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Strategies & Market Trends : DAYTRADING Fundamentals -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: wallstreeter who wrote (2779)	8/14/1999 12:44:00 AM
From: Threei	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18137

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

To: wallstreeter who wrote (2779)	8/14/1999 8:44:00 AM
From: Don Pueblo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18137

Message 6329480 See if these rules can help you. Tailor them to your own style, if they don't make sense to you, don't do it. Watch what you did right. Don't change the things you did right, correct your mistakes, and you should lose less dough. Your strong point looks like Fear Of Losing Money. This is VERY VERY GOOD! That trade where you shorted, covered for a loss and went long was an emotional trade. Very dangerous. If you miss your entry point, you missed it, end of story. Personally, I would suggest staying away from the Internuts altogether until you get a successful regimen established. There a plenty of stocks that make normal moves. Trying to jump on something that goes up 4 points in 3 minutes can turn out to be a trade where you are down 2 points in 30 seconds. Not fun.

To: wallstreeter who wrote (2779)	8/14/1999 9:09:00 AM
From: TraderAlan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18137

wall, NITE At first glance, not a bad 5-min chart visually (although it actually was a bearish one). Looks like you were trying to buy the top of an ascending triangle-looking thing. It broke down on the next tick. Two major warning signs: 1 - that shooting star thrust to 37 on the 2nd 5-min bar of the day. While your pattern looked like a decent triangle ready to breakout, that star was a very big deal and filled with traders caught buying an opening top. 2 - look at the time of your execution. Lunchtime is usually a very bad time to try to buy breakouts. Personally I avoid them like the plague as you can't trust anything you see until at least 12:15 to 12:30. 12:00noon exactly is also used as a trigger point sometimes start selloffs or fake breakouts. The MMs will watch each other closely at this time and jump on board if they see a game in progress. AOL Naughty, naughty. You sold the support of the first hour low at 96 rather than buying it (although that's a good thing to do if the right conditions are in place). It was successfully tested once at about 10:45a. NOW the third time price comes down to an intraday low, odds increase for a bearish break. But it's your job to short the actual break or first confirm a very bearish short-term congestion pattern (1-min, etc) near the low and short the low before the break. AOL bounced the low you shorted in one bar and moved up a half. BTW there were a few good reasons to short at about 96 1/4 20 minutes after your trade. ATHM First new traders should avoid taking any positions after 3pm on a summer Friday. I personally stopped doing it a long time ago as moves are very undependable at this time AND if I've had a crappy day or week, I just can't trust myself with the last open market hour of the week. Other than the time, I see two things that would have kept me out of the short trade: 1 - a hammer reversal on the 13:05p bar. Not sure this shows on your charts as everyone draws 5-min periods a little differently. 2 - related to the first, the reversal caused my 5 period stochastic to form a double bottom and cross over the fast line. This is a buy signal, not a short signal. The long trade you made occurred right at a major intermediate resistance point (13-bar). I buy breaks of these points, not price pushing into them. Alan