Okie Example ... Bidu was a crazy stock...it shot up to the sky b4 it fell from the sky ... when it was shooting up ...i kept buying coz "relatively" i felt it was still "relatively" low and can shoot up higher & much higher ...to me 2 hrs is like a minute! ... the insane high px is not high enough yet... lucky me, the px really kept going up... ( i closed all the positions and took out the profits on 04/29/10) but for those who short-Bidu ... they should throw away(cut-loss) Bidu like they sit on hot stove ... on 05/06/10, i shorted the market, and few of the forumers were angry at me coz i said extreme volatility ..it's a good day for trader. But only one person said he agreed with me (in neke's journal)... i remember his name is Bolimomo
Sun Tzu said: There are five fundamental factors for success in war - weather, terrain, leadership, military doctrine and most importantly - moral influence. 5 fundamental factors. I interpret/translate the 5 factors in trading as these: Weather: The market environment (bullish/bearish/neutral, trending or choppy). This is what you cannot control. But it is the most influential factor of all. (Ask Hitler how he lost to Russia. Or Nepoleon.) You must act in favorable weather - long in bullish weather and short in bearish weather. Terrain: This is the instrument(s) you trade. You have somewhat choices on the terrain. Each stock/index-futures behaves differently. You must observe how each behaves as you observe the terrain. Choose your battle ground that facilitate your winning. For example: go to higher ground. You short only when the move is far extended and cannot be sustained. You long when the stock has dropped so much that it's unlikely to go lower. Leadership: That is YOU, the trader. You are the general of your soldiers (your capital). If you fight well, you will win. If you fight poorly, your soliders (capital) will die. Your discipline. Military Doctrine: Only this one is your trading strategies. The hows. The battle plans. The maneuvers. The money management. Moral influence: This is a tough one. For a real war in a country, typically the defending country has the highest moral spirit. In trading, I take it as the reason for trading. Do you trade to survive? (More motivated, live or die). Or you trade to have extra spending money? (Don't really care if you lose... won't affect you that much.) Hey... may be I can write a book on this...
Hi Matcha, Not to be discouraged. We all make this kind of mistakes. The countertrend setups in a strong trending market is our #1 "ENEMY". What we need to do is to write this into our trading strategies/rules that we will exercise all our will power and discipline to avoid trading countertrend when we have identified the current trend. E.g. using our latest new weapon, the $TRIN to guide us. We will follow it religiously until the $TRIN changes. We would rather be late or miss the trade by not pulling the trigger at all. I, too, tried very hard today to resist the temptations and avoided the countertrends as much as I can. I also minimized the number of trades. I took one SHORT trade, I thought it was a clear signal but guess what, it has proven once again it was a false one immediately I pulled the trigger. Then for the rest of the day, I stopped trading from the SHORT side. You are correct that the #TRIN has been very steadily hovering between 0.70 and 0.80 for the most part of the day. It's good that you have the "mistakes" entered into your journal. I have confidence that you will correct them. But remember, we will be bound to repeat them again. We need the discipline to follow our trading rules to resist these false setups. Best of trading tomorrow! --po P.S. Remember these: The TREND is our FRIEND. The COUNTERTREND (in a strong trending market) is our ENEMY.
Yes I remember that Big Sis. That was the best day in my 2010 performance. I remember taking AAPL long, only to see what happens because it dropped $40 in 5 minutes!!! I bought only 1000 shares. In $201. (Low was $199). Out $205. Only like 30 seconds. This was the quickest $4000 profit I ever had. But I was so naive (inexperienced)... AAPL went back to $235. Imagine if I just set a stop below $199 and hold on. Or that I bought more shares... May 6, 2010 is one of the craziest day that I will remember for a long, long time.
PO.. even if Consistency is not your forte yet .. it's ok as long as your profit is BIG!!! and you loss is small. You are still ok! example: you win 1 day but lose 3 days... as long as your 1 winning day is 5k but your losing days are 1k X 3days = -3k ... you still a Winner of 2k.
Thank you Sis and Boli, You two are great trading warriors. Hey Boli, I second that - you should write a book on that with a title "Trading Sucess the Sun Tzu's Way". --po
Thank you Boli. I am still working on my strategy to keep losses small and let profits runs BIG. It is my "enemy" #2 after the countertrend trades in a strong market. I can't seem to be able to hold a position long enough to capture the BIG profit. Sometimes I feel like I am a chicken. Someday, I will be a great warrior like you and Sis. --po
Okay... maybe I do my "absent-minded professor" drivels here first. Then I will collect them after a few years into a book. Matcha you have the honor...
Boring day. I made 0 trade. Woke up late. 60 min chart, 15 min chart and 5 min chart sent mix signal. I couldnât find any set up I am confident to be in. Then I realize Bernanke âs speech is at 11Pst. I would rather trade after his speech about current economy. Market sold off at 11pst. Bernankeâs speech made me feel so depressing.(He totally changed his tone from last speech, in sub-context.) Market then went south even more. I prefer no to chase the sell-off on the speech, so I let it pass. I can only listen to CNBC for 10 minutes. Then I put my Korean Hip Hop music onâ¦. No trade, no set up. Itâs probably better this way for today.