Traders are a skittish bunch. We can make the same trade a hundred times, but the one time a left-field event occurs, it can spook us forever. The other night, I let the dog outside before bedtime. He’s a seven-year-old Boston Terrier, so I’ve done that literally a couple thousand times. This time, however, he returned to the porch with … Read More
The Hunted
“They’re just hunting for stops!” says a frustrated trader as a position once in the money is now stopped out. I have been hearing this a lot on our trading desk. I heard GMan say it this open. I know I was thinking it last night. Definitely heard some guys who sit near me trumpeting this wall street cliche. We … Read More
Free Options Webinar: SMB’s Options Tribe: Today at 5pm EDT: Broken Wing Butterflies
Today at 5:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time SMB’s Options Tribe is an online community of options traders dedicated to sharing successful options trading ideas with all of our members worldwide. Each week the community will meet online for the primary purpose of watching live presentations made by outstanding veteran options traders and experts in the world of options trading. This … Read More
Understanding Systems Trading
I’d like to ask a question: Thinking about casinos, would you rather have the house edge, or would you rather be the gambler?? Other than entertainment value, of course, being the house is the only way to consistently make money. That’s what system trading is all about—developing a system that has a well defined, consistent edge—called expectation in the trading … Read More
SMB Welcomes Rick Martin As A New Blogger-Systems Trading
SMB is proud to introduce a Rick Martin as a primary blogger for the SMB Blog. Rick is the lead developer for SMB Systems Trading, LLC. His career on Wall Street has spanned over 25 years and has included stints as director of research for Ryan Beck, Tucker Anthony, Swiss Bank, and The Chicago Corporation. Beginning in 1999 his focus moved … Read More
How Framing Impacts Our Trading
How do you decide what stock to buy? How do you determine the best time to buy? And once we have made the decision to buy when do we sell? These questions, and how we answer them, are a direct result of how we frame the questions, thus directly impacting our trading performance. Framing determines the viewpoint from which we … Read More
Follow Up on Microchip
Earlier today, around 10:15am EST, we posted a snap shot of the Strong and Weak Today lists on the SMB Radar. These are just 2 of 10 outputs that the algo gives us, but are extremely powerful for intraday swings. We saw MCHP on the top of the Weak Today list. It was also holding below 34.00 support, with room … Read More
Avoiding Indicatoritis
Would-be traders all tend to focus on indicators. The sense, I suppose, is that if there’s just some magic indicator to be added to the chart, then trading becomes easy. They’re way off. Personally, I don’t rely on indicators. I am price-and-volume based when making decisions on trades, and although I might occasionally glance at a moving average or something, … Read More