Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Discussion Topic: How are You Trading This Market


I am interested in how my readers are trading the current market. What's your market bias? Are you going with longs, shorts or both? What trading vehicles? Favored setups? Leave a comment below or email me at SinghJD1@aol.com

As most of you know, over the past few months I have tried to be patient and focused on trading extremes. The idea is to catch snap back rallies or pullbacks based off overbought (short) or oversold conditions (long).

8 comments:

aagopian said...

Overall short the S&P including retailers and restaurants. Increasing shorts on all market rally's.

JB said...

Thanks much for a great blog and insights.

I'm pretty new to tech analysis but trying gain as much insight as I can and find what works for me. So far a few things seem to be working. Your critque would be most welcome.

I'm basically trading ranges or momentum on the more highly leveraged ETF's.

Momentum over days on things like DXO or DUG. Momentum over minutes on things like FAS/FAZ, SRS/URE, flipping in between at different points in the day.

Intraday stuff seems to be working ok so far with the market being so choppy. I like opening gaps too. I look at several matched ETF's and try to find what is moving the most and may make a good trade.

I'm not trading with much down side, I buy and set up a braketed trade. If I can make 4-5% or so that is fine, and then out.

I've set my trailing stop on intraday stuff as low as 1% or .5% depending.

I'm not trading a lot of my balance this way. Less than 20% of tradeable cash exposed and low risk due to stops.

I read your blog for targets and advice. Also some others for macro news and message boards where I have come to respect the opinions of select folks over the last few months of watching their track record.

When there is a macro move setting up, then I will go all in and go with it. I expect market down large at somepoint in 2009, S&P 600 range or lower.

market folly said...

seeing way more short setups than longs and so leaning that way. we prob hold trades a little bit longer than you do though so keep that in mind. (mainly playing equities)

been waiting and watching in oil for its next pop up on oversold conditions.. been a textbook play each time.

also, wondered if you'd want to do a link exchange with us (marketfolly.com). we do hedge fund tracking and general market commentary. think adding each other's links would be very complementary given the different styles of content. thanks.

marketspeculatortradereport said...

Some responsed e-mailed to me:

I think you are exactly right- wait for extremes to place a trade. particularly in this sideways market. My fear is that your subscribers will become impatience and want more trading suggestions. I hope you will not succumb to the pressure. You have made some good calls and I am thinking about subscribing to your service starting next week.

marketspeculatortradereport said...

Some responses emailed to me:

time decay - butterlys, credit spreads, iron condors, double calendars or diagonals.

day trade scalps.

marketspeculatortradereport said...

Some responses e-mailed to me:

trade my usual setups. there are less than before, but when they come they work great. I have made 10 percent of the trades I normally make, but with a higher win rate.

The Market Speculator said...

Some responses e-mailed to me:

i typically have been trading the extremes also, mostly using leveraged etfs.

I am much better at playing longs than shorts but typically have been using 75/25 long short/ration. I havent been trading breakdowns for the shorts, mostly stalls at resistance levels (moving averages or price restistance). I am impulsive so i need to find shorts that are right at a major resistance level so that i can pick a stop right above it otherwise its a disaster for me!

the oversold rubberband trade has probably been my most effective in terms of gains. Its easy to look for and a pretty simple trade(not too many indicators).

The Market Speculator said...

Some responses e-mailed to me:

I was long the russell most of the month got out early but made a profit. Now i long the russell and long the financials for a trade. Middle of last week shorted the first time srs and closed out friday for a gain. I never shorted before so i am learning but i would rather be long. I would love to see this market go up and stop reading about not the bottom yet that is why i need to learn about shorting. I have been only trading etfs because i have lost alot on individual stock and i have been doing well. I look a stochastics for my entry points. Only been trading for 4 months now. One thing i notice that when people are positive that is a good point to get out because things are over bought then and negitive get in. I read your web page everyday and like what you say.