You are only as good as the stocks you trade. Let me repeat this. You are only as good as the stocks you trade! This is a major point of emphasis on our desk. It is taught to trainees during their first week of training. And stressed on a regular basis to all traders at SMB. It is the reason … Read More
AM Meeting Summary
CHK–Support 48/48.30 Resistance 49.60. FNM–Support 11.80 Resistance 12.60. XTO–Resistance 49.20 Support 48. WDC–Support 30. WFR–Support 42 Resistance 44. QCOM–Support 51.70 Resistance 54. WM–Big Seller at 4.04 yesterday. Followup (11:15AM): When FNM failed to break above 12.60 we shorted and covered in front of the 11.80 support. When the support dropped we traded it on the short side again for another … Read More
A Bet That Paid Off
My primary focus for the past few years has been making money intraday. But occasionally I observe a pattern that causes me to take an overnight position. Around 10:30AM on Friday FNM had a very powerful breakout through $12. It topped out around $14. During the afternoon there was some selling and it traded as low at $12.40. But during … Read More
Profiting From Patterns
During our AM meeting our Desk gathers in our conference room to discuss the stocks that will be “In Play” for the day. I usually also throw in some tidbits about recent market patterns that may help our traders make some “easy” money. Easy money is usually found in one of our core trading plays that our trainees learn during … Read More
Feds Announce Plan For FRE and FNM
News broke today on the bailout plan for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/washington/14fannieweb.html?hp) We saw a strong bounce in both stocks on Friday after Paulson stated that the federal government wasn’t interested in an outright takeover but would support both entities in their current form. The above article gives more detail on how the Bush administration intends to handle … Read More
The Right Stocks
A trader is only as good as the stocks that they are trading. Recently, a bunch of guys on our desk have made money trading CHK and HK. They were making nice chops every day. Sometimes its hard to let go of stock that you have been consistently making money in. But it is essential for this job to recognize … Read More
Missed Opportunity
One of the things I take great pride in is understanding the potential moves that may occur on any given day. This applies equally to stocks that I may be trading as well as the market in general. Today, I was unprepared for the large bounce that occurred in the market during the final 90 minutes of trading. Currently, US … Read More
July 3rd Recap
Today’s holiday shortened trading day was another great day for SMB’s young traders. As I mentioned yesterday I was looking at JRCC and RIMM for potential bounces and was focused on the jobs number for a trading cue for the day. The jobs number was benign and so the market initially reacted positively. I sold my JRCC and RIMM positions … Read More