Premarket

Thanks VST! I'll give it a look. I need anything I can get to help me understand the open. Today for instance, I froze up on a pretty gimme AMD short because I don't trust what I think I'm seeing from about 9:27 to 9:45 and a lot of that self-doubt I've realized is caused by premarket fluctuation and not knowing how it will affect the open. I think I figure that out, I'd actually finally know how to trade.
 
You can't really plan for any of this, other than
planning to look at charts and screeners, or
whatever your routine is, so it doesn't matter
what stock you chose the night before, each
day will bring different best performing stocks.
You have to be flexible and unattached to any
particular thing, don't decide until you are
ready buy.
Yeah I hear you, that was more of a figure of speech. I wake up with an open mind, I just don't know how to take into account what premarket does to the open, so I regularly miss the big move and then feel like I'm chasing it over and over the next couple hours as a result.
 
Hey VST, some of this is over my head, but it's interesting that it's trying to gauge when futures are over or under valuing. Another newbie question: is there kind of a minimum futures being up or down for it to be meaningful. Today it was deemed "neutral," NQ was up like 30, which I know is prolly not meaningful, but I kinda let it tell me this might be an up day.
 
While I did trade the Open - based on the FairValue_Premium concept - about 20 or so years ago - I soon found out - there were better ways to trade - for ME. I did very well using F_P - but I was always looking for a better way - again - for ME. I have a Motto - "Discipline plus Simplicity equals Success". I - NEVER trade more than 2 hours in the morning. I have a Net Daily Goal in Dollars - but I need to make it during that 2 hour period. If I don't - so be it - I am done for the day.

When I first started day trading - in the middle 1990's - I would trade all day long. Most of the money I would make - was early on - and quite often - by trading all day - I would lose most of my Profit - or even go Negative by the end of the day. That has a tremendous Psychological effect on a person - knowing - if you had just - followed my Rules - I could have been Positive for the day. But NO - greed kicks in - so you trade all day - then quite often - Totally Blow It. If you worked for a company - and did that - you would more than likely be fired. I literally sat down one day - after always blaming the Market Makers - Brokers - and everything else - it finally hit me - I was personally - MY OWN WORST ENEMY - I had NOBODY TO BLAME - BUT MYSELF. That is when I started trading for 2 hour Maximum - and actually FOLLOWING MY DAMN RULES.

Sorry about the rambling on - but that is what I did. With my Engineering background - I thought I was fairly smart - but when it came to trading - I did some really Stupid things - almost had to go back to work.

If you would like to talk sometime - send me a Private Message with contact info - preferable Skype. Be happy to show you what I do. For me - it is all about my Algo's. I still prefer trading Discretionary - taking Signals from my Algo's. However - still my favorite trading method - is a Simple chart setup - where you do NOT even need an Indicator.

I have many Clients - but they are Big Money clients and I am NOT looking for more. I will give you some FREE help - show you how to setup a Simple chart. While I can't spend a lot of time with you - it would NOT take long to show you. By the way - I haven't traded Equities for many years - only trade Futures - so if you are trading Equities - this trading method would probably NOT work for you - it is Scalping - and Scalp_Trend combinations.



 
Any rules of thumb or general wisdoms would be much appreciated

That's a cold shot man but AMD was still a good find on your part!
If those can't be traded outside of market hours, then... work it during market hours?
There was a nice AtoB CtoD setup there...not as good as the T-Line Trade at the fifty resistance but not too shabby nonetheless.
Where you spending your days?
AtoB CtoD 9789 AMD 5m.png
Trading the T-line - cut to the chase ...Stephen Bigalow
https://www.elitetrader.com/et/thre...t-right-here-baby.335635/page-15#post-5162295

There's always another train leaving the station.
https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/maintaining-self-discipline.337713/page-26#post-5090545
 
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Yeah I hear you, that was more of a figure of speech. I wake up with an open mind, I just don't know how to take into account what premarket does to the open, so I regularly miss the big move and then feel like I'm chasing it over and over the next couple hours as a result.


Use your pre-market screener results.
I have found that it's a great way to know
how the market will open and which stocks
to start the day with.
 
VST, thanks for the offer. I'll def take you up on a quick free consult. I'm still just trading equities but interested in all of it, and so just to see how you think through a situation would be incredibly eye-opening I'm sure.

One thing we're exactly on the same page with: trading only a couple hours a day. I need to be at my day job by noon most days, so I'm hoping to have my routine be up by 8:00, trading 9:30 to 11:00. Problem is 9:30 to 10:00 is still too fast for me, and as the momentum tends to slow even in the 10:00 hour, I end up chasing, hoping for a second big swing. So I need to get more confident in those first 30 mins I think.

I'll shoot you a PM later today, thanks!
 
VST, thanks for the offer. I'll def take you up on a quick free consult. I'm still just trading equities but interested in all of it, and so just to see how you think through a situation would be incredibly eye-opening I'm sure.

One thing we're exactly on the same page with: trading only a couple hours a day. I need to be at my day job by noon most days, so I'm hoping to have my routine be up by 8:00, trading 9:30 to 11:00. Problem is 9:30 to 10:00 is still too fast for me, and as the momentum tends to slow even in the 10:00 hour, I end up chasing, hoping for a second big swing. So I need to get more confident in those first 30 mins I think.

I'll shoot you a PM later today, thanks!

If you have time in the evening - and/or on the weekend - I can spend more time. Actually - You - and anyone else who needs some help - that gives me an excuse - so I don't have to help my lady - in her flower garden. You might say - I will be "using you" - to get out of work.
 
General question on Premarket. I've been trading part-time for about a year now so forgive me if this is a naive question, but here's what I don't get with premarket. I'll go to bed with a stock I want to trade the next day in mind, price targets, right. I wake up and the price target was reached while I was asleep. Then say futures are up, right, well I can't tell how much that optimism is already baked into the new price and how much there is still room for the stock to go up. Same problem in reverse if I'm short-biased, but the stock went down overnight. Seems often like if there was a big spike in premarket there's a quick profit-taking from about 9:30-9:40, then the stock will behave more normally, but apart from that, I just can't figure out how to cope with premarket shifts? Feel like if pre and post market didn't exist, my plan would always be clear to me. Any rules of thumb or general wisdoms would be much appreciated.
Hello Dollardogs,

Yes, I trade premarket, quick and easy money and fast too.
 
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