Wait --- the cents or dollars per share is unimportant. So I don't see any reason for the question. And as inferred before, if your trading 100 shares of $150 stock verses 2000 shs of a $2 stock your cents per share outlook is certainly different. Each trade should be measured by how it is acting and with reference to market conditions whether or not it should be continued to be held, expanded upon or liquidated. Where you stand profitwise should have no bearing on what to do with the trade (a loss is different, of course). That being said... I've only been trading for a very short while but my major problem has been leaving too too much profits on the table by terminating trades much too soon. The other problem is where a trade is not acting the way I would like it to act and maybe even going below my cost -- but before my stop loss exit point --- and I just sit and watch it slowing drop further mainly because I'm looking to my exit point as the spot I'm supposed to hold to before giving up on the idea.
frankly, stocks that move like that tend to be more difficult to trade and less liquid....which is why they move so much but thanks for letting us know how easy it is to trade...apparently those of us who don't trade stocks that move 3 points in an hour are going about the whole business totally wrong...
hey nitro, what's the MAE and MFE?? i didn't want to be so specific as to limit the question too much...it was purely a psychological question. basically - how do you feel after you cash out of a profitable trade that may have kept going higher?? i primarily wanted to see how people view such trades psychologically - in other words: - do most people kick themselves if they don't ride out 100% of the move?? (i know i used to) - do scalpers kick themselves if they take .10 off the move, and then use the same reasons for getting OUT of that trade after .10 to buck the trend and fade it when there's another .75 or more coming, thus losing alot more than they would've made on the trade had they not cashed out after .10? (i do this constantly) the latter question about scalping is something i think about alot lately, too, as i've been trying to move away from scalping and more into 1-2hour positions... for me, i'd consider such a trade very successful if i was able to do 0.40 out of the 1.00 move, but again, i'm coming from a scalping background and trying to morph into more of a position trader. the question has nothing to do with size versus beta - i.e. trading 500sh of QCOM and riding it 1.00 in five minutes - versus trading 5,000sh of CSCO and making .10 in five minutes. i specifically said KLAC or BAC or QCOM with a $1 move, but i could've also said CSCO with a .25 move. the point was to see how most traders assess their own success, and how much do people have to take out of a good move in a stock to consider it worth their time.
bungrider, Here is the book that describes Maximum Adverse Excursion and Maximum Favorable Excursion in detail: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...002-4592670-7037639?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 I do not know if the work is original, but this is where I learned of it. There is also an article about it in the August '02 TASC that you might enjoy. This stuff is more suited to "system" traders than discretionary traders, but it is worth looking into and cogetating on... As far as leaving room for interpretation, of course, that is a double edged sword. IMHO, REAL progress comes from reaching towards both side of the spectrum at once - be fuzzy enough to allow yourself room to grow, but at the same time be downright anal about analysis - it is critical to improvement... As far as how I feel about taking profits, I take them _WAY_ too soon...Still working on figuring out on how let a trade breathe. I am coming to the conclusion that the "only" way for _me_ to "let my profits run" is to have a system that trades besides me on the longer time frame, where I trade the micro-trends and pull the +1 to +2 out of the spoos per trade, + 1/2 to +1 in equities, while the system takes the + 15 out of the NQ per trade... Honestly, I am blind to the longer term... nitro
sorry, bung. i should've explained why it's a bullshit and useless poll, although i thought this would be obvious. nitro is correct in saying that the question, as it was posed, is practically pointless. you are NOT asking for how people feel if they leave 'too much' money on the table. if that information was indeed what you were after, you posed the question so poorly as to assure you were going to get an irrelevant response. 'a stock goes up 1 point'. how did it go up one point? what did it do on the way? you don't think that's important? lol. what about the traders methodology? you want compare apples to apples don't you? just a standard 1pt-move-how-do-you-feel doesn't do that, obviously. hence my describing this as a useless and bullshit poll.
The stocks I trade daily have a price range of $15 to $60, a 10 day average daily range of 2 points or more and a volume of at least 1M shares. I think that is enough liquidity, don't you?
Sorry for the thread drift - but I thought this was priceless - click on the link to the amazon entry for the book - you will see that: "Customers who shopped for this item also wear: Clean Underwear from Amazon's Target Store"
hehe...it's better than that: "Customers who shopped for this item also wear: - Clean Underwear from Amazon's Target Store - Ladybug Rain Boots from Amazon's Nordstrom Store - Flannel-Lined Jeans from Amazon's Eddie Bauer Store - Cheetah Print Slippers from Amazon's Old Navy Store Now that's an outfit that I'd like to see...
had to see this to believe it. <img src="http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=163774"></img> Yes, it's a slow day. And, the weather's gorgeous. (since nearly pushed the thread into the rocks I figured I otta at least vote, so I did).