Well, in my short day trading blog I've mentioned about using a new (to me) software and online service for charting.
Esignals.
They provide a fairly robust charting package which gives me almost everything that I would look for in a trading software package...for now. The reason I mention it over here is that it has some nice features that will translate well for medium term trading.
Specifically the ability to plot pivot points for varying timeframes automatically. While this is a great benefit for day trading it has it's advantages in longer term trading as well. Particularly when I can go back in historical studies and see the old pivot points plotted in the past without having to do any number crunching and manual plotting.
Now I had to do a bit of basic style programming to get what I wanted but it certainly will pay off in the long run.
About paying...this is not a cheap package deal. The cost is $125 per month plus about $40 in data access fees. Now the data access is expensive only because I want level 2 market depth quotes, otherwise I could get away with under $10 in fees...$2 extra if I wanted NYSE data. I think I could get delayed or end of day data for no extra charge too.
Anyway. I have a 30 day trial after which time I will have to pay for the past 30 days, so it is not free, just a money back guarantee. So I am one week down now and I have all my setups in and pages configured how I need them for now. I am sure that I may tweak them later but I need to get trading to get a feel for how this will work...and make some money to pay for the extra expense.
I worked out the cost benefit and decided that over my normal 60 trades per month it is the same as taking my commission/ECN fee from about $5.40 to $8.80.
All this because I decided that I need better data flow for my trading...I don't really need it for medium term trading but I will definitely take advantage of the conveniences available.
That's all for now.
Jeff.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
RRSP account ready to fly now.
I now have my RRSP transferred. Those mutual funds really crapped. I know I cashed out half back when they peaked and I had the paperwork ready to liquidate the rest but just never sent it in, procrastination cost a lost that time.
Now I want to get some decent dividend stocks on the wish list mixed up in financials, energy, perhaps some gold and a trust or two. I have a bunch that I am familiar with so I will start going over those this weekend.
Generally speaking the financial and energy sectors have had a decent rally so I will wait for the pullback to enter these.
Meanwhile, I may buy some of the Horizons BetaPro bear ETFs for these sectors as they weaken in preparation for the decline. Seeing as I cannot just short sell the stocks themselves. I am considering just using the bear ETFs as a hedge in order to remain in the dividend positions. In theory I should be able to gain on the ETF twice the loss of the stock, roughly, due to their leverged effect. If that works out OK then it lets me remain long in the stock and still collect any dividends and perhaps use the synthetic DRIP method as well as still growing my portfolio.
Hedging with bear ETFs can eliminate the need for setting stops on good dividend stocks. I will eventually need to compare that plan with using the protective put strategy but I feel that the puts are a good hedge plan for large positions, not me yet.
In order to take advantage of synthetic DRIPping I need to have a position large enough that the dividend payment equals at least one share value or it just gets deposited as cash.
The upside is that each position will grow, slowly at first, the down side is once I have an odd lot I can no longer use stops, not really a concern though. Alternately is the idea of just letting the cash grow and adding to positions manually, preferably in even lots. This lets me add my cash contributions to the dividend cash and pick and choose exactly where to best spend the money at the time, perhaps not even on of the existing positions.
Lots to think about anyway.
Now I want to get some decent dividend stocks on the wish list mixed up in financials, energy, perhaps some gold and a trust or two. I have a bunch that I am familiar with so I will start going over those this weekend.
Generally speaking the financial and energy sectors have had a decent rally so I will wait for the pullback to enter these.
Meanwhile, I may buy some of the Horizons BetaPro bear ETFs for these sectors as they weaken in preparation for the decline. Seeing as I cannot just short sell the stocks themselves. I am considering just using the bear ETFs as a hedge in order to remain in the dividend positions. In theory I should be able to gain on the ETF twice the loss of the stock, roughly, due to their leverged effect. If that works out OK then it lets me remain long in the stock and still collect any dividends and perhaps use the synthetic DRIP method as well as still growing my portfolio.
Hedging with bear ETFs can eliminate the need for setting stops on good dividend stocks. I will eventually need to compare that plan with using the protective put strategy but I feel that the puts are a good hedge plan for large positions, not me yet.
In order to take advantage of synthetic DRIPping I need to have a position large enough that the dividend payment equals at least one share value or it just gets deposited as cash.
The upside is that each position will grow, slowly at first, the down side is once I have an odd lot I can no longer use stops, not really a concern though. Alternately is the idea of just letting the cash grow and adding to positions manually, preferably in even lots. This lets me add my cash contributions to the dividend cash and pick and choose exactly where to best spend the money at the time, perhaps not even on of the existing positions.
Lots to think about anyway.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Bear or bull? The market is never wrong.
The market is never wrong, or the price is the price.
I have not been doing too much other than a little additional research into my longer term trading ideas lately. My RRSP account that I am going to use for these longer term trades is just online now, I need to wait while it gets linked to my main trading platform so I can use any of my accounts just by selecting a tab. Very handy.
Last night I was reviewing the state of the market in general and I noticed how the TSX was weakening. While everyone was going on about the rally and how it may indicate the end of the recessions (HUH?) the charts are pretty obviously not agreeing, the charts represent everyone who has a stake in actually putting their money on the line based on the market. declining volume on increasing price looks like it's time to get short to me...so a limit order on HSD (Horizons Beta Pro S&P 500 Bear ETF) for $37 was my target. I cannot short in my registered accounts so this is the next best thing.
I was spending some time updating my trading software at lunch and spending some time online with the broker to clear up a few issues so I checked into the HSD chart... the low today was $36.70...so I would be in at $37 give or take a cent. If I had been watching it during the day I may have gotten in a bit lower. Either way I would stop this at $36 as if it breaks $36 I was wrong on the trade.
Ideally I might wait until today was done and gauge the entry for tomorrow seeing as the range is pretty narrow. For curiosity I will go with $37 and see what happens.
Jeff.
I have not been doing too much other than a little additional research into my longer term trading ideas lately. My RRSP account that I am going to use for these longer term trades is just online now, I need to wait while it gets linked to my main trading platform so I can use any of my accounts just by selecting a tab. Very handy.
Last night I was reviewing the state of the market in general and I noticed how the TSX was weakening. While everyone was going on about the rally and how it may indicate the end of the recessions (HUH?) the charts are pretty obviously not agreeing, the charts represent everyone who has a stake in actually putting their money on the line based on the market. declining volume on increasing price looks like it's time to get short to me...so a limit order on HSD (Horizons Beta Pro S&P 500 Bear ETF) for $37 was my target. I cannot short in my registered accounts so this is the next best thing.
I was spending some time updating my trading software at lunch and spending some time online with the broker to clear up a few issues so I checked into the HSD chart... the low today was $36.70...so I would be in at $37 give or take a cent. If I had been watching it during the day I may have gotten in a bit lower. Either way I would stop this at $36 as if it breaks $36 I was wrong on the trade.
Ideally I might wait until today was done and gauge the entry for tomorrow seeing as the range is pretty narrow. For curiosity I will go with $37 and see what happens.
Jeff.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
