Tuesday, July 6, 2010


FAZ long entry



















sold FAZ, take profits. during these volatile times, it is important to take profits, don't let them be eroded by the reversals that almost always come

4 comments:

Bob said...

Magic...

What else can it be?

I am torn between composing an 'ode to Scott's trades' and being pretty pissed with my trades...

Mind if I ask - was that your first entry - or were you trying entries on the 1140's?

And the exit... that could not have been better, right before the big-ish move down. I see exits (much too late of course) around the 1305, 1330, and 1345. My exits would have been timed to hit the very bottom of the wicks.

How do you avoid attaching too much significance to intra-candle movement? This incredible strange mixture between letting the move mature and not losing all my profits... I did exactly what I shouldn't have today, patient when I shouldn't have been, paranoid about my profits when I shouldn't have been. Bleh.

Does there come a point when you start thinking protect profits? If you are not looking at the profit on the trade, I suppose that translates into distance from your entry. E.g. - say the trade didn't do as expected and it broke down somewhere - say maybe the 1305 - where was your 'take what is left of profits and run' mark? Where you thinking of getting out earlier at all?

Let me borrow your eyes for this week lol

Magic? Experience? Uncanny.

John said...

First, thanks for taking the time to post your blog.

I'm working to understand where you see momentum to enter a trade and it's not clear from your posts. Are you looking at volume or is there something else that keys you into a probable trade with good momentum?

Thanks

Scott said...

dtf- first long entry was 10 minutes after in get in at 10:40 until 11:25 for good profit, shorted it, covered at 11:40, went long, added on next candle, got stopped for a small loss because of my add 11:55, shorted it, covered 12:05 small gain, went long again until the end adding on up candles and new highs.
playing FAS TNA etc and all of them are making the same moves at the same time or reverse moves so you can plainly see what moves have the power behind them and who is in control.
all the while I remind myself this is a bear market so these stocks will move accordingly.
the speed, the direction of intra day candles tell the tale.
after a trade has been trending like this the #1 thing in my head is where to get out and take profits, ideally on a big candle move in the same direction, selling to all the johnny come latelys, or when it goes vertical or conversely stalls out.
i can look at my entries and know about what my profits are. i rarely look at the P&L because it is the market that gives the signals to get out not the P&L. big candle exits are my specialty because I know reversals usually follow. i've seen it 1000s of times.
when you have a whopping big profit, that is sometimes the only key to get out, you must take these.
John-you'd have to read all my articles and scour the trades to get an idea of how I gauge momentum.
its the volume, the candles, the markets, mass human psychology combined with my gut feeling honed by years of doing this.
i throw it all together and out comes my edge. then I just apply it and let probabilities work.
i simplify things to the nth degree and let the markets tell me what to do.

Bob said...

See - magic?

Actually John - Scott has two buttons on his desk; one to make the market go up, and one to make the market go down. He talks about momo but I am pretty sure that is just a fancy name for his buttons.

Scott - buddy - you just completely rock. It is cool to hear about all your trades on FAZ though; you see and catch the big moves, but there are some little ones you are sneaking in as well.

Did you just go right from paper trading to pro excellence? Do you still find yourself getting caught in emotional/mental traps, or working to keep yourself out of them?

I am going back to paper trading until I know and am intimately familiar with that good trading spot in my head. I have had fleeting glimpses of it, but nothing that I can call back at will. If it was good enough for you....

A million thanks for all this work you do.