Hi Day Traders,

This week's tip has to do with consistency.

On 6-22-2000 the September S&P opened at 1495.00, went
up slightly to 1495.50 and then sold off down to 1486.60.
At 10:00 EST I recommended selling 1491.90 and about
10 minutes later the market traded up to 1493.00 before
starting to decline again. Unfortunately, I recommended
covering the trade at 1487.20, just a few ticks above
the low of the day. I say unfortunately because once 
the market got down to our price, it did not trade more
than .30 above it the rest of the day. I was hoping to
see a little bounce so that we could re-enter our short
position a little higher, but the market did not
cooperate and sold off sharply to 1478.50. 

One of the reasons I issued the fairly small profit
target of 4.70 points was because the previous day I 
had given back all the profits on a trade that I had
been almost 5 points up on at one time, looking for a
bigger move. How much better it would have been had I
been consistent in my approach. It really wouldn't
have mattered which approach I took, if I had been
consistent. If I had chosen to take a profit the first
day at 4.50 points, then the two days combined would
have yielded 10.20 on the two trades. If I had chosen
to hold for the larger profit on both trades, I would
have given it all back on the first, but would have
made 11.90 on the second if I am correct on figuring
that I would have taken profits around 1480.00, shortly
after the market paused from its swift descent.

So, being consistent in the way we approach our trading
can make a big difference in the results we obtain.

I know this, but occasionally we need a reminder.

Yours for success,
Ellery Coleman

The trades referred to in this article are trades that were sent to our Choice Day Trades subscribers as they happened. We have no way to verify whether or not all or any of these trades were taken in real time since we did not take them in our account. Therefore they should all be considered hypothetical.

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