{"id":325,"date":"2009-01-20T18:35:28","date_gmt":"2009-01-20T23:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/?p=325"},"modified":"2009-01-20T19:08:53","modified_gmt":"2009-01-21T00:08:53","slug":"a-core","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/a-core","title":{"rendered":"A Core"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/stt-1-day-1-20-09.bmp\" title=\"STT 1-day 1-20-09\"><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/stt-3-month-1-20-09.bmp\" title=\"STT 3-month 1-20-09\"><\/a>Most of the trades that intraday traders make are from move to move.\u00a0 We short a stock when it shows some temporary weakness and then cover when it slows into its downmove.\u00a0 These trades can be held for less than a second at times.\u00a0 But most good intraday traders also hold longer intraday positions.\u00a0 We hold a core position.\u00a0 Basically as long as the intraday trend has not been broken we hold our position.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s talk about what we are looking for to start a core position.<\/p>\n<p>I start a core position in a stock that is clearly trending.\u00a0 A stock that is clearly in a downtrend or an uptrend.\u00a0 I start a core only for a Stock In Play.\u00a0 I start a core only for a stock that has the potential to move a ton in the direction of my position.\u00a0 I start a core in a stock that has multiple points potentially left in its move.<\/p>\n<p>Today I started a core position in STT.\u00a0 Let me preface my remarks by admitting that I got my butt whooped (I am pretty sure I can say this in a blog format) in STT from 9:30 AM until\u00a0 about 2:15 PM.\u00a0 My win rate might have been less than 20 percent.\u00a0 Whoever runs the order flow in STT is definitely not gonna be on my Christmas card list.\u00a0 One of our traders who has traded STT quite a bit, mostly when it was in the 40&#8217;s, remarked that he has seen it trade worse.\u00a0 I am not sure how that is possible.\u00a0 STT was a disaster.\u00a0 And it was just not me.\u00a0 GMan got beat up as well.\u00a0 If GMan AND I get beat up in the same stock it is safe to assume the stock was not trading well.<\/p>\n<p>But then around 2:15 Bella struck back (sorry for the third person reference).\u00a0 But I did.\u00a0 After almost 5 hours of getting beaten up in STT I started my comeback.\u00a0 Firmly negative, not happy with my trading performance, frustrated with how my orders were being treated, I spotted a great set up in STT.\u00a0 I spotted a great opportunity to start a core short position in STT below 18.<\/p>\n<p>Hey trading in and out all day wasn&#8217;t working.\u00a0 I might as well try a core position.\u00a0 Seriously I saw a great opportunity.\u00a0 A <a href=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\">trade<\/a> that I will make every time.\u00a0 An opportunity to turn my day around.\u00a0 STT had not traded below 18 since 10AM.\u00a0 STT had traded in a range of 18-19.\u00a0 Finally, STT offered a significant red candle below 18.\u00a0 And STT tested 18 in a retracement and could not hold above 18.\u00a0 Game on.\u00a0 I started a short core position at 17.99.<\/p>\n<p>I tried to trade around this core position.\u00a0 This didn&#8217;t work out so well.\u00a0 At times I aggressively added to my core short position with little success.\u00a0 But my core position worked.\u00a0 Nothing else really worked for me today save this position.\u00a0 And I caught the entire downmove from 18 to 14.53.\u00a0 My day changed from firmly negative to profitable with this one trade.\u00a0 Chop!<\/p>\n<p>When to cover your core short position is a matter of preference.\u00a0 For me I will not cover a core short position until its downtrend is broken, or I spot an unusual buyer appear, or my exit price is reached.\u00a0 You should develop your own rules for when to exit a core position.\u00a0 When I am firmly in the money I will lower my stop with my core.\u00a0 But I do my best to just hold.\u00a0 As an intraday trader our strength is noticing the likelihood of the very next move.\u00a0 Our weakness when holding a core can be to cover when we notice that the next move is probably up.\u00a0 We must fight this human instinct to cover and try and short higher.\u00a0 Hold that short.\u00a0 Short some more into the next upmove.\u00a0 But do not exit your core unless there is a very good reason to do so.<\/p>\n<p>Time to head home and watch American Idol.\u00a0 Best of luck with your trading!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/stt-1-day-1-20-09.bmp\" title=\"STT 1-day 1-20-09\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/stt-1-day-1-20-09.bmp\" alt=\"STT 1-day 1-20-09\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/stt-3-month-1-20-09.bmp\" title=\"STT 3-month 1-20-09\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/stt-3-month-1-20-09.bmp\" alt=\"STT 3-month 1-20-09\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most of the trades that intraday traders make are from move to move.\u00a0 We short a stock when it shows some temporary weakness and then cover when it slows into its downmove.\u00a0 These trades can be held for less than a second at times.\u00a0 But most good intraday traders also hold longer intraday positions.\u00a0 We hold a core position.\u00a0 Basically &#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/a-core\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[22,4676,30,18],"class_list":["post-325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mike-bellafiore-bellas-blogs","tag-day-trader","tag-day-trading","tag-prop-trading","tag-smb-capital","no-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Core | SMB Training<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/a-core\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Core | SMB Training\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Most of the trades that intraday traders make are from move to move.\u00a0 We short a stock when it shows some temporary weakness and then cover when it slows into its downmove.\u00a0 These trades can be held for less than a second at times.\u00a0 But most good intraday traders also hold longer intraday positions.\u00a0 We hold a core position.\u00a0 Basically ... Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/a-core\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SMB Training Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/smbcap\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-01-20T23:35:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2009-01-21T00:08:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/stt-1-day-1-20-09.bmp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bella\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@smbcapital\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@smbcapital\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bella\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta 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He has traded professionally for more than a decade.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/bellas-blog\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/author\/bella\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Core | SMB Training","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/a-core","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Core | SMB Training","og_description":"Most of the trades that intraday traders make are from move to move.\u00a0 We short a stock when it shows some temporary weakness and then cover when it slows into its downmove.\u00a0 These trades can be held for less than a second at times.\u00a0 But most good intraday traders also hold longer intraday positions.\u00a0 We hold a core position.\u00a0 Basically ... 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