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Strategies & Market Trends : Your Worst Trading Enemy.. You -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ally who wrote (175)	1/25/2001 9:54:14 PM
From: Northspoon	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 223

I have been taken out on stops too but if you buy at what you feel is the best price there should be no problem setting a stop below that - because if you're correct it will never be hit and if you are wrong it will protect you from second guessing yourself. Too often I have found myself worrying about the commissions and wished later that they had been the only cost. Going short on stocks is my biggest psycological hurdle- lately RIM when it was pushed up in after hours trading ( short squeeze) leading to a stronger than normal opening here, it tends to cause panic and leads to losses. Many of the interlisted stocks can be pushed around by the stronger market, e.g. DSG, SW, RIM, CIC, NT etc. nice for the volatility but be mindful that we are the tailend. My opinion.

To: Ally who wrote (175)	1/25/2001 10:52:06 PM
From: Fun-da-Mental#1	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 223

Very interesting, Ally. Sometimes I wish I didn't have a day job, so I could sit and read the tape like that. The scenario you describe sounds very plausible. Many people talk about manipulation by the market makers, but usually they assume they are trying to move the stock consistently in a certain direction, rather than playing both sides of the trade. I don't have level 2 (yes, you are talking to an amateur!) but I have often heard about large blocks crossed by one firm, as you describe. I always assumed there were different buyers and sellers behind the scenes, but what you say puts things in a different light. I like to use On-Balance-Volume as an indicator, but that kind of trading would ruin its value. There might be millions and millions of shares traded at higher and higher prices, but that doesn't mean anybody's buying. It could be just one firm selling the same set of shares to itself over and over! It's hard to believe that's legal, but maybe it is. (Anybody know?) I guess when they put their buy and sell orders out there would be a risk of other players stepping in at that moment, but if the other players could not afford to trade large volumes, it might not be much of a risk, and of course the orders would only be out for a moment before they were filled. By the way, is your name Ally as in Ally McBeal, or is it the word "ally", meaning a friend or partner? Fun-da-Mental