Beat Wall Street: The Guide To Becoming A Pro Trader

Wall Streets continues to hold its breath over whether or not our petty politicians will reach a debt agreement. The markets are not selling sharply as many would have assumed, mainly due to the overall belief an agreement will be reached. With the SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY trading at $133.54, -0.29 (-0.22%), I wanted to share my thoughts on helping you all up your game, becoming a pro trader. The basic emotions that are released inside the Intra Day Stock Chat by some of the newer members are quite common. Fear, greed and lack of discipline. These are the main factors in all new investors, swing traders and day traders. To become a pro, you must avoid the pitfalls. Below is one major pitfall of the newer investor that I see every day inside the Intra Day Stock Chat. Each day going forward, I will explore another pitfall, helping you up your profitability. Chasing stocks is one of the worst habits new traders have. Many questions popped up today in regards to chasing stocks that had already popped 5-10-15% on the day. Last week, I had traders that wanted to buy Sino-Global Shipping America, Ltd. SINO after it ran from $1.50 to $9.00 last week. I shudder at that thought and look at it now. Back down in the $4.00 range. Today, questions also surfaced of whether or not to short a stock like United States Steel Corporation X after it had already been clobbered on earnings. They feel they missed out on making money one way or the other and emotion takes over. It pushes them to overcompensate and chase. Ultimately, they lose on these trades most of the time. My job in the Intra Day Stock Chat is often to keep handcuffs on them, keeping them from losing money is as important as helping them make money with great calls. The key here is to understand there are two groups of traders. The ones that get in before the more and those that chase and push the stock up for the first group. Institutions are always in the first group. They push a stock when it is low, and sell when it is high. Generally, the small investor buys high from the institutions. When you look at a stock, make sure you see a chart pattern that predicts upside or downside but has not started to play out yet. Then go long or short depending on the pattern. Once that stock is already in motion, except the fact you have missed it and move on. No profitable long time trader or investor ever chases. The small players chase and push it up for the pros. Think of it like hot potato. The pros have the play early, and pass the hot potato off to the less educated traders. Then, the less educated traders end up holding the back. Buy early, never buy late. Gareth Soloway InTheMoneyStocks.com