2011 August | SMB Capital - Day Trading Blog

Traders Ask: What to Do Before You Start Your Trading Career?

Aug 31st, 2011 | By Bella | Category: Guest Blog

Mr. Michael, I am Alexei, from Paraguay, South America, I've been following SMB Capital for a year and now reading your blog posts is a must every day. Recently I have finish reading One Good Trade. I have read so many books about technical analysis and trading and I now you heard this a lot but it was by far the best book I read about trading. It is helping me a lot to improve my skills and I've learned so many things that I wouldn't have if I didn't read your book. I notice that the book is more useful for some that is working or wants to work in a prop firm but it still was very useful for me. I never knew that reading the tape is so important. I am going in October to SMB Desk to do Read more [...]

Tags: smbU, trader education, trader training, trading coach, trading mentor Posted in Guest Blog | 4 comments

Notice, Explore, Execute

Aug 31st, 2011 | By Bella | Category: Guest Blog

This morning we noticed that shortly after the open CF hit my new low of the day ticker. Hmmm…a market leader getting sold right away into a gap up in the SPY and continued strength in the SPY. I took “Notice”. A little later we see it again, this time joined by MOS, AGU and some others from the sector. It’s time to “Explore”. We now start to drill down into the action on the tape. We see a buy program fire up in the SPY but no juice to the upside in this sector. These high beta stocks usually react with a vengeance if you are on the wrong side of a program. So we have the SPY to new highs but this bunch languishing. It’s time to “Execute”. Yes it was time to short these with Read more [...]

Tags: day trading, prop trading, smbU, trader edu cation, trader training Posted in Guest Blog | No Comments »

Trader’s Ask: How should I decide when to increase my tier size?

Aug 31st, 2011 | By Bella | Category: Mike Bellafiore's (Bella's) Blogs

Hi Bella, If you don't mind, I have a question for you. How long should a trader trade at a given tier size before they move it up? I don't want to jump in larger too fast, but I don't really know what an optimal time frame is for advancing, and I'm sure it varies from trader to trader. Is profiting $100 on 100 share tier size, with a max position of 100 shares per trade, an acceptable daily average? I know its not a 1:1 ratio no matter the tier size, as 1,000 shares, for example, could affect the order flow, where 100 shares probably wont (in most stocks anyway). I also realize that just because you average $100-$200 per day trading 100 share tier size that doesn't necessarily mean you will Read more [...]

Tags: smbU, tier size, trader education, trader training, trading coach, trading mentor Posted in Mike Bellafiore's (Bella's) Blogs | No Comments »

SMB Radar – Snapshot

Aug 30th, 2011 | By smbcapital | Category: General Comments

Here is a look at a few of the columns I use on the SMB Radar, as of today's close. Notice a lot of blue today which means institutional activity was minimal. Also note that the In Play list has a lot of IPR's with readings below 3.00. Regardless, I still like to sift through these after the close as part of my review, you never know when a good trade idea will emerge. Check out our Radar live with a 14 day trial to use it in real time. Read more [...]

Tags: p Posted in General Comments | 1 Comment »

Back to the future

Aug 28th, 2011 | By Bella | Category: Guest Blog

The future's on it's way, the past is gone Old and rusted, with your busted bones Break the crystal ball, you're on your own Wipe away the fear of the unknown Now, here we go, on with the show Makin' our way, just living for today It's in my sight, and the time is right For takin' a bow, into the now………..Tesla Today the $62 level in GDX came into play in a big way. $62 had been support both early this morning and yesterday. Just before lunch GDX trades down to $62 and gets a feeble bounce. The third time here and no juice to the upside. Get short, maybe the future is on the way! Both times here before we notice the aggressiveness of the buyers off the level. Wipe away the Read more [...]

Tags: remote training, smbU, trader education, trader training, trading coach Posted in Guest Blog | 7 comments

Free Options Webinar: SMB’s Options Tribe Today at 5pm EDT: A unique approach to butterfly spreads

Aug 25th, 2011 | By Seth Freudberg | Category: General Comments

Tuesday August 30, 2011 at 5:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time SMB’s Options Tribe is an online community of options traders dedicated to sharing successful options trading ideas with all of our members worldwide. Each week the community will meet online for the primary purpose of watching live presentations made by outstanding veteran options traders and experts in the world of options trading. Today, tribe member Nagaraj Ramakrishna demonstrates his excellent $RUT butterfly approach. It should be great. Register for this FREE Webinar : Here Seth Freudberg Director, SMB Options Training Program The SMB Options Training Program is a twelve month program designed for novice and intermediate Read more [...]

Tags: p, pp Posted in General Comments | 1 Comment »

SMB Radar Update – Miners Weak Today

Aug 24th, 2011 | By smbcapital | Category: General Comments

The Weak Today column ranks stocks based on the price change relative to the stock’s opening price. These stocks tend to have weak opening drives and continuation moves. When looking through the column, we always take note at how In Play the stock is to gauge the validity of the move (Bright Red to Dark Blue). Today there have been a lot of miners on the list. We started seeing them at the top of the list right on the open, and they have continued to hold there. Their IPRs have come off a bit here so that tells us to adjust how aggressive we are playing them to the downside. Keep in mind this only a snap shot and the list changes throughout the day. Remember, if you are a Radar user Read more [...]

Tags: p Posted in General Comments | No Comments »

Forex Trade/ Our risk reward

Aug 23rd, 2011 | By Alex Salazar | Category: General Comments

Before entering a trade, we should know what is our return based of our risk. Taking risk is the price of achieving returns; therefore you cannot cut out all risk. It is not completely true about the fact of an investor who takes on more Risk expects higher Returns. In the picture below, you can see the risk involved with its original stop loss and the return of the trade. The trade originated after the price reached levels of support, then expect a pull back to the upside. Target is identified by other levels of Fibonacci retracement. The key point of this trade is the original stop loss. The original stop loss is placed at last lowest price, also found at level .618 of Read more [...]

Posted in General Comments | 4 comments

Your PlayBook Setups

Aug 23rd, 2011 | By Bella | Category: General Comments

If you missed the free webinar with Mike Bellafiore, author of the "trading classic" One Good Trade on August 18th discussing some trading setups that you can make your own and the proper thought procees for such trading plays, please click here to watch the video. Read more [...]

Tags: p Posted in General Comments | No Comments »

And the Probability Is……Part 2

Aug 23rd, 2011 | By Bella | Category: Guest Blog

You see the chart pattern or play but the action before does count. Take a stock that trades down off the open then consolidates forming a nice support line. This line breaks so the chart says sell it short. Seems like a high probability trade right? But what if its 12:30 pm? Do you think the fact that its lunch in NY will affect the probability of the breakdown being real? I do. Are you thinking this or just trading the pattern the same size with the same expectations and risking the same stop? What may be an 80% probability trade before 11:30 am could be a lower probability trade now. Another example…. same move in the stock, same chart pattern, but this time the SPY was flat during Read more [...]

Tags: smbU, trader education, trader training Posted in Guest Blog | No Comments »