I am curious to know what kinds of strategies all of you use for the opening. Some play the news stories, while others use a more technical approach. I am just looking for some ideas that might help me with the opening hour or so.
Can you share what your already using along with posting some chart examples? Maybe your already on the right track...just missing something here and there that someone else here can expand upon to fill in the gaps (no pun intended) for you. Also, if you use ET search menu up in the right corner...this topic has been discussed many times over in many different ways. Heck...I think Don Bright has a special thread completely devoted to a opening strategy. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12469&perpage=5&pagenumber=1 NihabaAshi
C'mon NihabaAshi, surely you're not suggesting that this is another ET'r who feels it's sufficient to simply start a thread.... and then step back while everyone else posts their strategies, charts, explanations, etc. Why it's practically heresy and downright mean for you to suggest that the person starting the thread actually get the ball rolling by first posting their own ideas, their own charts, etc. Silly boy.
Silly of me Magna...actually I don't think jlcarey1 realized this topic of Opening Strategies or First Hour of Trading has been extensively discussed here before... traders posting strategies, tips while one even has an active trade journal completely devoted to the subject. Simply...I was assuming he didn't realized that and I was trying to point him into the right direction... while at the same time trying to encourage him to post his own Opening Strategies or First Hour Trading info that he currently is using...regardless if it works or not... hoping that someone will see something, point it out to him...allowing him to strengthen something he's already using. Hopefully it works P.S. I had a good organic chem professor in college that once told me..."it's a lot easier to teach when you know what specific areas the students are having problems with". NihabaAshi
My strategy for the opening is quite simple actaully, but it has worked out fairly well. I follow sector Indexes closely to try and identify which sectors are the most active. I typically place a basket trade on the whole sector itself (or most of it) and let it fly. I base this decision on a few factors. Recent performance of that sector, key support/resistance levels, news stories that might influence that sector, intuition. I have decided to use a swing trading methodology and apply it to daytrading. Basically, I want to hang on to the stocks for an hour or more and try to take advantage of the larger move that typically occurs between 9:30 - 11:00. My risk tolerance is moderate, so I typically wait for things to brew before I make a decison to get out of a position. Although, I usually dump by biggest losers quickly. Maybe this is wrong?? As I said, this has been working quite well lately and I feel that I am onto something. My biggest problem is timing the entry into the sector. I never place "at the opening orders." I wait for a few minutes to see where the market is going. Clearly my biggest problem is entry. I need suggestions on that subject.
If by "lately" you mean the past 60 days, we have been in a roaring rally. Don't take this period as any kind of indication of a robust system.