Spike's Scientific Stock Analysis

[TFred]

Greetings Spike,

As a newbie to the YM,with approx 40k cash with IB,what would be good starting amount of contracts if I can find a setup?I realize a stop is a must,and tight at that,but the leverage portion of the trade has me confused.How much is at risk per contract I guess is what Im asking?

Example,had I went long this am with a 60 point move,a reasonable contract amount for a beginner?

cordially ,and sorry for picking your brain.
Tom

[TFred]

LEA,

May 22.50 puts ?

[New-born baby]

$20

LEA,

May 22.50 puts ?

That's a viable option, if you are convinced that LEA has not bottomed here.
Me, I fear that LEA has put in a bottom. The inverted head and shoulders point to at least a $20 move. If you buy the put now, and it does hit $20 and holds at $20, you lost money. If it moves up to $22.50, you lost money. If it falls back below today's price or further, you made money.

[spikefader]

Greetings Spike,

As a newbie to the YM,with approx 40k cash with IB,what would be good starting amount of contracts if I can find a setup?I realize a stop is a must,and tight at that,but the leverage portion of the trade has me confused.How much is at risk per contract I guess is what Im asking?

Example,had I went long this am with a 60 point move,a reasonable contract amount for a beginner?

cordially ,and sorry for picking your brain.
Tom

I would strongly recommend you start very slowly and trade 1 contract on the conservative side. Do this until you are supremely disciplined with stop creation and expertly proficient with TWS executions. There will come a time where speed matters greatly and discipline matters even more.

Size can come after you have demonstrated the ability that your methods are working for you and your execution and stop protection and back up systems and hedging plans etc are in place.

You must remember that the YM has potential to spike or drops on light volume and you don't want to be overcommitted. Working slowly up from 1 is the wisest for a newbie. There is no rush; you will learn much from taking your time and watching how it performs and reacts to news, fat fingers, exchange closures, etc.

Good luck, and ask any questions at all. Oh, and EDIT: Congrats on the nice trade dude. The YM can chop about and take profits away quickly, but should you get on a great entry that opens up a buffer to hold for a multiday trending swing trade, it can be worth it. You have to weigh up market conditions and assess whether taking profits at the spikes is wise, or letting it run and hold with green hope. It ain't an easy decision. I often see my profit disappear while I'm looking for the trend move.

[New-born baby]

Symmetrical Triangle

LEA,

May 22.50 puts ?

Today's LEA action made a symmetrical triangle: indecision. Watch which way she breaks and that will give you a clue about which way to trade LEA.
LEA chart

[spikefader]

re earlier http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/631/amnmar291ks.jpg

AMN anticipate the head setup r/r of 8.5 is ok.

Got the 2% risk on the Head play.

Here's the pattern this morning for anyone looking for a reason to short it:
Worth another 2%. Short 70.56 now, stop 72.00 or 2% to target 17% again. R/r is 8.5 again. Stop to even when +3%.



Regards.
Spike.

[TFred]

Greetings,

Anyone with IB could you help me out?Intended to short sell YM at 11234 today,clicked bid,with sell indicated,should it have been listed at limit?Also wanted to set a stop for the short at the same time,11240 was my intended price,should that have bben in the stop field?With Scottrade it was the opposite,and i wound up buy and selling immediately.Any help till I get familiar.

cordially Tom

[alice4321us]

Greetings,

Anyone with IB could you help me out?Intended to short sell YM at 11234 today,clicked bid,with sell indicated,should it have been listed at limit?Also wanted to set a stop for the short at the same time,11240 was my intended price,should that have bben in the stop field?With Scottrade it was the opposite,and i wound up buy and selling immediately.Any help till I get familiar.

cordially Tom

Tom

The following might help you. I have setup my page layout to show me the Rapid Entry window where you submit orders as Limit/MKT/Stop Limit etc..

Go to the Window Menu on TWS
On the Page menu, click Layout. The name of layout that you are editing appears in the title bar of the Layout Manager.
Check the Show option to show Rapid Entry on that Page.
Click the Rapid Order Entry tab to view the current settings.
Use the checkboxes, editable fields and Display Settings described in the table below to enable/disable features, set default values and select a default order type.
Click OK .

[TFred]

Greetings,

Thanks for the heads up,this weekend is major tutorial reading.Wish I had taken the short,just wasn't sure if a limit on the short side is the same as when you take a long.Same with setting the stop,lastitme with scottrade I set a stop,with a limit price,and it immediately bought the stock,obviously entered it wrong,and dont want to do the same here.Could be sitting on a 40 point swing right now,oh well,stalk the next one.

cordially Tom

[New-born baby]

Ib

Greetings,

Thanks for the heads up,this weekend is major tutorial reading.Wish I had taken the short,just wasn't sure if a limit on the short side is the same as when you take a long.Same with setting the stop,lastitme with scottrade I set a stop,with a limit price,and it immediately bought the stock,obviously entered it wrong,and dont want to do the same here.Could be sitting on a 40 point swing right now,oh well,stalk the next one.

cordially Tom

Limit price when you buy is the same operation as when you sell. With IB, when you click on the "bid" price (ie.that sells a stock), an entire separate line opens us with information such as:

"day" . . . . . . "sell" . . . . "100". . . "lmt" . . . .[the price] . . . ."T"

These things mean:

"day" =this order is good for today only. If you click on 'day', other types of order options are available. For example, one will say "GTC" =good till cancelled." Another will read "IOC"=fill this order immediately at this price or cancel the entire order. Etc.

"Sell" =you are going to sell this stock whether you have the shares or not.

"100" =how many shares you plan to sell (default setting is 100). If you want to sell more, click on "100" and enter in the exact number you want to sell.

"LMT"=the price is limited by the price you have specified. If you want a market order, click on "LMT" and choose one of the types of orders available, one of which is 'mkt' for 'market price.'

"T"=if you click on this button, your order goes directly to the sales floor and your order will be filled before you can take your finger off of the button.

[TFred]

Greetings,

Sorry to drag this out,but one last question.Once ive entered short,to set the stop price is it entered under stop or limit?The way i was doing it with scottrade caused immediate puchase of the shares.

cordially Tom

[TFred]

Greetings again,

Anyone notice ENT?NBB was right on,down to 13.70,with sellers showing up left and right.Dist yield over 15%,but I dont think its near the bottom.Looks like 11s are coming.

cordially Tom

[New-born baby]

Greetings,

Sorry to drag this out,but one last question.Once ive entered short,to set the stop price is it entered under stop or limit?The way i was doing it with scottrade caused immediate puchase of the shares.

cordially Tom

Tom,
Go to your IB homepage, and in the "search" function, please type in "order types." When the answer comes back, the first item listed will say, "Order Types." Punch that link, and you'll get exactly how to do it. If you have more trouble, write again and I'll walk you through it

[spikefader]

Guys, sorry for neglecting this thread recently. Had some issues to deal with.

Have great weekends all. I'll post some replies over the weekend.

[spikefader]

Good Lord folks! I see the rating of this thread has taken a hit down to 4 stars!! Yes, yes, this thread has been pretty crummy lately; at least my effort has been jeje. But geeeez.......take a little time off, focus on a something new, and get hammered for it. I guess I should take that as a compliment. Ah well, ceslavis. God bless the voters. God bless this forum. And God bless anyone who is feelin' down tonight. May you be showered with blessings and good stuff.