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Dan, Thanks for the response. The trading I have done with TM has been with basic directional strategies (calls/puts and verticals). I will keep your experience in mind. For the time being I am sticking with TOS. The commissions might be higher but I think they make up for it with the free platform and all the tools they make available. Not to mention their support has always been really good for me. Cuttshot

I know there was a little discussion of binary options a while back but that thread seems to have died out. I keep getting more and more info on these products every week. Is anyone trading binary options at this point? I have looked into them in the past but never done anything with them. There are so many products out there today that it's difficult to keep up with everything. At the same time I'm always open to new ideas. If anyone has had good success with these products let me know. Brokers, products, times of day to trade, etc.

Save_trader, Couple of comments on your post. First, the strikes and expiration really depends on my outlook. As much as I would love to say I have a defined rule set for picking expiration cylce and strike price it really does depend on the type of trade I am taking. If I anticipate being in a trade for a short amount of time (less than a week) I will consider ATM options. In all other cases I prefer ITM options. I have started to use weekly options with some of my strategies so that also comes into play when selecting my options. I would say I am using front month options most of the time with my directional strategies. If I'm putting on some of the more comples spreads then I will go out further in time (calendar spread). One of the main reasons traders get frustrated with options is the fact that there are so many different strategies to use. It isn't as black and white as some other ways of trading. You really have to have a clear outlook for the trade and then create the position to reflect that outlook. You will also want to be careful when legging into/out of a position. If you aren't filled on part of the trade you can be left with a position that has a completely different risk profile than you were going for. I know I got a little off topic there but hope that helps.

Arthur, It really depends on the market that you are trading. It is true that most markets pick up during normal equity session hours (9:30-4:00). However, if you are daytrading futures or forex then keep in mind you are trading products that are available 24 hours. In most cases you will find 8:00-12:00 the best hours to day trade the popular futures and forex markets. If you are trading the U.S. index futures you can push back that starting time to 9:30. Let me know what markets you are looking at and I will do my best to give you a good window of time to consider. cuttshot

Thanks Mark. I didn't have any issues with them when opening my account. I guess you hear these types of stories about every broker out there. It's hard to find the perfect broker. So far I prefer the TOS platform. It's not that Trademonster is bad but probably more what I comfortable with. Hopefully you get things worked out with them.

Save_trader, Sideways markets can be difficult to deal with at times. I like to trade products that move consistently over time. I have my watch list of 10-20 names that I track all the time. These are names that all show a 65-70% win rate going back a few years. I don't change my watch list all that often. This way I don't have to be a great stock picker all the time. I focus in on the volatile names and trade them knowing that I will have losing trades or even losing streaks from time to time. By looking at the same names I get to know how they move and also get to know their options. Once you get more advanced with options there are certain strategies that you can use in sideways moving markets. Putting on a calendar spread or an iron condor are strategies that you can use when the names on your list aren't moving much. If you setup your watch list correctly then you shouldn't have too much time where you are stuck in sideways markets with nothing to do. The bottom line is you need to decide what type of trader you are. If you are a directional trade then make sure you are trading names that have good volatility. If you like to use premium collection strategies then use names that are less volatile and stay in predictable trading ranges. Hopefully this makes sense.

I really enjoyed working through this thread on options. Trading options has been very profitable over the years. I have traded many different strategies but have really found my sweet spot with simple strategies such as straight calls and puts as well as vertical spreads. Options can become very complicated quickly. There were a few posts in here about how different premium collection strategies can work very well in many different conditions but then when the market changes you can just get pounded. This is the problem with some of the advanced strategies. You might win 4 out of 5 times but on that one time it doesn't work you wipe out all your profit from the winning trades. The reason so many people get intimidated by directional trading is that they don't have a system that gives them a consistent edge. Let's face it there aren't too many people that know how to pick direction over time. If you have a system that gives you an edge you can make some impressive returns by using very basic strategies. If you are struggling to profit with options I would encourage you to keep things very basic. Don't over analyze things. Trade what you know and understand and the profits will come.

I agree with the earlier comments. Trading around news can be very difficult. I also like to sit out a couple minutes before the release and thet get back in a few minutes after. Often times you will see an action-reaction-action move. You will get an initial move right at the release followed by a reaction in the opposite direction then finally a third move back in the direction of the original move. Even if you find a way to get an edge around news you need to keep in mind the possible slippage. You can really get some nasty fills trading around news.

BlowFish, I have not done a whole lot with volume charts. Most of my active trading is done with range charts at the moment. I really like how many nice clean quick moves these charts have because they react so fast. I have recently started to look at volume charts again. You're right it would be an interesting comparison to look at volume vs tick charts. I agree with MMS that it does take some work to get the right setting correct going from tick to volume charts. At the moment I'm confident in my trade plan using range charts so it's difficult to motivate myself to mess with something that"s not broke.

I agree MMS that support/resistance are just as easy to see on tick charts. On a daytrading basis I have yet to see a time based chart outperform a tick or range chart in the long run. I have better consistency with these charts than I ever did on time based.

A few things come into play here. Keep in mind the ATM option will have the highest theta which means time decay will be greatest. I typically will only go with and ATM option if I'm only planning on being in the position for a few days to a few weeks. If you go with the OTM option all you are dealing with is time premium. OTM options also have a low delta which means it's going to take a larger move in the stock for you to start seeing profits. With this in mind, if you want to mimic a stocks move with options you will want to go with ITM options. Often times a deep ITM option is referred to as a stock replacement strategy. Look for an option with a delta of .70-.80. You will pay more for this option but you will also experience profits much sooner than if you were to go with the OTM. Also keep in mind you are still controlling the stock for much less than buying the stock outright.

good stuff suri. i'll have to bookmark it.

What other internals are you following? I like watching the advance/decline line on both the NYSE and and NASDAQ as well as the uvol/dvol on both as well. I also look at the trin on both of these. Finally, I like to look at the 5 and 15 min charts on the SPY and at times the SPX. On these charts I look at the 20, 50, and 200 moving averages. Using all this does help give me a feel for current market conditions. How does this compare to what you are doing?

Nick, Which markets are you looking to trade? Stocks? Futures? This will help in getting you info on the broker fees. You might want to check around to some different brokers to get a better feel for the fees. Here's a few that you might want to look into if you are looking into stocks and futures: -Interactive Brokers -Tradestation -thinkorswim -tdameritrade Not saying these are the best or only options. Just a few of the popular names out there. They will all have the fees laid out on their websites.

I'm going to take a very different approach than the answers listed above. Try looking at range or tick charts. I have traded time based charts as well as range and tick and find that range and tick can really increase performance. The main problem I have with time based charts is that when markets start moving you can have a lot of action within that set amount of time. For example, if you are trading a 5 minute chart and you are waiting for the close of a candle to get in you might miss a good majority of the move. On the other hand, if you were looking at a 233 tick chart for example you might have 10 candles during that same 5 minutes (because candles are formed based on the number of trades or a certain range of price action in the case of range bars as opposed to a set amount of time). So you are able to get in sooner and capture more of the move. You will also find that tick and range charts are a lot cleaner looking. This goes back to what I talked about above. When the market starts to move you are going to see a lot of nice smooth moves. When I trade using tick or range I don't find it necessary to look at multiple time frames for confirmation either. Looking at multiple time frames for confirmation can be very difficult at times. Atleast for me, when I do that I can almost always find a reason for me not to take a trade. I don't want to over complicate things. If I can look at one chart and base my decision off that one chart then I find I'm more focused and accurate with my trading. Just something else you might want to take a look at.

Chris, I would take a step back and analyze what was it that made you purchase the shares in the first place. Was it fundamental reasoning? Technically based? Once that is determined then you can decide if anything has changed now that this news is out. How long were you planning on holding the position? If you are still bullish on the position then hold it. If things have changed exit the position and move on to the next trade. More so than the above info, you really want to have a game plan in place before getting into a trade. I personally don't trade around earnings releases because of the increased risk. The company could come out with terrible earnings and the stock could pop or the flipside as well. You will also want to have some type of target/stop in place before getting in. One of the biggest mistakes traders make is not having a plan before getting in. By not doing this you let emotions get in the way just like you are experiencing now. In your example if your stop was hit get out and move on. If GE begins to rebound then look to get back in. Don't let this losing trade turn into a disaster. Live to fight another day. On the next trade make sure you have all this planned out before getting in. Hope this helps.

Nick, First welcome to traderslab. You are very right that there is an endless number of blogs available for one to look at. For me personally, I look for a few things. I like to see what people are trading. I can only look at so many markets myself so if I can pick up a new idea here or there then that's great. However, I would never let a blog influence my own trade plan or system. I have a system that I feel very confident in at the moment and I'm not going to let a blog influence how I trade that system. I will also read blogs that post opinions on topics in the news. Anything related to finance interests me so I like to read about whats going on. This is just more for enjoyment than doing it to help my daily trading. Finally, if I'm interested in a new market or new product then I will look to people that have experience in those areas. For example, I'm very interested in weekly options right now so I'm looking for people that have experience trading them.

adaseb, In my opinion there are better options out there for beginners. The ES can be a little tricky to trade initially. When it comes to the index futures I personally rank then in this order TF, NQ, YM, ES. The TF has nice volatility and can be a very profitable market to trade. It does move fast and at $10/tick you need to make sure you have an account size to handle the risk. The NQ is a good market for smaller traders as it is only $5/tick. While the YM is also $5/tick the NQ has better movement in my experience. Take a look at these two before you jump into the ES.

Mike, You could look into thinkorswim as a broker. They aren't going to be the cheapest option to trade with on the commission side of things but you do get free charting and a host of useful tools on the platform for no charge. They also have a tool called on demand which allows you to go back in time to any day that you wish and replay the session. This allows you to place and manage trades with a real time feel instead of just scrolling through the charts at your own pace. Their active trading tools have come a long way. They now offer a price ladder similar to what you would find on Tradestation or Ninjatrader. This allows you to place trades very quickly. I could go on and on about tools that are available on their platform. Might be worth a look. ...oh and you are able to trade stocks, options, futures, forex with them.

Guywood, I have traded futures through Tradestation for quite a while now with very few issues. The nice part about having an account with them is it saves on the monthly platform fee. I have also traded futures through thinkorswim but feel more comfortable with Tradestations tools (although thinkorswim has come a long way on the active trader tools over the past year or so). If I was forced to make a change I would consider Interactive Brokers as well. The universal account is very appealing to me.

Tradewinds, Should be interesting the next few days with earnings continuing, beige book tomorrow, and unemployment claims on Thursday. I personally think we have some room to the downside here but we'll have to wait and see how things play out. Just have to keep an eye on the internals to guage the strength of any of the moves. Thanks for the post.

JJ, I know this always sound corny when people say it but there is more to life than just money. If someone would have told me that a year ago I would have just laughed at them. However, after ignoring the stress in my life for too long my health took a big hit this year. In fact my doctor told me I was close to not making it. All that to say I would gladly take a paycut if that meant a less stressful job. Life is too short to work yourself to death in order to make an extra buck. Trading isn't easy by any means. You just need to decide what's important to you. If you think it's easy money then you are dead wrong. I have had to work my tail off to become a successful trader. However, if done correctly trading can give you incredible flexibility to do other things. Hopefully you are able to make a decision that allows you to reduce the stress in your life. Trust me you don't want to deal with the consequences of too much stress.

Weekly options have been around for some time now but I haven't really looked into them until just recently. From the looks of it volumes seem to be growing which has been the reason why I haven't done much with them to this point. My positions have been in the 2-5 day range for most of this year so the weeklys seem like a great idea to consider. I'm looking into the best strategies to use with these. Has anyone been trading these? I'm more interested in single stocks but I'm open to the index and etf products as well. Any input on what strategies work best with these products would be great.

Steve, I caught your post a little late but this is a topic that I deal with all the time. First, you have to have a detailed trade plan in place for each market that you trade. Ideally you are using a system that gives you clear entry and exit points. This will give you a road map to follow. You also need to backtest this sytem in order to build confidence in the system. Now I know the emotional aspect does not come into play in testing/demo trading but these are necessary steps to take before putting live funds on the line. If you have tested your system to see the odds are in your favor then you can trade with confidence instead of wishing and hoping. Once you have your system and trade plan in place then you need to make sure you keep a trading journal each day recapping your performance. This becomes very valuable as you review a series of trading days. As some of the other traders mentioned, you will start to see patterns develop in your trading. You will see the areas that need improvement. This step will help you hold yourself accountable to your trade plan. Your system really needs to give you exact entry and exit points. I have never been a big fan of trailing in my active trading. I find it is difficult to make the quick discretionary decisions that are required. I would rather go for a fixed target (or series of targets) and lock in my profit at those levels. I also want to have an initial stop in place the minute I get into a position. I will cut risk and move this stop as I head into profit according to my trade plan. This will give you an exact plan to follow before you even get into a trade. I have found this really limits the effect of the emotional aspect of trading. This allows me to focus on executing my trade plan correctly. I know I repeated a lot of what the other guys said but it is a very important topic so I thought I would throw my 2 cents in.

OptionsMike it's been a while since I have posted on this thread. I'm curious to hear how your trading has gone over the past few months. I have had a couple of really nice long positions on AAPL since August. Caught most of the move to the upside through most of September and then got on board again on 10/5. I did get out last week to avoid earnings this week. Still having success selling premium? I have been keeping things very simple with ITM calls and puts with the occasional vertical thrown in.