Preparation for the day

L

lojze

I print out the quotes page (last, net chng, net % chng, open, high, low, volume, range) from last day, open Briefing.com for latest news, Island.com for Top 20 in aftermarket volume from previous day and Top 20 in premarket volume the actual day, open my Qcharts SW and start ...

How do you, the fellow traders, prepare for the day?
Am I missing anything?


Lojze
 
Futures... futures... futures....
Support and resistance on the futures...
Average trading range of the futures...
Pivot points for the futures...

But I only do the e-minis...
:p
 
Usually pick myself out of the gutter, figure out where I am, limp my way home, then usually a shot of beam for the wakeup call.....
Then it's all about Blind date and Jerry springer.
 
By the opening bell, I complete the following.....
some of the work is done the night before....

- Define all the key support and the resistance levels for all
the stocks in my standard trading basket. Levels are based
on last 10 days levels, Fib, 200/50 MA, trend lines, etc...
- Do the same thing for the standard indexes and industry
indexes related to the stocks (e.g. SOX).
- Check for news on each stock and related stocks in the industry.
- Define a plan for each stock for the day (e.g. Sell short at 34.92,
buy at a sop and reverse at 44.15, etc.).
- Check pre-market indicators.
- Complete market scans looking for any candidates outside
my standard basket of stocks traded (note very rarely
is anything taken)..

That's the story....

- Greg
 
I am curious- how many stocks might be in your "trading basket" and what sort of method do you use to select?

bucket-trader
 
this is too fun to resist...
I switch on CNBC, that usually gives me a big laugh, really big.
Usually coffee comes next, but not if I am still laughing.
That's pre market.. at the bell I switch it off.

all the trading is prepared the day before. I only follow the plan during the day. However I go through all the plays and scenario one more time before the open.
sometimes I virtually join praetorian watching Springer. LOL.

tntneo
 
I took the following steps in selecting the NASDAQ
stocks I trade..... note that I started the process
a couple years ago...

1. Evaluate all NASDAQ stocks and filter on the following
criteria (V> 500K per day. Float >80M, P > 22, SOES Tier
(formerly important), MM volume, indexes the stock is
included in. ATR > 2, looking for second tier not industry
leaders.
2. Selected a list of 42 stocks and followed them for 6 months.
Looked at the charts of the stocks after the close, and looked
for two tradable moves in each stock each day. Kept records
each day regarding if the stock met this criteria. Looking for
moves that would provide $.50 to $1.50 in profits over a
timeframe of 30 minutes to 3 hours with $0.35 risk.
3. Pruned this list to the top 10 stocks. Paper Traded these 10
stocks for 5 months. Proved that the general S/R charting
strategy would be successful on paper.
4. Started trading the 10 stocks as my standard basket and
expanded out from there. Keep track of the W/L records of
the 10 stocks and plan to rotate out any of the stocks with
bad track records (W/L). For example JNPR has sunk to a
price level where it can not be traded profitably via the
targeted strategies.

Actual trading is meeting all the projections written in the
business plan. I urge every trader to create both a strategy
and a business plan.

Note that I vigorously studied the market for over one year
before I even considered entering it as a Trader. I had clearly
defined strategies and a game plan. My only shock was the
summer month of August when the reduced volume decreased
the average daily range of many stocks to a level where looking
for 1 point of profit did not work... this was taken as a lesson that
will be remembered in the future about the light volume summer
months.... the need to modify strategy based on market
conditions.

- Greg
 
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