8-5-2010 - Back from vacation

Back from 2 & 1/2 weeks in Costa Rica!

Good times - the country's infrastructure was not as well developed as we had thought it would be - which presented some challenges for this family of 2 + 4 under the age of 13.... but it was all good. We made it and have lots of memories to show for the trip! Tired - but definitely refreshed.

Now - back to the real world and honing in my momo skills! Must say - I am looking forward to it.

I am ready to get going on the dissertation again as well. The plan is to wrap it up within the next year and a half and move on with life.

If my trading skills progress in tandem with the thesis over the next year and a half, chances are I will never utilize the PhD, but you never know. I don't have any regrets either way; I would rather trade for a living than do anything else, but the PhD is a major milestone and the intellectual exercise lends itself to something like a sense of accomplishment.

The PhD is 10 years in the making, and is likely to stretch to 12 years before it is all done... go figure; it puts committing 2 years to learn this trading business into perspective. Thankfully, I have the time to commit, and we have the financial resources for the foreseeable future. The last 8 months have taught me patience and how difficult and important it is to start with a good foundation: know thyself.

And I am sure that the next ~2 years of investment are likely to be the best self-investment to date.

Cya tomorrow. Trade well.

End of Day Journal (7-8-2010)

Summary:

Whew - much more relaxed today.

Heh - probably because I didn't do anything. =)

I decided to kick back and just watch the market. Tarigal and Fozz turned me onto the TICK, a pretty cool idea. Basically it records the difference between stocks trading at bid and stocks trading at ask. If the number is positive, say 500, then 500 more stocks are trading at ask (buyers gobbling them up) then are trading at bid. A market sentiment indicator. I don't have access to the awesome Real Tick/Lightspeed new high/low ticker any longer, but I almost think this can serve as a proxy.

Another cool thing I learned today from Eric over at the Stock Junkie is that I can set the Trade Ideas alert windows up to play a sound when they trigger - cool stuff, and something that I have been wanting for awhile. Trade Ideas 'groups' the data send, rather than each new high/low coming thru right after it happens, it seems to send them thru every 1/2 second or so (if there are any). Not quite the Lightspeed feel, but it is something, the audio will help to confirm market momo, without the visual.

So - I basically spent the day focused on the markets and the TICK action. A different experience for me - able to focus and just try to listen to what the market was saying. I think this is good and may actually pay off - if I can get used to adopting that mindset, perhaps I can bring it into my trading. I took notes as the day unfolded, points of interest and things that caught my attention:

Looking at it now - it seems that when the TICK hits/touches LOD and comes back positive, it is an especially good rally signal. I don't see anything on the short side yet. But it is interesting to watch it unfold like this.

After market I decided to pull up the NASDAQ version of TICK and make some comparisons. There is quite a bit of info readily available on the TICK, not so much so on the NASDAQ version (as in top google search results) . Just looking at the one minute on the NASDAQ version, it appears that it is a little more 'trendy':

One more thing I plan on watching tomorrow: NT has a buy/sell volume indicator that I was messing around with, basically - an individual stock version of the TICK It is non-historical, so I have to record it during the day to observe it. I think I will set up several charts tomorrow to record how some stocks unfold, but here is what I grabbed from BP today:

Slightly different interpretation, but the idea is the same: who is capitulating.

Anyhoo - interesting and fun stuff. Tomorrow more of the same.

Rest well, THINK well, and trade well.