Welcome to the Gutter

Stockfetcher is an online service. Should work wi...

2012-01-11T19:53:05.614-08:00

Stockfetcher is an online service. Should work with any web browser whether Mac or PC.

This really sounds great. I'm an Apple guy, w...

2012-01-10T18:38:04.222-08:00

This really sounds great. I'm an Apple guy, which is normally wonderful. I guess there's not much chance of an Apple version?

A brilliant article. There is just one thing I dis...

2011-09-22T02:40:46.670-07:00

A brilliant article. There is just one thing I disagree with. It seems strange to me to call chart patterns "indicators". There is an essential difference between indicators which can be exactly defined and computed (like various types of moving average crossovers) and, what I sneeringly call "resistrology" – people looking at charts and arbitrarily drawing trend lines, channels, and, well, those heads and shoulders and stuff. The latter is, at least to an overwhelming part, nonsense, but the former might well be usable – only those who have discovered indicators that actually have predictive value, are unlikely to ever publish them.

Thanks, Charlie! Good to hear from you. Glad you...

2011-08-06T12:39:23.956-07:00

Thanks, Charlie! Good to hear from you. Glad you are well.

Thank you, Rockoption!

Saw on Profitly, you are going parabolic! Very n...

2011-08-06T11:11:07.986-07:00

Saw on Profitly, you are going parabolic! Very nice leveraging without too much drawdown. Keep up the good work. Rockoptions

Congrats, I am still lurking. This is very cool....

2011-08-02T17:22:47.876-07:00

Congrats, I am still lurking. This is very cool. Glad you are recovering from kite ride!

Charlie G. aka Stock Rook

Thanks, RJ! Good to hear from you!

2011-07-27T21:18:08.585-07:00

Thanks, RJ! Good to hear from you!

James, Congratulations! This is extrememely impre...

2011-07-23T11:56:04.824-07:00

James,

Congratulations! This is extrememely impressive. I remember that we started trading together and I fell off the wagon but you kept marching on. I am super happy that you are in the 10% of the traders who make money and I think you deserve it.

May you get to be a full time trader very soon,

RJ

I live on the West Coast which allows me to do som...

2011-07-22T17:58:38.628-07:00

I live on the West Coast which allows me to do some prep during the premarket and trade for a few hours before I go to work. I also have a desk computer job at work where I'm able to keep an eye on the market and enter a few trades here and there. I do my scans at night and also update my trade statistics then. I don't need to study as much as I used to but when I did I did a lot of studying at night.

I did have a 9 month period in 2009 where I was unemployed which helped because I was able to devote full time to market hours.

My durations of trades are all over the place...anywhere from minutes to a month. It depends on the strategy that I'm using for that particular stock.

Michael, I definitely agree with you, especially ...

2011-07-22T17:37:25.552-07:00

Michael,

I definitely agree with you, especially with how you mention the importance of eliminating what doesn't work. That can go a very long way in helping with success.

Wow, your trading history is very impressive! I ...

2011-07-22T10:50:07.522-07:00

Wow, your trading history is very impressive!

I would like to ask, since you still maintain a full time job, how do you find time to research your trading ideas, keep up with the market, etc.? How much time do you devote to trading, are you watching the market incessantly?

And what is the average duration of your trades ie. how long do you usually hold a position?

Thanks for this blog; I just found it and it has been an inspiration to read. Keep it up!

Nice post, James. I found that my trading did not ...

2011-07-22T08:27:19.854-07:00

Nice post, James. I found that my trading did not become consistent until I really started tracking performance by strategy and breaking it down into pretty small parts. For me that happened in 2010. Now I can say that my worst month this year is not just positive but as much profit as my average month in 2009.

Once a trader has a successful strategy or strategies I think it is more useful to stop doing what doesn't work than to worry about improving what does work. For me that meant mostly focusing on true pump & dumps and trading fewer nasdaq stocks.

Here's looking forward to you hitting the next milestone and joining the ranks of the happily unemployed like me.

Thanks for the comments, guys. Glad you liked it....

2011-07-21T22:01:04.392-07:00

Thanks for the comments, guys. Glad you liked it. Audihere, you'll get there. Just stay disciplined as you said. And I can't recommend enough to keep detailed stats of your trades and setups. This will force you to really think about your trading and that you're not just taking trades randomly.

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting. Just joine...

2011-07-21T21:28:49.019-07:00

Thanks for sharing. Very interesting. Just joined IU myself. Hoping to be able to catch up to everyone else one day. It is hard and have to stay disciplined. So much to learn.

Audihere

Great article. very enlightening.

2011-07-21T21:02:32.650-07:00

Great article. very enlightening.

Hi James wanted to chat with you about your tradin...

2011-06-26T03:24:05.182-07:00

Hi James
wanted to chat with you about your trading, I trade futures mainly but have been trying to expand the horizon, if your up for it let me know when works for you
Thanks Paul

If the mouse was not connected to the compuetr, ho...

2011-06-04T11:10:46.933-07:00

If the mouse was not connected to the compuetr, how could they establish a pattern?

Jamal, It depends on your broker. If you go with...

2011-04-12T21:29:29.496-07:00

Jamal,

It depends on your broker. If you go with IB they automatically do all the overnight BP calculations for you in real time so you don't have to worry about it. Just remember with IB (or any other broker) you can't hold more than 2x leverage overnight (versus 4x leverage for day trading). IB will automatically liquidate positions about 15 minutes before the market close if you are going to exceed your overnight buying power.

With Speedtrader, you can't day trade with the cash that comes from liquidation of an overnight position. This will be reflected by your intraday buying power. So let's say you hold 20k overnight and have your next day day-trade buying power is 40K. Even if you liquidate the 20k overnight positions, you are still stuck with only 40K of buying power (i.e., it won't increase to 60K). You won't have your full day trading buying power until the next day.

I like IB the best in terms of all the buying power stuff; it's much more user-friendly and you know exactly where you stand in terms of margin, buying power, etc at all times. With Speedtrader, the software doesn't always correctly calculate things...one time I exceeded my overnight buying power and got a Reg T call even though the software said I was OK.

Hi James, I'm about to make the switch from p...

2011-04-12T06:54:34.918-07:00

Hi James,

I'm about to make the switch from prop to broker (specifically Interactive Brokers) and I remembered this post because it highlights the margin call stuff, something I have never had to deal with when I traded prop. I Just wanted to try to understand it better. For example, (I don't plan on using any leverage/margin by the way) if my account was 20k and I held 20k in stock from yesterday and exited that today at break-even, I would now have 20k in cash. But are you saying I couldn't use that 20k to make new trades without incurring a margin call?

Many thanks.

Great article all 'round. Also good plug for t...

2011-03-27T18:29:18.607-07:00

Great article all 'round.
Also good plug for trading puts (when available) instead of going short!

Thanks, BC!

2011-03-05T08:05:52.830-08:00

Thanks, BC!

Good luck, James. Onward and upward!

2011-03-02T06:16:30.905-08:00

Good luck, James. Onward and upward!

Thanks, guys!

2011-02-13T17:34:10.490-08:00

Thanks, guys!

Good job, very inspirational!

2011-02-02T17:50:17.503-08:00

Good job, very inspirational!

Been reading your blog for a long time. Great job ...

2011-01-31T15:26:02.727-08:00

Been reading your blog for a long time. Great job man. Keep it up!