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Strategies & Market Trends : Cents and Sensibility - Kimberly and Friends' Consortium -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Autumn Henry who wrote (68931)	1/28/2000 4:46:00 PM
From: westpacific	Respond to of 108040

AH - be great to see what you have, could do everyone on the thread some good to look into the type of issues you have raised here! Thanks in advance.

To: Autumn Henry who wrote (68931)	1/28/2000 10:53:00 PM
From: big run	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108040

hi autumn....i'll share some of my .... 1. risk is not following my gameplan. allowing outside noises to alter my thoughts and change my precluded direction is usually bad for me personally (financially). 2. i tend to be a stalker and wait for what i feel is the right time to make the trade. i miss quite a bit of opportunities but then i try to keep a long list of candidates. 3. i tend to stray from the money management area a bit too much...so i have to fight to stay on top of that one. a big demon of mine! 4. i try not to alter too much from what i'm doing cause 1, i'm having way too much fun and 2, i'm a creature of habit. although demon #3 is what i would like to polish. 5. i've adopted a line from a book, i think by elder, which goes something like....if i'm not careful i stand to lose alot of money today. best, mike

To: Autumn Henry who wrote (68931)	1/29/2000 5:27:00 PM
From: lightfoot	Respond to of 108040

Autumn, here is my contribution! 1. Risk -- Don't trade with scared money, fear is not a good traders companion. (This last week has certainly tested that in me.) Rather a true objective opinion of what the market is valuing your stock at is needed. Once the market changes opinion of what your stock is worth, you either change with it or you become a long term investor. That is the hurdle that I as a civilian had to overcome, it really doesn't matter what I think a stock is worth. If I intend to invest as a short term momentum trader or position trader to maximize my gains I need to be in trades that are going in a positive direction for me. I try to enter trades that are within my range IE I look for opportunities to make $200 to $500 per trade minimum, while setting a mental or physical stop at a $50 to $100 loss with a smaller number of shares. Especially in this wanna be bear environment. But for me that includes the added variable of MyTrac,NITE,& HRZG working correctly. Although AB Wately and MB and others also have their quirks. And I have experienced many moments where the computers that we go through freeze up and all of a sudden you are trading blind. Which brings me to mention the importance of setting a sell market or limit stop while you are connected so that if you loose connections you are somewhat protected from the possibility that the trade goes against you. I had many sell stops hitting this past week, and it limited my losses substantially. Especially while trading QCOM, & CMGI. I have enjoyed practicing my trading skills on these issues. Reading a 1-3 minute chart and trying to get the tops and bottoms as they move through the trading channel. 2. "Stalking versus Trading" Waiting until it feels right, How many times have you entered a stock only to have it turn against you. Did you really study the movement of the stock before jumping in, or just jump in on the excitement of the moment and desire to make a trade. Sometimes you can hold on and they come back, sometimes they don't. Developing this trait is certainly a difficult one, because the rules change daily. And the playing field never seems quite level. I think one of the most important things to keep in mind is the big picture, IE did the momentum just start, or has it been going on for awhile check a 30-60 minute chart and see what the trend has been. If you watch the trading at the top and the bottom of the first peak and valley you can get a good feel for how many shorters have jumped on, and did the MM's go short as well. Most of the time a short term peak is sold short to see if the momentum will continue, and they can go short for long periods of time. Sometimes the second and third spikes up are fueled by the short covering. So if you miss the first ride up, by stalking that first peak up and first dip down then making your trade you can sometimes do much better. Also by stalking you will learn to wait for the breakouts above old highs, instead of buying the drying paint flucuations on the back side of the newly shorted high, and waiting for the next volume surge. 3. Negative Trading Behaviors, for me #1 is not getting enough sleep. #2 Getting emotional about the trading or the stock. #3 Not looking at the trading channel on at least a 15-30 minute chart when I'm trading on a 1 minute chart. The best way I have found to deal with this is to use post it memos on the monitor to constantly remind me. I do keep a light journal and a spreadsheet with comments to review on the trades. It helps to go back and look at the trades to evaluate and learn from it. 4. New Things to do. #1 Stocks scans, although it is a difficult tool to master, it is one that I have been working on and trying to determine the best approach available for my trading styles. Tools like the free 20 minute delayed IT trader and the companion Real Time trader for $50 a month seem like tools that could be incorporated into my short term trading portfolio. The Dow Jones Real time news and another separate monitor. I guess all it takes is time and money and the commitment to make it happen. And lots of study time to absorb it. 5. Trading Metaphors: #1 Understand the big picture, #2 Sell my shares back to the MM's just before the top, and buy them back at the bottom as the shorts begin to cover. Just my 2 cents, Lightfoot

To: Autumn Henry who wrote (68931)	1/30/2000 2:18:00 AM
From: SirRealist	Respond to of 108040

>5. What is your trading metaphor? One particular idea that is an amazing thought that I read to come to the market with every day.< If by metaphor, you mean a rule of thumb, as opposed to an affirmation, mine is "there are no formulas, except the permanence of change". Meaning formulas can work, for a bit, but they are like sandcastles against the ocean. Flex with the tide; even in the worst bear markets, money is there for the taking.