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Robert H

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Posts posted by Robert H

  1. Posted

    Speaking from experience: I recommend you get out of that trade ASAP. I know that sounds extreme, but please hear me out.

     

    I made the mistake of holding $10K worth of RAD overnight last summer. My limit was off by a few pennies at the closing bell and I didn't want to exit in after-hours. What was the worst that could happen, right?

     

    Next day it opened lower than my entry and closed even lower than that. I thought I'd hold it until break-even or some favourable price. The day after, it popped a bit, but I missed the exit. Finally, on June 29 I woke up to this:

     

    RAD

     

    Being the stubborn fool I was, I continued holding it for weeks in hopes of some recovery. I searched everywhere for information that justified my long position. Finally, I bit the bullet and sold somewhere around $2.25 for a 45% loss. Definitely not rad, dude.

     

    I don't mean to spook you--especially over the long weekend--but never let a day trade turn into a swing trade. You will think of all sorts of reasons not to get out with a loss since you're now biased in one direction. I'm not saying that something like this will happen to you, but as day traders we aren't in the business of holding positions overnight. Our initial decisions are based on very short time frames; the longer you hold the more risk you are being exposed to.

     

    Best of luck.

  3. Posted

    I recently funded my IB Canada account and use DAS. Here are my observations:

     

    1. Make sure the Buying Power in DAS matches your IB account summary. Mine do not. DAS shows my BP:Equity ratio as 4:1, while IB shows 3.333:1. I believe this is because my account is under $25k USD (Canadian).

     

    2. DAS should prevent you from exceeding your BP. I tested this multiple times in SIM, and I sure hope it works with live. The order basically gets rejected with a warning about BP exceeded. Hopefully somebody else can confirm this in a live account. Again, this assumes that your DAS and IB BP match (point 1 above).

     

    3. The IB link you shared has a lot of information which I think complicates things for day trading. In your situation, you have $140k BP. As far as I'm aware, that is calculated real-time from your Equity. Say you enter into a $50K position. That leaves you with $90k BP for any new positions. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

     

    The part I'm unsure of is what happens if the $50k position increases in value to $75k intraday. Does the gain have to be realized before it is added to Equity? Or is unrealized gain added to Equity in real-time? I'll check this next week and get back to you.

  4. Posted

    SpeedTrader (www.speedtrader.com) is offering our members a flat commission rate of $2.95/trade, regardless of share size. A minimum of $30,000 is required to open an account and PDT rules apply. SpeedTrader uses DAS Pro as their trading platform. They offer day trading margin of 4:1 and overnight margin of 2:1.

     

    If you generate $450 or more in monthly commissions, the SpeedTrader Pro platform fee is waived.

     

    Please mention Bear Bull Traders as a referral in your application to receive the discounted rate.

     

    UPDATE: March 28, 2018:

    $500 in free trades or 1 month free (whichever comes first) from SpeedTrader for us https://speedtrader.com/bearbulltraders/ also $2.95/trade flat fee or 0.0039/share

    • Like 2

  5. Posted

    This is a very common question, so here is a breakdown of the Account Report in DAS. To access the report, navigate to menu Tools > Account Report.

    Please note that the commissions assume SureTrader's rate structure, and may not necessarily match your broker's fees. If you plan on using Interactive Brokers, a good estimate of commissions is to multiply number of shares traded (B below) x $0.005.

     

    DAS Account Report

     

    ====================[TOP]====================

    [A] Tickets - A Ticket represents any and all executions that result from one order being entered. Regardless of how many partial executions result from one order being sent, only one ticket is generated. One Ticket = one commission.

    [b Shares - Number of shares bought/sold and shorted/covered

    [C] SEC - Securities and Exchange Commission fee calculated as a percentage of the dollar value of the trade. Read more on Investopedia.

    [D] FINRA - Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Trading Activity Fee. Read more.

    [E] Trade P&L - Gross profit/loss before any commissions or fees. E = L+C+D+G

    [F] Commission - Based on SureTrader's commissions structure. Unsure of exact calculation used; could be $4.95 per round-trip trade (?) Other users who are with IB say it could be using tiered commission rates, or $1/ticket.

    [G] ECN - Fee or credit for removing or adding liquidity to the market, respectively. Read more.

    [H] Net P&L - Net profit/loss after all commissions and fees. H = E-F-C-D-G, or H = L-F

     

    ====================[TOTALS]====================

    Total Trades - Total tickets, equal to A above

    [J] Bought Shares - Total shares bought/covered

    [K] Sold Shares - Total shares sold/shorted

    [L] Day-trade P&L - Profit/Loss before commissions, but including ECN, SEC, FINRA. L = E-C-D-G

    [M] Total ECN - Equal to G above

    [N] Total SEC - Equal to C above

    [O] Total FINRA - Equal to D above

     

    In Summary, the value in H is your take home pay/loss at the end of each trading day.

    • Like 4
    • Thanks 1

  6. Posted

    For those who subscribe to the DAS Deluxe package, here's a tip on how to boost your stock market data feed up to Premuim/Elite levels for free! All you need to do is contact DAS and ask them to swap your Options Level 2 data for ARCA book. There is no additional cost. This, of course, assumes you don't plan to trade options.

     

    DAS Packages

     

    After they confirm the switch has been made, close and re-open DAS. You should see additional ACB limit orders on the L2 Montage tab, as well as the complete ARCA Book.

     

    ARCA Montage

     

    Contact DAS support through the DAS web form or via e-mail at [email protected].

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

  7. Posted

    EBAY ABCD/Moving Average Trend – February 1, 2018

     

    EBAY was on our watchlist after gapping up big in the pre-market. The stock was at new all-time highs (ATH). At the Open I couldn't find any clear direction, until about 10 AM an ABCD pattern was clearly forming. I patiently waited for a bottom to be put in and quickly calculated the setup variables. My stop loss would be somewhere around $45.80 (point C), with the first profit target at $46.50 (point B). If I could get a good entry around $46, then my profit-to-loss potential was somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2.5.

     

    EBAY ABCD/MAT

     

    I waited for point C to clearly form and then went long on a new 5-min high. On the very next candle, there was a pullback towards VWAP but I held my ground. I could have easily panic sold below my entry, but the price was still above my stop loss. As the stock continued to make higher highs and higher lows, I noted that we were riding the 9 EMA. At 10:30, EBAY dipped below the MA but it didn't close below it--so I held.

     

    After riding the Moving Average Trend for nearly 45 minutes. I took some profit at $46.50. I continued taking profit all the way up to $47. When I saw a Shooting Star Doji form at around 11 AM, I sold my remaining shares. The stock broke below the 9 EMA shortly after and trended back to VWAP.

     

    Not everyone is comfortable being in/out of momentum trades in 5 minutes or less. This was a great example of using the classic ABCD strategy to gain a favorable entry, and exercising patience during a slow but profitable trade.

  9. Posted

    I mentioned this trick in the chat today as the topic of emotional trading came up.

     

    Over-trading and revenge trading are sins we are all guilty of. At times we tell ourselves: Done for the day! I'm just going to observe the markets. Then we end up taking a trade out of boredom/FOMO. Well there's a feature in DAS that will physically prevent you from making a trade.

     

    In the Montage, click the little lock icon. It will go from green to red (not the day trading strategy, lol). Orders, hot buttons, and hotkeys are now disabled for this Montage.

    Montage Lock

     

    I know it sounds pretty extreme to lock yourself out, but even the most disciplined traders can have lapses in self-control.

  11. Posted

    I use Andrew's settings without the red, just a pure grey scale. It's one less colour for my brain to process. Please see below for the RGB values.

     

    Andrew's Tier Colours:

    Andrew L2

    Group 0: 255,255,255

    Group 1: 247,239,239

    Group 2: 222,222,222

    Group 3: 240,198,198

    Group 4: 206,206,206

    Group 5: 231,173,173

    Group 6: 181,181,181

    Group 7: 231,148,148

     

    My Tier Colours:

    My L2

    Group 0: 255,255,255

    Group 1: 230,230,230

    Group 2: 205,205,205

    Group 3: 180,180,180

    Group 4: 155,155,155

    Group 5: 130,130,130

    Group 6: 105,105,105

    Group 7: 80,80,80

     

    For reference, here is how to change the L2 Tier Color in DAS:

    Right-click Montage > Level 2 Config

    Click the Color Group X > Define Custom Colors

    Enter RGB values in green boxes below:

    Edit Colors

    • Like 2

  14. Posted

    IB has a $10,000 USD funding minimum for both Canadians and Americans. US residents need $25k worth of equity to avoid being flagged a Pattern Day Trader. Canadians are exempt from the PDT rules.

     

    Questrade has L2 and no required minimum. Their platform--IQ Edge--isn't the greatest, but it supports basic hotkeys. I have my TFSA, RRSP, and a Margin account with Questrade. Commissions are relatively cheap compared to other Canadian brokers.

     

    TD Canada Trust is another option. They have a popular platform called Think or Swim.

  21. Posted

    EDIT 16-APR-2018: With the help of Raymond W, we've been able to define a single hotkey for flipping an open position:

    Simulator: ROUTE=MARKET;Share=Pos*2;TIF=DAY+;SEND=REVERSE

    Interactive Brokers: ROUTE=SMRTM;Share=Pos*2;TIF=DAY+;SEND=REVERSE

     

    Note that this hotkey will send a market order.

     

    =====

     

    I'm trying to define a single hotkey to switch an open position. For now, I was able to create two separate hotkeys for switching a long-to-short, and a short-to-long.

     

    Flip Long to Short

    ROUTE=SMRTL;Share=Pos*2;Price=Bid-.05;TIF=DAY+;SELL=Send

     

    Flip Short to Long

    ROUTE=SMRTL;Share=Pos*2;Price=Ask+.05;TIF=DAY+;BUY=Send

    • Thanks 1

  25. Posted

    Sweet desk, Ryan! Makes me want to get one too. I'll have to see what options we have up here in Canada.

     

    I'm an avid cable management enthusiast, if I say so myself. Spent hours with velcro, double-sided tape, and zip-ties to tuck away every single cable into my desk's built-in tray. You've done a great job also by the looks of it.

    Cable Management

     

     

    are you satisfied across the board?

     

    I see what you did there, Lee. No pun intended? Have I ever told you that you're a stand-up guy? lol

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