After the close SMB met in its training room for a talk led by me. I haven’t given many talks of late but I thought the desk was due for one after my observations of their trading. It is earnings season. There are tricks to scoring. And there are things traders do to harm their results. Trying to hard is … Read More
Should I bench this trader?
A few weeks ago a developing trader on our desk sent me his trading review for the day. He had traded at least 15 stocks and was negative in nearly all of them. I responded: There is no reason for you to trade more than 8 stocks. Set that as a rule. You have to see the big picture and … Read More
This is a trader’s fault
I received this trading recap from an SMB Trader: I love these types of days where I can keep my tickets really low and keep 95% of what i gross. For some reason when I trade from home, i don’t over trade and am able to keep my tickets really low. maybe because i have other responsibilities when i stay home like … Read More
Five Suggestions for Traders
I was in my office today working on my next book The PlayBook when I got pinged with this from the trading community: Mike, what do you do when you’re a practicing trader, working, saving, and studying to begin trading live, and you feel your motivation begin to peter out. You have this goal but the road there seems like … Read More
The First Lesson of Trading: You Stink
A trader on our desk shared this email sent to him by another trader on our desk. It offers a great lesson to the new and developing trader based on the work of Dr. Steenbarger and a trader’s individual experience. I was reading the first chapter of Enhancing Trader Performance by Dr Steenbarger today and I realized that I was … Read More
A Quick Lesson in Tape Reading (ESRX)
I was long ESRX. It had gapped up on positive news. The first moves on the tape in the stock were positive. I liked the move above the open high. I liked the way it moved away from prices. I liked that above 56.50 provided a clear entry if it held above. The idea was shared on SMB Real Time: … Read More
I See Momentum Buying
I settled at my trading station wondering what to trade on this Open. RHT? BBY? AMLN? There had not yet been a price spike on the SMB Radar in health care yet but I would later ask what and where to buy for that sector. BBY showed some consistent selling at 25 so I scalped that down to 24.60 on … Read More
Why buying a stock at a higher price can be better
I received this review from a really solid young trader. There are two important trading lessons in his thoughts. Can you spot them? Biggest regret today: not using the information I collected on ITMN as a short. I was watching above 17, I had a long bias, but I chose not to buy it because of what I saw. The … Read More