this market

[le140]

None of the guys that make money would reveal what they do in stocks/futures for obvious reasons.

I do 300-400 shares lot on 1-2 mil volume stocks and sometimes I still have to chase after them to get my fill. So I cant say what I do because it's so easy to duplicate and I would have to chase my shorts or longs even more before I get a fill if too many people are doing the same thing. And I agree that it's been pretty tough lately but my play book still provide me with steady income ( knock on wood )

There are certain plays in stocks that act the same way everyday. Because human behave the same way when it comes to fear and greed. There are periods where breakouts work and lately where they have not. I think with experience in trading, u will know when to fade the breakouts or ride the momentum. For the people that dont make the money that they should, keep looking at the charts, u will make it eventually.

 

[Magna]

Quote from GreenDog:

Nihaba,

I've noticed that you're always the first to comment when someone posts about a difficult trading day. It's usually something like, "what's so difficult about this week -- I'm doing great!"

I noticed the same. There are a few people at ET that can do no wrong, that never seem to have down-days or down-weeks, or heaven forbid a down-month, etc. If it's true and they're really über-traders all the time then more power to them. But I've learned to take many things people say here with a grain, make that a large dose, of salt....

 

[white17]

Well I'll admit I've had horrible weeks in the past several years. This wasn't one of them however. I wouldn't say it was easy but today was actually fun IMO. I caught the move up, then down, up slightly again, and a brief down on the OEX before stepping back. Just jumping from the Put side to the Call side.

Not claiming Uber-Trader status.

 

[sammybea]

Well since everyone did so well, hope u r enjoying my moola since i got slaughtered today

 

[MondoTrader]

on the swing trade time frame I think we have a rally going in the major indexes.

 

[silk]

Stocks that used to be good for several trades no longer work. Daily ranges have contracted this year as has volume.

Stocks that used to have a 1 1/2 point daily range and several 50 cent swings now have 1 point range with most of the day stuck in an untradeable 1/4 point range.

Not to say there arn't opportunies. I'm up small this month after my worst month ever last month.

Its definitely tougher if you are trading NYSE stocks. Little room for error, cuz if you have any large losers you arn't likely to make it up with a large winner.

 

[dbphoenix]

Quote from le140:

None of the guys that make money would reveal what they do in stocks/futures for obvious reasons.

Not necessarily. SnoSur4, for one, was very explicit about a strategy he employs and detailed it here. I used some of his strategy to develop one of my own and also detailed it here. And there are others who have also detailed their strategies, though I'll grant you that they are few.

There may be traders who have sure-fire means of making money and are thus concerned about being copied, but I've never come across one.

--Db

 

[Dantheman]

Well my computer died a week ago and alienware is building my new system so i won't be trading for a month.

What does this have to do with this thread? I don't know, take a break and formulate a new trading method idea, one that could work in this particular environment...nobody knows how long it will last.

 

[theShadow]

trade only the position that runs for several hours.

I

 

[corvus]

Quote from acrary:



I'd like to know how you guys picked up many points from this mornings move up. I shorted after the open when the upside gap had no followthrough. As soon as the down move passed below 828 I moved my stops to breakeven. The bounce off yesterdays low was so quick, I don't know how anyone could've gotten on borad before 832 (and that was only 3 bars from the low...no divergence, just a bounce). How could you have figured this was the big move of the day? I know I missed most of it on the upside. The sideways action since 1100 is just more of the same old slop. I can't wait to see a 50pt one way move.

For what it is worth, I have been in Raschke's chatroom for about a week now, and she was long at 828.5 saying she "felt this move down on news spike was false". Got out half at +2 and rode the rest up to the top. But the funny thing was she was expecting more upside for the rest of the day, and she ended up letting the other half of the position slide back down to 833.5 before stopping out...uh, I would have gotten out after a 3-point trail was hit at 839.75 and reentered if it took off again, maybe it's different trading SP though. Point is, she bought very close to the bottom there...though, notably, it isn't really her style to pick bottoms on news events.