Hi Steve, I just have a couple of question regarding trend trading: 1) When you see a stock that’s trending but has already much more than its average range (i use ATR), do you skip/pass on it or would you still be buying into pullbacks? Do you ever find yourself thinking, “Ok this stock is just way overextended from its … Read More
Making My Life Easier as a Trader
I have been trading for over 15 years. There are very few things I can recall from a technology perspective that have both made trading easier for me and increased my ability to generate P&L on a daily basis. About two years ago one of our traders approached me with real time “lists” that he was generating using TradeStation. Many … Read More
Spencer Asks: Are You Overvaluing Past Trading Successes?
As traders we want to believe for the most part we are making rationale trades from a risk to reward perspective. At SMB we ask ourselves “if I make this trade 1,000 times will there be a positive expectancy?” If the answer is yes then we make the trade. If the answer is no then we don’t make the trade. … Read More
So Simple Yet Missed By So Many
I have been inspired to write a quick post from a tweet sent out earlier from @apextrader. He mentions that he got long YOKU around 32.50 and that it has gone back up but been a fairly bumpy ride. Why did he make that trade? And why are so few able to execute this trade? YOKU recently was beaten down … Read More
Market View Updated
Day 17 completed on the S&P 500 consolidation. I have updated the chart to reflect today’s action and have a rough tabulation of the amount of time we have spent trading within each “zone”. The most interesting thing about these 17 days is that we have only spent one full day between 128 and 129. The rest of the time … Read More
My Take On The Market
My view on the market is encapsulated via a chart on the SPY for the past several weeks. We have been in consolidation mode for 16 days now. I am starting to wonder if we will continue to stay in this range until earnings seasons begins. Each time we have moved to the 126.60 support area buyers have stepped in. … Read More
This Concept Could Get You Through the Learning Curve
Understanding how to identify support and resistance areas and execute trades at these prices is a prerequisite to become a successful day trader. When I reflect back on the dozens of people we have trained over the years I can’t recall a single trader who made it to consistent profitability who didn’t have a few plays in their playbook that … Read More
Man v Machine—(Spencer v SMB Algo)
SMB has been working on building out a systems trading desk for about a year. At the heart of this effort is a series of algorithms that detect changes in momentum and trend. From these algos we have developed various strategies. One of the cool byproducts of this process will be the creation of some pretty awesome tools to enhance … Read More