I just watched Mike’s presentation in Georgia Tech and I have a question that I hope Mike could answer. He was talking about how he would feel at ease practicing basketball. I played competitively for 12 years and I know exactly what he is talking about. The court is like my home and I feel an inner peace and happiness whenever … Read More
How do I regain my trading confidence?
Hi Mike, I think it’s crazy (in a great way) that a successful trader/prop firm manager/author still takes time to answer random question from traders… Thanks so much for considering responding to mine. First, a bit of background so you know where I’m coming from. I started trading at the beginning of 2004 at a prop firm in Chicago that … Read More
Is this a tape reading play that you make?
Mike/Bella/Mr. Bellafiore, First, I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done for the trading community. I’ve learned orders of magnitude more from the fruits of your efforts than from any other single source since I’ve started trading. You’re doing great things. My question is about tape reading. How would you describe the difference between tape action that signals a … Read More
Measuring Opportunity Intraday
After having trading professionally for 16 years I still find the lack of understanding among friends and family as to how myself and other short term traders make a living humorous. Here are some of the comments I still hear on a regular basis from my parents and close friends “Market was flat today so I guess you didn’t make … Read More
The easiest trade of this open (STT)
Scanning the market universe on the open STT, State Street Corporation, caught my eye. 1) I liked that it was down a lot 2) I liked that after the open it showed an ability to move away from prices 3) 40/39 were levels on my long term charts so it still had room to trade lower 4) There was a … Read More
One day in the life of a pro trader
I received this email from a new trader disappointed. I chuckled when I read it. Man have I felt like this trader like every year of my career 🙂 I really got my a$$ handed to me the last two days. I think they are my two worst trading days in terms of net PnL. I basically gave back all … Read More
Is it time to quit trading? Part II
Over the weekend we started a discussion on Twitter and the SMB Blog about whether it was time to quit trading for an experienced trader who had emailed me. He had had some past success. Then underperformed for a few years. Had recently started a family offering another important variable. We offered some thoughts via a blog: Is it time … Read More
Is it time to quit trading?
Hey Bella, I’m a longtime reader of the SMB blogs. Trading from a home office, I miss out on all of the trading floor banter that I had when I was starting out. It is good to “connect” with other traders, even if it is only virtual. I read your book One Good Trade, while I was on Christmas vacation … Read More