We have gotten some comments and emails from some fellow readers asking what is included in our Reading the Tape program so we prepared this syllabus. SMB Reading the Tape Syllabus DAY 1: The Basics The Basics 1. Two quick written lectures on The Level II and The Prints including a Glossary. 2. One 15-minute audio lecture on the Prints … Read More
The Cost of Fading Strong Stocks
Into the Close I sit, trade, and also must watch what our traders are doing on my Admin screen. It is my job to make sure they are not violating market fundamentals. And I saw this on a few trader’s screens: -1000 AIG -1600 AIG This is an example of breaking a market fundamental. We do not short strong stocks. … Read More
Trading AND…
IEL sits at his trading station staring at his screens ready to pounce. GMan sits at his much larger trading station (he is the Head Trader) watching every tick in the market, with his hands on his keyboard. Scuba sits patiently processing every bid and offer in ARNA (even though he is a Partner). And then some others trade AND … Read More
Premarket Volume a Tell- DNDN
Last night I went out long DNDN. At 8:30 AM I was down a cool $80 on my position. Not exactly something for which to put down my breakfast Cliff protein bar. DNDN had cleared an important resistance level on Thursday at 27.50. It closed still in an intraday uptrend and 80c from its intraday high at 28.75. Stocks like … Read More
The Little Things
LVS has been on SMB’s radar for the past couple of weeks. It made a nice run from 15 to 20. Yesterday, it showed signs that it was going to give back some of its recent gains. It sold off hard from 20 to 18.50. Gman, our head trader, was short it for most of the afternoon. He identified some … Read More
Learning Order Flow and Tape Reading – TraderFeed
Dr. Brett Steenbarger, respected market psychologist, recently wrote on TraderFeed about the importance of Reading the Tape for short-term traders. In his post, he says that “Reading the tape is key to getting in and out at good prices.” And, “For experienced tape readers, knowing prices where large orders have come into and out of the market can also be … Read More
Setting a Goal for the Day
Recently I received this question from Reader Stephen: I am 53 yo guy been trading for 30+ years. I love your videos and your traders that give intraday information, I have a simple question. What is an example of Goal for the day? I have enclosed an example of my monthly goals which I do daily to keep me focused. … Read More
In Search of Consistency
One of the greatest hurdles a new trader faces is that of consistency. Consistency on SMB’s desk is defined as being profitable a minimum of 80 percent of the trading days each month. The majority of our desk achieved this level of consistency in the month of August. This was mainly a result of the opportunities in the leveraged financial … Read More