Mike Bellafiore and Steven Spencer, partners at SMB Capital, appeared today with StockTwits founder Howard Lindzon on StockTwits TV. In the interview, they discuss the history of SMB Capital, characteristics of a successful prop trader, and the role of technology in training and communicating with traders. Watch the clip here and feel free to leave your comments on this blog. … Read More
US Open Flu?
I have missed the past two trading days because of the flu. I know what some of your are thinking. Hmmm. Bella loves watching golf. And he is always blogging about how much he loves that Phil Mickelson. And Phil made a run at the Open today. The US Open was just in Bethpage. Was this the US Open Flu? … Read More
Paying For Information
Last Friday most experienced guys in our desk traded RIMM on the open. The moves where fairly violent and most of us got ripped up at first. It seemed the stock was crowded with big traders and most levels didn’t hold that cleanly. The risk in most plays ended up being about 2-3 times larger than one would have thought. … Read More
The Week That Was: June 15 – 21, 2009
The SPY was finally a little weaker this week, as the range moved down slightly, starting the week at 94, moving down to 91, and closing at 92. This coming week, the levels I will look at are 93 as resistance, and 90 as support. Some of this week’s links: An interesting look at the possible moves the Fed will … Read More
It’s Called Trading
Each day into the Close our intern Krysten asks me to share a trading idea for our Twitter feed. Today I told her that I was short AAPL below 138 but would cover above 138.15. AAPL had failed at the 138 level earlier in the day and had a significant down move. I was risking 15 cents to make potentially … Read More
From the Mailbag – Part 3
I received this question the other day and thought we could discuss it. Ok so here goes… Rusmin Says: Friday, June 19th, 2009 at 3:24 am I want to ask you a question. But before I ask you that, I want to tell you something. I had a similar day where i took a huge rip. I f**ked up fifteen … Read More
RIMM For Tomorrow
I traded RIMM in the aftermarket today. It was a bit of a roller coaster ride. Initially our “chirp guy” (person who reads breaking news over a speaker) said they beat their earnings estimate by around 20%. I have a rule in the after hours when trading a momentum stock. If they beat estimates by more than 10% I buy. … Read More
I Am a Technical Trader
This afternoon on CNBC’s Fast Money Halftime Report, Dennis Gartman (producer of the respected The Gartman Letter and former futures analyst for A.G. & Becker) and I seemed to dissent about how to play GS. We didn’t. Let’s discuss. About a week ago, I advocated shorting GS at 150 with a stop at 151.17 and a target of 140. For … Read More