This page serves as an index to all my Q&A posts. Use your browser to search for a particular question on this page. I do have a separate FAQ that answers shorter and simpler (and more frequent) questions.
April 25, 2010
1. Should I use market orders to get a fill on fast-moving stocks?
April 2, 2010
1. Best sources for stock news
February 27, 2010
1. What do you mean when you say a stock is over-extended?
2. What do the new SEC short selling rules mean for traders, particularly short-biased penny-stock traders? I give my opinion of what it means to me. Check out this WSJ blog post explaining the rule and this more-detailed Bloomberg article.
February 20, 2010
Video #1:
1. Do you pay attention to the overall market and does that affect the stocks you trade?
2. How does the amount of shares a stock pumper is compensated relate to and affect the volume in a pumped stock?
Video #2:
1. How do you find pumped stocks and stock promoters?
2. What is the general learning curve for trading stocks as you do?
February 15, 2010
1. If I’m Tim Sykes’ best student, why is my profit margin so much worse than his?
February 15, 2010
Video #1:
1. Can you trade OTC stocks with Sogotrade and how are their borrows for shorting OTC stocks?
2. Will ThinkorSwim have better borrows on shorts once they merge with Ameritrade? Answer: no.
3. Why did my stop loss on my long position in CRWG get executed before the market opened?
4. How do you set a bracket order on an already-open position at IB? Answer: No clue.
Video #2:
1. How high will PEPR go? How did I know it was going to be pumped? Answer: I didn’t.
2. Why don’t you respond to my email about a specific stock?
3. Have I ever been asked by stock promoters to join in a stock pump & dump?
4. [Question answered previously and not answered]
5. Which brokers have a scrolling high of the day (HOD) list like Scottrade?
February 11, 2010
1. How do you set up your pages on Interactive Brokers TWS so that symbols don’t disappear when you disconnect?
2. Do you recommend Tim Sykes’ TimAlerts service to those who have no experience trading? Do his DVDs explain very basic stuff like how to make a trade on a trading platform?
February 10, 2010
1. How do I deal with the wash sale rule?
February 6, 2010
Video #1 questions:
1. What is up with Interactive Brokers’ Time & Sales feature? It seems to have multiple prints of large trades that don’t occur?
2. How do I enable AQS Stock Loan / Borrow in IB? (I suggested seeing my post on that and then signing up to my email list so you can see another post on it; there is a link on the right-hand side of my blog).
3. How should I determine my position size for trades?
Video #2 questions:
1. Do you know about using Canadian brokers to trade penny stocks or to evade the PDT?
2. How did you get the nickname Reaper?
3. It seems that the term ’short squeeze’ is used too loosely? How do you tell if something is a real short squeeze or if it is just momentum buyers?
4. How do you find stocks that you buy that are potential pumps?
5. What are IB’s commissions for very low-priced stocks?
January 30, 2010
1. How do you set hotkeys in IB TWS?
2. How to configure charts in IB TWS for indicators other than volume?
3. How can you configure IB charts to show news?
4. Really long question about level 2.
5. What will I do when I am rich and my account is too large to trade penny stocks any more?
6. What do I do with the money I don’t keep in cash in my brokerage accounts?
7. What are the best investments for traders?
I probably do not completely any of the questions. Part of the reason is I will not do basic legwork for you, my beloved readers. I am happy to help, but please put some effort into trying to learn things on your own.
January 27, 2010
1) What settings do I use on my charts in Interactive Brokers Traders Workstation.
2) How does one trade without level 1 real-time data? Is level 2 necessary? How do I see a large bid and decide to cover a short because of that?
3) Who are my favorite traders and what are my favorite trading books?
January 23, 2010
1. How does one interpret the cumulative size and average price on Interactive Brokers’ Market Depth?
2. How do you find pumps and is it a good strategy?
(Note: I will not answer any more questions on this topic because besides being ethically dubious, buying pumps is the riskiest kind of trade I have done and I do not recommend it.)
January 21, 2010
1. Where can I go to get good OTC level 2?
2. How can I scan for stocks getting volume spikes?
3. Where do you get the live news that I have seen on your trade recaps?
4. How do I scan for OTC stocks I’m looking to buy to hold overnight? I should add the caveat that this strategy has lost me money and is very risky. I don’t see why I get so many questions about one of my worst trading strategies.
5. How do I determine which stocks to trade on non-OTC stocks?
January 20, 2010
1. What are the cancel order and trade bust fees at Interactive Brokers?
2. What is the difference between bundled and unbundled commission structures at Interactive Brokers?
3. Where do I find out about different stock promoters (pumpers)?
January 15, 2010
1. How do I spot volume breakouts during the day?
2. How do I set alerts at IB?
3. How did I get an account at Goldman Sachs?
4. How do I find stocks moving in the pre-market?