Trading is a very difficult sport. The representation of trading within the Financial Media Entertainment Complex is sensationalized and is intended to first entertain. Trading is a skill. You must build skill, then your PlayBook, and then you will be able to navigate yourself toward becoming a Consistently Profitable Trader. It’s not a game of guessing, no-edge predicting, IQ, luck, … Read More
SMBU Trading Tip of the Day ($VSI)
In this SMBU Trading Tip of the Day, Bella, author of the “trading classic” One Good Trade and The PlayBook, talks about the importance of execution with an example in Vitamin Shoppe (stock symbol $VSI). Highlights from this trade: 1) You can turn a very good trade into a losing trade with poor execution. 2) Trading is a skill. 3) Market “calls” are … Read More
A Trader’s Trading Path From A-Z
This Thursday I will speak to aspiring traders at Pace University. As I prepare for my discussion, I have been thinking of a Trader’s Trading Path From A-Z. A. Read about the markets when you are young. If you enjoy reading about markets, then read more. B. Start playing with putting together trades in simulation. C. If you find some … Read More
SMBU Trade of the Week: Facebook
Mike Bellafiore, author of the “trading classic” One Good Trade and The PlayBook, talks about his SMBU Trade of the Week in $FB. Even though he thought $FB was going to trade lower, when it broke out to the upside, he followed the price action and captured an excellent risk/reward opportunity. Highlights from this trade: 1) You do not have to predict where … Read More
What a Successful Trader Would Never Do
Mike, This was kind of a mixed week. Good. 1. I find the 2nd day trade makes the most sense to me. I pick the strongest stock of the day and then find two levels of support and outline my entry price, stop price, target, and size. So far so good. 2. I also found that I don’t pay as … Read More
The Wandering Trader: Answers Lie Within
I’ve been wanderin’ early late From New York City to the Golden Gate And it don’t look like I’ll ever stop my wanderin’ –James Taylor As traders we want to spot best practices and co-opt them for our trading. I offer one for your trading in this post from a trader on our desk. Let me set the scene. I … Read More
Six Lessons on Systems Trading
In my recent post, Confessions from a Discretionary Trader, I wrote how I was spending more time each day learning about quantitative trading. Today I attended the live taping of our new course, SMB Systems Foundation, with market veterans Rick Martin and Andrew Falde at our NYC headquarters. Here are the six most interesting ideas I found shared in this course from … Read More
What Would You Like to Spend More Time Doing?
Dr. Steenbarger wrote an important post on optimal downtime for peak performance. This got me thinking about improving my downtime so I could increase my creativity and performance in my domain. Our modern society sets up procrastination and wasted time road blocks with Web surfing and endless options of unproductive TV. Months of wasted performance opportunity can pass without our … Read More