Panic is not a good thought for a trader. And during really crazy moves in a stock, when you may be tempted to panic, calm is required. I had such a situation on the Open with MHS. Let’s discuss. So we start the day and Alexander gets me into this MHS. I wanted to trade something else but he just … Read More
A Bad Day
As traders some days we just won’t have it. During the last two training classes at SMB our best students have been female. For some reason only about two percent of the resumes sent to us originate from women (how do we get more?). A leading female student in our present class finally had a negative trading day in her … Read More
Weekend Review: July 20 – 26, 2009
The SPY finally traded above that 95 level this week. In fact, it traded above that level for most of the week. With earnings surprises to the upside from most S&P companies, it’s understandable as to why. Even in the face of tech heavy weights MSFT and AMZN selling off on initial earnings results, we managed to hold a bid … Read More
HFT and AMZN
HFT (high frequency trading) has dominated the financial media of late. @zerohedge, Charlie Gasparino and CNBC, the StockTwits nation, @steenbab, GMan from @smbcapital, and many other talented bloggers have all weighed in. And then came Senator Schumer: (from Bloomberg courtesy of @zerohedge): Senator Charles Schumer asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to ban “flash orders,” saying the transactions give … Read More
Confirmation Bias
Today I fought confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is processing information in the market so that it fits your preconceived opinions. You overvalue all the information that backs your preconceived thoughts. You ignore all the information that counters your belief. @steenbab (Twitter handle) and @thekirkreport have written about confirmation bias in their blogs previously. I wanted to share how I had … Read More
AMZN Tomorrow
AMZN has been one of my favorite stocks to trade for the past three years. It usually offers excellent price action for a few days before and after its quarterly earnings report. I have found that watching it trade in the after market once it releases its numbers is very instructive for the next trading day. Immediately following the release … Read More
Weekend Review: July 13 – 19, 2009
We were there. On the edge of cracking the 88 level on the SPY Monday morning, when we had a strong rally to begin the week. Then Intel reported to put some fire into this move. We closed the week slightly below 94.50, which puts us within striking distance of our 6 month highs at 95.50. We’ll see how that … Read More
Brick by Brick
After I leave the office Friday around 7PM I generally grab some dinner (last night at Pomodoro on the UWS….delicious!) and then shut things down for the day. So I missed an important email sent to me last night. An email that a new and developing trader can learn from. One that we should all write to someone who we … Read More