You are right...always trade and never hope! Just frustrating as I thought I see the oppurtunity in front of me(the day) and I did not catch any of it. Wierd thing is I traded ok and should have made money. However I was shaken out of many things that eventually went in the intended direction. I have noticed this quite a bit. Prevalence of bots in the market makes this quite prevalent. Trend will be intact, chart will look weak/strong. A pullback will come and hold a level and you will see it get sweeped and fakeout and then eventually the move will come, but it will be very hard to catch it. The more and more I am thinking is that I might have to find a way of being super selective with my setups and stocks and only trade a few throughout the day and only push those. I have a few ideas so I will develop those more going forward.
Well that day I lost 360 net, first day on the new platform, and new controls etc. Following two days I finished +25 and +0 lol. Getting used to the new platform... I don't think I'm allowed to comment on how I like the platforms.. My platform comments got me in trouble. Definitely lost my momentum on the switch. There have definitely been opportunities out there, just learning to adapt to the new alien environment. These light volume grind ups piss me off. Low volume grind ups are the worst type of trading days for me. It always feels like a reversal can happen at any moment, and you don't want to get involved. I'm so unwilling to be aggressive on the long side, yet the majority of the day trading money during this whole 'crisis' has been on the long side intraday haha. Bastards gap us down, and punish the shorts. I suppose at this point, we just wait for the morons to place their bets, and eventually the bear flag on the daily takes us lower. Just have to let the morons do what they do. Low volume grind up until they get confirmation that they're fawked. Feels like there are few humans left in the markets. Just computer games of chicken upward, then the humans pound down on select days. Eventually, one side has to give, and I hope its the light volume asshats that get punished. People are expecting a quick sell off, but this isn't 2008, people are hedged and ready. It is going to be a slow and steady bear market, most likely not a quick crash. I've never traded in a bear market, so I have little edge until earnings season. OR unless, shit hits the fan. I am ready every day for the market to bleed.
New Post 09-08-11 11:01 AM Quote from Shanb: How you been doing Kurt? Did you come out and recover following that bad day? Sucks that you can't post in your journal any more! Well that day I lost 360 net, first day on the new platform, and new controls etc. ------------------ ksmetana, r u a really supernatural trader....? most of us, won't even think of doing sim when we implement a new platform and/or new controls of anything.... got to give it to you for having such guts to use your new platform and new controls to dive into trading right away.... hope it will work out in the long run, ok?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ksmetana--....I suppose at this point, we just wait for the morons to place their bets, and eventually the bear flag on the daily takes us lower. Just have to let the morons do what they do.... ---------------- and by the way, most of us who have been trading for a long time.... do develop compassion and respect for our fellow traders who might be on the wrong side of the trade more often than they wanted too.... but we would never label them.... morons or other such derogatory terminology.... calling others such name just cheapen the trading professionals as a whole.... thought you might want to be aware of that.... besides, i have also been on the wrong side of the trade more times that i would care to recount.... cheers and you may do or call who or whatever you wish, as you are the master of your own ship here.... LOL
Man...got clobbered today. Down 300+ Part of it had to do with a couple trades in OPEN that got way out of hand, but regardless I would it have been my most to date. Trading is really a rollercoaster ride...2 steps forward 1 step back or 2 steps back. Spinning wheels and the wheels fall off! There is something fundamental that I am doing wrong in regards to my intraday trading. My bias and ideas are actually on point alot of the time. Execution, timing are way off. Like I said many times before, I have been getting chopped to pieces trying to position for moves and then watching them happen after I give up or look away!
Intraday price action in stocks...IMO can be very noisy. I have noticed this and have been looking for ways to get around this since I started. I was waiting to see if my current approach would pan out, but in the back of my mind I have been formulating other approaches to deal with shit in case the plan didn't go as planned! I have been trading Risers and Fallers throughout the day...stocks that are outside of the norm and have a reason to move. I have seen that after the first half hour or so of the day, many of the Risers and Fallers(top gainers/losers) tend to be good candidates for trading. I have been attempting to trades these and results have been mixed. My stocks are usually good and have decent moves...eventually. I have been toying with the idea of choosing a basket of Risers and Fallers and entering after the first half hour. If the stock has momentum and is moving enter right away, if it is pulling back...enter when after things base out. Then stand back and let the trades work. I have noticed that SOMETIME throughout the day most of these stocks will have a move of some sort! I could cut the ones that ended up breaking out or below major levels and let the ones that are intact run and just trail out stops. There is usually a stock that will run an insane amount in either direction. In this way I don't get faked out with high frequency bullshit and can cut my losers and let my winners run. Anybody have any opinions about this idea? This isn't something that I just thought about...I have been thinking about this on and off. After being shaken out time and time again I think I might give this a shot!
Shan, have you tried my idea of looking for stocks that open strong on bad news or open weak on good news? Probably the only easy trade left in the daytrader game.
hi my trading fellow: do you or do you not have a SPECIFIC AND DEFINABLE trading plan, such as, if a, b, and c, happen.... i would pull the trigger....? and there would be no ifs or buts about my setup....? do you have such a plan developed....? or do you have tentative plan which is more general and allows you plenty of room to decide.... whether or not you would like to take the trade....pls? if you do have such a well defined plan.... would you like to have more experienced traders on board scrutinize your plan and offer you some, perhaps, more definitive steps toward.... perhaps, more profitability.... pls? regards
I did do some of that in the beginning, but probably overlooked it. I will look for some things tommorow. I have noticed that this little edge does work...plenty of examples today. The lure of all the "oppurtunity" in the stock universe tends to draw me away from the tried and true. I guess you don't learn until it actually causes some pain. Any opinions on the basket scenario with Risers and Fallers? I think I will forward test it with very small size and see how it works out next week.
No man, not in this tape. You need a momentum tape to do that. There are too many reversals after 9:00 or 9:30. That rule is too simplistic to just apply it all the time. You really need to pay attention to the price action of each individual stock. I know it's hard. It takes a really really long time. But you will get better at it.