Tough day for Zoomie. Stopped out for break-even on Sigma Designs Inc (Nasdaq: SIGM):
… and then stopped out for a loss on Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd ADR (Nasdaq: SNDA). And then tried again and stopped out of SNDA. And then tried a third time and stopped out of SNDA. I remember when I was first trying daytrading, I went short SNDA and it went against me, and I was dumb enough to hold it overnight. It opened down big the next day and I even made a profit (but don’t you ever ever EVER try that–I was just lucky!). So, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for this stock, even if it did beat up Zoomie today.
| Stocks Mentioned In This Article | |
|---|---|
| Stock | Links |
| SIGM |  |  |  |
| SNDA | | | |
November 29th, 2006 at 9:31 pm
To move or not to move the initial stop loss is a daily dilemma for me. It feels so logical to move it to breakeven, but then again the most logical thing is not always to most profitable. When I get a full 1.25-1.5R loss (stop + slippage + commission) then I think about the Phantom and how I should have exited at the first sign of weakness.
Let’s hope tomorrow will be better.
Cheers,
NoGreedNoFear
November 30th, 2006 at 3:44 am
phooey is right…sigm ended up with a huge r:r from your entry
on a positive note u found two excellent candidates with your patented alphabet strategy…if you can, shoot richard an email, and have him post what is the letter of the day as soon as you can…if you say “s” or “t” at least i will know what direction to look
November 30th, 2006 at 7:16 am
NoGreed: I usually move my stop to break even once my initial risk has been covered. I have a lot of break even trades, and some move without me, but I think it helps my P/L over the long term. Over the last 11 weeks months, I only have 5 or so trades with a full R1 loss.
John: LOL. Letter of the day is “Z”. Let’s go get some!
November 30th, 2006 at 9:54 am
zoomie: lol
November 30th, 2006 at 9:59 am
Edit : 11 weeks
November 30th, 2006 at 1:20 pm
“Over the last 11 weeks, I only have 5 or so trades with a full 1R loss.”
Very impressive Zoomie !
I have a few questions about your stops :
1)When you move your stop to breakeven, do you move it to the entry bar high/low or your entry price ?
2)Do you move your stop once a bar closes 1R above or moves away 1R from your entry price ?
I hope you don’t mind my questions. These are minor details but I think are still important.
Thanks.
NoGreedNoFear
December 6th, 2006 at 10:05 pm
NoGreed,
Sorry about my delay in my post. I didn’t see your question.
1) When and if I move my stop to “break-even” I move it to the entry bar high, minus a penny or two for longs(opposite for shorts).
2) I generally move my stop to the high of the entry bar for longs, minus a penny or two, once the trade moves more than R1 in my direction, not necessarily closes above R1 in my direction. I will also look and see where the 5 ema is and where the current candle low is for stop placement. I place stops to cut losses but not to protect profits.