The Power of Trading Skillz (RIMM 72)

BellaMike Bellafiore's (Bella's) Blogs7 Comments

The modern science of elite performance has taught us that reading and watching videos is not going to make us a great trader. Anyone interested in the markets can read a chart in RIMM and recognize the 71.80 and 72 levels. I call this acquiring domain knowledge. And that is important. And certainly RIMM is a Trade2Hold above 72. Oh if only that were all you needed to master the markets.

There are subsets and subsubsets and subsubsubsets of this Trade2Hold. How you attack this Trade2Hold opportunity depends on the market, recent news in RIMM, the strength of the tech sector, the tape, overhanging resistance levels, etc.

I went for an enjoyable long walk with a developing trader to grab some bagels this week. He was struggling and frustrated with a particular trading play. And we started running through different trading scenarios and all of the variables to be considered to make trading decisions. Remember it was a long walk 🙂 Three weeks into his trading career was not enough time for him to be frustrated about anything. It all takes time. That play requires more skill which he will develop in time.

RIMM climbed above 72 yesterday and I got long. RIMM closed above 72 and went home long. RIMM opened above 73 and I did not move a finger to sell, lighten up, or set a tight stop. I did set a stop below 72. I got stopped out.

Is this the end of your play? Is that all you have in your trading arsenal? A Trade2Hold, you got stopped out and now it is time for carping, bitching and cussing to anyone who will listen or pretend to be listening?

Or can you reenter when RIMM holds above 72? Do you have the play to add above 72.50 when RIMM consolidates? Or later at 73.50 when it does the same and finds 74 into the Close? Do you know to take off risk when RIMM finds the next important resistance level of 74, after breaking news? Do you have that play to buy a pullback after the overdone downmove from the 74 fig?

The market does not reward the intraday trader for trading ideas without trading skill. The market often will offer you an opportunity first dressed in a rip only to be a potential chop to the skilled trader.

For those who got stopped out in RIMM on an initial Trade2Hold above 72, excellent work preparing for this set up. Now you just need to take another step. How do I get back into this awesome trading opportunity? If you were willing to do the work to find this first opportunity, RIMM above 72, I have faith that you will find the energy to figure out how to reenter.

7 Comments on “The Power of Trading Skillz (RIMM 72)”

  1. at smb capital it is said that stocks in play must be the ones to trade, i ve follow the blog for a couple of months, and smb mostly trades or at least talks about 5-6 stocks everytime, maybe 90% of the times you talk about the same stocks, are you really going after stocks in play, or r u just playing your stocks? it is not posible that only 5-8 stocks are only in play everytime, i’m not questioning your trading, just that looking for stocks in play, and reading about the same stocks all the time…doesn’t really match. i may be wrong, it is just a perception.

  2. at smb capital it is said that stocks in play must be the ones to trade, i ve follow the blog for a couple of months, and smb mostly trades or at least talks about 5-6 stocks everytime, maybe 90% of the times you talk about the same stocks, are you really going after stocks in play, or r u just playing your stocks? it is not posible that only 5-8 stocks are only in play everytime, i’m not questioning your trading, just that looking for stocks in play, and reading about the same stocks all the time…doesn’t really match. i may be wrong, it is just a perception.

  3. Good reminder not to complain when something like this happens to me, Mike. Reminds me of that Evan Longoria video you linked to where he says if he swings at a bad pitch he steps out of the box for a moment, forgets about it, and readies himself for the next pitch.

  4. Good reminder not to complain when something like this happens to me, Mike. Reminds me of that Evan Longoria video you linked to where he says if he swings at a bad pitch he steps out of the box for a moment, forgets about it, and readies himself for the next pitch.

  5. jacicho,

    interesting thesis. i just scrolled back to mid march to see which stocks we have blogged about. with the exception of RIMM and BA which had two blogs a piece all of the other blogs were on individual names that did not repeat. VZ, FUQI, ARQL, AMZN to name a few…

    many of our blogs focus on trading principles and we aren’t concerned about the particular symbol that is mentioned.

    regards,

    steve

  6. Tim,

    That was one of the best videos I have seen in years. It was sent to me by a reader who had noticed I had not done my Sunday links in a few weeks. Sharing this video was his idea to inspire me to consistently share these links. I went right back to publishing my Sunday links.

    Love the great info you share with us traders. Keep up the great work!

    Mike

  7. Tim,

    That was one of the best videos I have seen in years. It was sent to me by a reader who had noticed I had not done my Sunday links in a few weeks. Sharing this video was his idea to inspire me to consistently share these links. I went right back to publishing my Sunday links.

    Love the great info you share with us traders. Keep up the great work!

    Mike

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