Panic is not a good thought for a trader. And during really crazy moves in a stock, when you may be tempted to panic, calm is required. I had such a situation on the Open with MHS. Let’s discuss. So we start the day and Alexander gets me into this MHS. I wanted to trade something else but he just … Read More
A Bad Day
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
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
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
Interview with SMB Co-Founder Mike Bellafiore (“Bella”)
For an excellent interview, with SMB Capital Co-Founder, Mike Bellafiore, about training new traders, the growth of SMB Capital, and trading please see this link:
Brick by Brick
After I leave the office Friday around 7PM I generally grab some dinner (last night at Pomodoro on the UWS….delicious!) and then shut things down for the day. So I missed an important email sent to me last night. An email that a new and developing trader can learn from. One that we should all write to someone who we … Read More
Wednesday Evening Quarterback
A few points….. 1) Today SMB tweeted: Best Morning Idea: Buy $GS @ 150.60-150.90, TGT: high 150s#mktabout 9 hours ago from Twitterlicious That was all GMan. We were asked a follow up question as to how we picked that level, which I will share. Yesterday GS could not hold above 150.50. Also on the longer term chart 150.50 has been a … Read More