Daily Watchlists – Aug 28, 2009

NYSE Most %Up
NYSE Most % Down
Nasdaq Most %Up
Nasdaq Most %Down
HiVol Gainers – I,
HiVol Decliners
OneOption Strong Gap Up – I
OneOption Strong Gap  Down – I
New 52 Week Highs
New 52 Week Lows

Daily Watchlists – Aug 27th, 2009

NYSE Most %Up
NYSE Most % Down
Nasdaq Most %Up
Nasdaq Most %Down
HiVol Gainers – I,
HiVol Decliners
OneOption Strong Gap Up – I
OneOption Strong Gap  Down – I

Daily Watchlists – Aug 26th, 2009

NYSE Most %Up
NYSE Most % Down
Nasdaq Most %Up
Nasdaq Most %Down
HiVol Gainers – I,
HiVol Decliners
OneOption Strong Gap Up – I
OneOption Strong Gap Up – II
OneOption Strong Gap  Down – I,
OneOption Strong Gap  Down – II

Daily Watchlists – Aug 25th, 2009

NYSE Most %Up
NYSE Most % Down
Nasdaq Most %Up
Nasdaq Most %Down

My Trading Portfolio Selection Process

Here are the high-level steps I follow to select stocks for my portfolio
Perform Top-Down Market Analysis

Check the trend of $INDU, $SPX, $RUT, etc.
Check the $USD versus the YEN, or EURO.
Check the $VIX (although not hugely important)
Check Crude Oil futures.
Check $TNX, $UST (Stocks & $TNX go hand-in-hand).

Perform Industry/Sector Analysis

In BULL market, pick the Top 4-5 [...]

Rules for intraday setups

Do not short stocks in intraday uptrends, unless they are met with huge longer term resistance levels.
Understand your job.  Your job is to find high win rate trades with excellent risk/reward opportunities.  Your job is not to pick tops and bottoms.
Traders simply make trades that mathematically generate profits over thousands of trades.
Find trends (channels) [...]

Fundamentals – Questions to Ask

When evaluating the fundamentals of a stock, ask -

What is the relative strength of the stock relative to its peers?
What is its year-over-year growth (earnings)?
What is the return on capital?
How much debt is on its books
P/E, P/B value.
What is its intrinsic value?

Other Points

Earnings, M&A, Insider Trades, other announcements can act as catalysts to the price [...]

Gap Trade – Checklist

GAP Trade – Quick Checklist

Gap should be below/above previous day’s high/low.
What are the 20/50 MAs doing?
Mark Support & Resistance, Trendlines
Mark Gap High/Low
Where are the Pivot Points?
Is this is Trend break scenario or Trend Continuation scenario?

Scenario #1 – Price retrace’s immediately.

Wait for retrace to resistance or gap high
Stoch in extreme level
20/50 MA cross should have happened. [...]

Daytrading Setups, Targets, Stops, Candles

Setups
Consolidation Breakouts (Reverse for Shorts)

20/50 cross should have happened.
Price should be above 20MA on the Daily Charts
Price above 20 MA on 5 min.
Stochastics should show bullish divergence
Buy the BO
Buy retracement BO (Flag, or pennant BO) based on candle patterns.
Stop below previous higher low, or below consolidation zone, or [...]

My Model Setups With Annotations

Here are links to some of my annotated charts
Daytrades

Daytrade on a Double Top/H&S breakdown Strategy (AIV)

Consolidation area Breakdown (AAPL)
Massive Uptrend Breakdown (AB)
Descending Triangle Breakdown (ACI)  – Alert & Nimble Trade
Consolidation support Breakdown (AKS)
Avoiding a Failed Trade (AMG)
Trend Continuation Trade (AMZN)

Good clean TAZ trade (ANR)

Weekend & Weekday Workflow

Weekend Workflow
Here’s a list of things I follow over the weekend to prepare for the week ahead -

Top Down sector analysis

I track the leading/lagging sectors for the week here.
Then I pick interesting sectors from this list and add/update to my weekly sector list here (bullish) & here (bearish).
Then I zoom in to the individual sectors [...]

DayTrading Results

Today, Dec 5, 2008, was my first official day of daytrading. I will be adding results here on every single day that I day trade, in order to accurately track my progress.
Dec 5, 2008:       +1740.94,         Cumulative Total :  +1740.94
Dec 8, 2008:       +1167.85,          Cumulative Total :  +2908.79
Dec 9, 2008:           -498.36,          Cumulative Total :  +2410.43
Dec 10, 2008:      [...]

Day Trading Marketwatch Tools, Setups, Entries, Exits, Strategies

Indicator to Watch
In order to put the odds better in our favor, we need to look at the following on a daily basis.

S&P Futures
$TICK – This indicates the difference between the no. of stocks on an UpTick and those on a DownTick. (Extreme Values: -1000 to +1000)
$TRIN – A measure of volume going into advancing [...]

Hedging

Here’s a summary of my strategy to hedge my portfolio.
Assuming, I have a bunch of strong longs in my portfolio which I have just entered, and I’d like to hold them for a bit longer than normal, i.e. ride the trend while it lasts, which means I’d be willing to let them go through one [...]

Books to Read

Market Analysis over multiple timeframe
Intermarket Analysis
How to Short Stocks – Gimo
Canslim Methology – Biil O’Neil
TAZ Trading, blogs, tips
Position Trading – Gagne
Beginning Day trading