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Soultrader
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Everything posted by Soultrader
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The Dow broke above the 5 day consolidation range today with strong market internals from the opening to the close. In my pre-market analysis today, I mentioned how I was holding a long bias from yesterdays action. Yesterday price broke below value just to find strong buyers at the lower range pivot. Price was then pushed back into value. This information hinted out a possible lift in price. Today, price gapped up above the upper range pivot. When checking the SSF's, I saw more than average volume and therefore anticipated a continuation and a official breakout of consolidation. Therefore, it is necessary to switch trading strategies for a trending market. My first initial trading decision was to go long at the open. My fill was 11949 at the open. TICK's opened up positive and price had gapped above a key resistance level. Market sectors were all green and SSF's showed decent volume. This was more than enough information to go long. I had one trade for the entire day. Scaled out and held on until the close. Sometimes the opening can act as a dead low/high for the day. It is important to do your analysis, have a trading plan, and follow your plan. See attachment for charts:
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A Diary of a Trader...........add your daily comments
Soultrader replied to Trade Up's topic in General Discussion
I am a chartist. I believe in charts. Price tells me everything I need to know about the state of the economy. Charts stayed strong on the Dow and now it looks like we are going to lift further to the upside. -
As a full-time trader I find trading requires 100% concentration and the discipline to stick with the markets everyday. Any time I take a break from trading, it takes me several sessions to get back in the game. Like an athlete, missing several training sessions can get you off the game. Similar in trading, I find it necessary to be involved in it everyday. This allows me to be in sync with market action and understand the complete language of the markets. By being involved everyday, I am able to recognize and memorize all key price levels and the bigger picture of market action. Clues and small pieces of market information are so important in making daily trading decisions. I find it very hard to take any breaks or a vacation. Even when I am not trading, I need to go over market action and go through my charts. Does anyone else feel the same way?
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Introduce Yourself Here - Don't Be Shy!!
Soultrader replied to trading4life's topic in Beginners Forum
Hi money4me. Welcome to the Lab. My advice: stay away from penny stocks! -
Thanks Antonio. I am actually anticipating a breakout today with the gap up and decent volume on the SSF's. Also yesterday's buying presence below value was a good piece of information for me to hold a long bias.
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Update: Pre-market SSF's show significant volume. Looking to see a possible continuation gap and a nice trend day
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Hey Antonio, Was 10/11 a 3-I day?
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We have now entered the 5th day of consolidation with overlapping value. Today will be very interesting as there is a chance price may break. My bias is for price to break to the upside above the 11942 - 11945 mark. Yesterday price declined rapidly below value just to find STRONG buyers around 11850. This indicates price acceptance in this new zone ever since price broke out of the May highs. Currently, pre-market action is trading at a critical point of 11944 right at the upper range extreme pivot. This pivot will be crucial to watch. Price may either break rapidly to the upside or reverse to the downside. See attachment for charts.
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The only way to learn tape is to stare at it for hours and hours. Start with putting a time of sales only and a price chart only. Take all indicators off and focus on the tape when pice reaches a key level. Practice, practice, practice.
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Tape reading is useful for short term trading. Even with swing trading it will help significantly on your entry timings. If tape reading can help you on your entry by even a tick or two.... in the long run you are going to be saving alot of money. Why not learn it?
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Two things changed my life: 1. I designed proven setups and built a trading plan 2. I took all my indicators off
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I agree to some extent that price and indicator divergence can create trading opportunities. But I trade better without it. Its up to you newtrader whether you want to rely on them or not.
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From what I recall the margin to trade 1 contract was $1000. I'll send you a contact email from a broker at Infinity and he may be able to lower this to $500 a contract. Remember this is intraday rates. To hold contracts overnight may require slightly more. Check your pm.
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This article was contributed by a buddy of mine in the IT industry. Tools for Traders: Hardware and Software Online trading is gaining popularity because of its efficiency and ease of use. If you are on the trading business, it is important to know the right tools of the trade. Doing trade at home should not pose any problem as long as you have the right hardware and software to assist you in your online trading. One should invest in a sound computer with suitable hardware specifications and software. To get you started with online trading, here area the minimum requirements that your personal computer should have: Hardware specification A Pentium computer with a processor speed of 1 gigahertz (GHZ) or a Mac OS 9 is good enough. If you can afford one with a higher processor speed then so much the better. Random access memory (RAM) should be 1024 MB at a minimum. Your hard drive, where you would store all your files, should have 100 GB. Operating system should be Windows XP or similar software. Of course for connecting online you need to have a modem and a network card. For better viewing of web pages, a high-standard video card and a 19-inch monitor would work best. Internet connection The last thing you want to happen is to wait for several minutes before you can do online transactions like ordering, confirming orders or answering emails. You also need the Internet to get updates on trading news and the current market data trend. It would be quite frustrating to wait long for web pages to load and lose precious seconds. Online trading is in such a fast-paced world that you need to adapt with, else, you would be left behind. A cable or a broadband (DSL phone line) connection would be sufficient. In case there may be problems with your Internet service provider, you should always have your 56k modem ready as a dial-up connection for back up. Software for online transactions One could opt to use online order execution provided by internet-based discount brokers like Waterhouse Securities and E-trade. This kind of brokers may differ on how long they accept and review orders, confirm trades and execute them. Some of these brokers sometimes route customers to a third party or a similar broker for execution, which can be a cause of delay. If you want faster transaction and can pay a slightly higher fee another alternative is to use an Electric Direct Access Trading also simply referred to as EDAT. It is an online system that would direct your customers to an online exchange through a dedicated phone and modem. The EDAT system provides direct communication with a specialist and ordering is directly done in the market, which results to an efficient and faster trade. Other Software for Trading There are several software that you can buy that can help you with online trading. These software offer real-time information on market index, stock quotes, market updates and news, price alerts and much more. Investing on a good computer and the proper tools for trading is surely worth your money. But of course, what good are these things without an excellent trading skill. On top of these hardware and software, invest in valuable information and knowledge to help you succeed with online trading.
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Don't be fooled by the wild swings of the markets. Today the Dow took a dive for about 90 points in the afternoon session. Do not mistake this for market weakness. The Dow then recovered the entire 90 points on STRONG buy programs. (see attachment for interesting premium action) The Dow then closed within value indicating absolute balance. We have now entered the 5th day of consolidation. There was obvious strong buying presence at the May breakout point of around 11860. This may indicate price acceptance in this new zone. Therefore we have a good possibility of a further lift to the upside and a continuation of the trend which begain in early July.
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I have used several softwares but not Omnitrader. But I have been using Tradestation for quite some time now and I can tell you this. I absolutely love it. I think it is one of the best trading softwares available. The language they use is called "Easylanguage". I have to admit, I have no coding background so it aint too easy for me. But most people are able to work with it. They offer free education to learn Easylanguage and they offer good support. They also have a forum for Tradestation users and is filled with easylanguage information. If you plan to day trade, I do recommend tradestation as your platform. But I recommend clearing through another firm such as Infinity. Although the Tradestation software is amazing, their execution is not number one. Which is why I use a different brokerage firm to execute orders and use Tradestation for charts. You should check out my videos and you will see the basic layout of the software. Hope it helps.
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Whats interesting about yesterdays action is that we had almost and identical value area placement. The value high is lower by 2 points while the value low is at the same exact price level from Oct.9. We now have a value pivot cluster zone and these two pivots will act as key resistance/support. If we take a look at a market profile chart (see attachment) notice the 4 days of overlapping value. We are currently stuck in a range between 11941 - 11863. The 11900 is also a key level to watch as we have POC placements in this area. On a daily chart (see attachment), the markets are pulling back to the May high breakout point. The 11860 - 11863 level will be a key support level to watch. Any break below it and we will most likely go and test the trendline. Any break below the trendline and watch out! Premarket Thoughts: Overnight session bounced off support at the 10/09 lows at 11880. This will be a key level to watch for the morning session. We are now trading below the previous days value and range. This could lead to a rapid decline to the downside. After 4 days of consolidation, we may see a trend. What's interesting is the market action as the closing hour yesterday. Price looked as if it wanted to close at the value high pivot but then declined rapidly for 40+ points to finish weak below value. This indicates selling pressure and weakness. If price can not lift into value today, I will focus more on the short side.
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yep... its amazing when MP works perfectly. Today was all about trading value low and value high. As a matter of fact it was too perfect.
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We have 4 days of rangebound trading. Today's action was relatively easy to trade as price rotated back and forth between the VAH and VAL. While technically price is strong, fundamentals are worried about the economy. Since I am a chart based trader, the markets talk to me in terms of price. The rest of the week or perhaps next week will be interesting as we shall see if price can remain above the May high's. Price will break in either direction and will be explosive.
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Here is a setup play using both fibs and pivot point clusters. First you take the 50-61.8% fib range of a decline of more than 25 points. You are looking for price to hit resistance in this zone. Second anytime this zone clusters up with a key pivot, it will act as a stronger line of resistance. In this example we had the daily pivot and 50% fib cluster. Price then declined for a quick 15 points. It is always good to target the swing low as an exit point.
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Different Types Of Orders For Futures Markets?
Soultrader replied to kyle's topic in Beginners Forum
Types of Orders: 1. Market Orders - This order should be used when you deman instant execution. You send out an order to get filled at the next available price. 2. Limit Orders - This type of order should be used to specify a certain price you are interested in getting filled. You will be filled at your stated price or better. The advantage is that you know exactly at what price you will get filled. The disadvantage is that there is a chance you will not get filled and miss a move. A limit order to buy is set below the current market price. A limit order to sell is placed above the current market price. 3. Market If Touched (MIT) - A MIT order becomes a market order as soon as price reaches a certain level. So let's say you had a MIT order to buy stock XYZ at $5. As soon as stock XYZ reaches $5, this becomes a market order. An MIT order to buy is placed below the current market price. An MIT order to sell is placed above the current market price. 4. Stop Order - This order is commonly used to protect losses. As soon as price hits a certain level, the stop order turns into a market order. A stop buy order is placed above the current market price. So if you were short and had a stop order above your entry point, as soon as price hits this level it turns into a market order. A stop sell order is placed below the current market price. 5. Stop Close Only Order (SCO) - The order is executed if the markets trades at the stated price or worse during the closing range. A sell SCO order is only executed if price is trading at the stated price or lower during the closing range. A buy SCO order is only executed if price is trading at the stated price or better during the closing range. 6. Stop Limit Order - This is similar to a stop order. But instead as soon as price hits your stop, it turns into a limit order. The advantage is you know the worst possible fill you can receive. The disadvantage is you may not get filled and could see your losses grow. 7. Order Cancels Order (OCO) - One order cancels another. If you decide to place a stop and a target point, when either order is filled the other order will be automatically cancelled. This is a very convenient type of order. 8. Contingency Order - Often referred to as an "if-then" order. An example would be to tell your broker to exit stock XYZ at $5 with a stop at $4. Instead of risking a double fill, a contingency order will tell the broker to do both things. 9. Trailing Stop - This type of order is designed to lock in profits or trail your stop orders. If you want to raise your stop every time the market lifts by 10 points, you will use a trailing stop 10 points below the current market price. 10. Not Held - In volatile conditions, an exchange can announce that all orders be not held. This is an exception but happens when market conditions are wild. Basically all limit, stop, and market can not be held at a certain price. Due to market conditions, all orders may be difficult to get filled at a designated price including market orders. 11. Good Until Canceled Order (GTC) - This type of order remains valid until cancelled or filled. 12. Spread Order - A spread order involves buying one type of contract and selling another. A buyer of a spread gains if the spread between the two contracts widens. A seller of a spread gains if the spread between the two contracts narrows. -
Arbitrage is the simultaneous buying or selling of a contract in different markets to profit from discrepancies in prices between those markets.
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Excellent Antonio. Its been a tough 3 day session. I am actually waiting for the markets to breakout of the current range. Technically I am stilll bullish. But alot of traders are worried fundamentally and this can be a problem for prices to lift. Going to be looking at the range between 11865 - 11945 on the YM. We have tested both ends 2-3 times already so I am going to becareful on fading these two pivots. Market internals should warn us of any breakouts likely to occur.
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Introduce Yourself Here - Don't Be Shy!!
Soultrader replied to trading4life's topic in Beginners Forum
Welcome Rohitpatel! Welcome to Traders Laboratory.com. We have a variety of educational resources related to trading and investing. Please feel free to start a thread, post comments, and discuss with other members of the forum. If you are looking for a particular topic, feel free to use the search function located in the left hand navigation module. If you have any questions about the website or your account, contact me via private message and I will help you get started. Looking forward to your participation here at Traders Laboratory.com All the best, Soultrader Founder of Traders Laboratory -
Hi syamster, In day trading stocks, you need $25k which will give you $50k buying power. In futures you get more leverage. With $50k... I am sure you can find stocks that will give you $1 a day. But you need to consider the risk. 1-2% is not impossible. But because of your high expectations you may take more risk for gain. This can turn out positive or can lead to financial suicide. If you have a strategy that is already tested and works... go for it. With $40k - $50k capital... getting $600-$800 a day is very realistic. Just make sure you control your size. But with just $10k.... this is pretty unrealistic.