Sell Mortimer Sell !!!! Thats how the market has been feeling lately. A lot of traders are getting crushed and a lot of them are blowing up there accounts. I figure if you can survive these summer months without getting blown out the sky then you will be bringing in the bacon once these summer months are over. The moves in September and October are usually much better intraday and certain stocks through key levels have more follow through. Trading for me has not been the greatest since I returned to daytrading intraday after taking 8 months off, but at the same time it has not been bad. This whole time I have been adapting to these current markets we have and analyzing my trades as what do I need to do so that I can be in the game for the rest of the year and including going forward. I haven't been getting crushed, but at the same time I haven't been capitalizing like I want to. Are my ideas right ? Yes. Am I green on the PnL some days Yes !! However this market is tricky and I am realizing some things that I need to adjust to make me a real Pro like the big boys that make bank. Some of the adjustments that I see that I need to make is :
- Have more patience on the opening bell. Its not necessary to jump in a stock as soon as the stock opens. You have higher probabilities of waiting 5-10 min and waiting for some type of pattern to develop on the stock. I mean you can have the right idea, but with the wrong timing you can end up footing a bill. Be Patient !!
- Wait for you trades to play out. If you are in a good trade set the stop or make sure you trail the stop to lock in gains. Many of times traders have good ideas and good entries, but end up taking themselves out the trade because they don't want to see up 200 go to being only up 100. Only to see if they would have kept the position on with a stop in they would be up 300 when it was really time to close the trade. These are things that you must adjust too!! Use moving averages, trailing stops, or continuously adjust stop to lock in maximum gains. At the same time wait until you see the trade print ( red or green bars) on a closing bases before even thinking about exiting the trade.
- Position size accordingly. As traders we want to see the biggest game in the shortest amount of time. Is this beneficial ? Well it depends on your trading style. If you are a scalper then yes it is, but if you enter trades to try and hold them for a nice size move intraday then you want to put on the correct size that is adjusted for your R( Risk ). Ask yourself how much you are willing to risk on a trade and then do the calculations to adjust your size correctly with your entry and your stop price.
- Place stops in a position where if you get hit your know your wrong. Again, if the stop is a bit farther than you like, but you think the trade has legs then be sure to adjust your size accordingly for your stop level.
- Don't over trade. Make your money in the a.m and take a lunch. A lot of traders think they have to be in the market 24/7. This is not the case because all you are going to do is run up commission.
These are just some minor adjustments that I have made to aide me in my trading. Hope you are applying these rules so that you can make optimal returns and trade efficiently.
Channel Guy Trader
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