i came late to the game as i had errands to run this morning, but jumped on FTEK @ 14.77 on the pullback this stock has wierd volume patterns with long dead times @ mid-day. volume was good so far so i'm on board.
Hello, I am a total newbie, but have read much of Jack's stuff and am about half way through the first journal. Spydertrader, you have done an absolutely amazing job with your journals, and I have to say that I appreciate the time, patience and effort you've put into this. Thank you. As I read through the journal, I think it would be very instructive for me to be able to look at the charts of some of the stocks you both buy, and those you don't, to better understand the process, expectation and results. I'm wondering if anyone can point me to a good historical charting tool to do this at the 30 minute level. I have Qcharts, but it seems that the only way to do it is to drag the chart little by little to the right date, which takes forever, then it resets itself when you put in a new symbol. Its entirely possible I'm missing a better way to do it though. TIA for any help anyone can provide.
btw, still holding smsi as long as i stay positive volume sucks today so may get out soon. looking for wash trade if nothing kicks in
Welcome to the discussion ebulldog. I hope you continue to find the information contained here useful. Holding down the CTRL Key while typing the left arrow moves the charts back to the date you want much faster. Qcharts Customer Support might even know a faster method. - Spydertrader
As im watching FTEK I start to question my out. I closed the position based on low volume and indicators heading south. Was this a bad call on my part?
I suppose I have motivation to answer "not a mistake" since I didn't take a position, so take this with a grain of salt I'm just finishing a book on poker which has a lot of relevance to trading. The author says that the way to know if you made the right call is not whether or not you made or lost money, but whether that same call will make or lose you money over the long run. Jack has said that he likes to miss moves that seem risky or uncertain, and he only wants to be a part of the moves that are smooth and predictable. I can't tell you for sure whether getting out of this type of trade would be profitable in general, I just don't have enough experience. I would say that you shouldn't kick yourself for selling and then seeing the stock go up. If the stock was doing things that you didn't understand, then it was probably a good call to get out. As a last mention, the FRV for FTEK is 212,000. After that brief spurt of volume, things have basically fizzled and you would probably end up selling by the end of day (or early tomorrow) anyway.
As Rick pointed out earlier, FTEK has some very odd volume patterns - often drying up completely intra-day. Without knowing about FTEK's patterns in advance, you exited based on what you viewed in the charts and based on the knowledge you had at the time. As such, you followed the signals of the system accordingly. After a debrief of the trade, you discover the benefits of adding a support resistance line (at the 50% Level) and now know how FTEK often acts in a quirky manner. Based on this new information, you now find yourself better prepared for the next trade. Try not to think in terms of right and wrong. Try to think in terms of correct / improper execution compared to knowledge required to improve execution. I think you'll find doing so improves your learning curve. Of course, your mileage may vary. - Spydertrader