Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Waiting for the big Kahuna -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: posthumousone who wrote (18814)	5/20/1998 2:55:00 PM
From: James F. Hopkins	Respond to of 94695

Post; fast.quote.com if you don't get a chart at first then click on tick in the upper right window. I cant give any hard fast rule as it more like flying by the seat of your pants. You won't see it to often doing what it is today Bear used the word I like it's doing contortions , like other than real early, it dropped to negative ..and while it has improved some, the last I looked it was still "negative". MORE TRADES GOING OFF ON THE DOWN TICK THAN UP TICK, well the contortion part is that the SPX and NYSE indexes are UP.. and UP to much in spite of the amount of down tick, this don't make sense. HOW could it happen ? My take on it is that the computer trading programs can track the more liquid stocks Vs the less liquid ones, If they do a sell on the more liquid stocks with a buy on the less liquid ones they can take money off the table without dropping the indexes ( slick like ) in as much as they don't need to buy very many of the less liquid stocks to hold up the indexes they can slip out the side door..the bigger drop comes when the selling moves to the less liquid stocks..then in dramatic fashion the indexes will catch up with and reflect that negative tick. To see them go opposite ways is not an every day thing.. and I've not been onto it for all that long. So don't take what I'm saying like gospel, get a feel for it yourself. Computer trading volume is running close to 20% on the NYSE, and like it or not the herd seems to chase after and over shoot them, so when the market is in a trading range until it breaks out, the computers win hands down over the vast majority of the traders. Jim PS I suggest you stay away from Futures and Options , untill you get handy making a few bucks going long or buying dips, dont even get caught up in trying to short the market. The short side is more difficult and one who can't make money buying on dips will lose his shirt shorting. I'm not saying to buy dips at this time, just that you need that talent and an understanding of it before you get baited into shorting or option playing. It's the nature of the beast, A stock can only go down 100%, but it can more than double, so down side risk is in a general sense (all other things being equal) less than upside risk. You can not count on stop losses to go off at you price in the event of a GAP or in extreamly heavy volume..you can get bought in or sold out far beyond your stops. AND if you do a at that price only type..then they can blow right by you. Some people swear by them, I never use them..if I want insurance enough to use a stop loss I go to options. For that reason I seldom trade any thing but a few penny stocks if they do not have options, and I never play BB;OTC stocks. Jim PS I just looked agian , the tick did move up from 2pm to 2:45, but the most of it for the day is negitive..and it does not justify the indexes being up..this sets us up for some down side.