Hi Bella — I’ve been reading your book carefully and enjoying it very much.I live in Las Vegas; and would much rather trade stocks than play in the casinos. I’ve been an occasional end-of-day trader for over 10 years. Now, since last October, I’ve been endeavoring to teach myself how to day-trade. So far, I think your book is the … Read More
The unprofessional summer trader
This is the time when all the tweets and blogs start about hitting the links, or grabbing drinks early, or heading for the beach. If you have ever traded prop at a big firm you will see seats empty on Friday after 1pm. There will be many who do not come back from lunch on a Thursday. Missed Mondays and long … Read More
From the Prop Desk: Adjustments to Your Trading
One our new traders sent me this outline over weekend for his trading. Excellent work by him working on his game over the weekend (even if he is a Heat fan). Below are my comments to his adjustments. One of his suggestions is so cutting edge this is worth your review. Adjustment Plan for current environment Volume Decrease average trading volume … Read More
Traders Ask: Do You Ever Shut It Down for the Day After You Hit a Profit Target?
Hello Mike!I have a question about when to stop trading during day trading session and go home.You’ve traded many years. Can you say what is better in your opinion and what you prefer to do in your own day trading?Setting a goal to make max $500 each day and when achieve it, switch off the monitor and go home immediately It’s limiting … Read More
Why Do You Trade? (Dr. Brett Steenbarger)
In a recent post, Mike Bellafiore raised the important question of “Why Do You Trade?” In that post, Dr. Jonathan Katz pointed out that the motivation to make money is often not sufficient to sustain traders. He explains that, “People need to continually find new challenges in what they do and pursue.” This is a great topic, because it separates those … Read More
Eight Things I Learned From John Lee
Special Guest Post from @travisharbauer John Lee, professional trader and host of “Charts Gone Wild” on StockTwits TV, spoke with SMB traders Friday afternoon, and below are eight things I learned from his discussion: [1] Keep it simple; don’t trade using an overcomplicated strategy. Lee’s 13-year-old cousin profitably uses his strategy and she’s learning more about the markets everyday. [2] … Read More
Traders Ask: Was this One Good Trade ($DV)?
Mike, I have a quick question today about a setup I was in… After a great run-up from this AM and yesterday the education stocks were starting to come back to life and making fresh intra-day lows (around 11AM)… I saw APOL, STRA and ESI making these intra-day lows (the spys were making lows as well)… while cycling through the … Read More
Inside the prop desk: Recovering from a big rip
Guest Blog by D. Brown Fast forward to the end of May, 2011. The summer is quickly approaching, the weather is beautiful in NYC, my graduation is finally here, and my life as a trader is just beginning. I’ve been trading w/ SMB for a month now, and I’m up roughly 5k in the first 18 days. Awesome! Or so … Read More