i know this is obvious, but...

LongShot · Dec 4, 2002

Quote from thunderbolt:

What are you nipping on? Scotch?

BOLT

LOL actually i'm having a brewsky, soakin' up some suds as they say

to scalp w/o no stop loss is crazy isn't it? that's what the poster was suggesting.

thunderbolt · Dec 4, 2002

Quote from LongShot:

LOL actually i'm having a brewsky, soakin' up some suds as they say

to scalp w/o no stop loss is crazy isn't it? that's what the poster was suggesting.

It's down right mad.

inandlong · Dec 4, 2002

Quote from Gordon Gekko:

.... a major key to trading is accepting that you aren't going to be right, and getting out of bad trades when you know you should.

...of course, it is good to be right as much as you can, but the reality is that you don't need to be right most of the time.

GG you have said all that needs to be said. It cannot be said any more succinctly.

Start from there, go forward, and reap the rewards.

LongShot · Dec 4, 2002

...place your bet when you believe the probability of winning is in your favor and fold quickly when you discover that it is not.

...then wait for the next good hand.

marketsurfer · Dec 4, 2002

Quote from inandlong:

GG you have said all that needs to be said. It cannot be said any more succinctly.

Start from there, go forward, and reap the rewards.

what about "hoodoos", long ?? vic niederhoffer speaks of "hoodoos".

inandlong · Dec 4, 2002

LOL! hoodoos?

You read too much.

I can quote Seuss, and I can get juice.
And when there's a spat, I call the truce.

And I kiss the booboos and clean up the doodoos,
But I've never heard of a thing called the hoodoos!

Is it big? Is it fluffy? Is its nose round and puffy?
Do you hold it, or mold it? Is it a toy made by Huffy?

Whatever it is, it sounds really cool!
It certainly is not one more trader's tool.

Andy62279 · Dec 4, 2002

Quote from Gordon Gekko:

we've all heard before that you need to keep losses small and let winners run. we also all know that something this simple, is hard to do. for the sake of this discussion, let's throw out scalping, or any type of trading that requires a high win %. although everyone probably knows what i'm going to say, i think it's a simple concept that many people don't have under control, although they know it's important.

it's in our nature to want every trade to be a winner. i know if i were to make a trade right now, as soon as i made it, i'd want it to be a winner. because of this, it's easy to let a loser get away from us...hoping that it comes back so that it can be a winner. of course, this is not what you want at all. i know everyone knows this, but how many are handling all their trades the way they should? i won't know til i make money, but it wouldn't surprise me if a major key to trading is accepting that you aren't going to be right, and getting out of bad trades when you know you should.

of course, it is good to be right as much as you can, but the reality is that you don't need to be right most of the time. yet even when you know this, it's still easy to want every trade to go your way. this is a major issue with trading, imo. the more you let losers go against you, the harder it is for the winners to make up for the losers.

alright, i know everyone knows this already. my point is just that we don't need to be right. however, even if we know this to be true, it's still probably hard for many of us to exit losing trades fast.

my mentor told me this... "Don't be upset because of losses, be upset when you don't follow your plan."

stockerup · Dec 4, 2002

Quote from Gordon Gekko:

we've all heard before that you need to keep losses small and let winners run. we also all know that something this simple, is hard to do. for the sake of this discussion, let's throw out scalping, or any type of trading that requires a high win %. although everyone probably knows what i'm going to say, i think it's a simple concept that many people don't have under control, although they know it's important.

it's in our nature to want every trade to be a winner. i know if i were to make a trade right now, as soon as i made it, i'd want it to be a winner. because of this, it's easy to let a loser get away from us...hoping that it comes back so that it can be a winner. of course, this is not what you want at all. i know everyone knows this, but how many are handling all their trades the way they should? i won't know til i make money, but it wouldn't surprise me if a major key to trading is accepting that you aren't going to be right, and getting out of bad trades when you know you should.

of course, it is good to be right as much as you can, but the reality is that you don't need to be right most of the time. yet even when you know this, it's still easy to want every trade to go your way. this is a major issue with trading, imo. the more you let losers go against you, the harder it is for the winners to make up for the losers.

alright, i know everyone knows this already. my point is just that we don't need to be right. however, even if we know this to be true, it's still probably hard for many of us to exit losing trades fast.

Gordon, If there was a LAMEO award to be given here on ET for the member who posted the most non essential posts you would win it.

silk · Dec 4, 2002

more important is to allocate more capital to winners than losers. How i do this is by adding to my winners, and not adding to losers.

If i buy a stock and it is working, i will quickly add to the position and ( very important) buy new positions across the sector.

Likewise, if i buy a stock and it goes against me, i will short other stocks in its sector.

This is a great strategy for me as i am slow to cut losers. But that is ok because i will not have taken a very large position in the loser.

Example, this morning i bought THC on the open. As soon as i realized it wanted to rip, i bought other hospitals and hmos. Had THC tanked hard i would not have bought any other hospital stocks and would have considered shorting them.

This system is how i have made millions this year.

(whoever said winners never want to share their secrets)

dottom · Dec 4, 2002

Quote from silk:
Example, this morning i bought THC on the open. As soon as i realized it wanted to rip, i bought other hospitals and hmos. Had THC tanked hard i would not have bought any other hospital stocks and would have considered shorting them.

This system is how i have made millions this year.

(whoever said winners never want to share their secrets)

Your P&L is most impressive.

The question then becomes how do you determine when a stock is about to rip such that you can add to your position before the ripping is done?

And if the stock goes against you, and you start shorting other stocks in same sector, how do you determine that the stock is going to drop and not correct/head fake?