The fills! This morning I had two huge bullets up and ended up using none. The BID was taken out literally as I clicked on SELL and I failed to score a huge day. That said, I am still hoping that I have turned the corner that this will be a winning streak in the making. 5700 shares on 4 of 9 shooting, +993 before commissions, +650 after, 3 bullets. The guy who got his account reseted is unstoppable. 3 games winning streak +$2000, all toward his first check, plain stunning how he came back from the dead. Pre-Market: No real news other than the batch of usual job cuts. 9:30: Went long CRA/PNC on BTK/BKX strength, out of CRA for flat and PNC for a 6 cents loss, both small positions to test the water and immediately I saw the futures tanking hard. IUX has ran up a LOT yesterday and I saw the index tanking hard, MTG/HIG both up on the day and immediately my bullets went up. MTG had a 1x60 67.51B 67.52A, I limit sold 1000 shares to 67.5, figured there had to be some shares there, turned out there was some shares at .49, I missed the fill completely (should have limit sold with a 10-15 cents slippage), by the time I re-adjusted it was showing the figure! Stock went down more than 1 point in just a few minutes. HIG I was filled 600 shares at 40 cents lower (didn't want to chase after I missed the fill at 59.7, went for 600 instead of 1000), unfortunately I didn't hold and covered for a quarter when I saw the first uptick on IUX. 9:43: CEX sell-off, this sector ran-up a lot too, bullet EMN 1000 at 36.61, covered for an easy half, this was my best trade of the day. Bulleted a little HIG into the squeeze for a 20 cents profit. 10:00: Market rally, it was obvious that XBD was strong as it didn't give any ground during the sell-off, LM was even stronger, took 700 shares 40.85 and sold for a half point profit when futures came in again, should have kept a little! A thin stock like LM can run as long as XBD is not in total tankage. Missed 1 point. Took some AGE and out for flat. 11:30: Took small positions in WY/MMM and made 15 cents in WY and lost 15 cents in MMM. It was obvious that despite of the breakout futures will not run as hard as yesterday and I stopped. Experiencing some flu symptoms my head wasn't 100% clear and I was happy with the result. Missed the huge energy rally (the morning gap-up I didn't like) and DOX, you have to follow up on a stock like that when he printed 4 million shares in one print, the seller was completely done and today there just wasn't anything to keep it down . . . This can be a very effective strategy to look for stocks that sold off on super heavy volume, look through the tape, if the seller is done, you can usually get a next-day rally. Our company threw a drinks party at Maggie's on Wall Street, the bar is sooooo . . . Wall Street. Very old fashioned decors and atmosphere, and my alcohol tolerance is horrendous . . . it is too easy to become intoxicated when your heart is empty, hence the late journal
Sorry about the lack of response on your questions. IvyLeague: I *may* work under a senior trader for a few months, nothing is written in stone yet as she has to prove to me what she can offer, as there has been some misunderstandings across the board. As for trading desk deals, it has to be very high, I mean the firm just announced that it will offer 8% commission to anyone who "bring a friend". Nvr: http://www.mobydata.com/comp.htm 4 screens, AT Financial Chart, Belzberg (a poor man's version of Redi-Plus), bullets go up in less than 5 seconds most cases via software. My bullet rate is horrendous, as most people around me pay less, and I need to get it re-negotiated ASAP. I just checked again, $10 bullet ticket + 3.8 cents per share, or about $68 for a 1500 shares bullet, I should get no ticket 3 cents per share soon . . . We are required to eventually build up a 35K account, and at this time I don't have that . . . yet . . . Half of the net P&L will be issued as a check until the cap account reaches 35K, taking firm out of the risk equation. Payout tops out at 98% at this firm.
Hitman, Pre-Market: No real news other than the batch of usual job cuts. 9:30: Went long CRA/PNC on BTK/BKX strength Curious, how did you determine BTK and BKX strength at the 9:30 (market open) as the index charts wouldn't have started forming yet? Since there's effectively no pre-market on most listed stocks you don't have that as a reference point before the open. And if there's no pre-market substantive news in those sectors you don't have that as a reference point. Since I know you really like to play the open, how do you usually determine strength or weakness in a sector by 9:30?
Magna: When I say 9:30 I really mean after the market opens, and when I say strength I really mean "it is going up". No the indexes didn't open at 9:30, they opened at 9:32 or so and BTK was up CRA was flat hence I took a small position to test the water.
Hitman I notice that you normally play relatively large share lots and go for a .10 - .50 profit on each trade. Is this the way that the successful traders in your office are doing it or do some of them play smaller shares and go for the bigger intraday swings? Thanks in advance.
Because going for larger swings = larger stops. No one goes for larger swings on every trade, most of the trades turns into scalps with a few turns into swings.
Hitman- I know things are a lot easier said than done, however I was limiting myself for along time by not letting my winners run. What I ended up doing was actually opening a position and if it started to be a winner I set a stop( break even,not a trailing) and walked away from my station. This was not easy to do, and sometimes I am stopped out...but it has helped me so much in letting winners run...and has increased my profits. Trade what you see, not what you think.
Uptick2000, Pretty interesting response about letting winners run. That has been the hardes thing for me to do. Maybe I need to try your little trick.... L