Prop Trader Journal

P&L= +5
Shares traded= 800
Trades taken=4

LZB:

Trade 1= -6.00
Trade 2= +19.00

These were both trades off of the open, looking at the order flow. Took TradingRaw authors suggestion and looked at LZB which reported earnings but did not have significant pre-market action. First trade was a small loser and the second was a winner.

Looked at size of prints and if bids/offers were holding and either following through or being pulled. Near the low of the day at the time I noticed that there were big orders being filled at the bid, yet they would trade right through and the bids would drop. Positioned short and caught the second trade. TradingRaw's videos, along with suggestions from the head traders in the room, and Mav's thread are giving me a better feel for this type of trading. Still have a lot to learn!

SPY:

Trade 3: BOT 129.64, STOP(hit)=129.62.

Bought as the we were holding above the intraday high of the day. Ultimately got out with a small loss as SPY couldn't take out 129.70 multiple times, FOMC minutes were do out in 45 minutes, and noticed that trend moves tend to fade going into this time period. Context helped and would have been stopped out lower at 129.55.

DNR:

Trade 4: BOT 19.59, STOP(HIT)=19.53

This was a relative strength play, Looked to me like the SPY would possibly test highs or maybe break them. Oil and gas explorers were outperformers on the day. DNR was actually flat on the day here, don't know if it was a good play in this case. Got stopped out by one tick and it ended up going up NEAR my target!

One thing i'm noticing with these relative strength/weakness plays is that I need to:

A. Be patient and let the trade play out!
B. When trading against a level...note if it is significant, if it is not(as it wasn't above) give the trade a little more ROOM to breathe. This 1 tick stop out happened to me three times in the past 1.5 weeks with this type of trade!!
 

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Quote from Maverick74:

Well, the whole point is your reading the specialist, not level 2. I realize the role of the specialist is pretty much gone. But this is the closest you are going to get.
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I use the tape a lot and consider myself a really good tape reader, NYSE stocks are a lot easier, but can still be done. I agree, need to focus on in play stocks to bring out the big players to have any kind of edge with the tape.

Here is my suggestion to anyone wanting to learn, it takes a lot of screen time, so record your screen. Since you are new and basically don't have a mentor, why not focus first on certain setups, support/resistance ect.. But I would say record your screen while you are trading, watch level 2 when its coming into support, notice what the tape looks like, what the prints do ect.. and watch it over and over again. Also watch the recordings on breakout trades, see how the tape looks before, try to find the catalyst ect..

What reading the tape does for me, it lets me take size in a trade while minimizing my risk (by spotting buyers/sellers or reading the algos) and it also helps me catch the catalyst for the move and take very little pain on my positions. But overall it just takes a lot of time before you even know whats going on.
 
Quote from Maverick74:

Well, the whole point is your reading the specialist, not level 2. I realize the role of the specialist is pretty much gone. But this is the closest you are going to get.
More...

I just think nasdaq stocks are more straightfoward, with a non-centralized tape being more "honest" than a specialist holding most of the cards. My overall experience is that listed tends to be more choppy, if you want a broad anectdotal generalization. JMO.
 
Quote from Shanb:

DNR trade:


anybody have suggestions...or take these types of trades?!
More...

watch related stocks to see when they begin bouncing,
watch the level 2 for indications of a bottom or bounce.


or, you could have just bought the break of the down trend, with a stop near the one you used
 
Quote from ksmetana:

watch related stocks to see when they begin bouncing,
watch the level 2 for indications of a bottom or bounce.


or, you could have just bought the break of the down trend, with a stop near the one you used
More...

Yea I'll look into that! I'm getting a decent feel for the SPY's and their movement intraday...so I will def keep this in mind going forward!
 
Quote from KingDong130:

I use the tape a lot and consider myself a really good tape reader, NYSE stocks are a lot easier, but can still be done. I agree, need to focus on in play stocks to bring out the big players to have any kind of edge with the tape.

Here is my suggestion to anyone wanting to learn, it takes a lot of screen time, so record your screen. Since you are new and basically don't have a mentor, why not focus first on certain setups, support/resistance ect.. But I would say record your screen while you are trading, watch level 2 when its coming into support, notice what the tape looks like, what the prints do ect.. and watch it over and over again. Also watch the recordings on breakout trades, see how the tape looks before, try to find the catalyst ect..

What reading the tape does for me, it lets me take size in a trade while minimizing my risk (by spotting buyers/sellers or reading the algos) and it also helps me catch the catalyst for the move and take very little pain on my positions. But overall it just takes a lot of time before you even know whats going on.
More...

I'll take some your suggestions into consideration. One of the head traders in the room trades mostly from the tape in Nasdaq and NYSE listed stocks...so i believe you!
 
6/23/11

Net P&L= -24
Shares Traded= 1000
Trades Taken=5

Today I will post up three of my trades, the last one was a scratch and I entered it mistakenly because of a simple mistake.

LEN:

-$8.00

Traded LEN on the open. Didn't go too well. Took two trades and ended up having two $8.00 losers. Still

Citi:

Scratch

S&P was coming off of highs from the gap down on high volume. Looked at relative under performers and chose Citigroup. I've noticed when I enter on these plays there tends to be a pullback eventually that allows a better price! I waited and got my good entry with a good stop. Target near the lows of day. SPY started to come off as did SPY. Had alerts set in and watched other charts. I was about 15 cents in the money when my alert came off and i exited my position at a scratch. Greek austerity package news! Oh well...what can you do!
 

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