IIG - flag
gotta go.

It's not that easy anymore Jeff. You need to use some kind of photo hosting. i've tried to add a picture for weeks and can't do it.

any suggestions?

Hey everyone, I just added my lovely pic so I hope you enjoy. I won't be able to make the Chicago conference so this will just have to do.

WCG update -- WCG closed almost exactly where I sold it intraday. So, at least in this instance, I would have been no worse off waiting to the end of day to make the decision. Going to have to ponder that one a bit. But, Brett, I appreciate the feedback on the ability to break the rules. I think there's always got to be room for experience to come in and overrule something in an extreme case. Unfortunately, experience is the thing I don't have yet, but I'm adding more every day.

My take on the "spread strategy". That's a cool idea and something I've been thinking a lot about. But, as you said, you've still got to KNOW that the stock is going to make a big enough move to be profitable. Otherwise, you could wind up with two losing trades. So the question is -- what is it that tells you when to pull the trigger on selling the vertical?

Amy, I'm trading bounces exclusively right now. I decided to just practice that one entry strategy exclusively. I haven't been able to figure out how to manage breakouts yet, but I have traded a lot of breakout patterns, just after they come back down and retest with a bounce. HWCC is an example as I got in just a few days ago before the big move up to 31ish.

I look for strongly trending stocks that are pulling back and I wait for it to stop pulling back and make at least some movement in the direction I am wanting it to go. I like for this to be near either a diagonal or horizontal support or resistance level. If it's near both, all the better.

Then, at the end of the day when I see this movement, I analyze and look for a potential of 3:1 reward/risk. Since I wait for this movement, I miss some entries because they move too far for reward/risk to be valid. But, that's the price I am paying right now as I am practicing this strategy. It's kept me out of some winners and also kept me out of some losers. But I'm just looking for the absolute best entries according to my rules.

I used to take entries when near a support resistance area without seeing the movement turn, but that method gave me two problems. 1) i was wrong more of the time, and 2) it was harder for me to define the exit point. My current method is working better for me so far.

That's how I'm working bounces and it's been the most success I've found thus far.

Test, test (i know the picture probably sucks but i can always fix it)

here's some crack instructions:

1) set up an account
2) create a new post and upload a picture to it
3) click "edit html", and you'll get a bunch of code. edit and Copy ONLY the code that has the picture on it...it's in quotes and begins with "http://". don't include the quotes, obviously
4) paste it in your profile under photo url

I'll fix that blurry picture later tonight.

Thanks for your help, Brett.
Amy

I'm trying to post a photo but its not working. Let me guess,it's because I on a MAC.

I hope someone got in on the JEF flag. I never got out after the first break out. I am surprised at how many people are trying to decide where to exit WCG. STOP LOSS?

Anybody have any suggestions ??? These last few weeks have been so hot in the market. I do all my research and evaluation at night and have my watchlist ready, then the next day while I'm at work "everything" breaks out and by the time I get home (7pm) I have missed the move and the price is so far off support that it seems too risky....that means I sit on the sidelines and wait for the next signal, and so on and so on. How did/do you find a way to trade these great moves when you have to go to work to pay the mortgage ??? Should I allow myself to enter a trade that has made a few point movement and just realize my risk is higher than everyone elses and my profits will be a little smaller due to my entry point??? What to do, What to do......help.....sometimes I feel like my job is hindering my progress....
tonya

Tonya,

You need to devise a plan that fits into your daily life. First, when are you able to enter trades? If it's in the morning, then why not find stocks in the evening that break out and look for pullbacks the next day to get in. You won't catch all of them, but many pull back and actually you will find yourself getting better entries than those of us who tag the breakout at the day's end. Also, you won't be tempted to exit trades mid-morning when you shouldn't. There are some advantages to not watching the market all day, believe it or not.

Also, you might want to search for more bounce plays, since you can usually take these early in the day.

It's going to require a lot of work before and after work, but it certainly can be done.

Just my thoughts.

Dave Johnson teaches a technique that I like to use. I am in a similiar situation with work and I feel like I've miss the major part of the move at after the market closes.

With Think or Swim, you can enter a contingent order to buy an option based on the stock price. Just be sure to make the buy order a limit order, not a market order. Use the Black Scholes calculator to get an idea what the price should be.

You look for a stock that is uptrending but going down in the short term, pulling back for a few days. You set the buy order to trigger when the stock reaches the high ($.10-0.25 above)of the low day.

I heard this on the basic options trading room but you can buy the tutorial for $59 as well.

-Steve

Brett and Steve
Thanks so much for your comments. Some times you (I) just need a little moral support ;)
Tonya

Is anybody else having trouble figuring out how to get their picture to show up ??
Tonya

Oh brother, now I have another project. "Must find photo of Ken and Barbie to post on blog." This should be interesting. I tried posting a picture of just me, and it got returned with a note saying "Photo must be of a HUMAN!! Please re-send."

Have you ever had ONE OF THOSE DAYS?!?!

Tonya, I agree with Brett (whom, by the way, is a much younger looking gentleman than I expected.) One of the things that Jeff (who is much taller than he looks in his picture, by the way) has stressed since I first started enjoying his tuteledge (sp?) is that you have to get your own set of rules and follow them. There are always ways around the 9-5 thing. I'm out of town a lot and miss complete days sometimes (and it has nothing to do with visiting the Cowboy Bar the night before.) You can trade early in the day, set buy and sell Limit orders, there ARE ways to get around it. It's possible they may not be ideal, but if you create your own set of rules and stick to them, chances are you'll figure out a way to make it work. If you're as anxious as I am to get on with it and make this a full time job, you'll probably get quite creative, too. If you play the bounces as I'm tending to do right now... you've got a pretty good idea where you want to get in. I put a buy on Limit order in and a GTC rather than a DAY order (Good Till Cancelled) and POOF!!! you've got your very own bouncing baby option. Just make sure you know when to kick it out of the house.

Speaking of which, my 16 year old needs some attention. Something about her boyfriend finding the shotgun in the back seat of the car. Hmmm wonder what THAT's all about (actually we're not allowed to bear arms up here in Canada, so it must have been my hockey stick.... tell me THAT'S not bearing arms.)

Good weekend all.

Chris and Catherine. (photo to follow sometime this weekend.)

Speaking of bounces keep an eye on CEG. I had 120% return on my trade on GS,only to get kicked in the $#@ from earnings on CF. I'll need the weekend to reflect on this one, and then gear myself up to come back fighting on Monday.

Have a great weekend everyone.

P.S. stil lhaving trouble w/ the photo thing.

Also, on the thinkorswim platform you can set a time to execute your order. This 'may' help in trying to avoid high volatility trading times like the first hour of the trading day. Of course that could also mean that you might miss some trades.

You can always practice any of these suggestions in the Paper Money account.

This comment has been removed by the author.

Perhaps the picture you are trying to upload is too big. You may have to edit the picuture and save it again as a smaller file, then try to upload the new, smaller picture.

Keith

Finally got my pic in the blog.

Rodrigo

BVN- nice looking FLAG. Draw a trend line across the tops of dec,feb, and april. It's approaching support, the 2o dma is close, lower than average vol, all the good stuff.
It's nice to hear about these before, not after.

I'm in Heaven right now. My wife's at Billy Joel concert. Kids are asleep, and Think or Swim has updated their software to add prophet chart capability!!!

This changes everything!! I've got a long night of work ahead of me and a 6 pack of Heineken Light.

Bet you're not having this much fun!

Brett,
I'll see your Heineken and raise you a rum and coke. We're still waiting for the word from the Sink or Swim folks that they've got the Canadian version sorted out. The little we saw of it in Orlando looks really neat. I want to attend one of their courses when it swings by and get online with them.

I still haven't even figured out how to open a blogger account, let alone the picture thing. I thought there used to be something that came up allowing you to open an account, but all I get is "what's your password, moron." and I refuse to answer anyone that talks to me that way. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Chris and Catherine

Jeff,

On the Marketcast you mentioned Jesse Livermore's book, which you suggested reading over and over and over... I didn't see it listed on your "Book Club" list, is it "How to Trade In Stocks"?

Brett,

Thanks for the info on how to post the photo!

Brett, yeah I'm using Prophet charts inside TOS exclusively now. Did you know they are also working on price pattern searching which is supposed to be added later this year?

I was going to mention to everyone who uses TOS desktop software, I don't know if you've ever checked out the analyze tab but I have found it a million times faster than the black scholes calculator at determining things like theoretical options price and reward / risk. It is so quick to pull up the option you want to buy, type in your exit point and target on the stock price and it shows you profit / loss at those points. Plus, you can move the date forward, change volatility...etc. It's amazingly fast once you get used to it.

TOS has a video tutorial on their help page on that analyze tab if you are interested in learning it.

NAVZ had a nice breakout a week ago and looks to be forming a tall flag pattern.

some stocks to look @
FLAGS:
RS
OO
CELG
ESRX
LUFK

MISC:
PCP ...... GSF
X ....... MTD
WMS ...... VLCM
AAPL ...... XOM
CEG ....... RIG
MOS ....... EDU
BNI ........ GVA
FPL ....... ARW
ADBE ....... CROX
NOV ...... SLB

CHANNELS:
DE
RIMM

How about them lightning bolts? The Golden State Warriors.

Just wanted to say "hi" to everyone. First time to the blog. My dad and I have been Investools students for about 9 months now and we both watch Jeff's trading rooms together every week and really enjoy it. We have learned so many things in trading over this time and are looking forward to learning much more. My dad is 55 and I'm 24 and we live in southern California.

I am really interested in learning how to trade for a living and it is really great learning from such wonderful people and talking with others such as yourselves about options/stocks.

Look forward to being part of this blog!

This comment has been removed by the author.

test

OK now I just need to figure out how to upload a picture to this... why isn't there anything that gives me that option?

This photo uploading is a royal pain. Think they could figure out a way to make it easier. MikeH