Carrerain4 

As for today's trades, all my funds were settled if not still tied up in a stock. I left them alone as I simply could not get any feel for which direction ANYTHING was headed today. Sometimes it's better to stay on the sidelines than to just guess randomly. I want to spend some time this evening reviewing the day's gainers and loser and check them for recent news and developments so that I can understand WHY they moved the way they did. Maybe I'll start to develop a sense for what causes price movement. Why does one stock sit there and do nothing at all today, hardly any shares moving, while another stock with a similar company in the same industry can be going wild at the same time? That's a rhetorical question. No need for YOU to answer it. But it would be in my best interests to seek out the answers to that sort of question on my own.

But I will throw some answers.

Usually it is news related. Either to the company or the market. Today was a major data drop in terms of reports and the ECB announcement. Some stocks are more affected by certain market reports then others.

Carrerain4 

As for today's trades, all my funds were settled if not still tied up in a stock. I left them alone as I simply could not get any feel for which direction ANYTHING was headed today. Sometimes it's better to stay on the sidelines than to just guess randomly. I want to spend some time this evening reviewing the day's gainers and loser and check them for recent news and developments so that I can understand WHY they moved the way they did. Maybe I'll start to develop a sense for what causes price movement. Why does one stock sit there and do nothing at all today, hardly any shares moving, while another stock with a similar company in the same industry can be going wild at the same time? That's a rhetorical question. No need for YOU to answer it. But it would be in my best interests to seek out the answers to that sort of question on my own.

I think it is wise to take a step back and reflect. There is no shortage of advice here..not too much that conflicts with each other but still you must sift through the ashes and keep what you like and discard the rest.

tturner86 

Whats the min needed to fund a IB account?

I don't use it for day trading obviously, but I believe the minimum is 10K.

Underexposed 

I think it is wise to take a step back and reflect. There is no shortage of advice here..not too much that conflicts with each other but still you must sift through the ashes and keep what you like and discard the rest.

That's what I'm doing.

I need a REASON to put money into any given security. And it needs to be more than just a hunch or a feeling.

I think that the majority of the transactions I've made that turned out to be profitable would be easy to justify,
relating to news and events that gave me good reasons to believe that the stock would move upwards.

When SEAS tanked, I fully expected it to rebound somewhat. With no evidence that the company was about to go bankrupt,
and in fact had only reported that it was about 6 percent less profitable than last year, I would never think that it would have
continued to lose value after the first day or so after the news. And though it still has not recovered to my previously set target
of 21 dollars per share or more, I still think it will do so. But rebounding can take time. I believe my decision was rational.


But others, not so much. I've made money on some transactions and can't say WHY the stock moved up instead
of down, and THAT is a situation that I need to address.

I've also lost some money on some stocks that I really expected to climb, and was surprised when it didn't happen,
or, perhaps, in one or two cases, I just went in without a clue and hoped the coin landed heads up.

That's no way to assure consistent returns!

Carrerain4 

That's what I'm doing. I need a REASON to put money into any given security. And it needs to be more than just a hunch or a feeling. I think that the majority of the transactions I've made that turned out to be profitable would be easy to justify, relating to news and events that gave me good reasons to believe that the stock would move upwards. When SEAS tanked, I fully expected it to rebound somewhat. With no evidence that the company was about to go bankrupt, and in fact had only reported that it was about 6 percent less profitable than last year, I would never think that it would have continued to lose value after the first day or so after the news. And though it still has not recovered to my previously set target of 21 dollars per share or more, I still think it will do so. But rebounding can take time. I believe my decision was rational. But others, not so much. I've made money on some transactions and can't say WHY the stock moved up instead of down, and THAT is a situation that I need to address. I've also lost some money on some stocks that I really expected to climb, and was surprised when it didn't happen, or, perhaps, in one or two cases, I just went in without a clue and hoped the coin landed heads up. That's no way to assure consistent returns!

hahaha...well so far I was correct about it not reaching $22 yet and that was my prediction....you did well at what you did and cleared a profit.

Now my prediction still holds as far as hitting $22 .... from my TA on the chart I would say it is going to go sideways for a while yet and may drift negative.

I do not doubt that eventually it may rise to $22 or higher....but it is not clear from what I see yet.

NOW here is the difference between you and I....I have a method for evaluating my choices...it is not perfect but my batting average is pretty good. You are making most of your decisions on the basis of gut feeling. Don't take this as being nasty... you are still in an embryonic stage and as you say and I applaud you for it...you have a lot to learn.

And that learning comes slowly...took me 20 years to get where I am now in TA and I am still refining what I do.

NOW I am not saying to copy me...copying someone else is not a key to being good at something. You should be receptive to new ideas and test them...but never accept them as gospel....make your own gospel.

You have shown something that does impress me for your experience. Your picks are quite reasonable so as I see.

WPCS is a case in point...



I don't particularly like the fundamentals of this company but I do like this chart.

You say you will hold til $1.25....will looking at the chart there is a huge resistance at $1.23...if it makes past $1.23 the next resistance is at about $1.40.

If I were you I would not sell if it makes it past $1.23 and gets to $1.25....I might use a limit stop-loss as I described before and play it to $1.40 if it gets there.

See the difference between us....I have a reason fore my play....I think you are going more on a gut feel.

It takes time but you will eventually replace gut feel with something more substantial.

Good Trading

I agree with you on all counts.

I'm still largely a "gut based" trader but not to the extent I was even a few weeks ago. And as I learn more, I become
less "gut based" and more logic based.


Another pick I'm making is my favorite gold miner, IAG, which is now down to 3.61.

Since the company is apparently healthy and has had some good news releases lately, my belief is that the only reason
for its having given up 10 percent in the last week is the recent dip in gold prices. It's tracking the gold price pretty nicely.

I believe that gold prices will be rebounding shortly BUT I'm short on logically explainable reasons to justify that belief, admittedly. However I will say that if I had to find a reason to justify my belief that gold prices will rise soon, it is
because the US economy is showing signs of picking up as indicated by the recent improvement in the unemployment numbers. More people working means more demand for consumer electronics, most of which use some gold in their circuits. More people working also means more people who can afford some luxury items, such as gold jewelry, watches, etc.

When the job market starts looking better, I expect gold prices to follow. Thus, I expect gold mining concerns to prosper as well.

Carrerain4 

BUT I'm short on logically explainable reasons to justify that belief, admittedly. However I will say that if I had to find a reason to justify my belief that gold prices will rise soon, it is............

Here is a quote from John Murphy author and face of Stockcharts.com you might want to consider.

Quoting 

You can talk all you want about what a stock should be doing or why it isn't doing what it should be doing. You can talk about inflation, interest rates, earnings, and investor expectations. Ultimately, however, it comes down to the picture. Is the stock going up or down? Knowing the reasons behind a stock's movement is interesting, but not critical. If your stock goes up on a given day, they won't take your money away from you if you don't know why it went up. And if you can explain why it went down, they won't give you back your lost money.All that really matters is a picture, a simple line on a chart. The trick to visual investing is learning to tell the difference between what is going up and what is going down. --John Murphy

deaddog 

Here is a quote from John Murphy author and face of Stockcharts.com you might want to consider.

That's nice. It's a very simple way of stating the very thing I'm fighting with.

Up or down? Or stay the same? The price is going to do one, two, or all three of those things soon. Guaranteed.

But, when, which, and how much? Ah, those are the questions that aren't so hard to ask but are not so easy to answer!

I have previously stated my moderate skepticism for trading based on technical indicators. To me it still comes down to the basic question, "What are most of the people who are holding or trading this stock thinking right now and what will they be thinking in the next (seconds, minutes, hours, days, or weeks)?

I don't know how reliable technical indicators can be at predicting whether or not a lot of people want to buy or sell.

But I'm trying to learn them. It's worth it to have EVERY tool in the shed that you can get your hands on. Technical
indicator understanding would quite possibly be a good tool to have.

I have a fair number of market news sources to look at, but it can really be very time consuming to filter through literally hundreds of news releases and articles that hit the site every morning and throughout the day. (Such as at Stock Market Quotes and News : Equities, Indexes, Commodities, Forex on 4-traders.com) It's easy to miss a game-changing news article, particularly when they seem to be releasing dozens of news articles every minute.

Carrerain4 

To me it still comes down to the basic question, "What are most of the people who are holding or trading this stock thinking right now and what will they be thinking in the next (seconds, minutes, hours, days, or weeks)?

There in lies the problem. You can't possibly know what everyone else is thinking. Every trade is a transaction between two parties and both think the other is wrong.

The best you can do is watch the price and see what it is doing. Take a guess at where it will be next and bail quickly if you are wrong.

I don't use indicators. I feel that the price has to move before the indicator does. So just watch what price does.

WPCS hit my target price of 1.25 and I sold at that point. (2200 shares) It peaked very shortly thereafter at 1.31 but I got my 7 cents per share and the peak was very brief. I honestly think that if I'd hovered over the button and tried to manually hold out for a better price, I would have had a hard time doing it as I'd be inclined to react to a drop of a few cents with "wait and see" in the hopes that it would later go even higher. And in the end I'd probably not have done as well as just picking a price and letting auto execution get it for me.



Granted, it may limit my ability to extend my profits even higher, but I feel safer by taking a personal sense of excitement
and nervousness out of the equation. Trade without passion. Passion gets you in trouble.


I got 6 percent not counting fees. The new larger fee (20 bucks!) made a noticeable dent but it was still rather profitable.