I have been trading stocks successfully in the last year by trying to read the type and trying to lean on bids and offers. This seem to have changed were the specialists either put fake bids and offers to sucker you in. Anyone applying this same strategy can help me out with some advise. Anyother stategy that works for thin stocks (under 900.000 avg daily volume)?
Hey guys, Thanks for all the informative posts to this thread. Plenty of good food for thought here. I am still working on a strategy for riding my winners but I am getting oh so close. Leland
Don, easy, Magna, FWIW, it is completely obvious to me when to get in, and the screams are so loud that my fingers just do their thing as if it is THEM who is doing the trading. Therefore, easy and Magna, I must _strongly_ disagree. _HOWEVER_, I am not so certain when it is time to get out. I, like the poster of this thread, am consitently profitable, but with 20/20 hindsight, I see how much I left on the table. My exit(s) are "correct" given my current understanding and my timeframe, but geez, many times I fight for a quarter, only to have the stock go up/down another point or more during the day. This does not bother me too much, but when I think about how to take my trading to the next level, I come to two conclusions: 1) Increase my trading size dramatically 2) Increase my trading size, and figure out some way to let my winners ride longer. I am still in the research stage... nitro
Heheh.. Don, it seems you're to the point where you automatically flinch when you put up your posts -- expecting everyone to bash on you for "commission mongering". In any case, I have to agree with Don on the entry/exit. (And I'm not a broker, don't trade through Don's or any other JBO firm, and pay my own commissions.) I think it's good to be aware of key prices -- recent high/low/support/resistance as well as cost of commissions, but try not to fixate on them, and watch how the things (and related securities) are trading.
nitro, it is completely obvious to me when to get in, and the screams are so loud that my fingers just do their thing as if it is THEM who is doing the trading. I suspect your strategy is buying breakouts or breakdowns as they always scream, rightly or wrongly. Surely pullbacks don't holler, as it's frequently tough to be certain they aren't the start of reversals instead. And consolidations rarely raise their voice, no matter how nice they look. So besides breakouts/breakdowns few approaches fit the criteria where the screams are so loud that my fingers just do their thing. So do tell, what speaks to you so loudly???
Dearest Trading Brethren, For some a "scream" will be a whisper, For others they made need a trident, A "scream" perception need not hinder, As long as one remains consistent. With love and feelings of great honor to be amongst a band of most eminent Trading Brethren, Candle
I exit the very moment I see or feel a pause in price movement. The length of pause I allow for depends on the amount of profit I risk losing. As my eyes become larger â the length of my exit pause becomes shorter.
Brother Candle, Of course you are correct. Some are color blind and see their world one way, others another. Neither is "correct." nitro
Magna, I will not talk about the way I trade. I will tell you that I scalp. I will also say that I feel the way Don does - trading is as simple or as complicated as you make it. If it simple, then _IT_WILL_ scream at you. The rest is technique, i.e., when to get out, how to route, position sizing, etc, etc. Notice that simple is _NOT_ the same thing as OBVIOUS. I went the _VERY_ complex route at first, only to leave trading to a computer. This was not satisfactory to me, and barely profitable. In fact, once I took responsibility for my trading decisions and did not fear making mistakes, taken together with perfecting my technique (still working on that) my trading _TOOK_OFF_ (I worked as a programmer in my youth for a company that trades the futures complety by computer - they did well, but they don't even come close to what a truly great trader does. This lead me down the wrong path (for me) for a long time.) In anything I have mastered, it has always been completely obvious to me who the Grandmasters of the art are when I cross them. I am not one yet, probably half the trader that Don is now, but I will give you a hint, Don is a strong master, and his brother Bob, is an honest to goodness Grandmaster. I suspect that there are other superb traders that visit these boards...Some come to mind, but I do not know them personally so I can not say much more.... nitro