Comments on: Position Sizing Q & A

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 13:29:15 +0000

Thanks Brant.

I don’t know of any list of high risk stocks. To me they’re like p0rn… I know them when I see them. But seriously, when I see some little (normally thinly traded) stock going ballistic on rumors or no news I just stay away.

By: Brant

Brant — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 13:18:58 +0000

Mike,

Great site and one great post! Keep it up..

By the way, is there a way to find a list of high-risk stocks? By that, I mean those which are at risk of being halted?

Thanks!

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 10:03:36 +0000

Jet,

I have seen Power E*Trade Pro in action and I would use that platform for daytrading. But from what I saw I like CyberTrader better. Different strokes…

It’s the plain, vanilla, browser-based E*Trade that I wouldn’t dream of using for daytrading — or any browser based system for that matter. They’re too slow, you don’t get real-time info, server issues, etc.

By: Jet

Jet — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 05:44:02 +0000

Uh, I thought the example was, well, an example. But if it is just a “hypothetical example” and the $19 example is more of an “actual example” and your actual trading is more similar to the “actual example” then that is, of course, different.

I do use Power Etrade Pro which is direct market access. Not in the sense of level III but direct access nonetheless. Etrade “guarantees” two-second order execution, and it seems to work out that way. I really like Power Etrade Pro; it has a lot of features and just seems to keep getting better. They do route the order flow to particular market makers but the execution is exceptional. I have never bought or sold away from the bid/ask to my knowledge, so that hasn’t been a problem. I have occasionally noticed that on certain high-volume stocks my order seems to get filled last, which can occasionally be frustrating. But on the whole, Etrade is excellent and I would recommend them. Seven round-trips would cost me approximately $112, but my typical trading day is more like one to four round-trips. For my style of trading per-share commissions would be more costly, probably by a factor of three. My typical trade is 1000-3000 shares but with occasional trades up to 10,000 shares. If you have an IRA with them you really should have a fresh look at Power Etrade Pro.

On the other hand, your response seemed very negative toward Etrade? Why so negative? Any particulars? That seemed like a very loaded response. I have never used another brokerage, so maybe I don’t know what I don’t know. I can be convinced…

I enjoy your site. The video examples are very interesting. Keep up the good work!