I began my professional career as a “day trader” a little over thirteen years ago. Little did I know at the time that I would one day become a strong advocate for banning myself from the market. The Institutional Day Trader First, let me offer a little bit of background information regarding “day trading” before I explain why it, other … Read More
Firms Sharing to Add Value
One of the great rewards of running a firm like SMB is the friends we have made from others firms. There are some exceptional firms and people in our field. I am certain that in ten years there will be a dozen exceptional intraday trading firms offering enormous value to their traders. Especially since the Buy and Hold strategy has … Read More
Trade2Hold AIG
It is fun to see the desk trading so well the past few weeks. June was a tough month. July was much better. And this month is starting like August of 07. And that was a great month. Today we traded AIG, the home builders, and ETF’s. And AIG offered an excellent Trade2Hold that we should discuss. AIG opened and … Read More
AIG Shenanigans
AIG, our favorite momentum stock got back in play yesterday off the breakout at $14. I traded it okay yesterday though I didn’t make that much money off the initial point and change move after being long from 13.8. I actually made most of my money off the two consolidations at 16.4 and 18.65. I am still puzzled by the … Read More
Seen That, Traded That: AIG
“Have you ever seen anything like that?” asked a new trader. “The news isn’t new,” chirped a trader on Day 18 of his trading career. “AIG traded up from 15 to 23 and I barely made any money how is that possible?” Let’s discuss AIG and all the plays that will be like AIG going forward. 1) There will be … Read More
Repeating Patterns to Exploit
One of our new traders in the June class asked me about what I review when I watch my trading video. The short answer: patterns that offer clean trades where I can be aggressive. When I review my work and I see patterns that offer these clean trades I brand that opportunity in my head. Let’s take a … Read More
Every Cover is a Bad Cover: SYNA
Back in the day I used to think that every sale was a bad sale. Inevitably internet stocks would somehow find their way higher. And then came subprime. Followed by its evil twin the near recent collapse of our banking system. And during this historic trading period at times every cover was a bad cover. And yesterday I battled a … Read More
High Frequency Trading
In light of all the recent commotion about high frequency trading (HFT), we have decided to compile a list of articles that depict the advantages, disadvantages, as well as arguments for and against HFT. The list follows below: Stock Traders Find Speed Pays, in Milliseconds: This is the original exposé by Charles Duhigg in the New York Times What’s Behind … Read More