The NASDAQ has been unable to maintain its bullish attitude, so I will be watching to see whether I get a second signal to buy PSQ.
Breaking the Pattern Day Trading Barrier
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Monday / March 29, 2017 / 1:30 PM PST
I seem to recall first hearing about Bitcoin at some point in 2010, and that at the time it was worth, like, fractions of a penny. I don't think it was fractions of a dollar, because its value was so low I couldn't even conceptualize it, and I can easily conceptualize fractions of a dollar.
Consequently, I couldn't be bothered with it. I concluded that it was not even worth my time. Silly me!
Well, now I just heard about Investview (INVU), which not only mines Bitcoin, but also provides financial education tools, content and research. Seeing as how mining Bitcoin is the ONLY thing that RIOT and MARA do, and that they're stock is currently priced around $47.89 and $38.13 respectively (whereas INVU was only around $0.30 when I accessed my E*Trade account) I figured this time I'd get in on the opportunity and purchase several dozen shares or more—especially since INVU is already mining about as much BTC each month as MARA.
If investview catches up with its rivals in value, I'll get more than a hundredfold return on my initial investment, which I'm willing to risk in total, seeing as how it's not all that much money (I can just let it sit there for ten years and wait to find out what happens).
I seem to recall first hearing about Bitcoin at some point in 2010, and that at the time it was worth, like, fractions of a penny. I don't think it was fractions of a dollar, because its value was so low I couldn't even conceptualize it, and I can easily conceptualize fractions of a dollar.
Consequently, I couldn't be bothered with it. I concluded that it was not even worth my time. Silly me!
Well, now I just heard about Investview (INVU), which not only mines Bitcoin, but also provides financial education tools, content and research. Seeing as how mining Bitcoin is the ONLY thing that RIOT and MARA do, and that they're stock is currently priced around $47.89 and $38.13 respectively (whereas INVU was only around $0.30 when I accessed my E*Trade account) I figured this time I'd get in on the opportunity and purchase several dozen shares or more—especially since INVU is already mining about as much BTC each month as MARA.
If investview catches up with its rivals in value, I'll get more than a hundredfold return on my initial investment, which I'm willing to risk in total, seeing as how it's not all that much money (I can just let it sit there for ten years and wait to find out what happens).
So far, this trade is working out relatively well for me. The last I checked INVU was up to $0.75, which puts me at about an 87.48% gain in just over a week, praise God.
It will be interesting to see how many opportunities similar to this I encounter in the future, if any.
Nice. Penny stocks can be a lot of fun and sometimes profitable to trade, with a small account, and you lucked into a good trade opportunity.
Index futures can be pretty good, too, if you have enough funds to cover the margin for a couple of Micro-EMini contracts. Take a look at what MNQ has done over the past several days. Depending on your broker, your required margin will probably be around $1600 or $1700 per contract for this one. Each point up or down of MNQ is $2 per contract. So with a $2k account and your broker's blessing, you can control a lot of action. If you take the same money and buy TQQQ without buying on margin you only get 20 shares and if the NASDAQ goes up 100 points you only make about $90, which isn't bad, but that same 100 point increase in the NASDAQ will earn your single contract $200. Of course you can lose just as vigorously as you can gain. But if your small account is easily replaceable then a bit of a different approach to risk/reward is called for, as opposed to trading a big account. Make no mistake, this is gambling, but not gambling as in slot machines, more like gambling as in poker. Skill is called for, and experience costs money to get. You will be food, initially, if you are just starting out.
Another thing about index futures-- trading them on paper and live are not nearly as different from one another as trading stocks live and on paper. Liquidity is never really an issue. Actually, same goes for leveraged index ETFs, like the aforementioned TQQQ.
The most interesting thing about trading these futures is there is no PDT rule to worry about. At various points I have been trading below the PDT threshhold, as I am right now. With under $25k you really are limited in what you can do, if you are not using an offshore broker. I have placed a half dozen trades in a day in just a single stock, but when I am under the magic ceiling, I am only allowed to make and close three trades in any 5 day period. Now you can go offshore, of course, but you can forget about the sweet deals like zero commissions and cut rate data packages. In return you can tell FINRA to take their PDT rule and stick it, and get very generous margin compared to US brokers. Meh. I would rather use a US broker. So I can buy and hold overnight as much as I want. Unfortunately if I have opened more than three positions in a day, I can't bail on them all. I can close three of them, IF I still have all three of my day trades available, and the rest I have to hold overnight and take my bruises if the stock takes a dive. PDT has cost me many thousands of dollars. So much for protecting the small investor or trader. But a small trader can sling futures all day and all night long, with only a couple of breaks in the afternoon and whatever downtime your broker's system has.
You can LOSE YOUR @$$ in a hurry with all the leverage at your command, in futures. So what I said about live and paper trading being more similar with the Micro EMinis is very relevant. Paper trade these instruments and you will have a not too unrealistic idea of how well equipped mentally you are for trading them live. If you can't make a paper profit of at least 1% every day under any and all conditions, then you need to keep paper trading until you can. Then go another month or two. Then put real money on the table. You are probably still gonna toast your account a couple of times. Funny how that works, right? But when you are only taking a few thousand, most guys can afford to contribute to the food chain and hopefully learn from the expensive but not life wrecking mistakes. When you master paper trading, you aren't done learning yet! With stocks, the biggest difference is the liquidity and the spread. With Micro EMinis, the biggest difference is you. The difference in how you think, when you are watching money burning for real and for just pretend. The greed. The anguish. But before you can reach that point you need to work out your basic trading rules and strategy with a paper account.
In a bull market you can take a long position by buying a contract or several contracts. In a bear market you can at some considerable added risk take a short position by selling a contract or two. In a sideways market, there is enough action to make a little coffee money buying and selling the noise, as the index bounces up and down between the Bollinger bands or whatever other bandwidth based indicator you like. A very simple mean reversion strategy will work great. At least until something jostles the market and causes a breakout that wipes out all you made over the last several days of meticulous trading. What you are trading can go up as easily as down and you are still essentially betting on a coin toss, but that's what stops are for. Just remember you CAN be wrong a dozen times in a row! Each play is distinct and separate, probability wise. The trend is your friend, except when it isn't. BUT-- the market follows mass expectations. This is what makes trend following work. When it does. Just sayin.
Newbie takeaways:
Micro E-Minis can be traded almost around the clock, as many times in a day as you like, even if you are under the PDT threshhold.
Micro E-Minis allow a small account to trade with a lot of leverage, and gain OR LOSE a lot from a small market move.
Micro E-Minis are based on an index, so exposure is to a very diverse collection of companies. What the market is doing, is what the contract is doing, at any realistic time frame.
Micro E-Mini trading will probably either make you or break you and your small account. But if you are trying to trade up to the magic ceiling, this kind of risk / reward setup makes sense, if you can afford to feed the fish with your first account or two.
Standing by for howls of outrage from the experts.
This is purely experimental. I'm using filters/screens I've never tested before in an attempt to find stocks like VRT and UTZ (which I only purchased just this morning) when they are initially beginning their climbs...like...when they are down around fourteen bucks. But so far, this is as close as I've been able to get...
Images from TC2000
I will therefore be observing them going forward to see if they manage to push their way even higher, or if they crash and burn instead.
Images from TC2000
I will therefore be observing them going forward to see if they manage to push their way even higher, or if they crash and burn instead.
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TradingView and FInviz are also pretty good. I like TradingView's scanner. They have beautiful charts and indicators, as well. I have a small Alpaca account that I used to trade regularly, using TradingView as my platform. It actually worked surprisingly well though nothing like a more grown-up platform that resides on your computer.
I tried the free version of Finviz a few years back, but it didn't really fit my needs. Judging from what the person below wrote, I suspect the same might be true of TradingView, given that nothing I do uses predefined anything...
Many traders ask me to develop for them a screener/scanner based on a custom indicator on TradingView. The current TradingView screeners are great, but don't allow for much customization (as we can only select predefined filters). I don't know when we'll be able to natively screen among hundreds of assets with a custom indicator, so I created this template for the time being.
Tuesday / April 6, 2021 / 1:45 PM PST
Ahhh...this is more like it! Maybe I'll buy this stock tomorrow, if it's still similarly priced.
Ahhh...this is more like it! Maybe I'll buy this stock tomorrow, if it's still similarly priced.
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When I was buying shares back in 2008, I didn’t know enough to be able to create stock filters like those that returned the equities I purchased this week. So, given that this is uncharted territory, I have no idea whether I’m looking at rising stars that are destined to reach unparalleled heights, or if each is a flash in the pan doomed to ultimately crash and burn...
Calix, Inc. is a global provider of cloud and software platforms, systems and services, which is required to deliver the unified access network and smart home and business services. The Company's platforms and services help its customers to build next generation networks by developing a DevOps operating model.
GFL is the fourth largest diversified environmental services company in North America, providing a comprehensive line of non-hazardous solid waste management, infrastructure & soil remediation and liquid waste management services through its platform of facilities throughout Canada. The company provides environmental services to municipal, residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers.
INVU not only mines Bitcoin, but also provides financial education tools, content and research.
Kopin is a Massachusetts-based electronics manufacturer known for its display devices for mobile electronics, and claims to have been providing critical components and solutions for wearable products for military, enterprise, industrial, medical and consumer markets since 1990. It hasn’t seen a spike like this since the tech bubble of 2000, when it was selling for as much as 46 bucks.
UTZ started 2020 as privately held, but finished as publicly traded after combining with Collier Creek Holdings and going public in August. It is a large snack food company based in Hanover, Pennsylvania that produces a wide variety of potato chips, pretzels, and other snacks, with most distribution being limited to the eastern United States.
Vertiv Holdings Co. is a provider of equipment and services for datacenters, with a portfolio of power, cooling and IT infrastructure solutions and services that extend from the cloud to the edge of the network.
Zim Integrated Shipping Services is a publicly held Israeli international cargo shipping company, and one of the top 20 global carriers. The company, which is headquartered in Haifa, Israel, also has a North American headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia.
Calix, Inc. is a global provider of cloud and software platforms, systems and services, which is required to deliver the unified access network and smart home and business services. The Company's platforms and services help its customers to build next generation networks by developing a DevOps operating model.
GFL is the fourth largest diversified environmental services company in North America, providing a comprehensive line of non-hazardous solid waste management, infrastructure & soil remediation and liquid waste management services through its platform of facilities throughout Canada. The company provides environmental services to municipal, residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers.
INVU not only mines Bitcoin, but also provides financial education tools, content and research.
Kopin is a Massachusetts-based electronics manufacturer known for its display devices for mobile electronics, and claims to have been providing critical components and solutions for wearable products for military, enterprise, industrial, medical and consumer markets since 1990. It hasn’t seen a spike like this since the tech bubble of 2000, when it was selling for as much as 46 bucks.
UTZ started 2020 as privately held, but finished as publicly traded after combining with Collier Creek Holdings and going public in August. It is a large snack food company based in Hanover, Pennsylvania that produces a wide variety of potato chips, pretzels, and other snacks, with most distribution being limited to the eastern United States.
Vertiv Holdings Co. is a provider of equipment and services for datacenters, with a portfolio of power, cooling and IT infrastructure solutions and services that extend from the cloud to the edge of the network.
Zim Integrated Shipping Services is a publicly held Israeli international cargo shipping company, and one of the top 20 global carriers. The company, which is headquartered in Haifa, Israel, also has a North American headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia.
I messed up when I was saving my screens yesterday and had to halfway start over again later. As a result, I forgot what the above stock was and how I got it. After doing a little bit of experimentation based on the image in Post #78, I figured out that it was UMC, which I just purchased for $8.98.
United Microelectronics Corporation is a Taiwanese company founded as Taiwan's first semiconductor company in 1980 as a spin-off of the government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute.