I received these comments about December trading with a weekly review: As mentioned earlier in one of my daily reviews, I have added a plan change for December: I will lower my tier size to 100 shares on everything besides in-play A-setup stocks. Be more selective than usual. Avoid trading in & out unnecessarily. Lock in profits more quickly than … Read More
A good trade not to make
Hi Bella, I’ve been trading for about 5 months now. I read the SMB blog regularly and appreciate all SMB does to help developing traders. One issue I’ve come across in my trading is entering into trades of stocks with large spreads. I was watching COO on 12/9/2011. The stock had gaped up on the open. I tried to enter … Read More
When to Feel Pain as a Trader
Hi Bella, I have done a lot of thinking over the weekend about my trades, especially the ones that I don’t catch short when they consolidate below a certain level for quite some time before the next massive down move. As you know, most of the traders on the desk did great with this type setup in PLL on Friday, … Read More
Don’t get burned by the market
Yesterday after an aborted MRI on my back I hit the office to review some of the work on our desk. One of the steadiest of trainees had a miserable trading day. I am not sure I can remember such a day of red from this new trader. In his daily review he wrote: Today is probably the worst I … Read More
Trading Lesson #2: Don’t Trade Cash Takeovers
Trading Lesson #2: Do not trade stocks that are purchased in an all cash transaction. There is very little intra-day movement. Here is the chart for BCSI on December 9th 2011. It spent almost the entire day in a 5 cent range. Not exactly a treasure trove of opportunity for directional traders. Steven Spencer is the co-founder of SMB Capital … Read More
Try This to Reduce Your Trading Frustration
I received this comment in a review from a trainee: Really frustrating day…Over traded the junk out of MS and C and made hardly any money. MS and C : Was trying to fade them in the morning but they were the really strong up until about 1pm. This is when the short started to work, but I traded so … Read More
Lessons from an HFT conference
This week I presented for 90 minutes and sat on a panel discussion for an HFT conference. I thought I would report back with some running themes. 1) What is the next Brazil? 2) What markets are most inefficient and offer trading opportunity? 3) Will most traders have access to most markets from their trading home? 4) Teaming with discretionary … Read More
Free Webinar: From Good to Great – Pre-market Trading
In his 4th and final webinar for 2011 Steven Spencer will discuss pre-market trading. This is a very important skillset for professional short term traders and has become increasingly relevant during the past few months. The webinar is intended mainly for those with an intermediate to advanced level of experience. But all are certainly welcome to attend! Time: Wednesday December … Read More