As a day trader this is what you live and train for…opportunity! Be alert, be keen, and be prepared to exploit the opportunities. Today’s action provided trades and set-ups galore to set your sights on and use your arsenal. You had “In Play” stocks like ANR and HPQ offering both tape reading and level trades. There were relative strength plays … Read More
Bears Don’t Exist, Think Like a Bull
This is a guest post from Fred Barnes aka @DCDaytrader: I recently had a conversation with a few somewhat novice traders. For us traders who don’t have the 2007-2008 market experience on our resumes, we’re looking at the recent market activity in awe. Watching the quote screen (of the $ES_F) in August (2011) required the skills of a speed reader. … Read More
Leveraging the talent of your trading community
I have a confession. I hate being the face of SMB. It is not in my DNA. If we were playing pickup basketball I would be the point guard and not the scorer. You may have noticed when SMB goes on CNBC I stay at the office. I pray to the trading gods everyday for Steve to become increasingly noticed, … Read More
Sizing and Entries in This Volatile Market
Surviving as a professional day trader means adapting to the ever changing conditions you’re presented with. In this volatile market how you size your positions at entry is so important. If you think you can still set stops tight like you did when the VXX was in the teens you will miss a lot of nice moves because you got … Read More
A low probability trade
I got long NFLX today at 132.55. It had dropped about 10 points from the open to 132.47 and after it made a new intraday low it traded above the previous low. So I stuck in a bid above the original low and knew if my bid got hit I would most likely be stopped out of the trade for … Read More
What is working now?
I ask myself this question constantly. It isn’t enough to come in each trading day armed with a series of ideas. You must evaluate the price action in the market and for each stock that you are watching. And you MUST be prepared to move your attention to the stocks or ideas that are offering the most opportunity. This is … Read More
Free Options Webinar: SMB’s Options Tribe: Today at 5pm EDT: Earnings Plays Using Calendar Spreads
Tuesday September 20, 2011 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 … Read More
Reviewing the SMB Archives
In August and early September, the market seemed to rotate around two distinct type of trading days: 1. The momentum panic day, driven by major news, with lots of volume in the SPY 2. An uptrending grind or ‘melt-up’, characterized by a wide ranges, low volume and steep pullbacks that would shake a lot of traders out but seldom break … Read More