I monitored FORD (which was in DU yesterday) very closely. It didn't reach Lowerband by 1130. It surged on opening bar then reversed on 2nd 30 min bar. Since I had no trades I occupied the time watching the Raw Data, Time , and Sales on the Quotetracker program. I wonder if anyone more experienced could help with a few questions. The Raw Data, Time, and Sales window on the Quotetracker program has 3 colors: red, green , and black. I noticed when the numbers are red, the transaction was at the bid price. I suspect this means distribution by a holder who sold on a market order. Also I notice transactions at ask price are green. I suspect this means someone bought on a market order so it is accumulation. My big question is about the black numbers. The data is in black when transaction is above the bid and below the ask. I have a thought that many of these transactions in black are short positions on uptick. Also I wonder if they are just limit orders. I monitored FORD almost the whole session on oct 27 and There were alot of black numbers after the opening surge . There was a reversal bar on 2nd bar (I guess.....higher high and bar closed lower than previous bar) then the black numbers were most prominent all the way through and FORD closed down 4% with last bar being an up bar on higher volume (which I suspected was buying to cover action). Are my suspicions about the red distribution, green accumulation and black shorting activity accurate? Any help would be greatly appreciated> I'm really inexperienced.
I've only ever really used one equity trading program, so take this for what it's worth, but on my screen green ticks are up ticks (meaning the last executed price is higher than the second last executed price), red are down ticks, and then there are other colors for trades - between the bid/ask, outside the bid/ask, etc... At any rate, I bet your software has a manual for it that explains it somewhere. If you can't find it in there, call the customer support, they'll know for sure. Thanks, - The New Guy
Excellent results thus far Acesheet - especially since you only trade these methods part time. Thanks for sharing. You may experience significant improvement in your win / loss percentage if you incorporate a few small augmentations to your methodology. In the first few posts made by Nwbprop (See beginning of Old Journal), he used trendlines to determine where price fell within the overall trend. Avoiding the purchase of a stock with a price at or near the upper channel boundary, often saved me from experiencing a reversal. Once I began regularly using this practice, my losses decreased in number. In addition, reducing the the total amount of each loss improves your profitability. You might test various risk parameters in order to reduce the overall amount of each individual loss. If you can reduce your average loss to a level of 2% or less, you can see the net effect of increased overall profitability. A 1% improvement might not seem like a whole lot at first, but over time, the dollars do add up. Again, great trading so far, and keep up the excellent work. I look forward to your future updates. - Spydertrader
If I recall the Quotetracker Help Manual correctly, The highlighted red trades in the T & S Window referred to prices which matched the Bid price. The Green Highlighted trades indicated prices where the trades matched at the Ask price. Black Highlighted trades fell somewhere in between (normally). With respect to Long or Short signals, interpreting these trades appears the result of more Art than Science. While you correctly observe FORD's placement on the Reg SHO Threshold list, such a placement doesn't eliminate ALL shorting. Without digressing into a discussion of naked shorting, some shorting of FORD still occurs (although not by retail traders [supposedly]). You should view the black highlighted trades simply as price improvement over the current bid / ask. One could infer, based on price trend and proximity of black highlighted trade to either bid or ask, a price improvement on a (accumulation) buy (or cover) or price improvement on a (distribution) sale (or short sale). Using Level II to watch how the spread widens or shrinks based on certain price changes should provide greater insight into what the majority of market participants hope to accomplish. - Spydertrader
In addition, Jerry Medved of Quotetracker Software regularly monitors the Software Forum on this web site. A question posted in that forum often receives immediate attention. You could also post your questions on the Quotetracker Message Boards. - Spydertrader
Thank you! I read the help section and saw the info about the various colors. I hoped there might be someone with experience that might shed additional light on what's happening based on the black ink transactions. I tried to ask a question before on the Medved Quotetracker site forum but couldn't get logged in. It wasn't compelling enough to persistently deal with so I just dropped the issue. I assumed I couldn't log in because I don't pay for the tracker. I have the free ad version. Anyway thank you for your thorough response.
Final Universe Update The following stock has been ADDED to the Final Universe List as of 2005-10-28: RNOW. - Spydertrader
I am going to be a bit selfish here and ask the group for their collective opinions on the following signals I received the past three days, and the results of the trades....should I have made these trades? If not, why? BTW, it was my belief that all the following trades met the requirements set forth in this thread, and the one preceeding it... 10/26 Long RTSX @ 31.64 10:05:55am Sold RTSX @ 31.00 10:45:23am -->2% stop from entry 10/27 Short NGPS @ 23.25 11:20:23am Cover NGPS @ 23.66 15:59:57pm -->EOD failure to meet FRV 10/28 Bought NGPS @ 26.30 09:40:45am Sold NGPS @ 25.771 09:49:31am -->2% stop from entry Short FORD @ 19.44 10:19:14am Cover FORD @ 19.90 11:56:46am -->2% stop from entry Short LUFK @ 45.09 11:02:58am Cover LUFK @ 46.10 14:03:32pm -->2% stop from entry ----------------------------------------------- Not a very good series....be as critical as you can here, I can take it....what signals did I miss that might have prevented me from taking some of these losers? Thanks for any and all help you guys may be able to provide...
The RTSX trade was correctly executed. It was a false breakout. These things happen. The NGPS trade long on 10/28 was entered incorrectly because the opening price was gapped more than 5% from the previous days close. Although NGPS finished the day with a big gain, the volatility stopped you out. The rule is not to take trades if open is a gap more than 5% from previous day close because probability of successful trade is diminished. I learned this gap rule from spydertrader. He set this rule based on his previous experience in using a gap trading strategy of some kind. He also explained that Jack Hershey used no such rule. Unfortunately, I don't see this rule mentioned in the excellent summary spydertrader provided at the end of his first journal. But it is a rule previously mentioned in that journal which is highly recommended reading before doing any trading. All of your short trades appear to use incorrect entry criteria. The entry for short trades is different from the long entry criteria with respect to volume and timing. For short trades the rule is to enter ONLY in the first 30 minutes only if actual volume exceeds 25% of the average DU volume and stoch (14,1,3) less than 20 and MACD (5,13,6) negative. Don't enter if price open is gap more than 5% from previous day close. The lowerband volume and 2 hour period are not used for shorts. Twenty-five percent of Average DU reached in first 30 minutes is used. All of the short trades were entered after 1000am. I don't know what volume you used for entry. If it was the lowerband volume then it was a mistake. Also, short trades are never held overnight, so exit is 2% stoploss, 10% profit target or exit end of day. I haven't had success with the short trading so I don't use it. I hope this is helpful for you. And if I'm mistaken in any way I appreciate any correction from others.