Most new traders should not be trading GS. GS is a very difficult trading stock. The spread is 30c to 50c. It reverses often intraday. There are programs that make it difficult to hit new lows. Trading with size is near impossible. Only the very best of set ups are profitable. GS is broken. And it has been since it … Read More
A Fundamentally Poor Trade
Never short a stock very close to an important support level. Let me explain. 88 is a very important support level for GS. Tuesday the stock leaked below 88. But it could not hold below 88. Later the stock rallied strongly. A few on our desk shorted GS when 88.30 held the offer. This is a fundamentally poor trade. Let’s … Read More
Overvaluing Recent Events
Here’s a really good article about overvaluing recent events. For a trader it is instructive. I say this because one of our new traders sent me an email recently: “I know my big weakness is trading on the Open. Do you have any suggestions on how to improve or what to look for in order to increase my morning productivity?” I … Read More
Standing in Front of a Freight Train
I am not sure why but too often traders fade moves like yesterday into the Close. The market bounced over 800 points during the last two hours of trading. I was talking with an experienced trader after the Close and came up with a theory. Traders tend to miss the beginning of bounces. The market has been weak. The market … Read More
More on Expectations
Expectations can be harmful to your trading. We ask all of our prop traders to set goals for themselves. I do for myself. Whether its for my trading or our trading firm. As John Wooden says,”make each day your masterpiece.” But goals often for the new trader are incorrectly results based and not process based. And I want to take … Read More
Think About Your Trading
After the Close I was talking with two veteran traders. Both trade with us. Both are very wealthy from years of successful trading. You know how the NBA named its 50 best all-time players? Well one of these traders I describe as one of the 50 best day traders of all time. He actually taught me how to trade. Though … Read More
What is our Next Market Pattern?
As a trader I am like a WWII decoder. The market talks to us. It just does so in code. And often that code is challenging. But patterns always emerge such that we can understand the market and what she is saying. Yesterday after the announcement that the government would directly infuse cash into the big banks we sold off. … Read More
How Do I Make Money Today?
So today during our AM meeting Steve highlighted MS as his stock of the day. Steve said, “I am going to look for a pullback right on the Open and then look for MS to trade in an uptrend for the day.” Now that is what I call a great call. On Friday Steve mentioned MS as a stock to watch. … Read More