There are only a few things as professional traders we have certain control over and one happens to be a critical element in the quest for consistency and success: preparation. As an athlete my entire life and now someone who is obsessed with becoming a scratch golfer, I have experienced a direct correlation between preparation and success. In my opinion, … Read More
Price Matters
During two video review sessions today price was undervalued by our traders. For active day traders price matters. One of our talented new traders bought consistently at poor prices and was negative trading RIMM, while almost everyone else on our desk was in the green. Let’s talk about price some more. Wharton Junior was trading GS and added to his … Read More
So Weak. So Weak!!
Yesterday we had a ridiculous sell off. Three days worth of gains got completely eliminated. Yes, we were expecting a pullback because the market had been walked up on light/moderate volume during the holiday, but yesterday’s price action shows there is fear in the market again.The price action yesterday put us today in an uncomfortable position. You could argue that … Read More
That’s Not the Way We Do It
Today I overheard one of our new traders talking about fading GS around 71.20. GS had stopped going down. So this youngster, aka the Red Dragon, got long. And I heard what he was doing. I offered that I would prefer for him to continue trading GS on the short side until the downtrend was broken. Since apparently I just … Read More
Using Patterns to Turn the Tables…
Many traders become frustrated when a stock follows a pattern they deem to be illogical. Their frustration mounts when they take a loss do to this “irrational” pattern and they may actually trade against the pattern even after they have identified the correct way to trade the stock through rational observation. DE had a large gap down after releasing their … Read More
End of the Month Review
I love stats. One of my favorite books is MoneyBall. Presently I am hooked on the wOBA that Rob Neyer has been blogging about. When I read rumors about the Yanks getting Sabathia or Burnett or Lowe I immediately check their important stats, such as their WHIP and strikeouts per innings. For me the idea of being able to quantify … Read More
Why I Trade on Black Friday
There were very few on the train to work this AM. The volume is very light on the day after Thanksgiving. Probably 80 percent of traders take today off. Why did I trade today? Back in the day two of the best days I have had trading were on Black Friday. During the Internet Boom I walked in up close … Read More
How To Combat Overtrading!
As I sit here the night before Thanksgiving, I am reflecting on my trading over the past couple of weeks. I have realized that one major flaw has seeped into my trading. This money eating flaw is over-trading. I have been trading for close to 15 years and it amazes me that this bad habit continues to rear its ugly … Read More
