wallstreeter,
I would like to make couple comments on your trades posted.
First of all, it seems you have very good for the beginner discipline, stops wise. Although first day is not enough to judge but anyway, it's great to see that you weren't just sitting and hoping nor experiencing 'deer in highlight' syndrom. The worst thing that could happen to novice is, to break the rules and WIN! This reinforces bad habits that will cost dearly later.
Second: it seems to me, your choice of stocks to start with is not very good... You see, those you listed are big names with wide following. whole world trades ATHM and AOL... it means, the competition is incredibly high and your competitors are seasoned traders. Notice your ATHM trades: you shorted the low, covered near the high, immediately reversed your position going long at the high, and got stopped out near the price you originally shorted.
See how easy it was to be out of sync?
I often read advises to leave big names alone when you are learning, and I believe this is correct. YHOO, AMZN, ATHM etc.. not really stocks to learn on. Besides, they are too volatile and they have all signs of extremely dangerous stocks: big and changing spread, big gaps between levels, low amount of market participants on each price level, small sizes shown.
Compare level 2 of any of those with level 2 of, let's say, CELL, or NOVL, or PAGE, and you will see what I mean (this is not to say I recommend playing these three, I just use them as example to outline the signs of less volatile and more manageable stocks. Besides, it's much easier to get your order filled on such stocks).
Third: I do like the fact that you limited your market exposure with small lots. It so refreshing to see that not all novices start with 5K lots of Internet hiflyers aiming to make a killing during first week of trading <G>
Vadym |
