The first 90 minutes and last hour are the best for catching the real moves, though I sometimes like to scalp small predictable moves in the afternoon ranges. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Well said: In general the institutions (funds, big players, etc) are active from the open until 1130, then water cooler, meetings time, lunch, grabass and some ass chewings from the risk manager. Agree, on many days there are some decent range plays, channel trades during slow times of the day. I mainly look for afternoon continuations if the day has shown a trend-day, one-way day. Afternoon reversals such as last Thuesday and especially Wednesdays KEY reversal from 927.00 on the days low to 941.00 and closed at 940.50 are worth being focused for as a rule. I am not the best afternoon trader, never have been, never will be. Yes, during the financial blowup we had a different world to trade in because of the fantastic moves but now we are settling down and slipping back to normal for awhile. We trade the cards we are dealt relative to our strategy and tactics. Barring any news or events late in the day the funds that are not on board either direction might pile in to play catch up to their peers or say maybe in a bear mkt, the funds etc might wait until late to make a move. Regardless of why, aside from REVERSALS or CONTINUATIONS that are clear late in the day, i prefer to pass on most of the action because as stated before..............a lot of that stuff is just gamesmenship of chicken with no rhyme or reason. TA works MUCH better in the morning when all players are more serious. Thats my take....FWIW http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFmumXOXXk4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiFq1FymYDs&feature=related
Different day, same race. 2 more hours for Le Mans endurance race in France. 3 thousand miles of all out racing for 24 hours, tough race for sure. The only worse torture i could imagine would be hanging with a losing trade and it keeps going against you. :eek:
- $65 Followed too many different scents like a beagle on crack today. E*Trade contacted market maker for SPNG who had some useless story about how millions of shares of orders were lined up and I didnât keep my order active long enough Friday to get filled. Well, duh, when the price goes right through 3 marketable bids and no fill, yes I cancel the orders. So I received a $60 spiff for my troubles, better than a poke in the eye, but worse than the $180 profit I wouldâve taken Friday had any of my bids been lifted. Short PALM pre-market @ 14.05, stopped out after the open @ 14.30: -$52 Instead of sticking with PALM and shorting the price exhaustion point, I moved on to... Short MFE @ 40.11, covered @ 39.92: +$36 Short MFE @ 39.97, covered near b/e: +$4 Instead of sticking with MFE and catching the .30 cent drop, I... Bid 36.50 as SYNA sold off hard, missed by .20 cents, and isntead of jumping in as it bounced, I... Went long STEC @ 17.87 when it found buyers at a higher low, was oversold daily and intraday, market oversold, and LOD was sitting right on the 20-day moving average, stop just below the LOD. Exited when previous resistance failed: +$22 Long STEC @ 17.93 when it found higher support, stop just below previous support. Came within .01 of my stop, bounced, but could not even make it to previous resistance so I bailed: -$30 Long STEC @ 17.97, break through previous resistance, stop below previous support, moved stop near b/e expecting a real breakout to hold up, hit for +$10. Just leaving my original stop below the HOD, would've provided me with a .20 cent move in my favor eventually, chop, chop. Short RL @ 53.27 break down through the trend line after a lower high, stop just above the 20-period SMA, hit for -$26. Short RL @ 53.33, failure to rally, moved stop to b/e, hoping not to get whipsawed again, no luck: +$8. Short RL @ 53.36 on weakness, stop above the HOD, moved stop to b/e hit for close to b/e. Long URS @ 48.21, higher low, initial stop below the LOD, then moved to just below previous resistance: -$44. Short RL @ 53.20, on what apepared to be a breakdown, but it found support there and hit my stop above previous resistance: -$56. Long URS @ 48.20 again, bounce off higher low, trailed a stop instad of just leaving it below the LOD again: +$6. Good lesson in letting original stops stay in place for a while. Churned away profits on several trades by not being patient. (Geez, you can post pic of you wagging your finger at me.)
Just ran across your journal. I think you are doing a great job of documenting your trades. I hope to start one myself this summer after graduating. Wish you the best of luck! B
Reviewing my trades in IB, I realized I also had 2 HANS long trades closed for b/e (-$3). Another case of scratching a couple trades, and moving on, thereby missing the actual trade that went somewhere! OK, tomorrow I'm gonna do my best to trade ONE THING. It seems that works out best for me.
I trade whatever stock winks at me from across the room and says "Let's dance, honey." However, I think it's time for me to settle down and make a commitment. Just applied for my futures account this afternoon.
+ $201 My âone thingâ for today was STEC long. Yesterday near the close I actually had a bid at 18.00 because the stock was hugely oversold on the daily and had found support around 18.00, then I pulled it, the devil over my shoulder saying, âDonât hold overnights, trade it in the morning.â I saw in pre-market this morning they halted trading and raised their guidance big time. As soon as trading resumed in the 19âs, I simply clicked âbuyâ several times all over the DOM and it had jumped away in seconds, I couldnât even see where the price went. Although my bids were initially within the range, it moved too fast to catch. Huge regrets for not chasing that one to the long side. Long URS @ 48.71 off higher low, stop moved to b/e when a bounce failed to reach previous resistance, out for -$15. Long URS @ 48.57 low still higher than the LOD, stop below LOD, hit -$70. I made a mistake on this one by not waiting to observe the price action at the moving average line. I shouldâve exited the trade immediately when the break through failed. This was some wasted money, because even though I had a stop below the LOD and normally should leave my initial stop in place, the price action at the moving average line invalidated a chance for further upside. Shorted PALM and took $12 when the thing hardly moved after I shorted it and I moved my stop near b/e. Of course by late in the day, it had dropped over .50 cents from my exit price. Traded STEC the rest of the day: +274 Still trading 200 share size.