Today I lost 14.5 NQ points on 16 trades. My putrid W-L -B/E ratio is: 47-66-8 since 9/4/02 I always used limit orders -when trading stocks. I use BracketTrader with IB - and having been buying on ask and shorting on bid. Today I widened my stops to 4 points and it got hammered twice. I plan on using limit orders 2-3 points back as you suggested. Hopefully this will prevent a margin call Thank You for your insightful post doher btw - calibertrader- I am in definite need of tweaking
vhehn, don't be a simpleton. Of course I've heard of the uptick rule and I know intimately when it applies, after all I've been doing this for 8 years now. Many times when this has happened I've started a trade inquiry and I've gotten the fills I deserved. So stop being such a smart mouth.
You must be trading liquid Nasdaq stocks. With a stop loss of 12 cents, you'll always get shaken out! My suggestion is to throw Nasdaq stocks out the window and trade the SPYs or QQQs for size. Or better yet, trade listed.
you expected to be filled on this then? "Case in point today was IBM. Order to short at 0.15 below the current bid. Order sits there without executing, then all of a sudden the stock start dropping, more than 0.70, I am never filled, although several other orders went off at worse prices than mine."
Yes I did. Especially when there were trades executing on upticks at worse prices than mine. I inquired on the trade and was told the standard "orders ahead". End of story.
This could be true especially if they were market orders. They take priority. So if the specialist ran out of shares and filledall the markets, then your out of luck.