Thanks Spyder, I did try Quotetracker and MBTrading but the functionality just didn't cut it for me (I never did find a free source for back fill on the charts). I'd like to use QCharts but $99 a month is a bit much to pay while I'm just playing around, maybe as I progress further. Right now I pay 9.99 per trade which usually works out to about double what I would pay at MBTrading. So assuming I'm doing about 2 trades a week, I'm only paying about $80 extra per month. So the extra money doesn't justify the cost of QCharts. So I guess I end up paying a little more but I get to use a really great charting platform that I am comfortable with. I read through tradingbug's thread on his problems with Etrade, and that is definately a concern I'll have to be conscious of.
Boy DXPE just continues to climb. I had it hitting Low Band at 9:42, stoch and macd where both good. For some reason I didn't enter when I had the chance at $22.40 (I think the whole Day Trader thing had me flustered). It's now at $23.70!
I certainly understand the economic concerns of a trader just beginning to learn these methods. I have often recommended (in Journal One and via PM or email) using inexpensive (free where possible) tools in an effort to maintain fixed costs at an extremely low level. I followed the exact same path when I first began (Quotetracker Software with Scottrader free data feed). One aspect of trading that QCharts helps me with is time. I now spend significantly less time culling each night because of QCharts. What once required an hour or more of my time, I now complete in minutes. If you would like to see how much time you can save, simply send a PM to SVRZ and include your email address. SVRZ will send you a link for a free 30 day trial of QCharts. Should you (or anyone else reading this thread) wish to give QCharts a test run in this manner, I'd be happy to provide you instructions on how to set up culling your lists in the same fashion as I do each night. I can also share how to integrate QCharts with a broker. Whichever broker / platform you finally choose, the decision should be based on your own personal needs. I'd just hate to see anyone else encounter the same experiences with E*Trade as documented in the linked thread above. - Spydertrader
Maybe (???) I'm finally learning. On the good but not great front I did enter DXPE at 23.02. Unfortunately I got a little impatient w/ its wild flucations and overmanged (should have gone out) selling it for a slight profit at 23.20 earlier. About 1%. On the good front I managed to get into NGAS at 11.43 and just sold it at 12 (I set a sale price early) due to hitting the resistance trend line I see (attached). My take is that if it can stay about the line toward the end of the day I might jump back in. About 5% on this trade. Thanks Spydertrader for sharing your list last night. Always makes me feel a bit more confident as a new trader when I know my list is legit. Finally, I managed to catch the VPHM breakout today above its horizontal resistance (that I saw), getting in at 21.66. Up about 5% so far; still holding but with a tight stop. Mike
thanks spyder, as far as CKCM is concerned, before going into today i knew we had a FTP on the IT chart. Over the weekend I confirmed to my satisfaction that the stock was cycling enough following the P/V relationship. I also confirmed to my satisfaction that it was IN the DU area on Friday. (price down, vol. down, a/d 'down')=0 score I do almost all my stuff by eyeball. So anyway, This morning at 9:45 i see the PRV >= DU by 11:30 (+price increase)...so i go long. fast forward to around 11-11:30 and we have decision time...seeing that we're NOT going to make DU (i have DU as 245k-280k for Fri...in other words vol. hadn't YET met friday's volume total) I have to decide whether to hold or exit. i asked myself a question, 'what would jack do if he were in this position'? (holding long a stock that is pos. from my entry but hasn't yet met vol. threshold levels)...corny question i know...but the answer that came back was to zoom in for a finer view. so i switched to the 5 minute and saw a beautifully perfect pt1-2-3 followed by another attempt to the Left Trend line (which didn't make it across at the time....and pulled back to the Right trend line. I sold out at this point. at this point, i'm not sure. What i SAW at the time as a FTT, obviously didn't turn out to be. What could have kept me in the trade was the observation that volume was dropping (drying up) as it 'pulled back'...leading to a pushing out of pt3. we then have volume flood back in mid-day pushing the left line out and the rest is history. anyway that's how i see what could have told me to stay with it as opposed to outright selling it just because DU failed to materialize at the desired time. any comments on this analysis?
HANS certainly looked lime it was getting ready last night, but it appears we are a few days ahead of the curve on HANS for the time being. According to my charts, I anticipated a price reversal for HANS around the $90.80 price point (lower channel line). When price blew right through this level, I closed my order entry window. Once price leaves the channel (especially to the down side), its better to simply stand aside and let the freight train roll on by. - Spydertrader
Also, just a bit of Info. I have learned so much from this board about trading I thought I'd try to share something back. I have been more "investing" in "value stocks" over the last 2 or 3 years before undertaking the challange of trading. My mentor has been "beating the drum" about how cheap Pfeizer is. I don't know if any of you invest/trade for longer term periods but if I drew the trend line properly it broke out of a 2 year downtrend last week and is now sitting on it's 200 day moving average. Unless it gets hit w/ more litigation my expectation is that it is a good time to buy some for either a short run up to resistance or longer. (I don't see this as a 1 or 2 day trade but something longer). As always my disclaimer is that I've very new to all this so please take that for what it's worth. Mike