Thursday, October 7, 2010

Information display-food for thought

I've noticed that when I look at other bloggers charts they seem very cramped and crammed with information compared to mine. I've worked hard to keep things simple and found that it is the best way to operate in trading and life.
In regards to momentum charts what is important is not what happened yesterday so my charts start from today and do not include yesterdays data. My vertical scale seems much greater than the other charts I see. After all, vertical movement is what we make money from. The horizontal movement as the day grinds out is not as important. This makes up the top 2/3rds of my screen. Give it room to show you what it is doing- don't scrunch it down.
Volume is traditionally a key factor but sometimes is marginalized these days so I give it the bottom 1/3rd.
I only view 1 chart in 1 time frame at a time. I will rapidly scroll through my list but always can view only 1 chart at a time. This brings all my focus on that 1 stock and the changes are also evident from when I last viewed it. This is probably the most important point. my peripheral vision is not subconsciously distracting me.
Here's some quotes on simplicity you'll enjoy and maybe take to heart:

Plato - "Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity"

Leonardo da Vinci - " Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication"


NFLX From the top down.


This NFLX short was just a high probability shot in the dark as I saw and shorted AAPL at the same time when they popped , then stalled a bit.















cover NFLX.
take profits.
wait.

CRM


Obvious doji in CRM is a high probability entry point,



















cover and take CRM profits when it hits previous low.