FNGs Trading Manifesto

Time permitting I will update this blog with the days events.

* 2/2/09 I have moved my manifesto to this spot and done basic blog organization.

FNGs Trading Manifesto

I will endeavor to post charts showing my daily trading activities in as real time as possible. However when there are fast market conditions there will be several minutes delay while I sort out my positions, then get around to posting the changes here. *Update 8/22/08.. 10/10/08* I'm back to posting as time permits as the real time blogging was becoming a distraction. Most trades are here, some are not.
I trade off 5 minute charts in conjunction with 15 min. charts and pay close attention to 5 min. charts of the S&P 500 and QQQQ. Black background is ez on the eyes, not junked up with useless behind the times indicators or lines. When these charts are moving in unison with whatever individual stock I'm watching, I do a buy, sell or short decision. My trading platform displays the new daily and 52 wk highs and lows on a constant basis and when the markets are moving, I move in the same direction with those stocks.
I tend to take profits and reverse my direction whenever the charts tell me momentum is shifting and have no more than 4 positions open at one time.
I take profits as the market makes them available and have no thought as to where a trend might stop. i.e. I don't use fib lines. If I'm long, a red line on the charts show the entry, shorts use a green line. If I cover, a red line will show the price level and I will usually go long there as well. If I sell, a green line will show the price level and I'll probably will have gone short there. Dollar amounts of wins and losses are shown as rounded numbers.
I trade stocks that have a large daily range so that when I'm late on the entry and early on the exit, a profitable trade still results. I like to trade the new highs or lows of the days.
After learning how to interpret all this information and patterns, the key factor is emotional control. I must embrace the risk and decide before I enter a trade, the point at which my decision will be proven wrong. I ensure that the monetary and psychological accounts that this loss will be taken from expect this amount. This way I can protect myself from any damage before the trade even takes place.
I never gather outside news on stocks from any web page, TV, newspaper or person. I don't know when earnings are reported or Fed announcements happens. I don't know or care what level the Dow is at. I want no pre- conceived notion as to what a stock may do. To think otherwise would imply that I know what a stock will do in the future. That of course is a game of fools (or insiders). The charts are the only things that matter and only they speak the truth. I only need to react (to)or anticipate their movements and use my trading edge to enter what feels like a good opportunity, while knowing full well that there is no certainty. Trading is a probability game in which I will have winners and losers. My objective is to make the winners pay more than the losers take away. Most of the time I don't even know what business a stock symbol represents and I don't care though I will trade several in the same sector if they have momentum.
I never hold overnight. I have no favorite stocks, only familiar ones.
A winner has the same effect on me as a loser, nothing. Move on to the next one.
I started in 2002 and watched the market, learning my craft for 2 years before I actually traded. I thought it was important to see what happened in all types of markets, up, down and sideways before I committed myself into this business.
I listen here to chill out/dub music to set the mood http://www.oemradio.org/...and trade.