Stockaddict

One area I find interesting on this forum is market profile. I had never heard of this method until I found this forum. It seems that market profile has been heavily discussed here among futures traders. My question is: Can market profile be applied to markets other than the futures markets? Is this methodology designed only for commodities? I have never heard stock traders mentioning this.

Is there anything you did to change your trading 360 degrees? I am sure most of us has started by losing money. What is it that you did in order to change from a losing trader to a profitable one? I would love to read your comments.

I have found the 20, 50, and 200 to be useful. As always, it is traders preference.

During the early days of Level 2, traders were able to find edges and step in front of the market makers and profit from this. Level II is full of manipulation and market maker games. Market makers will hide size, step off the bid/ask, etc.. to fake traders into making mistakes. Does Level II allow a trader to gain an edge? Or are traders better off trading without it? Thanks

jacobnbr1, What methods do you use to detmerine insider buying? Of course they need to report this to the SEC but the public will find out well after inside buying has been done. Do you look for clues in volume?

jacobnbr1, If you don't mind me asking, what stocks do you usually trade? Do you have a select group of stocks you prefer? Or do you go where the action is? Thanks

I think technical analysis is still valid. They work because alot of people still follow them.

Are you saying that system traders blindly follow their signals without overall understanding of the market? Wouldn't intuition help even with system based trading since they would be able to obvious false signals?

Yes! It is possible to make a living at any market as long as you know what you are doing.

So basically the close is more important than the open?

Theres really no need to sit in front of your charts the entire day. Just have your homework done and trade the opening hour and the afternoon session from around 2pm eastern. Go have a monster lunch. Are traders usually big in size from a long lunch? Or is it just me?

There is hundreds of other stocks you can trade. Why trade ebay and google?

Stops really depend on the setup you use. Some setups require a wider stop while others can be traded with a tighter stop. Do you know the ATR of the underlying stock you are trading? For example, the SMH can be traded using a tighter stop then Google for example. Also, swing trading requires a wider stop then day trading. You need to understand this. If the current strategies you have do not fit your risk parameters, perhaps you should look for alternative trading strategies? Stockaddict

Ever wonder why they have so much spare time writing books and doing seminars? Shouldn't they be trading if they were traders?

I personally like EConoday's Calendar.