Hi, James - finally getting back to you -
"Out of curiosity, what kind of stocks/indexes do you like to play with?"
I watch the S&P and the NASDAQ indexes. The Dow is too jumpy for me.
When the first hour has been completed, the S&P and Dow are generally in sync,
that is, the S&P move will be about 8-10% that of the Dow.
So, if the Dow is +50 points, the S&P will likely be +4 to +5 points.
Anyway, I trade stocks that are on the S&P 500 and NAS - also trade S&P futures.
I watch about 15-20 stocks closely and another 20 for breaking patterns, for which
I have set alerts, such as S/R levels, volume, and % increase/decrease.
My evening time (about 1-2 hours) is spent setting alerts (alarms).
Once the day starts, I can only comfortably follow about 8-10 stocks.
Years ago, I learned that trying to catch the day's hot (volatile) mover
spelled trouble. Since I wasn't familiar with this stock, I either got in and
out too soon or held too long.
The easier (less risky) thing for me was to find stocks that lagged their index.
These are safer to enter when the index makes a dramatic move and exit
when the index corrects.
These 'laggers' may be slower and may not be profitable if the index has a quick flip.
But they will be profitable during the larger intraday and daily index moves, while
allowing more time for entries and exits.
Oh, yeah... I also play a lot of old rock 'n roll when
the market really moving... keeps me in the mood. Seriously.
Alman Brothers, ZZ Top, Eric Clapton (the early years),
Steve Winwood, Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Canned Heat,
MC5, etc. |
