When your 401k makes 10% a year, and day traders make 1300% in one day

[crockett]

Super nova

[railfancwb]

There are old traders... and bold traders... but [probably] no old bold traders. 

[crockett]

Most don't survive this game let alone in the long run. Only 1.4% of all traders make it. Knowing yourself, your emotional limitations and when to get out on the trade, on the day, and after all, is key.

[crockett]

As predicted, here the massive panic sell off within seconds after a 3 hour T2 halt. Those getting in late lost up to 65% in the flush.

 

 

 

[Dynactus]

Looks like a penny stock from 9:30AM to 10:00AM. 

[crockett]

On 12/28/2020 at 3:32 PM, Dynactus said:

Looks like a penny stock from 9:30AM to 10:00AM. 

 

 

 

[janice6]

6 hours ago, crockett said:

Super nova of the month.

It keeps running from one halt into the next. Everybody wants a piece of that cake, hyping it even more and squeezing out all the short sellers.

I feel sorry for the FOMO (fear of missing out) folks buying super high. Last halt now lasting over 1 hour. Panic will set in over speculations of a secondary offering, and it may drop up to 60% without being able to get out since nobody is willing to buy your shares.

Imagine throwing 100k at it after the first push onto the high momentum scanner, letting it ride, and walking away with 1 million profit a couple hours later.

Reality is, very few will make 6 or 7 figures on this one, and many will cut their account in half. The dumb money sheep bleeding for the few wolves.

 

 

 

Greed is fatal without knowledge.

[GlockPride]

Pigs get fat.  Hogs get slaughtered.  

[willie-pete]

OMG, I looked at the symbol, ACY. That used to be the company I worked for, American Cyanamid Co; disappeared in 1994. It had over 100,000 employees at one time. The headquarters in Wayne, NJ where I worked for a while is now the HG for Toys R Us.

 

Small world.

 

 

 

[MO Fugga]

10 hours ago, railfancwb said:

There are old traders... and bold traders... but [probably] no old bold traders. 

Fighter pilots too.

[Peng]

Day trading on margin.   Yikes.

Losing everything you have sounds bad, until you lose 10 times what you have.

This is what makes jumping out of a window seem like the right thing to do.

[Jack Ryan]

Pigs get fat. Hogs get slaughtered.

[crockett]

2 hours ago, willie-pete said:

OMG, I looked at the symbol, ACY. That used to be the company I worked for, American Cyanamid Co; disappeared in 1994. It had over 100,000 employees at one time. The headquarters in Wayne, NJ where I worked for a while is now the HG for Toys R Us.

 

Small world.

 

 

 

 

Small world indeed. I don't know anything about the company. Most of these small caps used to be much bigger. My Average trade lasts between 1 second and a few minutes. All I see is real time data on Level 2 and the tape. I only react to the current moment(um).

[crockett]

58 minutes ago, Peng said:

Day trading on margin.   Yikes.

Losing everything you have sounds bad, until you lose 10 times what you have.

This is what makes jumping out of a window seem like the right thing to do.

That not how it works. No pro trader uses margin as leverage, its only needed to settle the trades instantly in order to be not limited on the amount of daily trades.

I trade in average with 30% of my cash amount, only use more if down averaging gets me out of a loser.

And most brokers only offer a margin of 4 times the cash balance. I don't recall any brokers offering 10 fold.

[willie-pete]

4 hours ago, crockett said:

 

Small world indeed. I don't know anything about the company. Most of these small caps used to be much bigger. My Average trade lasts between 1 second and a few minutes. All I see is real time data on Level 2 and the tape. I only react to the current moment(um).

 

I HAD to look it up. It's an aircraft leasing company out of CA. They evidently jumped on the symbol after Cyanamid went teats up. I am a bit surprised by that price action. Not many barriers to entry in the aircraft leasing business. 

A fool and his money as they say.     

 

 

 

My ACY was into a lot. I was involved in the Chemicals side of the business. We made additives for plastic, paper making, water purification and enhanced oil recovery products

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Cyanamid

 

 "American Cyanamid Company was a leading American conglomerate which became one of the nation's top 100 manufacturing companies during the 1970s and 1980s, according to the Fortune 500 listings at the time.^{[citation needed]} Founded by Frank Washburn in 1907, the company grew to over 100,000 employees worldwide, and had over 200,000 shareholders by the mid-1970s. Its stock was traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ACY. It was repeatedly reorganized after the mid-1990s, merged with other firms, and saw brands and divisions sold or spun off. The bulk of the former company is now part of Pfizer, with smaller portions belonging to BASF, Procter & Gamble and other firms.

" Although originally a manufacturer of agricultural chemicals the product line was soon broadened into many different types of industrial chemicals and specialty chemicals. The company then diversified into synthetic fibers, pharmaceuticals, surgical products, plastics, and inorganic pigments before World War II; and later added, by acquisitions, cosmetic and toiletry products, perfumes, building products, home building, and several smaller product categories following World War II.

Cyanamid's pharmaceutical division included Lederle Laboratories, maker of Piperacillin, an antibiotic drug used as a penicillin substitute; Centrum, a multivitamin supplement; Stresstabs vitamins; and Orimune, an oral polio vaccine.^[2] Davis & Geck was the company's medical device operation, organized under Lederle. Its Consumer Products division included Shulton products, primarily Old Spice cologne and after-shave lotion, Breck shampoo, and Pine-Sol household cleaner. A variety of fine fragrance products were made and sold by Shulton under license, including products under labels Nina Ricci, Pierre Cardin, Tabac, and others. Melmac was Cyanamid's trademark for plastic kitchenware, although it was produced and marketed by other firms under license.^[3][4] "

 

Edited December 29, 2020 by willie-pete

[Walt Longmire]

UUU had a good run up today.....right up until it didn't.

[crockett]

On 12/29/2020 at 12:33 PM, Walt Longmire said:

UUU had a good run up today.....right up until it didn't.

I was

[railfancwb]

23 hours ago, willie-pete said:

OMG, I looked at the symbol, ACY. That used to be the company I worked for, American Cyanamid Co; disappeared in 1994. It had over 100,000 employees at one time. The headquarters in Wayne, NJ where I worked for a while is now the HG for Toys R Us.

 

Small world.

 

 

 

And I believe Toys R Us has gone bankrupt and closed. At least the ones in my area are gone. 

[crockett]

1 hour ago, railfancwb said:

And I believe Toys R Us has gone bankrupt and closed. At least the ones in my area are gone. 

Yeah, they are dead as well, because everybody buys toys online, and classic toys are "out".

[willie-pete]

4 hours ago, railfancwb said:

And I believe Toys R Us has gone bankrupt and closed. At least the ones in my area are gone. 

Too bad; the office complex was pretty nice back in the day when I was there. I wonder who is in it now ?

 

[crockett]

S&P Futures opened at all time highs, yet again. Weak double bottom play... volume not strong enough for clear patterns, so I sell on the first sight of resistance, on 1 minute.

Looks like its now rolling over and turning in to a bear flag after all. I take what I have and leave the remaining gamble to the sheep.

 

 

Edited January 4, 2021 by crockett

[crockett]

Bear flag confirmed. Bought and sold the dip within 10 seconds for 300 bucks. Couldn't resist.

 

[Al Czervik]

I don't pay much attention to 401k, but it gained around 30% this year, which was a lot of money.

[Peng]

On 12/29/2020 at 12:55 AM, crockett said:

That not how it works. No pro trader uses margin as leverage, its only needed to settle the trades instantly in order to be not limited on the amount of daily trades.

I trade in average with 30% of my cash amount, only use more if down averaging gets me out of a loser.

And most brokers only offer a margin of 4 times the cash balance. I don't recall any brokers offering 10 fold.

I would have to agree that is a good theory but in practise the hundred day traders I have known have all gone broke.  The odds on making any money are grim, yet every day trader I knew claimed to be part of the 2% that were profitable right up until they were broke.

More power to you if you have discipline and fortitude, it sounds like you are doing things intelligently.  The behavior I saw most commonly was after some success, more and more money was put in play for longer and longer and then poof, it just disappears one day.   Many traders do use margin as leverage at some point and if that trade goes bad, it kills.

Best of luck to you, I do not have the balls to day trade.  I am a frequent trader and love the game, but hardly ever intraday.    

Here's to a profitable 2021 amigo.

[crockett]

On 1/4/2021 at 12:31 AM, Peng said:

I would have to agree that is a good theory but in practise the hundred day traders I have known have all gone broke.  The odds on making any money are grim, yet every day trader I knew claimed to be part of the 2% that were profitable right up until they were broke.

More power to you if you have discipline and fortitude, it sounds like you are doing things intelligently.  The behavior I saw most commonly was after some success, more and more money was put in play for longer and longer and then poof, it just disappears one day.   Many traders do use margin as leverage at some point and if that trade goes bad, it kills.

Best of luck to you, I do not have the balls to day trade.  I am a frequent trader and love the game, but hardly ever intraday.    

Here's to a profitable 2021 amigo.

The