ecadaret

Well I didn't win and i fizzled out in the last week due to improper position sizing and one very costly hotkey mistake on a halted stock that halted in the opposite direction from which it halted from. I am still quite happy from my result at the end of the competition because I learned SO MUCH with regard to low floats which were mostly the primary stocks InPlay last month. I also realized to trade low floats effectively, I need to use filters to identify their movement early on and I also need to develop filters to identify longer term hold trades on larger cap stocks. For the past 5-months I have not been using filters at all since I needed to collect as much trading data as I could to identify the important variables. I developed some filters this weekend and i still have more to develop, but today was a major winning day for me thanks to filters helping me narrow in on the stocks that are worth trading. As they say "you are only as good as the stocks you trade" and last month was definitely a reminder of that. I look forward to competing in the next competition especially after refining these filters to find the best opportunities. Great job to everyone who competed and to the BBT #1 and #3 winners! How exciting!

@yenhsu I'm in the area. I would be happy to be your accountability partner and give you feedback. I have been day trading for 1.5 years and recently found my consistency with everything but non-low floats but I still have plenty to improve on (over trading, patience, etc.). PM me.

Holding in the top 8 and finished this week #6. It's been a challenging week for me: lack of sleep, impatience, over trading, etc. but I persisted and learning how to do better. Glad I am still building my total account at the end of each week so far. I'm the only trader that I can see who is consistently in the top 8 at the end of each week. If anything, I am definitely proud of myself for that fact and even if I don't finish in the top 3, I would be perfectly happy knowing I was consistently in the top 8 and at the end of each week growing my total gain. I am confident I can finish next week strong and finish in the top 5 or if I am really on it, #1. It'll be interesting to see since a lot of people will likely make big trades next week so we might have so crazy large numbers. My goal is to trade consistently as I normally do with better sleep the night before, more patience, and less trades to finish strong by putting on quality trades and hopefully some of those are big winners (still haven't quite figured out how to trade the low floats consistently). Best of luck to everyone in the competition! =]

Clinched the #1 spot today. BEST 422 also did well at #3 today. I still have crashing issues, but able to work around it when I need to in a pinch using the phone app (also buggy). Turning off the risk controls and being disciplined has kept me on track.

@peterB I will try that. Thank you for the suggestion!

Hi all, Looks like me and another BBT member are in the top 8 for this week! I don't know who else is participating, but I have had a rough week trading: DAS Trader crashing almost every hour multiple times in the morning session, Risk control pop up windows are CRAZY LARGE and block the entire screen and were VERY distracting (finally just turned them off since it made me take losses and I was locked out all day Tuesday when I could have made big $$$!), and the normal struggles when competing, but I am feeling really good now and totally ready to win this thing. Looking at other traders results on this list, it looks like some of them are breaking the rules a bit so I am unsure if they actually enforce them. Either way, I plan to stick within the confines of the rules to practice my discipline. Cheers to a successful week 1 and congrats to BEST422 who is also with BBT! -Erik

Thank you! For ideas and inspiration, I would check out TraderVue and Edgewonk.

Your stop is really tight. Are you going for a quick scalp trade? The alternative is you adjust your position size to accommodate a wider stop and if the position is working, you add to it. Keep in mind that once an order is submitted and on the book, MM's tend to knock you out, especially if it's a tight stop and you are too early on the large wave of order that make the price move in a direction. That's why i am suggesting above because you don't show your entire hand to the MM's and you can be "mask" your true intention.

There is no specific individualized coaching and support for DNA as they don't advertise that explicitly here. I have emailed Mike Bellafiore several times and he has provided me feedback that way. Don't be surprised if he asks you to provide a PlayBook trade which is the main documentation and journaling process that they teach in the course to improve your trading. The daily mentoring they advertise is access to their intern traders mentoring sessions, among other sessions throughout the day, that you can listen in and watch. Since I work full time, I cannot attend anything past 8am PST, but you do get access to their archive of videos which is extensive. In the evenings when i have time i do watch videos. Nothing else like it of this quality out there IMO. Winning Trader is more focused on specific setups to learn and trade rather than DNA which provides the framework to trade successfully and understand the level of work and detail you need to put into your trades to plan, execute, and document. Both of which are required if you want to participate in the Equities Tryout they have going on and that Mike mentioned on the webinar. At some point i plan to do the Group Mentoring and Reading the Tape. Hope this helps answer your questions and others. A lot of the information is available on their website and if you want to learn more, contact them directly.

@Destiny I have done DNA and almost done working through Winning Trader. Their education is higher quality than the majority out there and I personally recommend them. Between SMB and BBT, you will see a return on your investment in your trading education if you put in the work and are disciplined with your trading. It has definitely made a difference for me to think and trade more like a professional. When I have adequate sleep, my day job isn't overwhelming/busy as heck, and I have time to implement a trading plan the night before and apply everything on the open, it makes a big difference in my trading performance.

@Michael P I am a novice Pythonista. Definitely a fan of open source tools like this you are working on. I'll throw my trades in and let you know of any feedback I have.

From your reply, I recommend you pick up a copy of Option Volatility & Pricing by Sheldon Natenberg. Understanding the mechanics of options is important before you trade them.

Unless you are ready to be a full-time professional trader, then it's worth considering. If not, don't waste your time. You won't be successful trading someone else's money until you are successful trading your own OR you get into a firm that will train you from scratch, but there are no guarantee's.

Update: CRWD - Closed CRWD at an average of $9.67/share FB - Considering the market choppiness in it's range, i'm waiting to see what happens before making the play on FB. NFLX - I missed the opportunity to get short with Puts, it was a fast move and It would have been profitable. That's alright. More opportunities always out there. SQ - I got stopped out at $64.10. The stock is looking pretty dead to me now and I don't know if there is a bounce left in it in the short term. I am moving on from watching it until it makes a strong move up to >= $65.

Hi all, Stock: CRWD Today it broke above $95 and it's holding at previous resistance (now I suspect as support) just below $95 at $94.90 where it closed the day. It's a little extended from the rising 5-day SMA, but it's holding above the intermediate term (using 30-min chart here) SMA. During the market (market = SPX) sell off days between 8/1 and 8/7, it held up fairly well and tested and held $82.50. Since then it has continued to trend indifferent to the market. A few considerations for future price action: 1. Consolidate around $95 before breaking higher. 2. Pull back and test $88.5 - $92.50 level before breaking higher 3. Drop and retest $82.50 if the market has another steep sell off. Considering this stock has a unique niche in the cloud cyber security space, i suspect this may be a strong stock for a swing trade depending on how the market behaves as it has shown sensitivity to the market evident in the both 30-min charts for the past 30 days. Trading plan for CRWD: Currently in a position near the week low as I saw it was holding $82.50 as support and with the market making a clean "double bottom" pattern, it made a strong reversal. I plan to see what Monday brings to see what it does. Depending on what happens... 1. If the market doesn't have news that brings it down and it moves near the $2,940 - $2,950 level and CRWD is breaking above $97.50, take a 1/3 off and wait for a test to $94.90 to possibly add back to the position depending on price action and market activity. 2. If the market does have news that brings it down and moves back to $2,900 and CRWD trades with market or continues to consolidate around $95, take a 1/3 off and wait to see if it drops and retests $88.50 - $92.50. I'll re-evaluate from there. Always a good thing when using the houses money to finance another A+ trade. Charts for reference: Stock: FB On the daily chart, it's making higher low's and higher high's since Dec 2018. On the 30-min chart, the 5-day SMA (yellow) is almost flattened out and the stock is now above. This seems like a possible long swing trade that is manageable with Options. It may have a pull back to $185 which is where it makes the most sense to take an entry with a favorable risk:reward ratio/setup. Trade plan Long: Wait for pull back to $185 and then put on a synthetic long of 2 contracts to play it for a push back to $200 with a 45-day expiration. If it drops to $181, take 1/2 off. If it moves up to $200, take 1/2 off and re-evaluate. Stock: NFLX On the daily chart, it seems to be holding the $300 level. The drop out candle at $300 seems isolated and the support level is around $307. This is not the best setup since it can go either direction, but the buyers seem somewhat keen to hold it up. The stock is above the 5-day SMA, but it's still declining and on the 30-min it's still making lower highs and lower lows. The recent market sell off seems to be contributing to the current price action. Trading plan Long: If the stock can break above $317, it seems that it would make a move back up to $330 and possibly $350. I would put on a regular slightly OTM bull call spread with a 45-day expiration. Trading plan Short: If the stock breaks $300 again, i would put on a slightly OTM bear put spread with a 14-day expiration and would cover fairly quickly since it'll likely have $5-15 move. Stock: SQ Square had surprise earnings beat, but suffered a large down move because of the market. It's in a oversold condition that if the market recovers and continues to move up, has a great risk:reward setup. Even with the large down move, it still is consolidating at a price that makes it a higher low on the daily chart. the 5-day SMA is in decline and the stock is trading around it, but since it moved so strongly with the market, it's showing similar characteristics. If the market makes a move, SQ will likely make a similar move. Trading plan Long: Currently in a synthetic long spread at $64.65 with a Stop set at $64.10. Plan to take partials at $68, $70, and all out at $75. May add back to position with Options or just common stock depending on price action testing previous resistance levels that recently became support and play for a swing move back to $80 depending on how market trades. Lot's of info here, but if you can provide any feedback Brian, that would be appreciated. I am particularly interested in your thoughts on FB and SQ. I also welcome feedback from anyone in the community. NOTE: Synthetic spreads are ADVANCED option strategies. If you are a newbie, I don't recommend them. Better to go for cheaper OTM calls or put spreads that meet your risk tolerance. Hope all is well -Cad

I'll be there. I look forward to meeting you William H and the rest of the group.

I use the Tape to exclusively to trade momentum plays, especially opening range plays. When i don't use the Tape, i usually don't trade well. The Tape is much more useful than the Order Book as a lot of manipulation occurs there, although it does have some value if you know what to look for those manipulations occurring. The Tape is the actual (note we can't see darkpool activity so it's not completely "actual") supply and demand driving the price where it goes so understanding how to read it is really useful. It gives me clues where to take profits and when to stop out if my original targets/stops don't seem like they'll be hit so i can risk manage a bit better. As Lee W pointed out, SMB has good videos on this. If you want to learn how to read it, record your screen on a few stocks and don't trade. Just watch it and look at the charts at the same time and focus on the speed, print colors (above ask, at ask, in between bid and ask, at bid, below bid), and the patterns. Especially pay attention in consolidation areas vs. strong moves vs. staircase moves. Take notes and watch your recordings a few times over. It'll start to make sense over time.

Hi all, I am curious if briefing.com is worth it for the In Play and In Play Plus subscriptions. I know some brokers provide In Play as part of what you get, but unsure which ones of those they are. Any insights into this would be helpful. I am currently working on developing a more well-rounded evening and morning routine for earnings season in general.

Yep. We'll see if it fails to break above or fakes out and breaks lower. If it doesn't fail or fake out, then it'll be interesting to see how much more it goes. What concerns me is the slowdown and then the drastic pickup in economic data. When things whipsaw like that in light of the tight labor market etc., it signals caution to me. Also the rebound is steep and so i still suspect around 50% retracement. I'm currently short term swing trading with options at the moment until i see a clear break lower then i'm going to go aggressively short like i did in October and December and then wait for the trend to develop downward, if any.

Hi all, I saw this article yesterday. The tax is fairly minimal, but what i think is silly is that it taxes all traders and it blames "high frequency trading" for the volatility of the market. We all know that the markets are volatile because of institutional traders making their moves and that is what drives the prices in significant ways. Everyone else joins in for the ride and try's to capitalize. I am not sure if similar bills like this have been proposed in the past (i am sure it has). Curious what ya'll think. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lawmakers-introduce-bill-to-tax-wall-street-211353714.html

Hi all, Want to see what everyone is thinking on the market direction. To me, i view it as a Triple Top and we are in the Distribution Phase of the market cycle and i think we likely will be heading lower and still in a bear market. Also, the S&P is hitting the 2800 area level for the fourth time in recent months and it's proving to again be resistance. If you look back into early 2018, we see this level multiple times again. Lastly, V-shape moves are rare and generally speaking, there is a retrace to 50% and can continue lower after some consolidation. Thoughts?

Worked perfectly! Thanks Robert!

Hi all, I think it would be helpful if we pool together our knowledge of trading education seminars, conferences, and online classes outside of BBT that people found/know of that are worth everyone time. I know for those who trade through their own S-Corps these would all equate to tax write-offs which has tax advantages. I'll start off with google searching results, but I am not knowledgeable on these so I'm hoping for those with experience and their input. Conference: https://conferences.moneyshow.com/tradersexpo-las-vegas/ Courses per topic: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/061214/best-daytrading-schools.asp

Anyone?

What are you using for your trading analysis?