I was quoted in an excellent article on Part-Time Trading in SFO Magazine. There is some great advice by part-time traders, Brett Steenbarger, John Forman and Dan Passarelli.
http://www.sfomag.com/ArticlePrint.aspx?ID=1426
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Today's Trade: POT
I entered POT today on pullback. My stop is at $109 and target $117, giving me a 2:1 risk ratio.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Today's Entry: STP
I entered STP today on weakness. The stock has shown strong strength in relation to the market, and shows a strong volulme pattern on the recent move up. My target is the September high.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Trade: SDS
I entered SDS today. It is extremely oversold and RSI shows a positive divergence. The last 3 similar states have lead to decent, tradeable bounces.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Great Advice on Taking Partial Exits
MSTR is a good example of the "Partial Profit" or "Let it Ride" exit strategy. I entered the breakout-pullback setup at $84, with a target under the old high a limit order set at $89.85 (I always set the target a little below the round number). From there I move my stop up to the $84 entry level to lock in the profit.
The stock continued higher today, and closed with a new breakout bar (though on relatively low volume). This provided me with an opportunity to move my stop up again and lock in more profit. I moved my new stop up to $87 to lock in a $3 gain on the remaining shares. $87 is a good level since a failure of the breakout bar would be a negative signal.
Remember not to randomly pick new stops when "stair-stepping" your stops. You don't want to be stopped out by a random movement/natural volatility. Always look for support/resistance areas when picking the new higher stops.
The partial profit exit strategy will sometimes decrease the potential gain when the second half of the trade gets stopped out. It's easy to think to yourself, "I could have made more by just taking the full profit at my original target". However, it keeps you in the huge moves. These huge moves are well worth the cost of not taking the full profit at the intital target.
The stock continued higher today, and closed with a new breakout bar (though on relatively low volume). This provided me with an opportunity to move my stop up again and lock in more profit. I moved my new stop up to $87 to lock in a $3 gain on the remaining shares. $87 is a good level since a failure of the breakout bar would be a negative signal.
Remember not to randomly pick new stops when "stair-stepping" your stops. You don't want to be stopped out by a random movement/natural volatility. Always look for support/resistance areas when picking the new higher stops.
The partial profit exit strategy will sometimes decrease the potential gain when the second half of the trade gets stopped out. It's easy to think to yourself, "I could have made more by just taking the full profit at my original target". However, it keeps you in the huge moves. These huge moves are well worth the cost of not taking the full profit at the intital target.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Short Entry: MON
I went short MON as it pulled back to resistance levels via a bearish flag pattern.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Breakout-Pullback: MSTR
MSTR has formed a classic breakout-pullback setup. The stock recently broke out on huge volume, and since has consolidated in an orderly fashion.
I entered this trade around $84, which I posted in the Trade Report last week. My intitial target is $90, where I would take a partial profit. At that point I would move my stop up to entry.
I entered this trade around $84, which I posted in the Trade Report last week. My intitial target is $90, where I would take a partial profit. At that point I would move my stop up to entry.
Monday, November 02, 2009
Game Plan for Tuesday
Here is the trade report for Tuesday, along with analysis of today's SPY short and more setups:
http://docs.google.com/View?id=d5z8q8w_1422cfb7fcgv
http://docs.google.com/View?id=d5z8q8w_1422cfb7fcgv
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)