The past twelve months have been a complete roller coaster ride in the energy markets. We watched oil go from $50 to almost $150 and back below $50 again. In fact, the other day it was around $35 per barrel. On New Year’s Eve oil made a powerful up move on very high volume. There was some good money in … Read More
Picking Your Tier Size, Part I
Happy new year to you all! I have spent some of the last few days off thinking about my trading and things I need to improve this year. While watching my archive of tapes in the days that I struggle I have found some inconsistency with my tier size. I have seen this problem in a couple of our guys … Read More
ROH Bounce
ROH tanked on the Open yesterday. Fading it on the long side was like trying to catch a falling knife. And many of you have heard the Street expression “don’t catch a falling knife.” These tank jobs in ROH happen everyday. As we discussed during our SMB AM Meeting, it is a mistake for a new trader to try and … Read More
Holiday Trading
I did it again. I do not know what is wrong with me. I definitely have a problem. I had about 15 cookies last nite. Delicious! I just can’t stop. If I eat one then I will eat 15. I went to three XMAS parties this week. That was one too many. I did not trade very much last week. … Read More
Why Trade Stocks in Play?
SMB Capital trades Stocks in Play. Our traders are taught how to find such stocks. And during our SMB AM Meeting we review the best Stocks in Play for a particular trading day. Over the past few years I’ve had quite a few conversations with interviewees, including “experienced traders”, about this core trading philosophy. Some don’t seem to grasp the … Read More
Push Yourself to Become Better
I read Bella’s blog on SRS, and he brings up a great point on how important it is to push yourself every day to become better. “Constant never-ending improvement.” I think Tony Robbins once said that. But the reality is the SRS, SKF, and USOs of the world are basically different opportunities for us as professional traders to make more … Read More
Take Your Normalcy and Shove It
Recently there’s been more talk and trading of certain ultrashort ETF’s on our trading desk. It seems as the downside move in SRS from over 270 was missed and it cracked 100 that the popularity rose as maybe a trade-worthy stock. So, though I am not certain of this, the stock seems to be more heavily traded at these prices, … Read More
Light Volume
The volume was light on the Open. GS didn’t have many real orders. During our SMB AM Meeting we thought GS might find some real orders. FCX didn’t. ABX was pretty strong. AET was very strong. I traded AET on the Open. But even with AET the volume was very light for a stock in play. So what do … Read More