Best book ever!
One of my favorite trading books of all time is Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas.
This book completely changed how I view the markets, how I manage myself and how I see opportunity.
In the book Douglas talks about taking responsibility for our trades:
Trading can be characterised as pure, unencumbered personal choice with an immediate outcome. Remember, nothing happens until we decide to start; it lasts as long as we want; and it doesn’t end until we decide to stop.
Awesome quote — and an even better piece of advice.
For better or worse, we live and by our market decisions. Decisions like what kind of method to trade, the types of stock we trade, the systems we use — all come down to a personal choice. [Read More…]
Ahhhh...soothing...
A pretty much flat, uneventful week for the watchlist stocks last week with no clear winners or losers.
As I mentioned in last week’s Sunday Night Watchlist, I sat out again due to the fact that market was trading beneath the 50 day MA.
To me that’s a signal that things could get messy.
Not that they will get messy. But that they could.
Let’s take a look at the charts:
[Read More…]
Tagged as:
s&p 500,
stock market commentary
I don’t eat burgers anymore.
I know – sad.
But after a 100% run-up in a stock highlighted in The Sunday Night Watchlist only 5 days ago — I want to start eating them again — and I want to start eating them at Good Times Restaurants ($GTIM)!
Without a doubt — hunting for these big gainers — is my number 1 passion in the market.
Studying them. Looking for common traits. Where they start. Where they end. I’m not there yet, but I’m getting closer every day.
Here’s the chart:
[Read More…]
It's Sunday Night!
Once again it’s time for the Sunday Night Watchlist — and I’m in full on rave mode — listening to DJ ARTY — as I just booked my hotel room for the 2012 Electric Daisy Carnival in Vegas.
It’s going to be nuts!
Anyway — with the market where it is right now, below the 50 day MA, I’m sitting out again. Still, I found a handful of stocks worth mentioning.
So I’ll put them up.
Plus, I’m recording my below 50 MA trading results so it helps me further see the strengths and weaknesses of my method.
As I always I think it’s a great idea for any trader to journal their trading results. It’s the number one thing that helped me improve as a trader.
Here are the charts for this week.
[Read More…]
Tagged as:
best penny stocks,
penny stock picks,
Sunday Night Watchlist
Are you here to win?
I think Ed Seykota said it best:
Win or lose, everybody gets what they want out of the market. Some people seem to like to lose, so they win by losing money.
A couple years ago I was reading a book about winning poker.
The author (I forget who) told a story about a weekly poker game played by some above average players, and another guy who always seemed to loose.
Not only did he lose, but he’d lose big, big pots.
Week after week he’d show up, sit at the table and lose.
Finally, one of the more experienced players asked this guy: “Why do you keep showing up here? You never win. In fact, you ALWAYS lose.” [Read More…]
Tagged as:
Getting It,
Life,
Reasons for trading,
Trading Psychology
Time to get random!
Finally we get a random win. I was beginning to worry.
LOL
Actually, it’s kind of fun to worry over random trades — because they’re random.
And it gives great insight into the way a lot of traders view actual trades.
I actually think that a lot of traders would benefit from seeing their trades as random trades.
Well, at least in the way I used to trade. Worry over every tick. Worrying if my trade was going to be a winner. Worrying if it started sliding towards my stop.
The best way to put an end to that type of thinking is time and experience.
Put in the time, check out your results, keep a trading journal, ignore the news and the hype surrounding trading, and you will begin to see your worry lessen. I know I did.
With that said, here’s the chart for $WIFI. [Read More…]
Nice work!
Wahoooooow. What a week!
Seriously — with the way the gains turned out this week, I should trade below the 50 day moving average more often. LOL.
As I mentioned last week, I sat this week out due to the market closing below the 50 MA. But I went looking for stocks anyway. And I found a few. And I posted them here.
And all in all it was an awesome week. With the watchlist up over +7%.
2 stocks hit their +30% target (1 ending the week +50%), 2 stopped out and the market hedge TZA just kind of flip-flopped — ending slightly down.
Even with 3 out of the 5 stocks down — our 2 winners averaged in some great returns.
Surprisingly, even one of the stocks that stopped out, came roaring back to life to end the week +20%.
But the standout was $HDY — ending the week up +50.14%! [Read More…]
Tagged as:
all time highs,
hdy,
Low Priced Stocks,
Sherwin Williams
Let the learning begin!
This weekend I decluttered my house — and I wrote about how it reminded me of my early days trading here.
One of the things I unearthed during that massive decluttering mission — was my very first chart book. In it were about 50 or so charts of some of my very first trades.
Wow.
Talk about a time capsule.
These charts were taken from a 3 year losing streak that had me throwing computer keyboards, cussing out my monitor and backtesting useless trading strategies all night long.
Let me just say this — I was a really REALLY bad trader!
Here’s just a few of the things I did wrong.
Repeatedly. [Read More…]
Tagged as:
Beginning Traders,
chart patterns,
Mark Douglas,
trading tips
In December 2011 I wrote about The Random Trade Experiment.
For the upcoming year I am taking a series of random trades. To get the specifics of this experiment, read the original Random Trade Experiment post. This is going to be fun.
Now for the update…
I think I’ve been asleep at the wheel regarding the Random Trade experiment because it looks like my last long $AVEO stopped out a few weeks ago.
Now we are really on a losing streak.
Here’s the chart: [Read More…]
Market down? Take a vacation!
I used to trade stocks no matter what the general market was doing — and I suffered heavily for it.
That’s because stocks follow the general market at a ratio of 4 to 1.
Did I know this? No. Did I believe this? No.
So I’d be trying to go long no matter what — and all around me the market would be tanking. And I’d be scratching my head wondering why all of my breakouts weren’t working.
Trading like that is no fun.
So I don’t do it.
For better or worse, at the moment, my gauge for the general market is the 50 day moving average. If $SPY is above the 50 MA I am good to go. If we’re below it, watchoutnow!
Do we crash every time we dip below the 50 MA?
No.
And that’s the thing about the market — every time doesn’t exist. [Read More…]
Saturday Morning Wrap Up 04-28-12
by David John Hall on April 28, 2012 · 0 comments
in Saturday Morning Wrap Up
Ahhhh...soothing...
A pretty much flat, uneventful week for the watchlist stocks last week with no clear winners or losers.
As I mentioned in last week’s Sunday Night Watchlist, I sat out again due to the fact that market was trading beneath the 50 day MA.
To me that’s a signal that things could get messy.
Not that they will get messy. But that they could.
Let’s take a look at the charts:
[Read More…]
Tagged as: s&p 500, stock market commentary
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