bornebybees

Thanks a lot Iris. Your post contains just what I was looking for - a collection of relevant concepts and buzzwords which I need to learn inside out. You are correct - I don't have a plan, other than to make a profit - and that's why I'm paper trading. Taking a day here and there and running with one idea from market open to close has been highly educational. I'll check out each of the elements you referenced in greater detail. What do you think of penny stocks? There is one stock, ATVAM, I have been observing, that vacillates regularly between 3 and 4 cents, several times w/in the course of a day. It's been doing this for a month! Seems too good to be true, too easy..?

I chose pivots because it's an easy to understand set of formulas that can be extrapolated over any time frame. I've found that, so long as I actually stick to the plan, it has been profitable, at least in the short term that I've been paper trading. Will definitely give it a few months, but it's nice to have the chance to spend entire days doing this - getting up before the market and making some decisions, and rolling with them through the business day, to really understand what happens, and then analyzing those decisions after the bell. I'm finding it easily consumes my attention span and keeps me wired up, which is a good thing!

I appreciate the responses, and it's interesting to see the various opinions. So, if I hang onto a stock overnight, it would be more accurate to recalculate based on a two-day range: PM - THU [73.78] H: 74.52 L: 73.13 PM - FRI [74.52] H: 74.62 L: 73.65 PM - THU+FRI [74.52] H: 74.62 L: 73.13 based on Friday only: R1: 74.88 PP: 74.26 S1: 73.91 based on Thurs + Fri: R1: 75.05 PP: 74.09 S1: 73.56 Even more risky, especially going from Friday -> Monday. From looking at moving averages it appears that PM is at or near the top for the short-term. I should just sell and move on. What do you think? Point taken. But I don't know yet, thus the paper trading. Will learn my way through that before I start using real money. When I start trading with money, necessity will dictate that my trading is inter-day as I will be starting with less than 25K. Realistically, I think I'd like to take 2-3 day positions. with a few (5/mo max) day trades. If a price goes through R1 and it looks like it's going to keep on, it seems logical to hang on as long as it remains above R1. The problem with that, of course is the price may take a quick dive below R1, and then you're back to where you were before (or worse). What I have to answer for myself is, what's the value of the additional time and uncertainty when I could simply sell immediately at R1 and be done with it? Thank you for this. I appreciate the way you put it - totally logical to use pivots, but choose which stocks based on intra-day analysis. I will try to keep it in mind moving forward. I tend to agree: the price fluctuation and energy spent watching it like a hawk, AFTER it had already satisfied my original plan of Thursday's R1, would have been better spent on another stock. Based on your and KLTrader's comments, I think I should have taken the sell. W/RT a clearly defined set of objectives: I'm just beginning, and with that in mind, am trying to really narrow down my decision process to this one technique for starters. The gist of these responses for me: Develop a plan and stick to it. Know thyself, etc. That's why I am paper trading and will continue to do so for a few months before jumping in with real money. I'm writing my own software as I go to help me test my intuitions and make decisions based on what I experience. Even though I do have a plan, based on pivot points, I still catch myself making decisions outside of that plan. These poor decisions come back to haunt me pretty quickly. So that's a good thing; it's possible to learn very quickly from mistakes.

Thanks a lot for your response, Mr. 10% I.Q. I'm looking to eliminate the guesswork in order to make quick, accurate decisions. I could sell for a profit no problem. Am interested in knowing how "seasoned experts" would approach the situation w/in the context of pivot trading strategy.

Hello traders, this is my first post on the forum. I'm getting started with some paper trading using pivot point strategy and I have a question about how to approach this situation from a purely strategic position and make a decision: Thursday (yesterday) I bought PM just below the pivot, at $73.26, with the intent of selling when the stock hit R1. R1 for PM on Thursday was $75.10. However the stock didn't make it that far, and topped out at $74.50, and then closed at $73.78. I decided to hang onto it overnight and see what was on tap for Friday. Calculating Friday's pivots of course yielded different numbers for R1 than Thursday's. Friday's R1 is $74.49. Question 1: Which day's R1 should I use w/rt selling this position? What is the best way to approach this situation from a strategy based on pivot points? As it turns out, PM surpassed Friday's R1 and topped out at $74.59. It was on a roll so I held onto it, hoping it might nudge up a little closer to Thursday's R1. But it didn't get that far, and ended up closing at $74.52 - above Friday's R1 but below Thursday's R1. Once again I decided to hang on, though thinking it might have been wise to sell off right at the end of the day. Question 2: Should I just sell it now or wait till Monday? Will there be a potential intra-week volatility that would be better simply avoided? Insight from seasoned experts would be appreciated. As I paper trade I see and learn from my mistakes on a daily basis and would like to base my future instincts on sound strategy. Thanks!