I settled at my trading station wondering what to trade on this Open. RHT? BBY? AMLN? There had not yet been a price spike on the SMB Radar in health care yet but I would later ask what and where to buy for that sector. BBY showed some consistent selling at 25 so I scalped that down to 24.60 on … Read More
My Thought Process: AMLN
We received a few requests for a trade review of the AMLN trade I was tweeting during today’s Open. I’ve illustrated my key thoughts via the annotation of the chart below. Let me outline some of the “bigger picture” considerations that are not covered by the chart annotations: It was reported that AMLN received a $3.5 billion takeover bid which … Read More
The Market Discriminates Against the Over-thinker and Ill-prepared
Hi Mike, Never wrote you, thought I would try. Had a question. In much of what I see, read, etc., there seems to be a focus there on recruitment and somewhat of a preference to younger people as new traders on your prop desk. PLEASE note that I am not looking for an age discrimination claim here, lol. It’s just … Read More
Is This Trader Complacent or Patient?
Bella, How do you distinguish between patience and complacency? Patience is what I call it when I’m riding a trend. Complacency is what I call it when price initially goes my way, but then retraces and eventually stops me out. This happens to me most in two cases. In these cases I feel as though more aggressively taking profits would … Read More
A Quick Conversation
One of our newest trainees (5 days live) had been trying to get a hold of me for a few days to answer some trading questions. I had been especially busy lately but finally was able to squeeze in a quick conversation with him before heading to the airport to visit some trading friends in Texas. His first comment/question related … Read More
Why buying a stock at a higher price can be better
I received this review from a really solid young trader. There are two important trading lessons in his thoughts. Can you spot them? Biggest regret today: not using the information I collected on ITMN as a short. I was watching above 17, I had a long bias, but I chose not to buy it because of what I saw. The … Read More
A Tape Trade–URBN
I make trading decisions based on 3 factors: Tape (order flow), Technicals (trend, support, resistance) and Catalysts (News). The least understood of the three is the Tape. It is a skill that takes thousands of screen hours to develop. But once developed it is a skill that enhances the risk/reward of your trades and often enables you trade with larger … Read More
Are You an Overconfident Trader?
Hi Mike, I’ve been trading awhile and I’m certainly getting better at it. I’ve noticed a recurring problem. Whenever I get a good streak going and I start feeling like I’m getting the hang of it, I hit a losing streak. Sometimes it’s a week or two of gains everyday and then a slow meltdown to give it back. I … Read More