Wednesday, December 3, 2008

WHAT YOU NEED

Seeing all the talk about FRZ on various blogs,I gotta post this..
FRZ types(huge intraday swings aka big dayrangers) are risky no doubt but if you trade these like "normal" stocks you either shouldn't or adapt some rules...
Just my opinion,too many folks have no idea these are DIFFERENT than 90% of the stocks tradeable but yet treat them the same way.

To optimize playing these kind...
1. you need enough in your account to beat the pdt rule
2.you need to take no more than 10% of your account in each one on the 1st enter
3.you need to use market orders when possible when entering
4.you need to use MENTAL stops
5.you need to use WIDE stops
6.you need the confidence to add to shorts of the "crap" stocks you short that first go against you(why you enter smallish at first and need a larger account)
7.you need to stop watching every tick
8.you need to stop trading with scared money,the object isn't to break even..it's to hit the big scores or be CONSISTENT trade after trade with smaller gains
9.you need the flexibility to "flip" a trade in midstream and the confidence to do so
10. you NEED to do your homework,don't rely on anyone else..run the scans,LEARN the stocks you are trading,over time watch the behavior of these stocks
11.you need to have a broker that gives you the borrows..I WANT the stock now that I want to short...not the 2nd,3rd or 4th choice
12.you need to look at the LOWER float stocks first if you are scalping these dayrangers.
13.you need to pay attention to EVEN dollar marks on these low priced ones

Most important,you need account size and less exposer in just one stock,lessons the scared money thing...they all add up over time,just keep plugging away.
If you can't follow most of these rules,I'd say trade way less volatile stocks...without these rules you're hunting down Godzilla with a peashooter

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great post muddy, thanks for summarizing your main trading rules.

How many trades do you typically make a day? Do commissions take up a sizable percentage of your captial?

IL Torello said...

Word.

Anonymous said...

Hi Anon

Usually an average of about 12 stocks a day,plus I "flip"(go the other way when I stop myself out then reverse))..commish is no problem at all with my broker InteractiveBrokers,minimal really

Don't take me wrong,I'm not saying one can't build their account up if hampered by the pdt rule...just saying odds are way against you and you've gotta hit scores so often,,,it can be done,it's just so hard and UNFAIR

Anonymous said...

Using that "flip" thing,I had been short PGPDQ from .95
Took big profits at .18
Then saw the jiggynish on Scott qoute box even before my cover, at .17,flipped long at .185 and sold eod at .295 for decent profit.

Honest,I guess it's experience but I'm trying to teach it,frustrating cause it's hard...just keep watching and trying

Anonymous said...

I am also using IB, and have been trading about 10 stocks a day, usually no overnight. Commissions per trade around $1-10, as my position size is usually a few hundred to at most 2000 shares. So average 20 trades a day, say $5 per trade.

Last month alone, I raked up more than $2k in commissions, around $100 a day, sometimes more. This was my first month doing active day trading.

My account size is more than $40k. It really bothers me that I use 5% a month for trading. My profits are ok, up around 10% last month, but there is no guarantee I can continue to make money consistently, especially since I am new. I am concerned with such a high burn rate.

Do you think I am over-trading for my account size?

James Krieger said...

Yep, FRZ was a tough one to trade when hampered by PDT rule...too easy to get whipsawed and shook out like I did today

My position wasn't big (about half of what I normally would use), but my stop was definitely too tight...I was short from 1.85 yesterday...should've only gotten out if it broke $2 today

Anonymous said...

I am new to trading. I don't know what you mean by the list of stocks to watch out every day. is it just for short selling or for buying stocks? Please let me know as soon as possible. I have +40 cad dollar into stocks at the moment. I started into stock trading 1 month ago. My whole stocks are down 7k at the moment.I can provide the list to my mentor, if somebody is ready to accept me as there follower.

tsmagnum said...

Outstanding Muddy,I'm printing this one out

Anonymous said...

That really boils it down, Muddy. Thanks for your continued assistance to those of us who aspire to do better. I immediately picked out a couple things I must work on from your list.
Without you, many of us would be out here "just wandering the desert..."

pervinder khangura said...

please help me out for my stocks my list of stocks are slt ttm cdm eeso xynh qi arg and nt. I am down 7k in all these stocks out of 40k investment.today as advised i traded cyoe buy 0.45 sell 0.65. Thanks guys

Anonymous said...

THe pdt rule can be a bummer----but I over came that with in 3 months of trading- by not trading too often... taking advantage of obvious moves--like playing the big name stocks- and taking profit.... and cutting losses real quick--- It helps....but good advice for those that are under 25k
SHLD-- has been good to me for the past two months---was short for a while- covered when it hit 27- then went long, and sold yesterday....I am looking to short again around $41-- big swings in this stock..make trading easy.... good luck all

pervinder khangura said...

Is it possible to just stocks full time instead of a job. do you make living stocking? Is this the right time to buy? can somebody teach me shorting of stocks. My broker is royalbank canada doesn't allow me to do lot's of short sell lot's of stocks.what do i do. They don't even provide me with the list of allowed stocks for short selling. I have to order and then after about 10 min they tell me if the order is open or rejected. please help

pervinder khangura said...

hi muddy one more thing the list of stocks you provided on dec/5 most of then went up please keep on providing us the knowledge what to do and guide us in the right direction. I am a month old player in stock market starting making money now 500, 200 here and there and that only happened after i starting looking at the site more seriously. Thanks a lot.

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