Monday, August 2, 2010

Trading smart

A collection of brief ideas to help you out, authors unknown:
1. If there's a large move on significant news, either favorable or unfavorable, the stock will usually continue to move in that direction.
2. Focus on those things you want least to happen and on what your response should be.
3. Make sure you have an edge. Know what your edge is. And have rigid risk control rules.
4. It’s not whether you’re right or wrong that's important, but how much money you make when you’re right and how much money you lose when you’re wrong.
5. The critical ingredient is a maverick mind. Focus on trading vehicles, strategies and time horizons that suit your personality. In a nutshell, it all comes down to: Do your own thing (independence); and do the right thing (discipline).
6. The ability to change one's mind is probably a key characteristic of the successful trader. Dogmatic and rigid personalities rarely, if ever, succeed in the markets. The markets are a dynamic process, and sustained success requires the ability to modify and even change strategies as markets evolve.
7. Most people lose money because of lack of emotional discipline.
8. I learned that you must get out of your losses immediately. It's not merely a matter of how much you can afford to risk on a given trade, but you also have to consider how many potential future winners you might miss because of the effect of the larger loss on your mental attitude and trading size.
9. It’s important to distinguish between respect for the market and fear of the market. While it's essential to respect the market to assure preservation of capital, you can't win if you're fearful of losing. Fear will keep you from making correct decisions.
10. The most surprising thing I have discovered is how ready people are to fool themselves. People's perceptions of reality and true reality are not the same thing.
Sorry I posted the wrong chart previously, thanks to some readers pointing it out to me.

This chart shows where I shorted ITRI after the previous long.

bot ITRI


















sold ITRI

shorted ABV got stopped for a small loss, shorted again...

















and this time momo was on my side for a nice gain in ABV

bot RIG making new highs



















sold RIG



short TNA
















cover TNA

















bot TZA

















sold TZA

ABV bounce came fast and furious

bot ABV
















sold ABV.
you never know what can happen next, eh...

saw ABV flash by so grabbed it short


















cover ABV, looking for a bounce