An idea that is helping traders

During our monthly trader reviews this week one best practice repeated 3xs as helpful to traders.  Get up and take a walk when you are angry. I remember when I first started trading, watching and hearing traders bang and cuss as if at a NY Rangers game.  I remember thinking that is so unprofessional.  And then I started trading (insert … Read More

From Trading Idea to Optimized Portfolio Backtest

Andrew shows you an example of taking a signal idea and quickly documenting a series of tests. The entire process took a few hours and represents 15 years, 120+ stocks, and 10s of thousands of back trades. * no relevant positions

The Distinction between an Idea and a Trade

I was talking with a new trader in my office with our floor manager trying to get him on track. “How do you think you are doing?” I asked. The new trader said, “I think I am doing a better job of sensing what sectors will move next.” So this is good work but not the whole game as many … Read More

What is Your Idea of Back Testing? Part II

Yesterday we looked at some examples of how a trader could use a handful of recent examples to make trading decisions. The hypothetical scenario played out quite terribly. Although fictional, it’s a thought process that I see happen each day by traders around the world. Here is an alternative way to consider strategy and statistical trading when trading something like … Read More

A Trade Idea For Tomorrow

POT has been a pretty good trading stock recently.  After putting a double bottom in place on June 8 it traded up about 10% before establishing a fairly wide trading range between 98 and 101.60.  Today it close below 98. I will look for more downside tomorrow using 98 as my initial short price in the morning.  I’m looking for … Read More

Don’t Let An “Idea” End Your Trading Career

In today’s AM Meeting I mentioned that AMZN has been unusually weak the past couple of days. If it got below 130.50 I thought there would be a lot of momentum longs who would panic and the stock would drop to 128. That trade never materialized. The first move in AMZN was up. The second move in AMZN was up. … Read More

Nice Idea But Poor Execution

I was interested in shorting CLF this morning below 73. My price alert was triggered when CLF dropped 73. It traded down over the next few minutes to 72.50. I offered some stock at 72.88 thinking that CLF would quickly bounce back before downtrending for the day. CLF did pop up to 72.85 but never traded up to 88 cents … Read More

Trading Our Best AM Idea – January 29, 2010

Our “Best AM Idea” that we tweet each morning as part of our morning roundup blog is a trade idea that is based on all of the information we have prior to the market’s Open. Yesterday, I suggested that FCX be bought on a pull back to 71.50. FCX has traded down about 20% since reaching a 52 week high … Read More