Hello Mike!I have a question about when to stop trading during day trading session and go home.You’ve traded many years. Can you say what is better in your opinion and what you prefer to do in your own day trading?Setting a goal to make max $500 each day and when achieve it, switch off the monitor and go home immediately It’s limiting … Read More
Why Do You Trade? (Dr. Brett Steenbarger)
In a recent post, Mike Bellafiore raised the important question of “Why Do You Trade?” In that post, Dr. Jonathan Katz pointed out that the motivation to make money is often not sufficient to sustain traders. He explains that, “People need to continually find new challenges in what they do and pursue.” This is a great topic, because it separates those … Read More
Eight Things I Learned From John Lee
Special Guest Post from @travisharbauer John Lee, professional trader and host of “Charts Gone Wild” on StockTwits TV, spoke with SMB traders Friday afternoon, and below are eight things I learned from his discussion: [1] Keep it simple; don’t trade using an overcomplicated strategy. Lee’s 13-year-old cousin profitably uses his strategy and she’s learning more about the markets everyday. [2] … Read More
Traders Ask: Was this One Good Trade ($DV)?
Mike, I have a quick question today about a setup I was in… After a great run-up from this AM and yesterday the education stocks were starting to come back to life and making fresh intra-day lows (around 11AM)… I saw APOL, STRA and ESI making these intra-day lows (the spys were making lows as well)… while cycling through the … Read More
Finding Yourself as a Trader
One of our options trainees recently asked me if I thought it was wise for him to model his trading style after my own personal trading approach. It was a legitimate and intelligent question and it deserved a thoughtful reply. I recently tweeted a great article by Charles Kirk, which is exactly on point to this question. In the article … Read More
SMB Morning Rundown – June 3, 2011
Today, the Market appears set to open slightly lower. The levels we are watching in the SPY are 130.50 – 130.60 (Resistance), and 130, 129.60 – 129.50 (Support). Our best AM Idea for today, which we highlighted in our AM Meeting is to get short RIMM holding below 40 and to be more aggressive below 39.80. Don’t forget to follow … Read More
Inside the prop desk: Recovering from a big rip
Guest Blog by D. Brown Fast forward to the end of May, 2011. The summer is quickly approaching, the weather is beautiful in NYC, my graduation is finally here, and my life as a trader is just beginning. I’ve been trading w/ SMB for a month now, and I’m up roughly 5k in the first 18 days. Awesome! Or so … Read More
Directional Indicators That are Not TOO Wrong
One of the great things about options trading is that you can make a directional bet, be wrong, and still make excellent money on a trade. As many of my closest relatives are fond to point out how wrong I am on so many life issues, it is a comfort to know that there is a way to trade options … Read More