Newbies learn from my mistakes--
list of trading tools at bottom if you want
to skip my banter. Suggestions for list welcome!
This will be a long post, but I think it contains
good information for anybody who is relatively new
at trading--at least the sort of trading I try to
do, which I think is called position trading--which
I also supplement with the occasional daytrade for
news related events.
Each day depending on what shift I am working/
sleep schedule, I try to check the quotes in the
morning and again about an hour before the close.
I check the stocks I follow, the ones I have postions
in, and the appropriate threads here on SI. This is
a good way to keep track of positions and adjust
weightings as news breaks etc. Occasionaly I see
an idea or breakthrough light up the threads and
I jump on it in time.
But lately I am missing more and more of the types
of things that get a fabulous run the next day after
news. Now on several occasions it is from sleeping
through the opening bell, I estimate honestly that
has cost me 20k this year. The other problem lately
is when I log on in the afternoon, I cant get through
the message boards and news items fast enought to get
the stocks that run the next day. I estimate another
20k of missed ops here...and that is honest, I was
online, the info was close, I had the cash for a
nice block of shares, but I was just a little too
slow.
Today's little heartbreak involved Curagen. I get on
my ISP about 45 minutes before the close. I make a
trade, do some reading...but the whole time my connection
is just crawling (as it seems to do a lot now in the
last hour of trading). Anyway, about ten minutes til the
close I find the CRGN news, courtesy of one of the biotech
threads. I am confused because I just woke up (shift
worker remember) so it takes me too long to get everything
straight...and not helping is my slow isp.
Well needless to say I miss out entirely.
Oh sure now I am awake, and now my isp is fast now
that everbody goofball has checked their quotes.
(actually, this could be that quote.yahoo.com is
bogging down in the last hour, yup, that is it).
Anyway, no more.
Please feel free to list any more of the tools
that a person should have. Here is my list.
1. Second phone line--espcially for those occasional
panicked calls to a live broker!
2. a friendly undernet irc channel, with buddies
and people you trust. Now that might be a tall order,
but worth finding.
3. a freaking pager with newsalerts and threshold
alerts for those stocks in which one has positions.
4. multimonitor/another video card, ati makes one
I think.
5. level 2?
any thoughts?
I am so sick of missing out.
--MM |
