http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html Day trading blog. Discussion involves day trading stocks, day trading losses, day trading tips, and day trading for a living. en-us day trading Wed, 10 Apr 2013 23:23:59 -0400 Wed, 10 Apr 2013 23:23:59 -0400 start-day-trading.com http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#The-Trade-Left-Behind7b99a58eab03d5c4f45a4d4325b7a11fSometimes, the trades we don't take can be just as important (or more so) than the trades we take. We know that all of our trades are not going to end successfully. We are going to have some losing trades. But recognizing the losing trades before we take them can be just as important as taking the high probability winners. Those "trades left behind" might have certain common characteristics. Perhaps they are stocks that are under $10 per share. Perhaps they involve stocks with large spreads. Or maybe it's your tendency to jump ahead of the technical indicators, seeing something before the trade is truly qualified. Whatever the reason, our trading can often be improved by learning to leave certain trades alone. We can be more selective in the trades we take. And, by trading less, we might just improve our bottom line. Wed, 10 Apr 2013 23:23:55 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#Pattern-Recognition-and-High-Probability-Tradinge482c9c882a138d570520c7fc05b69acWhen you are getting started with trading and with the use of technical analysis, you will begin to see chart patterns that seem to be the "holy grail" of trading...one indicator, one time frame, one little loop of this or that will make you tons of money. The hard reality, however, is that it isn't that easy. Take it from someone who has back-tested many ideas, systems, and indicators...what works one day may not work the next. The little patterns get us all excitied. We think we've found it. And we review historical charts and see how the pattern was true here, there, everywhere! But part of what happens here is something called "confirmation bias". We see the things that hold true to our point of prejudice and we ignore the things that do not. Here's the moral of the story. Be aware of your bias and in your back testing and review of historical chart patterns ask this question instead: "When was the pattern not true?" It may be that you've discovered a great pattern that can be repeated in "live" trading. And the fact that it has some failures and drawbacks may not be the reason to throw it out the window. Perhaps it needs a small adjustment. Perhaps another indicator would help confirm the good trades and help eliminate the poor ones. In the end, there isn't one thing that will work all the time and never result in a losing trade. The losing trades will occur. The question is "Is this a high probability set-up which, when traded in real time by me, will produce profits over time?" Many variables are stated in that question, and each part is important. Sun, 10 Mar 2013 10:11:10 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/tradingtheafternoonmarket.htmldd35a3d78b5152648a1339a29d2445bfThe video course, Trading the Afternoon Market, teaches traders how to see stock charts, using technical indicators and contextual trading. Wed, 2 Jan 2013 20:09:29 -0500 http://www.start-day-trading.com/technical-analysis.html5b52f5339d0e608dcd2c72b8703c1a95I have tried futures trading, stock strading and the principles learned on this site work. I have lost a lot of money through trial and error. You must Mon, 15 Oct 2012 21:32:51 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/daytradinglosses.htmlce526d76b9d855cdfc8a5a4160ca0263How to prevent day trading losses from eating up your gains. Sun, 7 Oct 2012 12:09:46 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/losingtrade.html96fe22c15c906319221a78b42f194ab4Holding a losing trade can cost you more than money. Here's one way to get out of your situation. Sun, 7 Oct 2012 10:41:09 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/practicetradingstocks.htmlcb28fe5b785b784e3fd93b4655da5b36When you practice trading stocks, your day trading skills improve on several fronts at once. Sun, 7 Oct 2012 10:30:05 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#Day-Trading-Statisticsccc2850a67fb7d3776bc2ab0d6b3734cI've added a short article about Day Trading Statistics. There is also a video associated with this topic. You can click on the link in this blog post to access the page. Sat, 6 Oct 2012 17:08:29 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/daytradingstrategies.htmlef8878ada98342ecc97ff33ef4813284Day Trading Strategies for Winning the Trading Game Sat, 6 Oct 2012 17:06:23 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/daytradingstatistics.html29ac80b3b5731c5d0951b7576fcc01dbDay Trading Statistics asks important questions about your day trading strategy? Sat, 6 Oct 2012 16:48:43 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#New-Video-on-Exit-Strategies046887668cc0227dd22973d664b3b29fEdited some pages about Exiting the Trade and posted a new YouTube video on that last past of that three-article series. A link to the first article in the series is shown in this blog entry. Links to the other articles are shown at the bottom of each page. Fri, 7 Sep 2012 12:27:52 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/learn-stocks.html42ac36e7025506f48761bcb625d4c588Learn Stocks is the third part in a series on day trading exit strategies. Thu, 6 Sep 2012 14:30:02 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/daytradingstockseducation.html4d2f0310e058d24ff9f6e0e7675f72daDay Trading Stocks Education is the second part of a seires on exit strategies. Thu, 6 Sep 2012 14:22:56 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/freedaytradingstrategies.htmlf745b58b57fb94c6a7603ad9aa49846bFree Day Trading Strategies looks at successful day trading exit strategies. Thu, 6 Sep 2012 14:16:49 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/daytradingtutorials.htmlf1382c587253cd0e3f6a549e87f11e1cDay trading tutorials - over 30 articles to help you learn how to start day trading. Wed, 5 Sep 2012 15:49:26 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/daytradingforliving.htmlca38d862003f2cb446d34c958f4479bcIs day trading for living possible? Wed, 5 Sep 2012 15:42:27 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/stockdaytradingsystem.htmlf5db56a4f4822caae1d731bc079ae40eFinding a successful stock day trading system is critical to your success as a day trader. Wed, 5 Sep 2012 15:06:51 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/daytradingstories.html607320200e17255e1730c267a8cf911fThe day trading stories of other traders. Newbies come here to see what day trading is really like. Experienced traders come here to share some of the pain and the glory of day trading. Wed, 5 Sep 2012 09:04:04 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#New-Article-Posted02599e148f9a1dda53ad7a0bfd319e2bPosted a new tab on the navigation bar today called "Day Trading Losses". You can also click the link in today's blog post to see the article. A YouTube video is also linked up to that page and you can just click the link to see the video. In this article, I talk about ways to manage your day trading losses so they don't ruin your game. Hope this helps. Tue, 4 Sep 2012 12:33:54 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-losses.html352afe2d28f37b96bd0a2f4b1747c35eBy setting limits to day trading losses, traders won't hang on to losing trades. Knowing your loss limits is part of this. Mon, 3 Sep 2012 15:29:18 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#Oops3602946977758a34dbfd5bbde425463bMy apologies. After setting up a Facebook page for this web site, I made some newbie mistakes. Rahter than waiting on Facebook to fix it, I decided to start over from scratch and re-post everything from scratch. (Yes, that was fun. Thankfully, I only started the page a few days ago. So, join me on Facebook. Today's link should take you there. And if you're new to Facebook, then take a few minutes and get signed up. Then, go ahead and "like" the new page and become a free member of that site for trading ideas. Thanks. Tue, 28 Aug 2012 16:42:13 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#The-Basis-for-the-Tradef5c10b7699ab0c78661e766b58fbad41In today's Facebook TradeTown page, I talk about "the basis for the trade" and how this can help you manage the trades and take tighter losses on your losing trades. See the link in this post for the chart and discussion. Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:13:43 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/robertjoiner.htmlff41cca712b61c45c8c062d9935b54e0Who is Robert Joiner? Sat, 25 Aug 2012 21:46:24 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/blogdaytrading.html9065bdadca2cca61f2f511120d7eb150Blog day trading - resources for learning Sat, 25 Aug 2012 21:21:31 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#TradeTown-on-Facebookcc5ca1289d1a38da4325dd31a2c09341I just sent out a new ezine with information about TradeTown on Facebook. Unfortunately, I had to make some changes to the way the site was set up. So the name of the Facebook site is actually StartDayTrading. If you're new to this site, then you can sign up for my occassional ezine and you'll get access to previous issues so you can see the link there. Sat, 25 Aug 2012 09:15:55 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#Waterorgf80d4c2776961849c578dafe4a5ab7c7A quick note about a change I made today to this web site. Effective today, I will make a $25 donation to water.org each time someone purchases my online video course. So, if you've been thinking about taking the course, this gives you one more good reason. This is not a gimmick. It's just one simple way to promote this organization's activities and also give something back to the community. In case you're not familiar with the work of water.org, then I encourage you to click on the link in today's blog and visit their site. You can find out more about the video course through the Tab sections on my home page. Water.org was co-founded by Matt Damon (you may have heard of him) and Gary White. The mission of this organization is to provide clean water to those who lack that basic necessity of life. So even if you don't purchase the course, then consider making a donation to a worthy cause. Thanks. Sun, 21 Aug 2011 13:19:56 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#Trading-in-the-Zone69710f554364be22ed084ca45bd3abd9I'm spending some time this weekend re-reading some of Mark Douglas' material. He has some of the best insights into trader psychology. Here's a sammple quote for you from Trading in the Zone: "Ninety-five percent of the trading errors you are likely to make - causing the money to just evaporate before your eyes - will stem from your attitudes about being wrong, losing money, missing out, and leaving money on the table." From my work with hundreds of other traders, I couldn't agree more. The key phrase in that quote, is "your attitudes about...". Today's link will take you to a free pdf download of Mark's Trading in the Zone. (No strings attached.) Just scroll to the bottom of the page link, click on page 3, and you'll see the link to Trading in the Zone at the bottom of that page. Mon, 21 Feb 2011 09:10:08 -0500 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#Ichimoku-Swing-Trading632be9d58b59e57c917842bb8ea3b5fb2-8-11 I know some of you have been patiently waiting for the Ichimoku Swing Trading System to open back up. Well, a waiting list has been formed and the doors will re-open soon. If you have an interest in learning how to swing trade using the Ichimoku Cloud indicators, then this is your opportunity. The link provided in this blog will take you to the page so you can get on the list. Getting on the list doesn't mean you have to sign up. But it will allow you to get more information, so you can decide if it's for you. Tue, 8 Feb 2011 17:00:36 -0500 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#The-Day-Trading-Option5569f686dc73c3526ff6cc90298a22991-8-2011 It has been a while since I've written in this blog. As I mentioned in the last entry, I've been busy. Through wealthpire.com, I am now doing a 3-hour daily chat room and also a swing trading service...besides trading my own account. But the thing I want to touch on briefly here is the viable option of Day Trading as a career choice. No, it doesn't offer the old comforts of a steady paycheck, paid health insurance, having someone else tell you what to do every day of your life...but it presents a real option for many, smart people. It may be a terrible time to start a new business. But starting a day trading business? It's a great time. There are more and more resources available to help the "average Joe" earn steady income in the market. But I'm not suggesting you go it alone. More and more, I believe in the importance of trading alongside other day traders, where you can learn and benefit from the wisdom of others. (You can get this wisdom for yourself the old-fashioned way...by losing a lot of money through trial and error. But I don't suggest it.) I'm not saying it's easy. And I'm not saying it's quick. But I am saying Day Trading is a viable career option for many people, as long as they are willing to approach it as they would any other new career - humbly, searching for knowledge, managing risk, listening to others, and growing over time. If you're interested in getting more free day trading tips based on the technical indicators, then click on the link provided in this blog. And sign up to have them sent to you each week. It's a great way to continue growing. Hope your trading is going well. Sat, 8 Jan 2011 09:18:37 -0500 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#Ichimoku9454a93a1606a9f384b296f4bf302ebeSunday, Sept. 12, 2010 In case you're not on my ezine list, I wanted to make sure you got this announcement. We're officially announcing the launch of the Ichimoku Swing Trading System. And I'm very excitied about it. I've been using Ichimoku in my swing trading for over 6 months now, with extremely good results. If you're interested in getting the details about this system, then follow the link in today's blog. You'll be asked for your email address so you can receive more information. Since I won't be repeating that information in this blog, it is important that you sign up for it at this link. Hope your trading is going well. Sun, 12 Sep 2010 12:46:14 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#Shorts-Puts44fdfe42812a4d06db1db5b660e8bb63Saturday, 8-14-10 I caught the tail end of a financial discussion on NPR yesterday evening. The question was "Are we headed for a double dip recession?" And the answer was, "No, because we never got out of the first one." A little vaudeville and a lot of truth. Many new traders are not familiar with shorts and puts. These are the two big ways to make money when the market is going down. So, the ezine I sent out this morning will provide a brief lesson on that, along with an Ichimoku chart to explain a recent trade of mine. If you haven't signed up for my free ezine, then you can click on the link in today's blog and sign up right now. You will then have the option to go back and review previous issues. Enjoy. Sat, 14 Aug 2010 08:47:52 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#Morning-Hours-Trading-Chat-Room61dcddf7e3bddcda434bf31a85fb8b288-11-10 As you may have heard, the MHT chat room will re-open its doors tomorrow morning at 9:00. Just so you know, those doors don't open very often and they don't stay open for very long. So, if you have any interest whatsoever in learning how to day trade using the technical indicators, then click on the link in today's blog. Read the testimonials. Then sign up tomorrow morning at 9:00 when the doors open. Hope to see you there. Bob Wed, 11 Aug 2010 22:00:50 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#Support-and-Resistancef0bd1ec831ce0f35fcfe1b3849106fc0Saturday, 8-7-10 For the members of MorningHoursTrading...looks like I'll be giving a two-hour class at our meeting in L.A. Looking forward to it. I will center the lesson on "Trading within the Lines" and talk about using lines of support and resistance in your trading. I'll include a piece on "Using S/R lines to minimize losses and maximize gains". Hope you can join us. Sat, 7 Aug 2010 09:03:13 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#A-10400-bottom-Yeah-right62728daa55928ba6d0b80daeff17af845-22-10 I did something stupid in my last blog. I tried to predict where the market would find a bottom, before it actually hit the bottom. We dropped through the support area of 10400 without hesitation this past week. And even though 10100 was a line of support on Friday - and even though this is a 23% Fibonacci Retracement from the bull peak - I no longer believe we've seen the bottom. Oh, sure, we could go up a little from here. And then we could go back down again. So, I won't be drawing another line in the sand and saying the market has to stop here. The market tends to make a fool of such predictions. But, at this point, I'd be surprised if we stop at the 23% Fib line. At the same time, I'm not one of those red-faced, loud commentators who says we're going below 9000 either. We'll see. The important thing isn't knowing the bottom before we get there, but trading carefully in the interim. Careful trading. Sat, 22 May 2010 17:22:32 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#The-Meandering-Middle90a9e86938684630797f8c6350929c7f5-14-10, 2:30 PM, ET Have you heard the one about the stock market guru who kept sending out weekly emails saying "the market is going down...short, short, short". Well, eventually he was right. I don't know where we're headed right now in the market. For a few days, the market looked as though it would shake off last week's crash/correction. But the last two days gives us pause. I know that traders need some sense of direction though. So here's my hunch based on what I see right now. I think the Dow will trade within the range of 10400 to 11000 for possibly another month. Of course, as soon as I say that, I have to make a disclaimer. Since our market is now an international market, with companies inextricably connected with the economics of other countries, I'm assuming there are no new earth-shattering revelations in the next few weeks. We've had enough of those for a while. So, barring that, I think we will muddle on in this middle area for another month. Careful selection of stocks therefore is important, as always. We'll see if I'm right. Hope your trading is going well. Fri, 14 May 2010 14:33:24 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#Chat-Room-Opening3dca1a93adbb86863cdb4c5745b4e050Tuesday, 5:20 PM, ET Well, the cat's out of the bag. As you may have heard, the chat room that I lead each day is going to open up this week for new members. It is scheduled to open on Thursday morning and close on Friday evening. This is the first time in four months that we've allowed new members. Today's link will take you to some of the testimonials from some of the members. Very humbling. But, I thought you might want to hear from some actual members. So, click on the link in today's blog. Then, if you're interested, jump on board Thursday morning. See you there. Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:23:36 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#Ive-Been-a-Little-Busyf8546b1cc50e379471059c35017de668April 2, 2010 I feel bad when I look back at this blog. It's like a neglected pet or something...sitting there just begging for attention. But, I've been a little busy lately. The MorningHoursTrading chat room is currently the place where I share most of my input into trading stocks. The members there are doing well. And one of the great things about that room is that members share so much and help each other become profitable. (It's a whole lot better than trying to trade solo.) Besides calling out 3-5 trades each morning, I create charts to help members learn more about trading. So, I've been a little busy. But I've also been busy with a new project. I'm writing the content now and that's all I can tell you. But, I'm very excited about it. Wish I could tell you more...but, not yet. In case you're not subscribed to my ezine, then you may not have noticed that I dropped the price to my video course by $100. That's over 3-hours of video, multiple pdfs, etc. - all designed to help you become a better trader by using technical analysis. You can click on the link in today's blog posting to see the details about the video & pdf course. So, thanks for your patience. Hope your trading is going well. Fri, 2 Apr 2010 10:51:48 -0400 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#4-Gainscb1609d0a9fe440f3639cdf32e88724b2-25-10, 5:35 PM, ET Just a quick note to follow up on yesterday's blog. I mentioned the three trades that qualified as short term shorts yesterday. And I gave the price at which they qualified as shorts. Each of those trades ended up with about 4% gains apiece, as the market gapped down this morning. Not bad for 1 day gains held overnight. Most of my work has been related to gap stocks, playing the gap with day trading. But, one of the things that I've been studying lately is something I call short term swings. These are not long swing trades that go on for weeks. It all depends on how quickly the target profits are hit as to when to exit the trade. And 4% in one day is better than average. So, you take those gains as gifts. If you're interested in learning more about this short term system, then be sure you're signed up for my ezine. When I get everything ready, that's the group I'll mention it to first. Hope you had good day. Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:41:44 -0500 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#Swing-Tradingd6bb601b881cba9cd74368ed15cfed0e2-24-10, 8:00 PM, ET The market recouped most of yesterday's sell-off today. Some of the best gains were by finding heavily shorted stocks and playing the explosive rebound as traders rushed to cash in their profits. You can look at two auto parts companies as examples, DAN and DAI. To follow up with my blog post from yesterday. I gave you five possible short term short trades, if the market continued to pull back. Well the market didn't pull back today. But 3 of the 5 stocks did qualify as short trades anyway. KLAC qualified at 29.30...LRCX qualified at 34.20...NTAP qualified at 30.30. The trick, as always, is knowing when to take some of your profits and when to let those trades run on for larger gains. I won't give you new trades every day. But, just for fun, I'll give you five possible shorts and five possible longs for tomorrow. These are short term plays... from a few hours to a few days...but the key is knowing when to enter the trade for the direction shown. So, if you want to play along...the five short term bulls are: BBT F FIS FRX NDAQ. The five short term bears are: GRMN AMT DHI FCX NEM. Have fun. Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:15:23 -0500 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#Will-the-Pull-Back-Continuee2f98dfbec3ee35b3d0bb08bbb3e30cc2-23-10, 8:15 PM, ET Today's announcement (that consumer sentiment fell to its lowest level in 10 months) was not received very well by the market. And it put a fragile two-week recovery into question. Some of the more experienced people whom I listen to say the downtrend will continue. And they point to the 50 and 200 SMA (Simple Moving Averages) for the major indices as proof. No predictions from me for whole markets. There will be a lot of quarterly reports and government reports issued in the next few days. And we'll see what develops. But here are a few stocks that might be worth watching, if the downtrend continues. These are short term short trade possibilities. I won't go into the details here of how to trade them. But, they might be worth watching. Here they are: AMAT, KLAC, LRCX, NTAP, & RIMM. Hope your trading is going well. Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:24:42 -0500 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#QLDd89cd760344eafac06c269b0a015ba2a2-18-10, 6:00 PM, ET I exited my multi-day swing trade on QLD this afternoon. Turns out that was probably a bit of lucky timing. With the Fed raising its discount rate (announced after market today), most of our bullish ETFs will probably struggle tomorrow morning. QLD has already given back all of today's gain in the after-market session. But holding ETFs longer than a day is always a risky strategy. Guess some traders will learn that lesson the hard way tomorrow morning. Hope your trading is going well. Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:51:44 -0500 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#Short-Covering566fcc4ef6c1c0912da2f3e8ad7b1b202-16-10, 4:45 PM, ET I thoroughly enjoy the explosive power of short covering. It has been happening lately on a variety of stocks, as the market continues to rally off its recent lows. A great example today can be found in SEED. As great as the bullish ETFs performed today (see FAS), it's difficult to beat a short covering rally. Take a look at SEED in this afternoon's session and you'll see it. Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:47:13 -0500 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#Shorting-the-Advance58ba2c62be4f56225a0dd84ed5bdd2032-8-10, 5:00 PM, ET I posted a Twitter chart on RL this afternoon. Perhaps you saw it. I identified RL this weekend as a possible short term short trade, after my scanner picked up some key Ickimoku crossover patterns. So, when price advanced to the top of the one hour Bollinger Band this morning, I knew it was a good set up. The pull-back had already begun by the time I posted the Tweet. But it continued lower as the market pulled back in the afternoon session. Hope you had a good trading day. Mon, 8 Feb 2010 17:05:06 -0500 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#New-Tools-at-FSC81ffbe33b05e501df6711ddccfeeaf311-23-10 Some of you have discovered the free charts over at www.freestockcharts.com. If you haven't visited it yet, then I'd encourage you to check it out. It still has some shortcomings, such as delayed data on thinly traded stocks. But, it also offers some great trading tools. They announced a bunch of new indicators today. One of the ones worth mentioning is called "Volume at Price" and it does basically what it says it does. It shows positive and negative volume direction at various price levels. And it's available on their drop down menu for indicators. If you've never used this indicator, then today's link will take you to a good overview. (It's called "Price by Volume" in the article.) Sat, 23 Jan 2010 18:17:56 -0500 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#Exiting-the-Trade1e3aba4d2180ee9b0095daee8071b8141-8-10, 4:30 PM, ET To think that every trade is a perfect, money making trade is a foolish thought. No one is that good. But, unfortunately, many beginning day traders have this expectation. The end result: beginners lose a lot of money in the market because they don't know how to graciously bow out of a trade. Often, a trade will allow you a graceful, break-even exit - if you will only take it. Today's link will take you a series of articles I wrote called "Exiting the Trade". There is a link at the bottom of each page to go to the next article. I posted several charts on twitter today. You can look in the "About Bob" section for my twitter link. Follow me. It's free. I showed two examples using the Ichimoku Cloud indicator. Interesting stuff. Have a great weekend. Fri, 8 Jan 2010 16:18:20 -0500 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#An-Afternoon-of-Shorts0943e29a6abee26c6b2cfcaef8874ed912-31-09, 4:30 PM, ET Well, the last two days of the year revealed a little profit taking. Especially susceptible were stocks that have enjoyed a nice, long run-up in price. For example, DDS and BKH have both enjoyed an almost uninterupted climb this month. So, it stands to reason that traders would take some of that profit off the table at year end. Both stocks made for great shorts over the past two days. If you'd like more information about how to short stocks, then you can click on the link in today's blog for a recent play-by-play short example. Hope you had a good trading year. And I hope this site has helped to make it a successful one for you. Happy New Year! Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:27:30 -0500 http://www.start-day-trading.com/shortstocks.html25003a94efae430ac380453031b6b00cLearn to short stocks. Follow my step-by-step analysis as I determine when to short a stock and when to cover. Sun, 27 Dec 2009 16:41:46 -0500 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#BRCM-fills-the-gap8b68f7a525dfd6b623a1b80ab2ef789412-8-09, 4:30 PM, ET BRCM provided a good lesson today. One of the things you watch for, when playing gap downs, is the point of resistance. How far will the stock recover after having gapped down? One of those places is when the stock "fills the gap", or goes back to the previous day's closing price. While a stock does not have to stop at that point, it is often a point where traders take their profits. So, when they take profits, the stock falls back down. This happened today with BRCM, just after noon. The stock filled the gap, with the strength indicators maxed out, and then it fell back. For those who are following me on Twitter, I sent the chart out around 1:00 or so. So, while this point of resistance doesn't happen every time, it is something to watch. Hope you had a good day of trading. Tue, 8 Dec 2009 16:17:26 -0500 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#Ahhhcomputers09110605db7c1c62760df94453dbe89b12-7-09, 5:00 PM, ET I think most of us probably have a love/hate relationship with computers. They are wonderful when they work properly, and terrible when they fail us. I'm sure most of you have vivid memories of a computer crashing when you've got an open trade, a grandson turning the off button, or whatever. I am not a computer geek...at all. I use them. I depend on them. And it is very frustrating when they fail. We had some technical difficulties with the chat rooms this morning. I really don't know much more than that. But I know some of our members read this blog, so I thought I would at least empathize with you. All I know is that they are being fixed. The good news is that it wasn't a real exciting morning in the market anyway. My best play was a short of BARE, in which I made 3% - even though I should have made more than that. I was also holding a short term short on HCP. And it tumbled nicely when the market showed some afternoon nervousness. Anyway, hopefully the server will be repaired soon. Sorry for the inconvenience. But I hope you had a good day of trading anyway. Mon, 7 Dec 2009 17:07:26 -0500 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#FASFAZ85eb5562333eea6f24969f28943af1ca12-3-09, 6:00 PM, ET If you want to see what happened to the market today, take a look at the charts for FAS and FAZ. They depict the turmoil in the financial sector today. FAS, after moving up to $79 again, fell roughly 10% after that. Just one more good reason to treat this ETF as a day trade, not a long term hold. Hope you had a good one. Thu, 3 Dec 2009 17:54:04 -0500 http://www.start-day-trading.com/day-trading-blog.html#NLST---long-and-short6e5aa50d13ad22c8fda435d5c790bccf12-1-09, 4:30 PM, ET Played NLST both long and short today, going for 8% in both directions, with 5.35 and 5.82 being the boundaries. You might think this is unusual. But it's not. While most traders stop looking at a stock once they've played it, the same stock can present multiple opportunities. In the case of NLST, it ran up to the Fib line, showed clear resistance when the strength indicators maxed out, and then retreated back to that original entry position. Some stocks will present multiple plays in the same direction. This allows you maximize the short term play, take profits, and re-enter the trade from a new entry point. Posted a Twitter chart today of AIG, for those who are following me on Twitter. (Don't worry, I don't post when I'm brushing my teeth. Just good info.) You might have to use the vertical scroll bars at the bottom of the chart to see the circled entry. Hope you had a good day of trading. Tue, 1 Dec 2009 16:26:06 -0500