Trade entry for SPY swing system

    Posted by mfogli1 on 3rd of Jun 2011 at 04:35 pm

    Looking for any pointers on how to enter as close to the close as possible.

    I entered the trade at 2:57 but there was HUGE downtick on the one minute chart on the last minute, so I am ALREADY underwater on the trade.  This wouldn't have happened if I could have entered AT the close.  Is there a way to do that with any of the major brokers??  Thanks for any input...

    mfogli1 -- this is what

    Posted by Michael on 3rd of Jun 2011 at 05:16 pm

    mfogli1 -- this is what I believe to be true:  it does not matter.  There could just as well have been a big uptick and you'd be ahead at the close.  But this is a swing system, it holds for days or weeks.  Where you buy it within the last 5-minute candle just does not matter.  

    But as for getting closer to the close -- if you want to wait to make sure that the trade would trigger -- I made out all my orders and watched SPY on 1 min and 5 min charts.  I made out my trade orders and waited until 3:59 and then clicked to send them, one after the other.  It seems pretty simple. You could do it without the charts, just watching the price. Price was below the trigger price for the last 20 minutes of the market, so we knew there was a trade unless something changed.  So just wait until 3:59 and send your order.

    buy on close

    Posted by seadelight on 3rd of Jun 2011 at 04:58 pm

    I am using Trade Station and I just enter a buy (or sell) at market on close order  a few minutes before 4:pm EST.  My order went through today as the clock struck 4 and my price was 130.40.  

    As an aside, I'm never sure if that is the "official closing price" since the TS price is 130.43 on my 15 min chart and 130.42 on my daily chart.  On stockcharts.com it's 130.42 and on freestockcharts it's 130.43.  In any case my 130.40 is better so I'm happy.

    I have used the market on close order since starting this system and have been happy with the results so far.

    George

    Trade Entry

    Posted by alslayton on 3rd of Jun 2011 at 04:57 pm

    my suggestion is to enter a Market Order (assuming there is a Trigger) as close to the CLOSE as the system you are using will allow...if your system takes for example 15 seconds to process an order, then click enter no later than 2:59:45.  This should give you a fill near the closing price

    Your broker may allow you

    Posted by cw12 on 3rd of Jun 2011 at 04:56 pm

    Your broker may allow you to set a MOC(Market on close) order. I think bkout posted a screen shot of it for IB. I never used a MOC, so I can't say more about it. I personally do a market or limit order at the last possible second.

    Watch out for Fridays because it's OEX. It may be better to wait until the last second to enter. The action can get extremely wild between 3:50-4:15 EST. Option players have a lot of money to throw around.

    conditional orders in ib

    Posted by cwa82675 on 3rd of Jun 2011 at 09:46 pm

    hey guys im not sure if this is available for all brokers but i took a quick video showing how to setup a conditional order in ib.  hope this helps  LINK  I know ameritrade has something similar known as trade triggers

    Thanks cw that's cool and

    Posted by bkout3 on 5th of Jun 2011 at 03:45 pm

    Thanks cw that's cool and I think it's a better solution than MOC orders because those can't be cancelled or modified after 3:45 EST see

    http://institutions.interactivebrokers.com/en/trading/orders/moc.php?ib_entity=inst

    schwab does not have this

    Posted by debbies on 5th of Jun 2011 at 02:46 pm

    schwab does not have this capability, but you can set an alert with the time condition and the price condition.  It only lets you set the time condition in minutes, not seconds.  You can then have the alert trigger and buy the stock for you.  I just talked to a schwab representative and he walked me thru the whole process.  If you are on schwab trading platform, call schwab to learn how to do this.

    You just saved me mucho

    Posted by jmoynan on 4th of Jun 2011 at 01:23 pm

    You just saved me mucho end-of-day anxiety because I am rarely around my computer at market close.  Thanx.

    Nice! Didn't know about this

    Posted by cw12 on 3rd of Jun 2011 at 11:31 pm

    Nice! Didn't know about this function. Thanks cwa.

    awesome video help!  thanks for

    Posted by matt on 3rd of Jun 2011 at 11:10 pm

    awesome video help!  thanks for taking the time to do that!  Very nice indeed and makes it easy for those who have IB.  

    IB is the only broker I use actually.  

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