Welcome to the new Traders Laboratory! Please bear with us as we finish the migration over the next few days. If you find any issues, want to leave feedback, get in touch with us, or offer suggestions please post to the Support forum here.
Trvlwanderer
-
Content Count
45 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Everything posted by Trvlwanderer
-
This is a very good post from the "psych" aspect. True in all regards.
-
Which Platform for Stock Trading?
Trvlwanderer replied to angelaktariel's topic in Brokers and Data Feeds
Don't forget to research interest rates on idle money is paid. Sitting on a base of 50k for trading while getting less than 3% is giving away money. Also look at margin rates and amount of leverage for daytrading. There are many front ends for IB if you go that route. Quotetracker for charts, button trader for execution for example. Also, if you periodically "skim" those profits, insure you can get your money when needed and check the fees for transfers. -
Assuming you have a clearly defined Edge and have the discpiline to execute the trade knowing "anything can happen", you are well ahead of the game. Since "fear" sets in when executing the trade, try adjusting entry size. Sounds easy, but that will allow additional "mental comfort" while you maintain full perception of what is happening before your eyes. Without this perception, your mind will find all the reasons to verify you were "right" despite maintaining a losing trade. There are many discussions of "pyramiding" or "scaling in". As the trade develops, add more shares. Never average down. Don't begin pyramiding or scaling until your confidence is back. I will say that the additional "comfort level" with the initial reduced share amount should NOT allow you to break your rules. Execute the stop (or proft) as planned. I believe you will find the probabilities and edge still exist (if you have a defined edge), but the mental "imprints" of fear will be reduced. One drop at a time. Speaking from experience.
-
Saw a buy signal. Entered to find out I was looking at the wrong chart as opposed to the order window. The chart trade went well...the executed trade however, lol! :doh:
-
Personally, my journal contains at least half a dozen highlighted entries for overnight day trades. A couple turned out ok and gave me a mental comfort level. More than half ended up massive losses because of overnight downgrades or bad news. I allowed that to happen because of previous successes and an "it will turn around soon". That was a big lesson learned long ago. To me, it's not worth the risk or lost sleep so everything closed by EOD.
-
Good sports bettors make good traders?
Trvlwanderer replied to carcanaques's topic in Trading Psychology
So age and number of posts or length on this forum has anything to do with knowledge or trading skill? I see my little trader IQ tag says 5%.....he, he. I just had to add another "jack" to this thread. The more systems I have built, the less I use. Adapt to quants and black boxes and trade the tape. That seems to be the most consistently productive system I have ever come up with. Less squiggly lines, less hours behind the screen. Adjust with the markets. But.....without money management, no system can be successful. -
I may have been misunderstood. I will scale in if the trade is still playing out and I need a better fill....but scaling in to lower my entry on a trade that is getting away from me is not a good idea. At least that is what my experience over the years has proven. Now investing....different story. scaling in over time while my margin of safety is still viable is very effective for solid stocks. Maybe I misunderstood the OP. Trvl.
-
For day and swing trades, martingale may certainly blow you out quickly. In fact, I would surmise that fading out of a losing position will show a greater bottom line. I've done both and averaging down shows consistent deeper losses in my journal while anti-martingale is consistently better. I have, over the last year, begun a very strong practice of averaging up into winning trades and the results have been staggering. Especially considering retracements and insuring the trend continues. This is also backed up with a quick check of the journal. Some trades have shown a loss from the last buy, but profits have already been locked at that point. A small dip from the last buy is minute in contrast to the averaging in previously. I still chuckle when I see martingale in action at casinos with roulette. The odds do not change each turn! With a stock, the same is likely true. Cut your losers, they may continue to lose, and in most cases do. My $.02
-
It's funny that as I became much more involved in active trading from years of investing, my targetted system was to trade ranges occuring over days and weeks in stocks that were consolidating. I felt I could better play "between the sheets" than breakouts. Using mostly fib retracements for the trades, I filtered those with heavy volume and consolidating with stockfetcher. The system was profitable, but risk to reward was hard to determine and many trades ended up lasting 2 to 3 days longer than anticipated which made for some uneasy nights. As I reviewd the 700 plus trades over a few months, one thing became clear. I was calling tops and bottoms and those that brokeout (or down) seriously hampered my gains. So, my sytem has since been refined to trending stocks. I do trade range bound swings intra-day as they present themselves with fib retracements. That remains profitable, but only with very tight mental stops. My $.02
-
Trade with the trend once confirmed. Use support and resistance / pivots as guideLINES. Intraday chart patters are productive, but again only when confirmed. Price, volume, chart recognition for additional opportunities. I learned long ago that calling tops and bottoms will lighten your account. Trvl.
-
nvm...I see you are from Australia. I misinterpreted "Uni". Congrats though!!
-
Introduce Yourself Here - Don't Be Shy!!
Trvlwanderer replied to trading4life's topic in Beginners Forum
Hi folks. I've lurked a while, but by no means a new trader. I trade AAPL, RIMM, ICE, and GOOG almost daily for intra-day swings. Been profitable for quite a while now. Have "invested" for many years, trading for a few. Looking at futs and always learning and adjusting. Couple of the other forums I subscribe to are getting a little sloppy in content. I've enjoyed catching up on the threads....I hopefully can post some quality content that may be of use. Trvl -
Introduce Yourself Here - Don't Be Shy!!
Trvlwanderer replied to trading4life's topic in Beginners Forum
Hi Ket.......! -
Panther?.......
-
Has this thread completely disolved? I searched to no avail.
-
Worth it's weight in gold. http://www.mindovermarket.com/mindovermarkets/pivot.asp?SYMBOL
-
nvm...found the link
-
How do I get the chart to post as opposed to the thumbnail? Thanks, Trvl
-
-
Good start. I'll have a couple later.