lol. That's my biggest issue with daytrading. Personally, I like to go to the bathroom, and if I can't go to the bathroom because of a need to make money then I (and I can't speak for everyone) need to rethink what i'm doing . When I read that I always think of the old parable "For the want of a nail". Personally, I have re-tooled my trading so going to the bathroom, eating, spending quality time with friends and family, etc. are never an issue. I don't understand (and probably won't) why anyone thinks trading trumps any of those. That tiny misunderstanding aside, I have a huge respect for your trading and posts.
lol - your words young lady, not mine. You CL was my GS today. Very clean short tilll about lunch time and I was picking up nickles and dimes instead of dollars. I was lucky to catch a few dollars on CECO and APOL at the end and saved my day a bit. I seriously thought one of them was being bought out. No complaints though.
Hello OldSchool, I know what you are talking about as this happened to me before as well with AAPL. After that terrifying experience I decided no more trade without a stop loss already in. I have since used OSO (order send order) function from my platform with every trade and that has eliminated this kind of shocking trades for me. OSO parameters can be pre-entered in your platform (if your platform offers this function). For example, by default I have a 30 cents stop loss from where the primary order is filled. When the primary order is filled, I then would immediately adjust the stop to the right price to suit the stock, hopefully before the stop loss is blasted through -- if it does, so be it. OC
oc, I'm speaking with the LightSpeed folks to figure out why my stop loss functions aren't working. It was so easy to set a stop (hate saying it, but) "back in the days". Now when I open up the configuration windows, it looks like a F'ing NASA control panel. I wish the platform was more user friendly. With some of the high vol stocks, I just want to set stop losses with one button, but that's turning out to be more difficult than it should be. Even some of the LS staff didn't know why it wasn't working. But in the end, it's most likely my fault somewhere , so I have to get it fixed. os
LOL... I use TradeStation's matrix order entry. Each time I enter a trade my stop loss is also automatically attached, so there is no separate button for stop orders. I guess that is what you will need in your LightSpeed -- just one button for the trade and stop order is simuotaneously taken care of. Good luck with your trading! OC
Well thanks. don't worry...the "oh shit" trades will happen even when you get up to speed. Today, an "oh shit" trade took 1/2 of my profit from the am session and had to take the loss. I had the wrong symbol and just offered to short, and got hit. Needles to say WFC ripped up about .45 cents before I realized what had happened. This happens, and today I lost a little money. Give myself a c- on professionalism, not an F because I got out of a trade I really didn't have business being in. During small losing periods, sometimes working at MCds actually sound very appealing. Low risk for 8 bucks an hour. I like your thread. I'll try not to pollute it with drivel.
oldschool - when i take a week off from trading, it takes me a day or two to get back in the swing of things - unless i have a perfect setup or something like that. if you've been off for 10 years, it's normal to be out of synch with lots of things. even for stuff that *hasn't* changed. i used to not trade NYSE stocks at all, i do it now much more frequently. at the time, i had a hard(er) time knowing how to understand the specialist outside of some opening trades. if that was one of your bread and butter trades, understanding the specialist at many times of the day, i can see why you'd have a little bit of trouble getting used to how things are now. however, if you were a successful trader and not a one trick pony (buy stocks hitting 52 wk highs, hold them for a long time!) i'm sure you can adjust to things now.
gaj, I know it'll take time. I just hope it's before McDonalds runs out of jobs. Seriously though, I'm not someone who will keep plugging away when there's no hope. I am optimistic that my trading will come around, but I do have to be realistic. So, after I make some adjustments, and I'm still losing money, perhaps the writing's on the wall. Time will P&L will tell. Back in the day, I only used to trade listed stocks, now I find myself in both OTC and listed due to electronic trading. It is taking a while to get used to today's market. I hope you last sentence holds true. Thanks. os