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Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Wednesday's charts

posted by Tom C:

That Ken Lay story is ridiculous.

I had a few "quick hits" this morning with MRVL and LEAP. I will post charts this afternoon. Have a good day.

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10 comments:

a said...

Er..if this is a repeat, please remove. Not sure if the blog wants me to push login and publish a 2nd time.

Hi, if anyone could comment I'd appreciate it. I took a trade on break of the 5th 15 min bar for ISE, and decided not to on the 3rd 15 min bar of LNDC. I have been watching the tape on both of them..what I'm wondering is I understand that you try to set the stop at or below the low of the bar, but in the case of LNDC, where it seems to go flat for 15 minutes, is that a sign that it may be turning the other direction? Appreciate any insight as to anyone's experience.

Anonymous said...

A traders FEAST today!!

Anonymous said...

And what did you FEAST on?

Anonymous said...

Tom C -

Really enjoy this site and your posts ... good stuff.

I understand your choice of entry but why was MRVL a candidate in the first place?

I've read the post on how to find gappers ... but i guess i still don't understand how you narrowed down your list of 100 from INET.

Likewise how do you watch for breakouts from all of those stocks? Scanner?

Thanks!

Trader-X said...

posted by Tom C:

xo - MRVL was a gapper, so it was on my watchlist. I sort my list by volume and try to focus on the top portion - that may be 20-50 stocks. I don't use a scanner, I just constatly flip through the list and charts.

NJ, you asked "would I have been able to trade them in reality". Why would you not think you would be able to trade them? Maybe I am not following your question.

rare - it is hard to say if a stock is turning if the price action is flat...in retrospect, LNDC was rolling over. I don't know that I would have taken this trade because of the upper tail on the 1st bar, and the next 2 bars did not "fill in the tail" as much as I prefer, which is what I think you are looking at. But just my opinion. I traded LEAP today on a similar set-up, and was also worried it did not "fill in the tail" enough - but it worked out.

Anonymous said...

John, I am still in DAKT and I think it was a good set-up. You may think about adjusting your stops. Mine is at the high of the day. I will see if I turn a profit on it, but even if I don't it was still a good set-up.

Anonymous said...

Question for any or all out there: when is it too late to get into a trade after it breaks the entry bar high or low? For instance, on a long, let's say my signal is $40 and the target is $40.80. But, before I know it, price has zoomed up to $40.25 or higher. Do you just take it and just reduce your position size accordingly? Curious to see if any of you all have a percentage or price point where you just let it go and try to catch another one :) Also, I find market orders to be best when trying to 'get in' at the right time... anyone else use market orders frequently? Haven't been burned yet, but I've heard horror stories. Thanks for your help. X for President!!!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous: There were too many great trades for any one trader to be a part of today, you had your pick.

My trades were LEAP, RACK, ANF and MLS to name a few.

My DAKT trade broke even, the rest were great.

QQQBall said...

if stock flat it may be ready to turn? absolutely, and if it doesnt go pretty quick i get out. the advantage of the NRB is that they allow for tighter stops, but one must allow for time frame of bears. when they get narrow, i make them move .11 or more in my direction, and depedning on the range of the previous bar, i make it break that too or any other obvious R or S. ... i look left for past R or S and i always try to rememeber that gaps provide, among other things, volatility, range expansion, a direction bias and volume/liquidity.

JNY announced yesterday evening that they were no longer for sale, oh about 30 min after i decided to hold overnight... exited at the open and took another haircut, but i had small position size. the reason for the trade was that they were in-play, when that changed, i boogied to the exit.

nice trading by Gen' X'ers.

Anonymous said...

EM...This is what I do, it may be wrong but it works for me because like you I have missed good entry points.

First: I want to say that a new trade will always come along so don't feel like you must chase a stock upward or downward. You must trade on your terms not at the whim of the market...Discpline is important.

Second: I absolutely never use market orders! If you get into some of the thinner traded stocks or the those bastard specialists in New York get to match your order with the wrong party...YOU WILL GET SCREWED. Having said the above, I find that Boston gives very good executuion on trades.

Third: When using 30,15 and even 3 minute charts there is plenty of time to see a set up and pre-place a conditional order a couple of cents higher. Giving up a cent or two gets you in on the trade and maybe helps confirm the the stock movement. This is where Alerts come in handy also...Did you ever see on CNBC where they are doing an interview with some trader while he is at his tradeing desk and you hear all those audible beeps in the background" 'you guessed it, those are alerts to either watch, make the trade, add to the trade or exit.

Fourth: Volitile stocks that are very liquid with large movements must be dealt with according to their average larger tics up and down.(I hate those solid Green candles with long lower real shadows/tails that whipsaw us out of stocks because they hit a stop)...these are no accident by the way!

Fifth: I say if your Risk/Reward ratio still gives you around at least a 2.5:1 target or better then go for it even if your stop gap is larger and yes I also reduce my share count based on the risk.

Sixth: I find that in raging bull markets you can set your stops a little wider and in choppy down markets like we have experienced from May 11th it's better to tighten the stops and keep positions smaller.

Just my opinion...hope it helps.