Trader Mike

Michelle B submits: A daytrader I knew who had a very high-percentage win rate, around ninety-five percent, when faced with a loss, would let it run. He was capitalized enough to do what he called “pouring on the gasoline.” This activity of his would involve “lining up cans of gasoline as far [...]

Michelle B submits: The Disciplined Trader by Mark Douglas sits near my trading turret in a place of honor. Following rules is very problematical for traders. Having rules, and some traders have many, is not the same as being disciplined. A disciplined trader follows his rules, while a trader who [...]

Michelle B submits: I was feeling as fresh as stagnant rainwater trapped in a city-street pothole — too many blondes, too many Bloody Marys, and too little sleep.
(trans.: I am trading without risk management, methodology, and breaks).
Then I see her. Only difference between a wild cat and this dame is [...]

Michelle B submits: Teresa Lo recently has written a less than flattering article (which is closed to comments) about trading bloggers. When I have visited her site previously, my impression was unfavorable. Perhaps, it is my own denseness, but when at her site I desperately needed to have a smug and dripping sarcasm [...]

Michelle B submits: Several bloggers have commented recently about CNBC’s excitable coverage of the Dow Jones Industrial Average setting a record. Since a price-weighted index containing a very small number of stocks is fairly insignificant in the trading world, why did CNBC latched onto to this relatively unimportant event?
During the time of the technology [...]

Michelle B submits: Yesterday, at 12:45, upon returning from a break, I noticed MATR moving down hard and fast on my low/high ticker; the whole low ticker window was blocked in red. MATR hogged the window completely — there was nothing else, just that one symbol. MATR was screaming CAPITULATION. I checked out [...]

Michelle B submits: In the beginning years of my learning trading, I encountered two opposing trading styles–1) anticipating a trading move before it got under way, and 2) reacting to the move once it had clearly started. The proponents of these two approaches were both equally and dogmatically adamant their stance was correct and [...]

Michelle B submits: I remember reading about a French housewife who when asked by her husband every morning what they would be having for dinner would always give the same tireless reply: “It depends on what jumps into my market basket.” Some traders prefer to trade from a prepared watchlist. For [...]