I lost money trading APOL today. During my post trade review it became apparent to me that even with a few tweeks I still would have lost money day trading it. Sometimes stocks do not behave well. Perhaps APOL is better suited for swing and position trading? It has a history of trading erratically intraday. During the past few years … Read More
Tape Reading Was Money For This Play
On Thursday I was short MCP because it was trading below its two day support of 22.20. The market was having a trend down day and I was very comfortable holding the position until the close. But then something changed on the tape. There was a 100 share bid on ARCA at 21.20 that was being hit and continued to refresh … Read More
Trade Execution
Hey Mike, I had a quick question with regard to order execution style and what orders you use. I know that on our keyboard, we have presets for ARCABidTier and ARCAOfferTier that are limit orders and the custom SWEEP keys that are market orders that process 3c through the bid or the offer. Although I’m working on my keyboarding skills … Read More
Traders Ask: What is a Competitive Trader?
Question: I hear a lot about the value of a competitiveness in trading success. Analogies are made with the striving for peak performance seen in athletes and entrepreneurs. One thing about this puzzles me, and I’d appreciate the thoughts of others with more experience and success. When I trade I am trying to get better: to make good trades and, inhibit … Read More
I felt a rip coming
I caught a scalp for the first downmove in DSW. I caught the upmove from above 52.12 to near 53. And I caught the downmove from below 52.50 to 51.65. I looked at my PnL and I was barely positive. How is that possible? I was not trading DSW on the open with size as it was so early and … Read More
One day on the street with a professional trader
In the article Book Takes a Look Inside Professional Day Traders, national columnist Joel Stein is spotted $100,000 to try his hand at professional intraday trading for one day. Matt Nadell, @tradecrushers, a guest blogger at SMBU Blog, in Chicago gives Joel a taste of the nerve-wrecking excitement that trading can offer while teaching him basics along the way. Highlights: … Read More
The Pro’s Process – Mike Bellafiore
Richard Chignell from Embrace the Trade on the fourth of his series of posts has been asking Pro Traders about their psychological processes. From Mr. Chignell: The fourth in my series of posts asking Pro Traders about their psychological processes. Delving a little into how it feels to them when trading. The good and the bad. How this has changed … Read More
Stopped Out!
I was writing this before the close because I stopped trading and I walked out to clear my head. After I came back and saw how FB and GRPN traded into the close I am very upset with the way I handled my trading today. Both stocks traded right to my target but I was stopped out of both. My … Read More