WSE's super duper deluxe day tradingoption strategy w/ a side of fries dipped in mojo

[wallstreetsedge]

ok so yesterday, netwrangler and i were in the chatroom and he unveiled some of my secrets and i came spilling out more info on why i do some things... well i wouldnt say secrets, but no one ever really asked me so i never really went into detail about it.

we saved the conversation and i decided to clean it up and share with you all on why im successful more than 90% of the time when it comes to day trading....

a side note before i begin... many of you will notice that i prefer to buy puts rather than options. i would say 70% or 80% of the time, i will buy puts vs calls. why? think about this, how many times have you heard panic selling compared to panic buying? how many times do you see stocks move down 5% vs up 5%? also arent moves down more steady vs upward swings which shoot straight up and then fall back down?


here are some of my concepts and i hope you all enjoy...



1- watching a small handful of stocks...

why is this important?
- when you watch a small handful of stocks, you begin to become more familiar with the way they trade. when you become familiar, you increase your odds greatly in terms of winning. the number of stocks i watch always varies. normally i have 2 windows open, 1 contains about 5 stocks i watch every day and the other contains 5-10 stocks im considering to trade. most people will have 50, 100, or more symbols that theyre constantly scanning which is extremely time consuming to me. if i have 5 or 10 stocks im watching all day, i'm sure i can find at least a few good moves to exploit.



2- the stocks i choose are very popular, have high volume, and contain options which also have high volume...

why is this important?
- the answer here is simple my friends. when you first start out day trading, most day traders will tell you one thing first... start trading on the nyse. why? because the stocks have high volume, which makes them highly liquid, and will contain smaller spreads between the bid and ask.



3- the stocks i choose are at least $50...

why is this important?
- to me the answer is obvious. to most people, even professionals, it isnt. a lot of option traders and even professionals who make millions of dollars each year selling their services dont take into consideration the importance of this. think about this... if youre playing an option and the spread between the bid and ask is the usual 10c or 15c... what kind of % is that on a $5 stock vs a $50 stock? on a $5 stock, thats a 2% or 3% move! on a $50 stock, its a .2% or .3% move, after that move, you're in profitability my friend!



4- buy at the bid and sell at the ask...

why is this important? again, this is something many people over look but where it can make a big difference between a winner and a loser. when i buy, i buy at the bid and when i sell i sell at the ask. sure, it's simple but the concept that everyone has is... i'm going to play options and make a boatload of money. most people dont realize that if youre simply buying at the ask and selling at the bid, you could be creating huge handicaps for yourself. a concept that i always take into consideration is that if i miss the move then fine, but i'd rather miss the move than to be put at a handicap.



5- % doesnt matter! patience is key...

the final and most important piece of advice is this... when i trade, i will ONLY trade if the odds appear in my favor 99% and i believe that my success rate is guaranteed.

many people will trade simply to trade and others will trade only if they believe they can get a minimum percentage out of the trade.

when i trade, i dont care what the % is as long as it covers the commission. also when i trade, i believe that the money could be used for other things and unless i truly believe that i will make money on the trade, i wont even consider hitting that buy button!

if you were to come to my home or office and watch me trade, you'd be surprised... ill sit in front of my laptop or desktop all day during market hours and ill wait. i will only place an order if the opportunity comes to me. i will never go looking for the opportunity - which ties into rule #1. on some days, i can sit in front of my computer and place 1 or 2 round trip trades if any! other days you might catch me placing 10 or 15 round trip trades. opportunity is key!



i hope all of you benefit from this post and use what i stated to your advantage. if you combine these with your personal trading systems, i have no doubt that you'll be successful.

and a final note before i post this... if you have NO concept on how a stock trades, DO NOT TRADE THE OPTION!

[wallstreetsedge]

also,some stocks to watch which are easy to read and get nice swings are...

AAPL
AMZN
CME
GRMN
QLD
USO

[Horsefish]

Thanks for that post Wall. I actually printed it and stuck it on the wall next to my monitor. We seem to have similar days.

[peter518]

Thank you very much for sharing your know-how with us.

Have a nice weekend.

Peter

Originally Posted by wallstreetsedge

ok so yesterday, netwrangler and i were in the chatroom and he unveiled some of my secrets and i came spilling out more info on why i do some things... well i wouldnt say secrets, but no one ever really asked me so i never really went into detail about it.

we saved the conversation and i decided to clean it up and share with you all on why im successful more than 90% of the time when it comes to day trading....

a side note before i begin... many of you will notice that i prefer to buy puts rather than options. i would say 70% or 80% of the time, i will buy puts vs calls. why? think about this, how many times have you heard panic selling compared to panic buying? how many times do you see stocks move down 5% vs up 5%? also arent moves down more steady vs upward swings which shoot straight up and then fall back down?


...
i hope all of you benefit from this post and use what i stated to your advantage. if you combine these with your personal trading systems, i have no doubt that you'll be successful.

and a final note before i post this... if you have NO concept on how a stock trades, DO NOT TRADE THE OPTION!

[netwrangler]

Well, golly, wse...

When we left each other on Friday, you said that chat room the conversation was my post this weekend, or I should email you.
I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that, young day-trader that you are, you ran out of patience.

I guess I am somewhat surprised that you are not a man of your word.

Well, no problem really. You are what you are, and you do what you do.
Some of what you do I think is worthy of emulation by others.

Here is what I said in the chat room:

9:44 AM [netwrangler] BTW: WSE, would you like to hear what I think you are doing right in day-trading?
9:45 AM [wallstreetsedge] sure, what is it?

I'll edit out the 'yah' and 'yup' type comments here, and correct for typos.

9:45 AM [netwrangler] 1) You concentrate on a limited number of stocks. That gives [you] a familiarity with how they behave. Makes it easier to pick up patterns.

This is a big deal, imo. I see folks in the chat room chasing the 'stock-of-the-day' without a clue about the stock itself. Wse and I both agreed that our success rate for trades is much better with stocks that we know.

9:46 AM [netwrangler] 2) The stocks you follow are well traded. This reduces the spread.

Most folks don't do the math on what the spread costs them. It is, of course, the market makers who are on the other side of the spread. The market makers will make a living. If a stock is well traded, they can afford to take a relatively low percentage from each trade. That helps the retail investor.

9:47 AM [netwrangler] 3) You normally trade with options. The stocks you follow have good option volume, low spreads, and relatively tightly grouped strike prices. All this helps to reduce the 'house odds' in a trade.

This is really a continuation of the comments about the 'spread' in point #2.
If you trade options, there are two spreads to overcome — one for the stock and one for the option. Options work well with the stocks you follow [GOOG, AAPL, BIDU].
You are talking about stock prices from 170 to 570 with those tickers.
Many folks find it difficult to trade stocks priced in that range.
But if you want to use options instead, you want to make sure the option is well traded, the strikes are closely spaced, and the spread is small.
Actually, those same guidelines apply to lower priced stocks.
Take a look at CSCO, for instance.

9:47 AM [netwrangler] 4) You do this every day. As you practice, you learn things you don't even know you know.

We both know that day-trading is not a part-time job.
As we play the game on a daily basis, we pick up patterns.
Knowing [feeling, imo] the patterns, makes the difference between a break-even trader and one who make a living at it.

For the new trader, this is a reason to paper-trade for a while.
A trader with 3-months experience does not know what a trader with 3-years experience knows.

9:48 AM [wallstreetsedge] well i could have told you that
you didnt have to study me for that
just ask

yeah, right.

• First of all, you could at least acknowledge the compliment I payed you.
• Second, I question that you knew what you knew. At least, I question that you could have put it into words.
  I didn't need to ask you about your strategy.
  I already knew about that.
  I did think that others might be interested in where we agreed, so I wrote about that.

=====
Chinaman likes to compare trading to fishing.
I agree with him.
That is a good way to look at what we are doing.

The compliment that I pay you, WSE, relates more to where you fish than how you fish.
The good news is that everyone can follow these guidelines to make sure they are fishing in the right fishing pools.
But the questions remain:

• What fly should you use?
• how skilled you are at casting?
• how well do you read the waters?

ah, well, those are different skills.
Might be more to learn on the OTF and in the chat room

[wallstreetsedge]

i believe where i 'fish' was covered in #2 and #3

[netwrangler]

Originally Posted by wallstreetsedge

i believe where i 'fish' was covered in #2 and #3

Well, #1, #2, and #3 cover where you fish, as I see it, but who's counting.

#4 is more about when you fish.

These are all good techniques that you are using.
Others should copy them.

[Rich]

Im confused on point #3.

3- the stocks i choose are at least $50...

why is this important?
- to me the answer is obvious. to most people, even professionals, it isnt. a lot of option traders and even professionals who make millions of dollars each year selling their services dont take into consideration the importance of this. think about this... if youre playing an option and the spread between the bid and ask is the usual 10c or 15c... what kind of % is that on a $5 stock vs a $50 stock? on a $5 stock, thats a 2% or 3% move! on a $50 stock, its a .2% or .3% move, after that move, you're in profitability my friend!

I would think you want the higher percentage, why the lower percentage? Are you saying that you would rather have a .2% move verses a 2% move?

[wallstreetsedge]

read it carefully..

i said that the gap between the bid and ask is filled more easily on a .2% move on a $50 stock vs a 2% move on a $5 stock

[Keventerprises]

Originally Posted by wallstreetsedge

read it carefully..

i said that the gap between the bid and ask is filled more easily on a .2% move on a $50 stock vs a 2% move on a $5 stock

Naked 105 Calls on ANR requires Balls of Cast Iron, I only have Brass. Bronze is on Back Order. If I had Cast Iron Balls, I would have sold more 105 Naked Calls for 8.40, when the PPS was 108, and be good until 113.40. If you're going to get naked, you better have Titanium Balls, or Gold might be more Neutral. I need Balls of Gold.