QLGC and KLAC day traders!

M

machine

I recently started to trade again after a few months break. I trade QLGC and here's what I've been dealing every day for the last week - I take a beating in the morning - between 9.45 - 11.00 - 400-900 bucks. After 2 pm I cover this loss and end up 500 - 1000 on the blotter. Before - mornings were my most profitable time of the day. I don't know yet whether it's me or the stock changed. I'll try to trade after 2pm only - that's the solution I come up with - why would I spend my time trying to get the money back when I can work for myself and not for the broker. But the question is - do you think that after 2pm QLGC is more predictable and charts are readable?
And I'll mention also that my risk tolerance is 7-10 cents and I go for 15-30 cents profit with a 500 or 1000 shares lot.
Maybe someone wants to share his ideas about trading KLAC, QCOM or any other fast crazy stocks (is there anything left?)
Your comments appreciated.
 
Easier in the afternoon.

I used to have the exact same problem with that four letter decidely un-logical POS stock. I "owned" it in the afternoon's but it was too whippy and trippy in the mornings. I get whipsawed left and right some days.

Here are my thoughts:


QLGC is or atleast used to be THE most played daytrader stock in the entire naz 100. Everyone is attracted to it because it has good range but there is so much competition in it. Market makers know that and they can make you pay when you are wrong. I mean this literally the futures will go one way and they will temporarily yank it another way and the bids and offers temporarily evaporate as all us daytraders head for the exit at once. For some reason it seems to trade more orderly with the naz futures in the afternoon though.

Also, it used to be paired off against emulex by a lot of day traders but when emulex moved to the NYSE it became more difficult to do.

If you look at Friday QLGC traded 15 million shares, ELX traded less than 3 million. They used to trade nearly the same, what has changed is emlx, sorry ELX has less competition from daytraders being that it is on the nyse. That gives you some degree of indication of how much of the volume in qlgc is simply us daytraders running it around because its volitile.

But the bottom line is if you trade qlgc you are trading against a lot of competition. Guys with the watcher, speed keys, swipe keys, blah, blah blah. That inherantly makes it hard as obviously stock with less competition are favored by most of us.

One other note. I noticed you usually don't trade it the first 15 minutes. QLGC is notorious for changing direction often at 9:45 almost every day...sometimes for a fake out move and sometimes for the entire day. That used to get me everytime because I would not trade it off the opening tick....wait 10-15 mintues watching it and then as soon as I'd enter....whoosh...it would go the other way and I'd bang out a 15 cent loss. Watch out for the 9:45 reversal.

re: klac....somewhat of the same problem....lot of daytraders in it.

Best thing to do with those two IMO are scale in and out a bit more and with Klac always have nvls and cymi up to watch too because if you get hooked in one you can often pair it off against one of the other two and trade out of it.

Hope that helps. I know mostly said a whole lot of nothing. :-P
 
Originally posted by machine
I take a beating in the morning - between 9.45 - 11.00 - 400-900 bucks. After 2 pm I cover this loss and end up 500 - 1000 on the blotter. Before - mornings were my most profitable time of the day. I don't know yet whether it's me or the stock changed. I'll try to trade after 2pm only
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I don't trade naz stocks anymore...but for the past couple months I have felt that the best trading opportunities are near the end of the day. I make about 50% of my profits in the last hour alone. Since temporarily giving up on OPG's I don't even wake up until 7am pst.
 
I trade mostly listed stocks. I only had two losing sessions in the last 20. However, almost everyday (I say all but 4or less) I was down money in the morning and then kicked butt in the last hour and half to make back 300-500 plus commissions and then tack on, on average a modest amount. The former market maker guys in my office seem to have pretty much the opposite experince. I love buying or selling pull backs they love fading over done b.s. moves.

If we could only put the two styles together. My thought is that the order flow in the morning is two ways with lots of traders jockeying for position and adjusting hedges, While the afternoon is more one sided a great deal easier to read for someone who watches time and sales. You know the clowns at the mutual fund desks either get redemptions notices, so we see walk down offers and bid pounding in stocks with liquidity or they don't and we get a little rally, then a short squeeze and then a pile on.
 
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