A Look at a Stock Trader's Day

[diablo272 10]

Not being critical, just expressing my surprise. Thank you for the explanation.

[thalestrader 14]

My opinion is that an initial stop loss ought to be at a price point where the odds flip from favorable to unfavorable for continued price movement in the direction of your bet.

 

Stop is now 933.25, which is is one tick below entry and 1 tick above last rally high.

[sep34 10]

1 tick stop? And people call you crazy if you trade with a 1 POINT stop on the ES...

 

 

Dont listen to them use what works for you.

Recently my average protective stop has been less then 1 point...Of course thats because volatility has been low--Too often traders use stops that are much to wide.

[thalestrader 14]

Here is a chart with my two entries on CEPH. I was stopped out with a small profit on the first entry at 58.25, and now I'm long again at 58.86

 

CEPH pulled back to support, bounced, and broke, so small loss on that one.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

Edited June 8, 2009 by thalestrader
spelling

[thalestrader 14]

Stop is now 933.25, which is is one tick below entry and 1 tick above last rally high.

 

 

Stop is 930.75

 

Will watch what happens at 927, should price get there, to decide whether to take or run profit

[brownsfan019 17]

Thales - can you explain more on the ES trade? You're talking my language now. lol

 

Was that mainly a gap type play where you used the gap level on a retest as the short area?

[thalestrader 14]

Stop is 930.75

 

Will watch what happens at 927, should price get there, to decide whether to take or run profit

 

 

I suspect we may get lower low before the market tips its hand as to whther it is trend down or not. With the gap open, TVGR (Trader Vic Gap Rule) is in effect.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[thalestrader 14]

Thales - can you explain more on the ES trade? You're talking my language now. lol

 

Was that mainly a gap type play where you used the gap level on a retest as the short area?

 

Hi Brownie,

 

Here is my chart with some notes. I'll go over the trade in more detail later if necessary. But basically I adhere to the TVGR, the Trader Vic Gap Rule: If the arket gaps open, and the gap is not quickly filled, then odds are +90% that it will not fill that day, and price will close in the direction of the gap.

 

Also, price stalled at Friday's low. A stall is a term used by Mike Reed at tradestalker.com. He has an eBook called Read the Greed where he discusses stalls.

 

The stall at resistance (multiple price bars with identical highs) coupled with the gap down gave an excellent R/R as a 1 tick loss with a minimum profit target of 26 ticks.

 

Like I said to you before, I do not trade th ES everyday, but I do watch it everyday, and I trade it when I get an excellent R/R situation.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

[thalestrader 14]

I suspect we may get lower low before the market tips its hand as to whther it is trend down or not. With the gap open, TVGR (Trader Vic Gap Rule) is in effect.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

 

And here goes that lower low ... I have a stop at 928.75, just in case we get a wild spike, but I will not likely allow myself to give that much back.

[thalestrader 14]

And here goes that lower low ... I have a stop at 928.75, just in case we get a wild spike, but I will not likely allow myself to give that much back.

 

Flat at 927.25 for 6.25, a 25:1 R/R

[sep34 10]

Hi thalestrader,

 

Good spot on the ES, Im not familiar with the trader Vic or person you mentioned regarding stalled at previous High, but thats not important, key is to understand price action in contexct regardless of how you go about it.

 

FWIW the retrace @ 11:19 EST of that swing high 10:41 EST made for an excelent short opportunity incase one wanted to wait for buying pressure to decline or missed the first trade that Thalestrader previously mentioned--Of course ones analysis had to put him in a place to have anticipated a possible trend continuation, other wise one would most likely have missed that trade in real time.

 

 

Best Regards

[thalestrader 14]

And for any other Vic Sperandeo students, out there, a 2B buy would occur with a 928.75 print, and you can see how price has stalled at 928.50. No doubt indicators the world over have a momentum divergence into the 925.50 low. But do you really need an indicator to tell you that price thrust into the first low with more momentum than the second low, given the gap down at the open?

 

By the way, that 2B buy just triggered, and it will be working against the TVGR. I am not taking this long, as TVGR leads me to believe that odds favor a close on the lows and not the highs of the day.

[thalestrader 14]

Good spot on the ES, Im not familiar with the trader Vic or person you mentioned regarding stalled at previous High, but thats not important, key is to understand price action in contexct regardless of how you go about it.

 

I agree with you. Trader Vic is Victor Sperandeo, and he has two very good books out (though in each book the real useful stuff is but a few chapters)

 

Mike Reed is a trader who offers educational material and a subscription service as well. I am not a subscriber, though I did purchase his eBook. I had subscribed previously, and he is as good a person to learn S/R trading from as any.

 

I just like to give credit where credit is due.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Thales

Edited June 8, 2009 by thalestrader

[sep34 10]

I just like to give credit where credit is due.

 

I understand.

Too often we forget how important a solid, pure, humble attitude is to being successful. I dont believe you have that problem.

 

 

By the way in my judgement Your posts are solid, honest, and substantive, specially-but not exclusively-for anyone that wants to learn price action trading-worth scanning your posts.

 

 

Best regards

[thalestrader 14]

Another view of the ES as price grinds higher from the low. Having come this far, I'd be betting (if I were betting or if I were already long) that 934.50 -935.75 would be my upside target, while a break and hold below 929.25 would lead me to believe the rally may be over.

[thalestrader 14]

Another view of the ES as price grinds higher from the low. Having come this far, I'd be betting (if I were betting or if I were already long) that 934.50 -935.75 would be my upside target, while a break and hold below 929.25 would lead me to believe the rally may be over.

 

 

Didn't even have time to finish taking a pic of the es to set 940.50 as the next target. No I dea what happened there. Price really wound itself into a tight coil and then the spring was sprung! Looking for much higher prices on ES (5-10 points) today.

 

I am in the middle of a stock trade (DTV) and will post charts soon.

[thalestrader 14]

Here is my current stock trade, DTV: DTV slowly crept into the top 10 % gainers after opening lower this morning. I did not buy the pullbacks to the 20 ema, but instead waited for the breakout to new highs following the consolidation, with a buy stop at 22.51.

[thalestrader 14]

Here is my current stock trade, DTV ...with a buy stop at 22.51.

 

Trailing stop is at 22.81 currently

[thalestrader 14]

Trailing stop is at 22.81 currently

 

Closed DTV at the market, fill 22.92

[Dinerotrader 10]

Thalestrader- When you are buying new highs or shorting new lows how many criteria do you use to do decide it you like the trend enough to buy in? It appears you waited on DTV for the trend to reach the previous day's high before buying.

I read almost all of your posts because I am currently trying to develop a day trading stategy with stocks and your approach of going through the higher % movers of the day is what I am trying to work with.

How do you determine your exit stop or sell point?

You post your gains on the P/L thread as cents/share. Why not put as % gain based on investment? Do you always by the same number of shares, no matter the stock?

Thanks for posting so much good information. Keep it coming.

[brownsfan019 17]

That was a nice trade Thales!

[sep34 10]

Nice trade Thaletrader, That DTV chart is showing a beautiful breakout...I was curious so I took a closer look-I wanted to see more of the left edge.

 

In a vacume, 5min chart almost tempting to wait for a big correction and step in to buy some as a swingtrade.

Yet when I looked at higher intervals -looks like it should test $19ish unless there is some important news discovery that Im not aware of. Higher interval charts are looking bearish and its been goiging down as NQ daily has been goign up, Thus Im not tempted any longer .

 

 

Regards

Edited June 8, 2009 by sep34
spelling

[thalestrader 14]

Nice trade Thaletrader, That DTV chart is showing a beautiful breakout...I was curious so I took a closer look-I wanted to see more of the left edge.

 

Hi pappo,

 

The stock trades I post are almost allways day trades. For swing trading, I trade IBD 100 stocks almost exclusively, and then I usually use options if the stock is optionable.

 

I would always suggest that it is wise to look at the big picture on any stock you see me trading during the day before buying or shorting it for a swing trade. As you saw with DTV, it had great price action for a day trade, but when you look at the daily chart, it is not necessarily something you'd want to take home, let alone have to go to bed with it.

 

Best to your trading,

 

Thales

[thalestrader 14]

Looking for much higher prices on ES (5-10 points) today.

 

Well, we got a bit over 6 points higher than it was when I posted this, but I never said that it would stick!

[Dinerotrader 10]

Thalestrader -

What criteria do you use to decide to day trade a stock? I know you have said that you usually buy new highs and sell new lows but what other factors do you take into account in determining if the odds are in your favor? Also, what parameters do you use in setting where you will put your stop and where you will take your profit?