Episode 44 ... Michelle Koenig (66:57)

Has a finance degree from Montana State U.
Went into pharmaceutical sales
Got office manager job at Edward Jones
Went into software sales
Started trading part-time on her own
Trial by fire, read message boards, had no plan at first
Started reading books on technical analysis
When she started, had no chat rooms, no mentors available
Longer learning curve back then, no one to bounce ideas off of
Software company she was working for ran out of money
Husband had full-time job, she had a backstop
Went from trading part-time to full-time
Started with $40K and more than doubled it to $100K within six months
Filled with overconfidence as a result
Got sloppy and lost all those gains and then some
Craved independence that trading gave her, has an entrepreneurial spirit
Need to be stubborn and resilient to make it as a trader, can't give up
Need to treat trading like a business: need a plan, strategy, rules, working capital
Keep losses small and move forward
Have to be able to take losses, can't "hold and hope"
Took three to four years before she became consistent
Emotional roller coaster of trading: euphoria to depression
Time in the seat helps with controlling emotions
Technical swing trader: flags, triangles, rectangles
Starts with daily chart, drills down to 60 minute chart, finds a level that makes sense
Uses 50 period EMA on 60 minute chart
Doesn't discriminate between high price low price, big float small float, etc.
Wants the move to happen quickly, ten days max
Swing trading is a more relaxed style, giving the trade time to work
Overnight risk of swing trading ... gaps above or below stops
Never holds through earnings
Likes bull and bear flag patterns best, and triangles too
If only had one thing to trade would be 50 EMA on 60 minute chart
Uses Stockcharts.com, been a member for 13 years
Loves looking at charts, like putting together a puzzle
Puts a number of indicators on daily charts: RSI, MACD, moving averages
On her 60 minute charts uses slow stochastic and 50 EMA
95% technicals, 5% fundamentals -- will look at float, short interest, institutional ownership
Uses finviz.com to look at those fundamental statistics
Her day trading usually news-based
Winning day trades becomes swing trades
Exits hardest part of the trade for her
Uses combination of trend lines and moving averages to move stops up once profitable
Flags and triangles give a measured move
Give trades room and time to work, the trailing stop will take her out
Tries to keep things simple, don't want to be paralyzed
She's not floofy or fancy, likes things to be simple and clean
Looks at 300-600 charts a day ... antiquated process of flipping through them
Looks at percentage gainers for day trades at finviz.com, looks through charts manually
Uses ThinkOrSwim, loves the charting there
Chasing an entry is never a good idea
Don't try to catch the bottom or the top, just catch the middle of the move
Patience is important ... set your risk, follow your plan
Easy to be impatient when you're staring at a screen which is blinking constantly
New traders think that trading is easy -- they're WRONG
New traders don't understand their personality type and how it matches a trading style
New traders have no plan
New traders want alerts
New traders mix up their styles, try both day trading and swing trading at once
New traders jump from one strategy to the next
New traders want to trade stocks and options and futures all at once
Market extracts a tuition cost from every new trader
Down time very important for traders, get away from the screens
She walks away at the market close, might come back to screens in evening
Afternoons for riding horses, fishing, hiking, cleaning stalls [lives in Montana]
You need balance, don't be tied to the screens 12 hours a day 7 days a week
Taking breaks during the day also very important, go throw the dog a ball
Trading is lonely ... you're a hobbit in your cave
Participates in Traders For A Cause, Las Vegas event to raise charity money
Runs swing trading service, chat room, private Twitter feed, and has DVD for sale
www.tradeonthefly.com
Twitter: OffshoreHunters