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Strategies & Market Trends : A Simple List of General Do's & Dont's of Trading: -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Arthur Tang who wrote (519)	2/5/1998 9:45:00 AM
From: Darth Trader	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769

<<<Don't do limit orders>>> "Don't do market orders" What's a guy to do?

To: Arthur Tang who wrote (519)	2/7/1998 8:49:00 PM
From: Pancho Villa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769

TO ALL: >>Don't do limit orders. << Actually, IMO, it depends on the situation. Most of my orders in NASDAQ are day limit orders. I never place open limit orders as bad/good news on a stock can make for a trade forced on you that you may regret for a long time. After all, there may be a very good reason for your favorite stock to drop 30%, the level at which you may have placed your open limit order at. When I want to buy/sell a stock and the price is about right, I place a limit order at or near the current bid if I am buying or the current ask if I am selling. I may follow the stock a bit before placing the order to see if there may be a clear up or down direction. Usually, never too desperate to buy or sell a stock on a specific day. IMO market orders in NASDAQ stocks with large spreads is suicidal. Actually, because of the large spreads, many frequent traders don't even bother with NASDAQ stocks. The bid spread is a hidden part of the transaction cost. This is what kills you! not the $14.95, $7.95 or whatever commission you pay. One last thing, trading with a very short time horizon; i.e., going long or short and aiming a-priori (before the fact)to close the position at a profit in a few days is something that has never work for me. need to have a more flexible - long - time horizon. If you must trade actively, do so with a fraction of your portfolio. Always have a significant buy and hold core. Quite a few smart people have shown frequent traders do not outperform a buy and hold random selection strategy. yet trading is fun and the odds (except for the commission) are better than at a casino. Pancho