“Stocks don’t just move, they are moved” — Jeff Cooper You notice in the prints a held bid and it’s not dropping, so you decide to get in front and get long. There you arenicely positioned in front of the held bid just waiting for the move up. You’re reading the tape and you spotted this held bid but it’s … Read More
Traders Ask: I am an undertrading undertrader
Hello SMB, Thank you for what you do for the trading community. I appreciate the blog as well as Bella’s book. A problem that I have is undertrading or failure to pull the trigger. It doesn’t happen all of the time but it happens too often. An example: Yesterday (9/21/11) SINA had a refreshing seller at 97 between from about … Read More
Don’t let C-B trades cloud your judgments in A trades (PCX)
This is a guest post from one of our traders, SW, about his trading day from Tuesday: A senior trader CB came to me after the close in regards of my recent performance. I expressed my frustration and disgust in missing an “A trade”. At SMB, we are taught to grade our trading setups A, B, and C, for purposes … Read More
Bears Don’t Exist, Think Like a Bull
This is a guest post from Fred Barnes aka @DCDaytrader: I recently had a conversation with a few somewhat novice traders. For us traders who don’t have the 2007-2008 market experience on our resumes, we’re looking at the recent market activity in awe. Watching the quote screen (of the $ES_F) in August (2011) required the skills of a speed reader. … Read More
Leveraging the talent of your trading community
I have a confession. I hate being the face of SMB. It is not in my DNA. If we were playing pickup basketball I would be the point guard and not the scorer. You may have noticed when SMB goes on CNBC I stay at the office. I pray to the trading gods everyday for Steve to become increasingly noticed, … Read More
Reviewing the SMB Archives
In August and early September, the market seemed to rotate around two distinct type of trading days: 1. The momentum panic day, driven by major news, with lots of volume in the SPY 2. An uptrending grind or ‘melt-up’, characterized by a wide ranges, low volume and steep pullbacks that would shake a lot of traders out but seldom break … Read More
What I learned from my summer internship at SMB
A guest post from one of our summer interns, Chan, practicing his trading skills on the demo while back in school. I interned at SMB this summer and left with a lot of information and skills. I was taught a lot of things, I learned how to read the tape, the psychology of trading, how to control my emotions while … Read More
The nice thing about communicating at a desk (PEP)
A guest post written by trainee SW: Communication is one of the 7 fundamentals taught here at SMB. The nice thing about trading here is that traders are always sharing ideas and learning from one another. Today was not an exception. I was involved in PEP shorts in the morning. However, PEP couldn’t hold below the 62 level from yesterday. … Read More