Hi all, I'm a part time trader with a full time job. I usually do the research at night after work and place Stop Limit orders. I wanted to ask other Part time trader when and how they place orders ?
Years ago I would place Stop-Stop OTO when I was still trying to make money buying breakouts. Now I just go with naked limits. Damn the hft's :eek:
When I had a corporate job, I would place my commodity options orders near the end of the regular trading sessions, which overlapped with the time I was "out to lunch." It helped that I had a private office and usually ate at my desk anyway, but I was very conscious to not spend more than about 15 minutes glancing at news, quotes or placing orders. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where someone could make a case that you're stealing company time* and you don't want to trade in such size that you're worried about positions and regularly checking on them via company computers or your own phone during the work day. *a tricky issue for companies and managers because most people waste at least some time each day with online sports sites, newspapers, social media, or shopping or yapping with their wife, kids and friends on the phone.
Placing limit orders is one option. The worst that could happen is an opportunity loss. part time (out of hours) trading can only work with long trades (over a month) IMHO. However, to avoid any surprises, you can also install a mobile app (most brokers have this) and place you trades from a smartphone. It only takes 5min. Good luck.
Hi Buwa84, I have a full time job too and do most of my trading using daily charts. When I get home in the evening, I look at the futures markets I trade to see if any of them have generated a setup. If a setup is there, I place a stop market order to either buy above the high of today's bar or sell below the low of the bar. When the order is placed, I include linked orders that set the stop-loss and profit target exit points using either "first order triggers all" or "first order triggers a one cancels the other order pair" conditional orders, depending on the strategy being used. I don't look at the charts again until the next evening, when I find out if the entry order was hit. Then I adjust the stop-loss if necessary, trailing it day after day until the trade is stopped out completely. On rare occasions, both the entry and the stop-loss will be hit or both the entry and the profit target order will be hit on the same day, but most trades last a few days to a few weeks. Slippage has never been a problem and I haven't felt the need to use stop-limit orders to enter trades.
Brighton gives some very good advice. As a part- time trader, I try to trade in the appropriate time frame and sizing that minimizes my need to be constantly checking the markets. I do try to squeeze the last penny with limit orders. However, I would be willing to go MOO or MOC with an automated trading, if the strategy is robust. I view trading as a tactical overlay to a more strategic asset allocation. With this structure, I can go from active to passive depending on what's happening in my life. I think a lot of people would stop trading altogether if somebody develops a robust method of asset allocation....the holy grail. Leverage is easy. Good risk/returns are hard.