It’s time for Episode 4 of When The Bell Rings. In this edition, we’re talking about something that’s paramount to your success as a trader. It’s a mindset – something that requires intentional planning and not a fly by the seat of your pants mentality. A weekend sporting event prompted this particular lesson, although the topic always applies to trading. … Read More
Learning
This morning it was announced that SXCI was buying CHSI in a cash and stock deal (story from Benzinga). Both stocks were gapping up significantly. It is unusual for the acquirer to gap higher in a merger that involves stock as a major component of the transaction. There is usually a huge amount of selling pressure from the “merger arb” … Read More
Five Things I Wish I Knew About Trading When I Started
Like any challenging pursuit with a steep learning curve, trading requires an incredible amount of determination in order to succeed. If we are successful, there is the temptation to look back to our beginning and to shake our heads at our combination of naiveté and the youthful enthusiasm that allowed us to overcome it. While reminiscing, we can also ask ourselves: … Read More
My Thought Process: AMLN
We received a few requests for a trade review of the AMLN trade I was tweeting during today’s Open. I’ve illustrated my key thoughts via the annotation of the chart below. Let me outline some of the “bigger picture” considerations that are not covered by the chart annotations: It was reported that AMLN received a $3.5 billion takeover bid which … Read More
A Quick Conversation
One of our newest trainees (5 days live) had been trying to get a hold of me for a few days to answer some trading questions. I had been especially busy lately but finally was able to squeeze in a quick conversation with him before heading to the airport to visit some trading friends in Texas. His first comment/question related … Read More
Why I Traded MCP Today
My primary stock on the Open was GMCR. It is a classic momentum stock that had fresh news and a large pre-market gap. This type of setup is usually my #1 choice to trade on the Open if available. I have internalized the possible price patterns for this setup having traded it hundreds of times over the years. My second … Read More
The Money Trade—LNKD
In the fall of 2010 I wrote a post called “The Money Trade“. It outlined the mindset of momo hedge funds and how when they all decide to pile into growth stocks such as CMG, FOSL, CRM, LULU etc. you can quickly identify their fingerprints via after hours and pre-market price action. A few days ago LNKD reported earnings and … Read More
I Deserved To Lose More
(post originally written February 10th 2012) We identified FSLR as an In Play stock this morning (link to story from Benzinga Pro). It was gapping lower in the pre-market to a recent support level. As a trader part of my job is to figure out what other traders and investors will do in any given situation. In the case of … Read More