A Brief Look Into My Trading Mentality and Strategy

Personally, I’d rather hold two long term trades making 50% profit at the end of the year than scalping thirty trades throughout the year and making the same profit at the end of the year. Don’t get me wrong, both result in positive gains and in either result most people would call it a great year.

But, there will be some days when I don’t have access to a laptop or computer during market hours (at least until I get my laptop in the mail). If I start trading shorter time frames, I’ll end up missing an entry or maybe making a decent exit. But I also understand that not every trade can withstand two months+ of market volatility. There are many stocks that rally for a month and then spiral out of control. In that sense, I won’t be just buying it and then forgetting about it for a year or two.

My goal is to ride the stocks that have been going up consistently for at least three months and to use either a 20 or 50 day moving average as a trailing stop. If the trend breaks then I’ll take my position out of the market and move on.

Aside from the previously mentioned, as many of you know, there are opportunities to make money in the short run also. If I see a trade that looks like it will be going up in the short term (a couple of days to 2 months) with low risk (risk is determined by the stop ), I will initiate a position. In order for me to be successful with this strategy, I will have to know that I will have access to a computer during the period in which I will have to monitor the stock closely. I don’t like setting actual stops with my broker because there will be times when the stop is briefly hit, but at the end of the day the stock finishes up for the day.

This short term strategy will enable me to more readily adapt to market conditions. Also trading in the short term will give me a better idea and the feel for current markets situations. To keep this strategy separate from the other strategy, I will keep a journal recording the approaches to particular trades.

I’ve hit somewhat of a rut in terms of improving my trading, maybe you guys can give me insight as to how you guys continue to improve your trading either mentally or technically speaking.

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A Brief Look Into My Trading Mentality and Strategy

Personally, I’d rather hold two long term trades making 50% profit at the end of the year than scalping thirty trades throughout the year and making the same profit at the end of the year. Don’t get me wrong, both result in positive gains and in either result most people would call it a great year.

But, there will be some days when I don’t have access to a laptop or computer during market hours (at least until I get my laptop in the mail). If I start trading shorter time frames, I’ll end up missing an entry or maybe making a decent exit. But I also understand that not every trade can withstand two months+ of market volatility. There are many stocks that rally for a month and then spiral out of control. In that sense, I won’t be just buying it and then forgetting about it for a year or two.

My goal is to ride the stocks that have been going up consistently for at least three months and to use either a 20 or 50 day moving average as a trailing stop. If the trend breaks then I’ll take my position out of the market and move on.

Aside from the previously mentioned, as many of you know, there are opportunities to make money in the short run also. If I see a trade that looks like it will be going up in the short term (a couple of days to 2 months) with low risk (risk is determined by the stop ), I will initiate a position. In order for me to be successful with this strategy, I will have to know that I will have access to a computer during the period in which I will have to monitor the stock closely. I don’t like setting actual stops with my broker because there will be times when the stop is briefly hit, but at the end of the day the stock finishes up for the day.

This short term strategy will enable me to more readily adapt to market conditions. Also trading in the short term will give me a better idea and the feel for current markets situations. To keep this strategy separate from the other strategy, I will keep a journal recording the approaches to particular trades.

I’ve hit somewhat of a rut in terms of improving my trading, maybe you guys can give me insight as to how you guys continue to improve your trading either mentally or technically speaking.

Read Full Post »

GWSO O-T-C Stock

Wonderful! Today I received this ridiculous junk in the mail. The entire seven page of junk advertisement focused largely on the Global Warming Solutions stock (GWSO). I truthfully hope nobody buys this stock solely based on the marketing tools this company is using to get its name out there. But from the looks of things, it looks like the stock is off to a decent start (meaning people are either giving in to the marketing scheme or actually find value in the company).

I personally went on Google Finance and checked out the stock. It was up 0.21 today. Its IPO was on the 7th of September. Seeing how its a Over-The-Counter stock, I’d be very wary about purchasing this stock. One reason its because its not regulated as a stock exchange.

Read Full Post »

GWSO O-T-C Stock

Wonderful! Today I received this ridiculous junk in the mail. The entire seven page of junk advertisement focused largely on the Global Warming Solutions stock (GWSO). I truthfully hope nobody buys this stock solely based on the marketing tools this company is using to get its name out there. But from the looks of things, it looks like the stock is off to a decent start (meaning people are either giving in to the marketing scheme or actually find value in the company).

I personally went on Google Finance and checked out the stock. It was up 0.21 today. Its IPO was on the 7th of September. Seeing how its a Over-The-Counter stock, I’d be very wary about purchasing this stock. One reason its because its not regulated as a stock exchange.

Read Full Post »

Thursday Links

Extinction of languages

DeputyDog has the most amazing pictures

Moooon

Long day spent it at school.

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Thursday Links

Extinction of languages

DeputyDog has the most amazing pictures

Moooon

Long day spent it at school.

Read Full Post »

Wednesday, September 26th 2007

I began my internship today at an investment banking firm. That’s the reason for my absence this morning and much of this afternoon. First, I would like to apologize for the late post. Seeing how the Fall quarter is beginning tomorrow, I will be spending much of my time at school. However, I will continue to trade stocks as I have been doing for quite some time now.

As I get more and more into the internship, I will post my experiences here. Hopefully everything goes well and this will be a challenging school year juggling everything at once.

For tomorrow, I will be looking to see if the trend continues for WYNN and CPHD. Lately, I have been very cautious and selective with my stocks. Basically, calming down and going with the basics.

I will be screening my list to see if there are any general setups I can take tomorrow, but I get a feeling that I may be disappointed.

Two stocks to look at tommorrow: LIFC (low risk) & CVGW (Still looking to see if it can break resist)

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Wednesday, September 26th 2007

I began my internship today at an investment banking firm. That’s the reason for my absence this morning and much of this afternoon. First, I would like to apologize for the late post. Seeing how the Fall quarter is beginning tomorrow, I will be spending much of my time at school. However, I will continue to trade stocks as I have been doing for quite some time now.

As I get more and more into the internship, I will post my experiences here. Hopefully everything goes well and this will be a challenging school year juggling everything at once.

For tomorrow, I will be looking to see if the trend continues for WYNN and CPHD. Lately, I have been very cautious and selective with my stocks. Basically, calming down and going with the basics.

I will be screening my list to see if there are any general setups I can take tomorrow, but I get a feeling that I may be disappointed.

Two stocks to look at tommorrow: LIFC (low risk) & CVGW (Still looking to see if it can break resist)

Read Full Post »

Profit Taking Wednesday, September 25th 2007

Looks like people were taking profits throughout the day. Nonetheless, the markets finished up. I will be out most of the day tomorrow, so most likely I will not be trading tomorrow.

On a different note, I purchased a Vostro 1400 (Dell Laptop) for around $700. I will be using this when I am not a home trading stocks. It’s light enough for me to carry around and good enough for me to perform basic activities such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. It should be able to run Photoshop without any problems.

Read Full Post »

Profit Taking Wednesday, September 25th 2007

Looks like people were taking profits throughout the day. Nonetheless, the markets finished up. I will be out most of the day tomorrow, so most likely I will not be trading tomorrow.

On a different note, I purchased a Vostro 1400 (Dell Laptop) for around $700. I will be using this when I am not a home trading stocks. It’s light enough for me to carry around and good enough for me to perform basic activities such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. It should be able to run Photoshop without any problems.

Read Full Post »