I truly believe you described here a sure way of losing money. It's better to stop trading for now, and reevaluate your approach. Good luck! <font class=quo>Quote from Arnie Guitar: I really don't have the brains/discipline/whatever for the greeks, the studying, etc. I go on gut feelings. I have a group of 15 stocks I watch, I listen to the news, I think about interest rates, momentum, historical prices, etc.. and I place my bets. It's fun, entertaining and exciting. Who knows, maybe someday I'll be good at it! <font>
Bwahahahah, at least you've got a good humor about your situation! That's incredibly important, especially when you're taking it on the chin. But the second part is that you have to do your homework, you have to do the analytics, you have to do the work, because you're competing against guys who are hungri'er than piranhas, and you can bet they do'in theirs! Best, Jimmy
Jimmy is correct Arnie. I also trade MO as one of my MAIN positions, you have to be able to do some simple charting and get to know the basics of support and resistance and their key levels. If you keep at it, you can do it, but why not add some books about the markets and basic charting to that nice list of things for you to do. It's an evolutionary process, not a class and here's your diploma. Next time MO breaks like that, you'll be able to see it when it's happening and put on a position to take advantage. Keep at it, and if you want it enough it will come. Sounds like you're patient enough and that's a GREAT quality to have.
From someone who DID survive "the bubble", just one cent to throw in here. It's not bad to get really familiar with a group (<20) of tickers. There are a handful that I really like to trade, but... With what I can conclude about your strategy, it is imperative that you wait for the BEST setups. If you are only following a handful of tickers I would suggest that these great opportunities aren't going to come around on a daily (or sometimes even monthly) basis. My list is comprised of a few hundred tickers. Like I said, I do have my favorites, but those few don't provide enough great setups for me to trade them actively. Every couple weeks I scan the large list looking for new candidates. Best of luck to you. And BTW, you really do need to get familiar with DELTA, GAMMA, and IV.