“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
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
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
Using my inner anger (TYC)
I was trading TYC after the huge volume spike and strong price action. @tarhini_smb chirped TYC after spotting in from The SMB Radar. 44.50 became my most important point of inflection. I started a core and traded around this. Well I tried to trade around my core. I tried taking off risk at prices where my risk/reward lessened. Well I … Read More
Chunking, trading and the fast track to improving
Some mentees require/deserve more attention from me on a daily basis. One exercise we do together is an end of the day review. They send me a review via email. I respond with an email or a closed-door one-on-one session. Take a look at the review below because it is very helpful for the developing trader to recognize how this … Read More
A Case of Bias Conflictus on SOA
This is a guest post from a young trader, CP Bias conflictus is a condition that can interfere with proper reads on stocks in a tape reading environment. This bias, for whatever reason, holds sway over the the obvious information on the tape. Seems a case of the ‘irresistible pull of irrational behavior’ (check out the book ‘Sway’ by Brafman). … Read More