in the game. But anyways, a lucky gross profit of +$98.30 on 2200 shares.
09-12-03 Boring day today. Leaving early to haed down to Ames for some tailgating festivities for the Iowa, ISU game. I shorted BBBY at like 8:45 cst @40.02, got out some at 39.80, and the rest at 39.70. Took CCU short at 40.65, stopped at 40.85. Long ADTN @ 66.20 out at 65.89. Today just wasnt my day by any means...i think this weekend was clouding my mind Grossed -48.00 on 1200 shares This week: 8400 shares and a gross profit of +$527.85. Better than nothing, hopefully the weeks get better and better and i can start raising size more. Hope everyone has a great weekend, i know i will!!
9-15-03 Today i justtraded the first hour because i went and visited my great grandparents. Overall a chopy sideways day mainly. Took PPE long at 8.84, took profit at 9.00. Took GE long at 31.64 (120 min triangle) stopped out at .59 when maarket dropped. Took MXIM short at 41.69. Got stopped out at .81. That was to tight of a stop. Could of turned out to be a nice play. Took BONZ long at 20.15, took some profit at 20.50, and stopped omn teh rest at 20.00 Grossed +16.20 on 1600 shares. Not a great morning, but il make up for it the rest of the week