Any Traders Out There?

[RayDunzl]

Gee, I wish I'd been paying attention instead of babbling here.

No problem, there will be another opportunity presenting itself in a few minutes.

 

[RayDunzl]

Given the low open interest and (at the moment, overnight on a holiday weekend) really low liquidity

This is "normal" liquidity for overnight YM.

A few bids, a few asks, 1 tick spread.

Hey, look at that pile of asks (17) on the last chart... Either won't go higher, or will make a nice stop run above.

Nope, they're safely short at the moment, and back to normal tiny liquidity.

 

[GD Fan]

I guess if you're only trading a 1-lot you can't do too much damage, especially if your book is flat when you leave the screens. Good luck.

 

[scott wurcer]

No, not trading gear...

Financial vehicles.

No, not so much investing...

Short term in and out, long or short.

What do you watch, and why?

Not me anymore, it was crazy in the 90's we were allowed to day trade our 401k's and use unexercised options as margin, even short our own stock. There were guys that spent all day doing it, some made and lost >1M on a weekly basis. I opted for real estate and doubled my 401k (it took some time). Slow and steady my personal experience.

 

[Tks]

Don't bother since the advent of institutions investing millions per few feet in server location real-estate being closest to ping for HFT (High Frequency Trading).

Not going to bother trying to compete with mathematicians hired-out or bored especially now that AI is being applied in some limited bespoke fashion. If I wanted to gamble, I'd just do poker.

If I had to invest, it'd just be bullshit pre-IPO hype based on recent crazes (for example something dear to me like Beyond Meat that debuted with a ridiculous upshot in value once they went public). For this sort of investing, it's just like when VR was getting lots of venture capitalist interest. You just have to have your ears to the ground and see what folks are hyping next. Nothing too hard, just be sure to bail quickly.

 

[RayDunzl]

Well...

I didn't expect the negative attitudes that have been expressed.

I feel better now.

Thank you!

 

[StevenEleven]

Tks has it right--to the extent he knows a human is not going to beat the AI computers a few feet from the trading infrastructure at their own game.

I'm a buy and hold guy. Period. No-load, no commisions, if it's an ETF or mutual fund, rock-bottom expense ratios. No nonsense, no fancy tricks. Fidelity is more flexible and feature-packed and Vangaurd is better at protecting you from your own human nature. If any dividends are issued I reinvest them immediately. Generally speaking the stock market is a gambling ring that's rigged for you--if you just invest and hold and just leave it alone. It's the middle class guy's entry point into the rich man's money for sitting on your butt and doing nothing game, and the sooner the middle class guy learns that, the better. My motto is "don't be stupid." I get a little high from buying, and I never sell. If I'll need the cash I don't invest it.

 

[RayDunzl]

Tonight's "let's just ignore this coronavirus stuff" trade is creeping along in a northerly direction with about $300 for the taking, at the moment...

I'd like to see 29388 print tonight, to trigger my sell, and hand me $1,009.

I don't have a lot of confidence in that, but it doesn't look unreasonable.

 

[RayDunzl]

I'm a buy and hold guy. Period.

Yeah, I have that too.

This is play money, amusing to my sensibilities.

Trying to make a little to offset the expenditure of "savings" while waiting three more years to max the forthcoming Social Security checks.

 

[RayDunzl]

Tks has it right--a human is not going to beat the AI computers a few feet from the trading infrastructure at their own game.

Remora swim with the sharks...

Overall, it's a Big Boy's Game.

(need a little thrust over 29327 to feel more confident on the target)

 

[StevenEleven]

Remora swim with the sharks...

Overall, it's a Big Boy's Game.

(need a little thrust over 29327 to feel more confident on the target)

The stock market is genuinely fascinating, I’ll give you that. If you‘ve got a little money to spare I guess learning by doing could be beneficial and fun. If you trade a lot though I fear the lesson would be heads they win, tails you lose. My deal is I want to be solvent and self-sufficient when I’m 90, and I’m a long way from 90.

 

[RayDunzl]

Overall, it's a Big Boy's Game.

00:17

 

[RayDunzl]

My deal is I want to be solvent and self-sufficient when I’m 90, and I’m a long way from 90.

23 years for me.

But I might have the 95+ genes in me.

Paternal Grandfather 95, Mother 95, so, not out of the question.

Solvency is looking real good, too.

I remember making $1.60/hr, so that's the baseline from which I tend to initially judge expenditures.

 

[StevenEleven]

23 years for me.

But I might have the 95+ genes in me.

Paternal Grandfather 95, Mother 95, so, not out of the question.

Solvency is looking real good, too.

I remember making $1.60/hr, so that's the baseline from which I tend to initially judge expenditures.

I had a paper route as a kid, that probably came out to $3.00 an hour, worked at Roy Rogers, that was three-something an hour, stuffed envelopes, I think I got a little bump there, cleaning carpets was my big break, $5 an hour, some temporary light construction gigs. . . It’s funny how our out-dated frame of reference for how much money is worth sticks with us as we get older.

I also read ”A Random Walk Down Wall Street” as a kid.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Random_Walk_Down_Wall_Street

The theory may be debatable, but it has served me well.

 

[anmpr1]

I never traded anything like that. Just let stuff sit. Slow progression. The only thing I ever made a lot of money on was a company called Red Hat. Pure speculation; bought simply because I was using Linux at the time. I don't even know what I was thinking. For years I never paid attention to it, but it rose...slowly. Then a year or so back some crazy woman from IBM decided Linux was the ticket, and bought up all the shares for ridiculous dollars. I didn't understand it, but what the hell. Cherchez la femme...

 

[RayDunzl]

I'd like to see 29388 print tonight, to trigger my sell, and hand me $1,009.

Boom... Done... Out at 29387.

(I adjust the order up and down a tick to keep the trade indicator close to the present time on the 1 minute chart)

A little late, but, patience can pay.

Closeup:

Yup. Got "lucky" on that one.

 

[RayDunzl]

*thinks about time spent on a trading chat ten years ago, mostly as a lurker

Somebody gets a chance to brag on a good trade.

My standard ego-deflating reply:

"Good job!. Now, do it again."

*stares at YM chart trying to divine the next price squiggle

di·vine (2)
verb: discover (something) by guesswork or intuition.

*waits for appropriate ego-deflating reply from the folks here

 

[MRC01]

Years ago I started using options as a way to control risk when trading stocks. Sell puts to get into a stock, sell calls to exit a stock. If you do it right, watching the strike prices, dates, and compare premiums against the theoretical Black-Scholes-Merton value as a reference, you can reduce the risk compared to simply buying and selling outright.
Which is ironic, since trading options has a reputation for being high risk. Options are just a tool; they can be high or low risk depending on how you use them.

 

[RayDunzl]

If you do it right

There's always that hard part in there someplace...

 

[pozz]

Anyone invest in alternative assets, hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, and so on?