Making Money During A Quiet Period

sspencerGeneral Comments, Steven Spencer (Steve's) Blogs2 Comments

Each day the market presents an opportunity to make money.  Let me restate.  Each day there is money to be extracted from the market.  Let me restate.  Professional traders who properly prepare each day have a 90% chance of taking money from the market.  The 10% of the time they don’t make money is usually due to a mental mistake or lack of preparation.

In the past month things have quieted down considerably in the market.  Yet I have only felt on one occasion like there wasn’t a few thousand dollars available for the taking if I was focused on the best stocks and the best setups.  Gman told me a few hours ago that for the past three days our Best AM Idea represented a trading opportunity with zero risk, meaning the three stocks hit our entry points but never traded against us, and moved in our favor between 50 cents and $1.50.  That is an example of proper preparation.  Selecting stocks that will move significantly off of previous inflection points.  We find these inflection points from watching stocks trade after news is released, in the pre and post market, and actively trading them throughout the day.

Today, the market was particularly quiet yet we were involved in three trades that presented $1 of upside with an average of less than ten cents of risk.

1) ELN failure to breakout above 8.50.  Huge volume was done at this level.  After two failed attempts to hold above this level on heavy volume I got short.  It closed around 7.60

2) OSK breakout above previous day’s resistance of 18.80.  Finished the day at around $20

3) GIS held the bid at 58 (major long term level) before beginning a $1+ up move.

Something the above three trades have in common is that they require trading skills.  They weren’t as simple as buy at X or short at Y and then make a large chop.  ELN wasn’t a short the first four times it dropped the 8.50 bid.  It became a short when it dropped to 8.40 and the 8.47 offer never lifted.

OSK dropped the 18.80 bid once in the morning but when it traded back above 18.80 the bid never dropped again.  When it took out the AM high of 19 there was confirmation of the up trend and a large chop followed.

GIS traded above and below the key 58 level in the morning and only became a long when there was an unusual hold on the bid for ten minutes in the late morning.  This Unusual Hold was identified by several of the trainees in our June training class as a great entry point for the ensuing one point Up Move.

Enjoy the holiday weekend. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter!

ELN 07-02-09 8.50 level

OSK 07-02-09 18.80 level

GIS 07-02-09 58.00 level

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