Robert, are you running Tradestation in addition to IB? If so, you can use either the scanner or RadarScreen in TS to find trading candidates. I played around with the scanner for a while, didn't like it much, but RadarScreen is a keeper. It's limited to "only" 1000 symbols, but I like it as it is very customizable. You can write whatever filter you like with EZ-Language.
Hi Billybob, Your post reminds me of when simCity 2000 came out (kinda dating myself here with that). Wow did I waste a lot of time with that one. Or Civ II or III (I forget which one) that you could play over the internet which was a new thing to be able to do at the time. My brother and I played that for weeks..... Thanks for your post and taking the time to offer some advice. Remember that failing doesn't mean you failed. you only fail when you agree that you have failed and not try again. My sons just had their birthdays and one of the things we do is show videos to them when they were very young. I pointed out to my one son how many times he was falling down when trying to learn to walk. I said to him that if he quit then as easy as he is sometimes willing to now that he would have never learned to walk. Hopefully that is worth thinking about Best to you BillyBob Robert
Hi Nod, I still remember that day in 4th grade taking that test. Really was a learning experience Good post NoDoji !! Robert
Hi JNorty, Ah yes, I did lose money today. I am fully convinced that it does not mean a whole lot though. Any more than that I made money yesterday means anything. This is my journal to keep track of my trades and talk about trading. I surely don't mean this in a rude way in the least but I don't feel obligated to discuss on a public forum my personal finances anymore than I would expect that you would. Your statement in your question is not totally correct or at least not complete. In 2008 I sold my company. Last year was my first full year of trading for a living and indeed I did not make much in trading in terms of gains but I was net positive and I learned a lot. Also I spent over $3K on my 55 inch TV. But that was back in 1989 and I have yet to buy another one (although I have been looking for over a year). I sold my rentals in 2002 and 2003 because I thought the prices where getting out of line. I timed that one a little early but not bad. I have other income but more importantly my wife and I really are the kind of people that don't spend money. We have zero in credit card debt, no auto loans, have a positive net value in our home. I wear RL Polo shirts but I also buy them at TJ Max. I did spend some money on jewelry for my wife during the first half of 2009 when things were going really great but I still spent a lot of time buying at prices that I could literally turn around and sell on ebay for at or very near cost. For me to have a net +/- 1K in a day doesn't cause me to lose sleep but I will drive another block to go to Burger King to get their double cheeseburger for a buck because its a better deal than McDs. I rent moves at redbox instead of blockbuster for the same reasons. My wife is the same way and stayed that way when we were doing really well and when we were scraping by which we have done both several times over the years. Side note on spending money. True story. Last Sunday was my sons birthday party we had for him at the local skating rink where he also had it last year. Like total typical dad I have the video camera almost surgically implanted to my hand and I am following him around just to get as much on tape as possible regardless of what he is doing. I notice that he is looking at some of the video games including a shooting one with a shotgun or rifle or whatever. He looks at that and some others and while holding the camera I decide its his birthday party I will give him a dollar and let him play the game. So I pull the dollar out and tell him he can have it to play a video game. he says "really?" along with a smile on his face. he looks at the game and sees he needs quarters so he walks over to the change machine and I show him how the dollar goes in and he gets his change. he then has his quarters in hand and walks slowly around the different video games and checks each one out. He walks a full circle around and eyes up one of the sit down and race games. He looks at the place where you put the quarters in and then walks back to the shooting game. I am thinking to myself "wow, how long does it take to figure out which game you want to play?" In my mind the whole time I am also thinking he will play the shooting game anyway. After looking at the shooting game a second or maybe even a third time by now he walks back up to the race game and then asks "how do you put a dollar in this game?" to which I reply "you just put all the quarters in it". He looks over the game again and then puts his hand out to give me the quarters back. I asked him something like "whats wrong, don't you want to play it or the shooting game?" and he replied "no, its too expensive I don't want to waste your money"..... I think you could have hit me with a bat along side the head and it would not have hit me so hard. here my 8 year old son was thinking that these games were not a good value and he rather give the money back to his dad than spend it on something that he thought was a waste. I don't actually think it would have taken much more to get this guy to breakdown and cry and I DONT cry (seriously, we are talking years ago). Of course I just dropped about $150 on three frozen pizzas and a few pitchers of soda at the roller rink for him and his friends but he didn't know that. On the other hand his brother would have had the money in a video game so fast that I may not have even had it fully out of my wallet yet : o ) Sorry for the long story and it probably doesn't mean much to anyone besides me. I think the last time we spent over 8K in a month was when I bought my wife her Toyota van and that was with cash so we live pretty cheap. We both spend money like we actually "earned" it. Best to you Robert
Hello Monty, Yes, I use the radar as well. i sure wish the 1000 quote limit was not in place. I had to get a monster of a computer though to handle the code. dual xeon with dual cores and 8gig of ram and a 15K SCSI C drive plus D drive. runs on XP64 with two dual head video cards for four screens. This weekend I am going to try to get it to talk to ninja to see if I can send orders directly to IB for execution. I also use stockfinder which is better in some ways and not as good in others Best to you Robert
Hi JN, you may spend 17K but it doesnt "cost" you that much : o ) you and I could take a trip to China for a week or so. I could show you some people that would love to live on $200 per month and how hard they work to make that much. You very well may come back a different person (Don't get me wrong I love China and especially the people) The other thing is marry a good looking girl that hates to spend money (not easy to find granted). My wife is lower maintenance that I am and much better looking. so far the only thing I have found wrong with her is the willingness to marry me. Which does call into question her mental reasoning....
Hi Bb Trading is DEFINITELY not like playing video games! I trade well but honestly I don't know how to play video games! ( i don't like video games) so i am smart yet i am stupid! If trading is like playing video games ... then a 3-yr old child can be a very good trader I agreed with you for people who can't trade well ... it's better for them to move on to something more positive... some people are really wasting their precious times & hard-earned money away... If they use their times and money on other business opportunities... they will be very successful. .. but too bad we can only advice them but ultimately it's their decisions ...we have good intentions but ... sigh! In the "Trading Battlefield".... there're No Excuses! No Mercy! A Trader is like a Good Warrior... must possess excellent kung fu/trading skills, intelligent, wits and fearless! "Sun Tze The Art of War" the winner takes all ... hmmm.. maybe not all but left a little-little for the small soldier...but in war... always the small soldier on the frontline die first... so sad yet so true. Sounded so bloody and heartless ... but it's true in the trading battlefield... buyer or seller/loser or winner?? You pick the right side, you win! One year before Lehman went down.. we did lots of research and started selling more and more few months before they went bankrupt! We sell everything we can sell ... because History Is Repeating Itself ... the great depression is coming!.... luckily we were right ... phew!!! we hearsay rumor...google is planning to quit china few months ago ... we went in to buy B but some went in to sell... Phew! We're right because we really did our home-work well!!! In trading no mercy but in real life ...after we took off our armor... we're just ordinary people full of compassion, love and life ... some donating generously to the poor. Billy bob ... i am sure you are a good guy and wish you the very best! P/S: I am spending ways too much time in this forum...i am late for my dinner.... bye................ nice weekend to you & your family.
My view is that failing is not a bad thing. It's all a part of learning. However, not learing from or correcting your mistakes is a sin. "woe is he who is afraid to try because he is afraid to fail" - Billybob543