I get too many emails from, I meet too many people who, I hear of too many stories of traders who live off of one play. Commonly this play is as follows: a trader sees a big bid and they step in front or they see a big offer and they step in front. This is my definition of scalping. … Read More
Anatomy of a Rip
I mentioned last week that I would blog the next time I took a rip of more than 1K. Unfortunately, I ripped up a lot more than that today. There were several reasons why I took this unnecessary loss and they were all my fault. Sometimes as a trader you will take a large loss due to market circumstances. But … Read More
Center of the Green
Trading is about skill development and discipline. A huge advantage that intraday traders have over most is our trading skills. Most can’t grind it out and make the spread. Most traders can’t play the momentum, exit, and then flip their positions. But we are also judged on our discipline. And certain days call for restraint. And we must recognize such … Read More
Let It Breathe
As intraday trader we seek catalysts. By catalysts I mean something that will now make our stock move. And when we find a catalyst we then expect our stock to move immediately. But sometimes we need to let our stock breathe. Let’s discuss. There was an epic battle at 42 yesterday in STT. A secondary was announced at 39. Buyers … Read More
Trying Too Hard
Today was one of my better days in the last week. This was not a coincidence as the stock I was trading was very in play and I was respecting the levels. My recent trading struggles have been all self-inflicted. Let’s discuss. It all started with COF. COF issued their secondary offering and underwriters were trying to support the stock … Read More
AOC Friday 5-1
Sharing information is very important on our desk. This helps newer traders learn more quickly and keeps more experienced traders in the know of all the major moves different stocks are making. There are two types of information that are most important to share. What the stock has been doing and how you are going to play it. In earnings … Read More
Momentum Versus Range-bound Trading
Jarrett wrote: “How do you know when a stock will go from momentum/ trending nicely, to consolidating. This always get me in trouble. I will trade a stock, like IBN, from short side 32 to 30, than it traded 30, so i got short, then it bounces to 30.20 i cover, back and forth, and it turns out the stock … Read More
The Week That Was: May 11 – 15, 2009
The market finally showed some weakness this week. After closing near the rally’s highs at 93, the SPY gapped down on Monday morning, never being able to hold the 92 level, then the 90 level later in the week. Although we were pretty weak on Friday, we held above the 88 level which has been a huge inflection point over … Read More
