As traders some days we just won’t have it. During the last two training classes at SMB our best students have been female. For some reason only about two percent of the resumes sent to us originate from women (how do we get more?). A leading female student in our present class finally had a negative trading day in her … Read More
Weekend Review: July 20 – 26, 2009
The SPY finally traded above that 95 level this week. In fact, it traded above that level for most of the week. With earnings surprises to the upside from most S&P companies, it’s understandable as to why. Even in the face of tech heavy weights MSFT and AMZN selling off on initial earnings results, we managed to hold a bid … Read More
HFT and AMZN
HFT (high frequency trading) has dominated the financial media of late. @zerohedge, Charlie Gasparino and CNBC, the StockTwits nation, @steenbab, GMan from @smbcapital, and many other talented bloggers have all weighed in. And then came Senator Schumer: (from Bloomberg courtesy of @zerohedge): Senator Charles Schumer asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to ban “flash orders,” saying the transactions give … Read More
Confirmation Bias
Today I fought confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is processing information in the market so that it fits your preconceived opinions. You overvalue all the information that backs your preconceived thoughts. You ignore all the information that counters your belief. @steenbab (Twitter handle) and @thekirkreport have written about confirmation bias in their blogs previously. I wanted to share how I had … Read More
AMZN Tomorrow
AMZN has been one of my favorite stocks to trade for the past three years. It usually offers excellent price action for a few days before and after its quarterly earnings report. I have found that watching it trade in the after market once it releases its numbers is very instructive for the next trading day. Immediately following the release … Read More
STJ Earnings Play: Great Shorting Opportunity
One of my absolute favorite plays is a stock that breaks down, comes back up to a great short price where a battle ensues and then breaks to the lows again. Today, STJ presented that opportunity. It had caught my eye in the morning because I generally like the way it trades on earnings, but when I typed it up … Read More
Reading the Tape
In a recent blog Dr. Steenbarger talked about a vital skill for the intraday trader, reading the tape. Dr. Steenbarger, aka the godfather of modern trading psychology, wrote: “My experience is that an understanding of (and ability to read) order flow is one important factor that separates the older, successful generation of daytraders from the newbies who only know simple … Read More
HGSI – Reading The Order Flow
On Monday I was flipping through my list of earnings stocks trying to find what to trade on the open. While scanning through my overnight winners/losers I came across this stock. I noticed it was up $6 and change in premarket on some dopey news about a phase III on their drug. A considerable gap up for a stock that … Read More
