Hum...This volume is sickening!

...Volume is horrid!!! But then most of the floor is taking their last vacation before school.

One thing I learned over the last week or so. If you trade in a cash account you can trade every day 5, 6, 7 times all week. But if you have a margin account you can not. 2 trades runs you close and 3 trades and you are done.

What does that mean? It means if you do not get a great move on your first stock and you are in a margin account YOU BETTER get a good move on your second.

But in a cash account if you see a stock running and you are in a trade that is not running you can get out of the trade you are in and get in the one that is running.

The execution is the same...time wise. Also if you want in quickly offer a nickel more than the option and out quickly offer a nickel less. I can't tell you the number of times that I had tried to jump in on a fast move with the option price that was stated at that time and the market maker just kept raising the prices. I could not get in.

Also think about your option...If your stock is moving fast and it is within the range of changing the strike price go ahead and get an out of the money strike price. You should be in the money very quickly. For instance if your stock is 249.96 go ahead and get the $250.00 strike. You will pay less and make more.

My trades this week have been CF, CRM, WYNN, and CMG. All I can say is

Thanks for the Info Darcy!

I found trades on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. I traded CF and CRM. All were for profits. I am learning patience. 5-10 trades a month has to be my concentration. I wanted to find more, but I refuse to chase. I learned the hard way.

I traded CF out of the money and cleared $945 and change. With volume this horrid I am surprised stocks moved at all.

Anyway I decided to take off and spend some time with the family after the CF trade. We've had a great time doing little more than laughing!

Yeah, CF's premiums are starting to be more expensive than I am accustomed. If it is a trade I really feel good about, I will try going out of the money. I assume this will drive that premium down a bit. RTT is showing some strong trends in the near future for a couple of my expert stocks. My other signals simply are not strong enough for me to anticipate a solid trade in the very near future.

BTW- I had my first loss in a long time on CF today. I had a presentation to prepare during the weekend and had to present yesterday. I was pre-occupied and should not have traded. My heart or mind was not in it, so I missed some major, negative signals. I am tearing it totally apart and must clearly understanding how such a huge mistake was made. I will not trade again until I am totally clear on the mistakes I made. If I were trading real money, I would have lost $250 of a $1500 investment. That is not good. That is about a 17% loss. I have taken a short break to write this message, but I am continuing to break this trade down.

I just wanted to share the bad as well as the good. Today was bad for me. I am confident I will have only a few of these.


Darcy, Enjoy the time with your family. We all need as much of that as we can get.

Only buy out of the money when the stock nears the strike price of out of the money. I haven't traded at all since my last CF trade. This market is so low on volume I actually think I aged 3 years waiting for a trade...so I am just cooling my jets and watching right now...doing virtual.