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AbnormalReturns
08-04-2014,
Hello a couple of days ago I posted the little sense of direction I had and asked for advice. I got great replies and I truly appreciate them. Last week I planned on trading penny stock during pump and dumps, through the advice I was given I have completely altered my "strategy" it's hardly a strategy. I will be sharing this in hopes that you guys can help me adjust a tad more, so here it goes.

-I find trending stock, through social media and a couple of different websites to create a stock-list.
-I do look at penny stocks just to see if there's any obvious signs for an easy gain. Such as any "front-running, stocks in their pump phase usually last about 1 1/2 weeks before they're dumped. By the second dump it's the beginning of the end so I would consider learning to short these as I feel like this scenario plays out quite frequently. "FOR NOW I AM STICKING TO LARGE CAP STOCKS, just some thought.
-I'll usually skim the graphs for dips etc and say in this scenario I choose TESLA.
-The first thing I'll do is check the news to see if anything major is happening, like the q1 results kind of took me away from it because I don't anything about that stuff. But let's say in this scenario everything looks fine.
-I usually look at intraday-intramonth graphs, I'll check the 3 month to see if it's "kind of trending" I suppose.
-The first technical indicator I look at is volume, to see if there's any spikes in interest recently.
-I'm not super confident in buying when breaking resistance, I look more for the dips intra 5 day and monthly (I am looking to SWING trade.)
-I use bollinger bands in correlation with MACD ( these two indicators seem to often contradict themselves, and MacD seems a little more delayed than bollinger bands. Any advice on some indicators that work better in correlation with themselves?
-Finally, I set a limit order to try and kind of beat the spread. I don't have a step 2 or anything fancy like that. I'm simply using google finance.

It's probably pretty obvious that I'm very new to this and inexperienced, but I really am putting in an effort to learn. So I appreciate any advice at all.
NOTE: I'm not trading any real money and I don't plan to do so until I'm informed and have a real strategy. I have however, been trading on a simulator. With the little information I have posted above I have been averaging a 1%+ daily. I understand that once it's real money more objections come into play, and that's why I ask to be guided in the right direction, so I can grow some confidence.

When I do start trading I plan on selling my car, it's a 6 speed 97" BMW 540i. It's my absolute dream car and I figure I'll get about 3k for it, but I'm willing to chance it on this even if it's for a mere experience. Thanks in advance!

BlaineTarr
08-04-2014,
1. Forget social media. You won't win if you're following the herd. Use a screener to find stocks which match your criteria, and create your "watchlist" from those stocks. Good free screener at Finviz.com you can use now, and whatever broker you choose should have a screener to use after you're trading for real.

2. If you think you see a Pump&Dump, that's great. Take advantage if you believe you can. But don't go hunting for them. Just watch the price action of the stocks on your watchlist, and play whatever the market is giving you today. Realize that some days the market won't give you anything good to play. On those days, don't force a trade. Just log out and find something else to do, else you'll get frustrated and buy a stock that you'll regret later.

3. Swing Traders, in my opinion, shouldn't hold a stock more than one week, definitely not more than two weeks. Longer than that and you're just keeping your capital tied up. The trend from 3 months is most likely useless for today's purposes.

4. Most indicators are useless because they're showing you the past... a past with an undetermined timeframe. I usually just look at volume... along with the 10-day, 20-day, and 50-day moving averages... and from there I decide my entry and exit points.

5. Forget about "beating the spread". Not likely to happen. Decide your entry point and your exit point. If the "ask" matches (or betters) your entry point, then jump in. Otherwise, don't concern yourself with what other "bids" and "asks" are. You're not following the herd, remember? And once you have a broker, you can monitor from their platform (in real time) and won't need Google Finance (where some quotes are delayed).

AbnormalReturns
08-04-2014,
Thanks!
1. I don't know how I would use a stock screener to anticipate trending or rising stocks. Any videos you know of? It's hard to find good education since a lot of it is diluted with self promotion and bullcrap.
2.Yes I will only trade something if I'm extremely confident as I won't have a lot of finances to back me if I lose.
3. I tend to hold on overnight or for a couple days.
4.I will try to use those indications monday on my simulator.
5. I have no idea how to decide on an entry or exit point yet. That's too specific for the education thus far, any references so I can learn this as well?