I usually close a position after its made a 10-15 cent rebound from the low where i got it...i sell or cover when the stock seems to be stalling and i fear it will reverse course on me...it is at this time that the stock is really just basing and ready to continue in the direction i had anticipated... I usually keep stocks for like 15 mins to an hour....I know if i buy a stock at its day low that if i keep it for a few hours it usually recovers 30-40 cents from where i opened position.I make the right calls i just get out way too early...CLassic ex of a trade i just made now(T went up another 16 cents after i got out-i made 13 cents on the trade) Order ID Buy/Sell Qty Symbol Price O.Type Expire Status Fill Sp Executed Entered Sell 500 T 39.81 Limit Day Filled 500@39.81 12:18:23 2007-12-19 12:17:38 Buy 500 T 39.71 Limit Day Filled 500@39.6799 12:01:45 2007-12-19 12:01:43
I tend to take trades that are not conformed to my rules after i missed an opportunity -- keyboard mistakes or too fear to take the signal. not taking a signal is ok assuming i can't distinguish between good from bad trades among signals. taking trades that are not conformed to the rules are definitely lethal. sure i still have a long way to go
Try as hard as you possibly can to hold 100 shares as long as you can. Say to yourself "with this experiment, my profitability will go down because I'll break even on my 100 shares which will always stop out at breakeven, instead of booking profits when I normally do, but I'm going to do it anyway so I can learn how it feels to hold." you will fuck it up and it will take dedicated willpower, but you CAN hold that 100 shares. If you get good at holding that 100 shares longer than the rest, you can gradually hold as much of your core position as you're comfortable with. if you piker out on half and hold half as long as you should IMO you're doing great becuase even if holding all of the profits longer would make more money, it would also increase account volatility and decrease the smoothness of your equity curve which would have a negative effect on your psychology (and thus trading) greater than the positive effect of holding all.
if you piker out on half and hold half as long as you should IMO you're doing great becuase even if holding all of the profits longer would make more money, it would also increase account volatility and decrease the smoothness of your equity curve which would have a negative effect on your psychology (and thus trading) greater than the positive effect of holding all." I dont really understand this part? FYI i did try the 100 share experiment in october-I bought 100 emc@22 and held all the way down to 17 and just sold at 20 last week...
i read this somewhere. in your consciousness, that's a losing trade. so when u think there's a `good` chance to get out, u just get out. -- this is also why unplanned adding to loser is not a good idea
in my paper trading account, i frequently close my winners even i don't see any weak signs. today i took HKD 5500 from a trade that i could have locked 12500 by my Exit Procedures even if at that moment i was up 14000. but in my real account, i never took profits if i don't see weak signs. the real case is even i see weak signs, i hold until my stop or trailing stop is touched if my entry is conformed to all criteria.
i played windows minesweeper when i got bored at market hours. and last monday i forgot to close my position before morning session ends, and turned a 1000+ winner into a 3400 loser. sometimes i went back to sleep if i got bored. missing a signal is better than losing money, lol.
dang! shorted t ...covered breakeven when i got nervous market was gonna break out into last hour...i hate trading the last hour and like to not open new positions then....market fell and t also about 20cents from where i covered.... Order ID Buy/Sell Qty Symbol Price O.Type Expire Status Fill Sp Executed Entered Buy To Cover 500 T 40.15 Limit Day Filled 500@40.1199 14:55:12 2007-12-19 14:55:10 Sell Short 500 T 40.10 Limit Day Filled 500@40.1401 14:18:04 2007-12-19 14:18:03