P, Pandera Media Inc (NYSE), popped from 13.70ish to 14.30ish and started to flag. When it broke above the consolidation of the flag I sought to buy a pullback. And I did at 14.43 and 14.41 with a stop of 14.24. P found higher ground and looked like it could push towards 15. But then there was a pullback that … Read More
Copy this trader (episode 2): An SMBU Blog production
Yesterday in our first series of “Copy this trader” we highlighted the best practices of an SMB Trader to copy. We are back at you with some more goodness from the desk. continuing to focus on whats working for me which is finding the sector thats showing relative strength or has fresh news and finding the sympathy plays in the … Read More
Traders Ask: Did I Give Back Too Much of My Open Profit?
Hi Mike, I haven’t hit you up for a trading question in awhile, hoping you have a couple minutes to share your thoughts on a trading issue I’m wrestling with. I am trading only 100 share positions, trying to gain consistency in my day to day efforts before increasing size. I’m wondering how you teach your new traders to manage … Read More
The Trader’s Journey: How Long Before You Feel Comfortable and Competent?
I just watched Mike’s presentation in Georgia Tech and I have a question that I hope Mike could answer. He was talking about how he would feel at ease practicing basketball. I played competitively for 12 years and I know exactly what he is talking about. The court is like my home and I feel an inner peace and happiness whenever … Read More
This is How You Make More Money
I tweeted on the open: A pattern to master for the open: The Opening Drive. See STX in the first ten minutes this am. My inbox is dominated with trading reviews of SMB Traders thirsting to make more, blog readers the same, and new traders looking for the path. Well here it is. The clean, trending STX. I traded it on the … Read More
The Language of the Successful Trader
Trader A has overperformed since his start at SMB relative to his experience and peers. Trader B has underperformed relative to his experience with us. Trader A went to a middle of the road school. Trader B has a very impressive educational background. Both love trading. Both are guys you build a firm around. So what separates the two? Their … Read More
An Argument for Why Not Trading Much Makes No Sense
So I work with a trader who started very well. I was very happy with his progress. He was consistent with his results. Steve frequently would remark at his over-performance given his experience. And then recently he has not traded well. So much so that yesterday I wrote him this email: Hey, what is going on w u? Something bothering … Read More
The CCL Trade
After the open we meet in our training room to review the open with some of our newer traders. We talked CCL, Carnival Corporation, for the midday and into the close. Before that we went over what we liked about CCL and what we didn’t. What we didn’t like: 1) Future bookings to probably decrease because of the accident. 2) … Read More