Best Thread US day traders thread.

Here's a thread that offers an insight into US stocks that are currently interesting.Stocks that can move either way for one reason or another.Any info in fact that the US day trader could be interested in.

Some of the stocks picked for intra day trading go on to fly and become fantastic opportunities for the end of day trader as well.Here's two that seem to be coming up day afer day.Both were up 100% last month.ANTP and BOOM.

Today Non farm Payrolls is out at 0830est

Earnings guidance kicks in for many companies starting April 11th.Google's is after the close on Apr 21st.These figures always offer some great oppertunities.
For those that dont know.US day traders can trade before and after market hours to take advantage of these potential moves as soon as the figures are released.

Naz

The Overall market gapped up.

Best moves of note were the breakout of GOOG (charts 3,4) and the collapse of RIMM(charts1,2)

Hi Naz

im pretty new to us stocks and trading. Who do you use for news feeds? I'm using yahoo. Also do you buy weekly stock reports for example, on yahoo,analysts there charge around $10 us for a report on say msft.

Thanks Millsy

Hi Millsy,

Yahoo is good for news.Personally i dont pay anyone for any stock reports.The reason is i dont want someone else's opinion sticking in the back of my mind and clouding my thoughts.I trade what i see not what others think although ts a great to chat and read things outside market hours for leisure purposes.

I tend to use a complete range of chart set ups and strategies to deal with most situations that i 've built up over the last six years of day trading the US markets for a living.

Take yesterday.I didn't know if the market would run or sell off.If i was an index player i would have to make a decision probably based on lots of analysis and miss out on some of the move until it was starting to be confirmed.At the very worst be the wrong way and suffer some kind of loss.

A very,very simple basic stock strategy is to pick two stocks a long and a short.Ride the one that works well and kill off the one that fades.If the market goes either way one of them will benefit. Yesterday it was RIMM which fell about $2.30 before the bounce.Which i show in the attached chart.

Naz

I think your charts and moves are great Naz but I think that you should add a word of caution to newbies that it may not be a good idea to initially trade stocks like RIMM, GOOG, BOOM, TZOO etc.

These type of stocks are very fast ( and far reaching ) movers and while it is possible to make very fast and large profits from their moves, a relative newbie might find himself ( or herself - protection from the feminists ) in deep trouble if he ( or she ) were to find himself on the wrong side of a trade in any one of these stocks.

But otherwise, please keep posting. This could be a great replacement to " Trading the US the Naz and Mr Charts way" which has sadly fallen into decline following the sad departure of Richard.

I very much agree with Salty here, this looks like the start of a great thread Naz, but would caution new and or inexperienced traders in these stocks to tread very carefully. Make sure you have all your i's dotted and your t's crossed in the risk management department Handling these is a bit like gettig off your local pony club horse and climbing onto a thoroughbred racehorse.

I take your point guys and this thread is supposed to be a much more gentle thread on US day trading than the other that you mentioned.

Many traders get whipped around something chronic on many other markets trying to guess the wiggles and giggles during the day.Whereas picking the right stocks that move and scaling back to really small size can help a traders progression a lot faster.An $80 stock trading with 1/4 your normal size is emotionally like trading a $20 stock.

However i believe the larger moves will educate you to look for bigger runs rather than paying lots of commissions and taking 20c and 30c here and there.Although we all have to do that at times.

Very often stocks that become day traders favourites because of their movement become interesting for EOD traders, thats one of the reasons for mentioning ANTP and BOOM.

Hopefully this thread will give everyone a chance to mention their own favourites.

I tend to trade these fast stocks a little later in the day when they have slowed down somewhat but are still giving pretty damn good moves.

I do trade RIMM quite often but usually later on in the afternoon and evening - I find it safer that way.

That is my way of tackling them.

Thats great Salty, thanks for your take on things.

Thanks Naz - and I will leave the first hour of trading on these "racehorses" to experts like yourself.

I will trade relative donkeys like AMZN, YHOO, KLAC, MERQ etc. etc... in the first hour and attack the "thoroughbreds" like RIMM and GOOG after Emmerdale is over.

Naz,
I would also like to say thank you for starting this thread which I will follow with great interest. Obviously you have your strategies that you want to keep to yourself or, possibly, share with your students. That said, any additional info' about why you enter / exit your positions will enrich and support the charts enormously.
For the benefit of people like millsy500 who may not be as familiar with your trading style as the rest of us, would it be fair to say that broadly speaking you rely upon good old fashioned TA for your setups and that your entries are governed by the action on level II?
Cheers,
Tim.

The great thing about day trading the US markets is that there is something there for everyone and every standard of trader.

I know one guy that grinds out a full time living just catching the small moves over lunch,he dosn't want the market to go anywhere too fast,just slowly up and down catching the waves until he's made his money. I know another that is good watching out for morning collapses and picking the rebound if it comes.Others that play earnings moves.Scalpers catching 15c-20c.T/A traders using their skills,Momentum traders,Traders using scanners,News play traders.First hour traders,Morning move traders,afternoon move traders,last hour traders.Pattern recognition traders etc,etc.All day trading the US markets but with different strategies,playing different value stocks.

Hopefully on this thread we can explore ALL types of stocks in different intra day time frames.From the very fast moves to the very slowest,along with any opinion along the way.Making it, as the title says a "US day traders thread."

Naz

I just crossed over there with you Tim.

Yes i will keep my course details private.Any previous student is very willing to e mail me at any time about anything.

My style is as you say old style t/a set ups but with a different slant on them,because i also follow the level 2 screen and i believe the market makers are for ever fading these moves now. T/A is so well known that everyone knows where the t/a traders are going to enter,so i play it the way the market makers want to.

I also play my own complete set of proprietary chart set ups built up over many years and i use different trading strategies to go along with these.At times i also play the rock solid strategies that many many US traders know so well.

I tend to favour the fast movers,but appreciate there is so much there for everyone.I thought a general thread might be of interest. Any news,earnings that might be of interest,chat,different trades,Hot stocks during the day,etc,etc.

Lets see how it goes.

Naz

Hi Naz,
Looking forward to seeing how your thread developes, I primarily trade ETF's, predominantly SPY, DIA and SMH, I have found them much better mannered than individual company stocks. More of a carthorse than a racehorse But they treat me well and I feelmore in control with them. At the same time I am always looking to diversify my range of plays, it would be nice to have something to watch, and trade on the days when the market is chopping sideways all day and I am sit on hands, (trading ETF's teaches good dicipline). I have traded AAPL off and on not that long back, and used to trade TASR when it was in the $20's and $30's, mostly playing breakouts from the first 30 min range. TZOO as mentioned by salty can be a good one, never played it on the short side, but like the heavy short interest, can be a great squeeze play.

Hi Rougetrader,

Great to hear what your up to.I like ETF's as well.Mainly QQQQ,DIA and SMH.I include the ECN books in my level 2 screen and basically play the Q's with no spread.

For others,ETF's are exchange traded funds.QQQQ follows the Nasdaq 100,DIA tracks the DOW and SPY tracks the S&P.

They're are a great way to trade and the liquidity in the major ones is a real bonus.I might be wrong but the QQQQ has as bigger daily volume than many of the major stocks in the world.

Naz

Trading styles.

Naz, Your discussion of trading styles is most interesting. I would like to know more about what Momentum Trading is and how it works. Also, the use of Scanners. I saw that E-Signals have Scanners. Is hopping on percentage gainers basically Momentum Trading?

John

Hi Naz, Everyone

Think i will be staying away from the likes of GOOG for the moment ! As i am new i'm loooking mainly at EOD charts can your setups be used on these aswell?

Thanks Millsy

Hi Pizbot,

I suppose different traders have slightly different ideas of the various styles of trading mentioned at times.I like to think as momentum as being straight out of the gate trades,however someone else might think as momentum as something that makes a break from it first hour of trading and runs all day.

HI Millsy,

Lots of traders have their own chart set ups in many different time frames and i'm no different.Some will work intra day only and some will work in both EOD and intra day.
Markets change and i believe many intra day traders can spot these changes and adapt new strategies and set ups to take advantage of them very quickly.
A lot of old set ups in some books are being faded because everyone knows them.

The best lesson i ever had was when i was working with a US trader that had an awesome set up that i still use in an adapted form today.He'd played it for about 2 years and one day he looked at the screen and said "they've changed the way they're playing that move, its now ***** "
So we all duly added the extra part of the move in to our plan and away off we went again.Now three years later it's still working.

However it taught me to be ever vigilant and watch to see if certain things are slowly changing and if they are make sure i change as well.

Naz

Here are two earnings coming out this week that might be of interest.

After the close on Tues is Research in motion -RIMM
After the close on Weds is Schnitzer steel -SCHN

Naz

A lot of old set ups in some books are being faded because everyone knows them.

Click to expand...

Can you name some specific set-ups that fall into this category Naz ?