toy, i think you are doing fine. with such a small amount of capital, to not utilize it all, is really just banging your head on the wall. when i started, i would bet all my capital on each trade without regard to stop losses since i was ignorant of money management. you seem to be well on your way with the 10% stop loss in place. best wishes to you !! surfer
Have only $2500 to trade with, stupid wedding Have an IB account. Currently trading 10-20 shares of SMH, QQQ, DIA, SPY. Sticking with ETFs for diversification. Only need .10 of price movement to cover commissions. Sure I only make $10 if it goes up a point, but who cares. I am trading, and if I am any good that $10 will turning into $100, which turns into $1000 etc. I suggest you read Trading for A Living. He basically beats it into your head that unless you control commissions and slippage you can't win. Currently long 10 shares of smh from low 22s, stop at 21.85 (below gap from 2 weeks ago). Look to add to my position if it can breakout of the 23.50 resistance it has been having trouble with.
May be worth about what you are paying for it but... were I you, I would trade only enough to find out how well things go with your broker (once you get a cheap one), but trade nonstop on paper or in an account with a trading demo. Keep a diary, read up on how to do scientific research too, you will be asking more and more questions as time goes by that nobody but yourself can provide the good answers to. Max
Looks like you're up on the day. Congrats. The problems with your trade are: Your stop is WAY too wide. You are in two days late, and with a range as tight as AOL, that might be expensive. You put all your ducats into one stock. If you get a market shock overnight, you are going to be lookin at steep losses, and then you will have to hope the stock comes back, which will cost you opportunity. This move up is almost straight up, that is an unstable move, and it will most likely fall back just as quickly, so get ready to take the money and run away. Your commissions are too high. It might not be a bad idea to move your stop up to breakeven on the close today. That's all I can think of, good luck.
Yes I did make a nice .40 jump on aol. The only problem is I diversified like I was adviced. Those other two stocks didnt do so well. They where choosen fairy fast because I wanted to invest the entire capital. That is my lesson learned from these trades. Do not choose when only a few indicators point up or they are weaker. All in all I am still up though. I will add somewhat of a tight stop to aol. My strategy shows that its going to go up for awhile yet. My prediction for aol is $12. If it breaks that then 14. Oh the other two stocks are going to drop a bit then rebound. HOpefully they wont go below my stops. Thanks for all the replys.
Going Into Monday. Currently Held: AOL 90 shares.. Stop Loss: 11.00 PD 40 shares: Stop Loss: Selling at Market. MXO 50 shares: Stop Loss 5.90 :eek: