Pro Traders...please tell me what I'm doing wrong - how can I change it ?

LMAo.. the answer is simple.. your entry was perfect... your stops are way way too close.. what the hell are you doing with such a narrow stop.. once you enter a trade give it a 50 cent margin for error and leave the screen.. come back and your profits shold be baked in!!!!!
quit using stops.. you are running more scared than a pig at a bbq
 
One thing I would have never thought of is actually drawing the bottom line for the falling wedge all the way from yesterday.

Does the first 5 minute candle on a gap down/ gap up always play such an important role ?

Is only on gap days, or on every day ?
 
Let me say first off I didn't read the other responses in this thread carefully so this may already have been covered. If so, apologies.

Some random thoughts... I'll try to follow up if you respond OP:

1. Why were you trading this stock in the first place on that day?
2. What was the thought process behind the entry?
FWIW, I do not hate the entry... as I skimmed the thread I saw some posters did, but that's just a matter of style.

I do have a huge issue with two things: your exit and your focus on adding/taking.

-The exit. The bid never dropped, right? If it went down to 100 showing on ARCA and printing 100K shares red and that bid never dropped then you have NO reason to get out. This is a serious error and is only due to emotions. If you don't fix that, you won't make money.
-In fact, I would wait to see the bid drop and then see what happens. You don't want to be the guy hitting 38's just before it rockets up 30 cents.

-Adding / taking. Yes, this matters but you should not be focused on this. If you're making mistakes like this then whatever you're doing adding or taking liquidity is nothing compared to what you're losing due to errors. Focus on that. In fact, if I had sold the shares in error I would have paid 45 or 46 on the offer to get back in the trade when it went.

Once you have taken on the risk of the trade and invested the mental energy you have to be compensated for it. Don't wimp out

Make sense?



Quote from neveral0ne:

Hey Guys,

I have a major problem. As some of you may know I started trading as prop 3 months ago...been trading for 2 years retail ( swing trading mostly). Anyway I'm here because I am constantly stressed out and missing out on ALOT of right calls that I made, simply because I get in too early or because I get out too early.

To get in, I always take liquidity on EDGA or BOSX ... thinking that if I add, ill get filled mostly because Im on the wrong side.
When I get out..I usually add liquidity, and end up taking very little of the potential big winner I could've had.

Now I am NOT asking for any secret formula, or a codex, or any of them, but I know there are several successfull traders here, that maybe you could point me in the right direction what I need to change.

Below I will show you a picture of Micron, on a 5 minute Chart from Friday , and a typical scenario that happens to me many many times daily, and weekly. The 2 MA you see are the 5 and 8 period MAs to help out seeing a constant trend..

I got shaken out because right as I tapped out @ 8.40 ... I was watchin time and sales and level 2... and i saw soo many red prints just printing non stop, level 2 on the bid got soo thin...i was 100% positive they gona to take it out ....and I didnt want to lose additional pennies.....next thing you know the stock rocketed up 30 cents.

How should I be entering my positions ? Should I be adding liquidity at the bid, or a few cents lower at a clear support level ?

How should I tier in to my positions ?
 
Obviously.

And btw now as I read the thread I see others answering don't understand how to read the Level 2.

I make money from the Level 2 very consistently... but your concern over seeing a lot of red shows me that you don't really understand how to read it.

your position sizing is ridiculous frankly. You need to be trading a size that lets you take 4-5 losses before you're stopped out on the day. I can't imagine why you are trading with more than 200 shares at this point. Build consistency on 200 shares then it's scalable.

And you should be doing 4000-6000 shares / day probably. More than 10K is overtrading on a prop desk with 200 shares / trade. If management doesn't understand that politely tell them to go f themselves and find a better desk.

Be consistent. That's the key... that and manage the risk.

You gotta trade a lot to learn to deal with the emotions. If you're making mistakes like this after 6 months have someone slap you in the head... if youve been trading less than that then you're learning so just keep at it. Do not get discouraged!

Quote from neveral0ne:

Yeah but having a stop, 7-10 cents lower, on 1000 shares...and possibly taking a 70$ -100$ hit .. is too much for me to handle, since Like I jsut said my max stop loss is 100$.....

This mean.. I should trade with less size perhaps ?
 
Talon, thanks alot. I just started trading full time at a prop in mid december. did some retail swing trading for couple months before that.


Yes I'm gona lower my share size, starting tuesday. and if they dont like it i guess i will have to find another firm , that doesnt care about volume and doesnt stress me out either in addition o what the market alreayd does.

Im young. so I have a long way to og, but over the past 3 months spending 7 hours, 5x a week in front of the market, I have learned alot.

I was trading Micron because...its one of the stocks that I can trade on top of BAC GE F LUV and some other NYFB listed stocks...

By the way what stocks am I supposed to trade to learn on ?
 
BAC???? If you're reading the L2 that's possibly the worst stock in existence. too thick in the book.

Trade stocks that just reported earnings that have big order flow and/or have done big premarket volume. For those stocks, reading the tape is possible.

Big thick stocks without a lot of news are extremely random and hard to trade from the tape. They will trade fine on the chart, but it's a different skill. F has been ok... LUV ... ugh... GE... hard to read the tape.

Will they let you trade stocks that just reported?

Quote from neveral0ne:

Talon, thanks alot. I just started trading full time at a prop in mid december. did some retail swing trading for couple months before that.


Yes I'm gona lower my share size, starting tuesday. and if they dont like it i guess i will have to find another firm , that doesnt care about volume and doesnt stress me out either in addition o what the market alreayd does.

Im young. so I have a long way to og, but over the past 3 months spending 7 hours, 5x a week in front of the market, I have learned alot.

I was trading Micron because...its one of the stocks that I can trade on top of BAC GE F LUV and some other NYFB listed stocks...

By the way what stocks am I supposed to trade to learn on ?
 
Where can I find stocks that have big pre market volume or unusual volume ? FinViz ? I have trouble finding stocks like that...

My list of stocks they chose include.....

AA
AAI
F
BAC
GE
LCC
LSI
LUV
XRX
NOK
MOT
MU
WIN
IPG
RF
RRI
 
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