In this thread, I'll share occasional tips and strategies I've found useful - I hope they'll help you sharpen your trading skills, too.

To see how what I've taught has helped other traders, go to:

http://www.StockTradingSuccess.com/SuccessCenter.htm
for over 101 actual trader 'success stories', including specifics.

Today's tips:

+ good trades feel right from the start, and it's always a case of "slow to enter, fast to exit"... which most traders have backwards.

If for example I'm looking to buy a breakout in AAPL at 9:57am, I may watch the time and sales (tape reading) patterns in it for up to 20 minutes before pulling the trigger... then I glance at the trin, the nas composite, the software sector chart, then decide on position sizing.

Once in, I'll let it work for several minutes -- if it goes against me by .3-.4, I'm out. If it runs in my favor .4-.6, I stay in a bit longer... if it continues on, say to .8 to 1.1, I'll close out half, say 8 minutes into the trade, then let the other half ride, with a .3 trailing stop (managed manually, watching the tape, with finger on the trigger/mouse button, to exit fast)... once it starts to consolidate/go nowhere, stall out or pivot against me, I close the rest of the position.

That's my mindset, from actual trading ... make sense?

-Ken Calhoun