Thanks for the explanation; I understand this. But still, it is still an art, not a science, that is why stop loss and money management is very important. The arguement is that if one put every trade always against tech ana result, with tight MM and stop loss, and keep the winners, the result would be the same. I did some back test on a dozen stocks -- i.e., put in trade against the tech. ana. always tell, with good MM, the result is almost the same as follow tech indicator, In another word, tech ana. does not offer me an edge, it is the stop loss with small loss of the losers, and keep the winners running part that gives the edge, with iron hard decipline.
Farooq, Thanks for sharing the valuable tips. You have some nice setup, I think all of us can learn from each other by sharing our knowledge. Today I traded exclusively on DNDN and OPBL, two oversold stocks, I did very well on both. The most important thing is to recognize which side to trade or which way it is trending, when the trend stops. From there, it is much easier to decide what to do and how to trade - buy on dips. I got a lot of help from fibonacci retracement levels, volume change indicator, and the market profile (boundaries and value area, served as resistence/support/pivot), of course, the usual stochastic indicators, and most importantly - PATIENCE. Patience is so important, even you have a pretty good idea about where the price would go if it is moving in your favor, you have to patiently wait for the market slowly crawling to that price. The day started was not that well, I bought some AMGN in premarket at $55.03, missed the sell at $55.50 (knew it was the resistence, have my charts below too), but I wanted to sell when the market opens, I thought it might break that resistence. Then NASDAQ experienced problems, no prints on any stocks, and charts stopped working bcause of no prints, I put a sell through AUTO (usually route to EDGX - save me some $$ on ECN fees), but the order won't execute at all, it was a nightmare, changed the route to ARCA, sold with a small loss. I think I might have to pay $200 more commissions today because I used INET/ARCA to trade. I think I'm on the way back on track, my emotion is somewhat stabilized, the last two days I was quite depressed. I did save quite a few charts on DNDN under smallcapsxx.jpg. http://charts.dacharts.com/2007-05-11/
Guys, thanks for the friendly dicussion, we'll get better at TA, hope we can all bank with these charts.
I think DNDN's move today caught many traders by surprise, many believed it would go to $3 first, lol. Now the market is closed, it is so much clear to see what's going on by looking at the chart, during the day, sometimes it is so undecisive about where it wants to go when watch the moves one candle by one candle and on many other charts with different timeframes. I guess if folks can trade together, have more eyes on the stock, then you're unlikely to miss something. Have a great weekend everyone!!
Whats up Im doing the same thing you are I have been sitting on 20k since then I havent been able to trade until recently I got my mojo back. How have you done in your returns since 4/14 have you doubled or tripled yet... if you dont mind me asking
Sorry if my last post seems intrusive but people keep telling me m crazy and I want to see if there are people who are remotely close to my situation who are successful
Bighead, Most of you guys have a regular job and trade stocks for fun - trade or not trade, win or loss won't affect your daily life much. I am trading for a living, this is a serious business. I don't have a second job. I am trying to survive each day with that small capital, I use my proceeds to pay bills, mortgage, and all family expenses each month. Double or triple or whatever is not my goal, that's for some others to brag and get paid from memberships. I did quite well for the first two and half weeks, this past week is a wash due to various reasons and bad luck as I posted. I've a little less than you do after wired out three times for the month ($8K+$5K+2K), next month won't be easy, I've to take out at least $7K from the account, Besides, I'll be in China for three weeks, need a lot of $$ to pay for this un-expected trip, I don't know if I can trade stocks when I'm in China, a tough road is ahead of me. I don't want to think any more on that, I don't want to add more pressure. I wish I can borrow a $20K loan to solve this family crisis. Without a regular job, borrowing money is not easy. I know God is there watching me, he's been with me very minute, he loves me regardless I am rich or poor, big capital or small capital, I am trying to be on his side and pray for that. I know he penalized me when I had bad judgements without following his steps and advices. Eventually, I will be more disciplined and be more responsible. No more gambling and no more bad habits, these are evils and sin acts costed me dearly in the past, and they're continuing to attract me to repeat the same mistakes. I'll resist the temptation to follow evil plays even they looks like attractive and offer high rewards. I have to follow the God, follow the charts, and follow the trend. I've to refuse the attractive offers from evils. The God will take care of me with my hard work, my sincerity, my patience, and my intepretation of what he wants me to do in the stock market. In the end, I am here for a reason, I wrote down what I did right and what I did wrong, and continue to do what I have been doing right.
As traders we are naturally spontaneous/thrill loving people deep inside because God knows that there are more stable consistant forms of work out there. I am also a full time trader with no second occupation what enables me to be able to be so hesitant and lazy is that my girlfriend makes good money and is able to make the ends meet without my input to some degree I know that has hindered my progress as a trader because it enables me to be complacent and lazy and wait for all the "perfect" indicators which never happen because trading s a game of chance. Recently I've been daytrading NE in 500 share blocks (I use the 4x margin leverage) which has provided steady income, and thanks to you im realizing how volatile AMZN intraday wise thanks for everything and I sincerely wish you and your family the best of during these pressing times, but remember that pressure makes diamonds and if you take a look at nature and the way it works everything beneficial comes from pain and hard work, so this may be what you needed in the long run to become a GREAT trader and a better person
PT, With your ability you should manage some money like hedge fund, Loan will put more pressure on your trading. Some months it will be difficult even to make interest payments. JMHOP. If you manage 100,000 and you get 20% cut of profit that will be equal to having 20,000 without interest and loan pay back. off course if you are not good you do not get any thing, then kind of free labor. If you go in loss you do not get any till you cover loss. Good luck. Farooq
i'm speaking only for myself - and penny ,if i'm stepping on your toes (since it IS your journal after all), just let me know. or state "no, i'm not like that at all!" and go from there. i enjoy reading differing points of view for knowledge. 1) i HAVE to take out money from my account on a regular basis because if my account grows too big, i start doing stupid stuff. 'forcing' trades since i'm not using my potential. putting on too much size, and finding it hard to have easy exits. 2) why manage other people's money? first, i don't want the aggravation of having to deal with people calling me EVEN IF THINGS ARE GREAT and asking stuff about the account, etc. i've got a few friends i talk with, a few people i help with trading...that's plenty for me. i don't want to set up a separate LLC for it, etc. and...if you're (generic you here and elsewhere) a good trader, why take OPM to get to 100k, when you can get there by yourself eventually and keep 100%? as long as the psychological part doesn't hit too hard, he'll be fine. i periodically have psychological stuff where i start gambling, or panic, or things like that. when i do that, i usually lose money. when i'm patient, wait for my setups and honor my stops, i usually make money. funny how that works. btw, penny is a much better trader than i am. and that's fine with me.