April Trading Journals

- I like these scuffles between Don Bright & Hitman. I think they are pretty funny. Each one trying to out-do the other. lol. well, it's all in good jest!

 

Glad to see we are providing entertainment on the board, and I agree that it is in good fun, with a mutual respect.
Perhaps we could a tour like G.Gordon Liddy and Timothy Leary did (Yes, I would have to be Liddy)....

A question Hitman....do you (personally) trade a group of stocks daily, or do you filter...looking for movement. I notice you post up different stocks a lot of the time, so I assume you do some filtering.

Just curious??

 

Don:

A combination.

I have a watch list of a dozen sectors and components.

I also look for high volume movers at the end of every day for daily set-ups. (Lately reversals seem to work MUCH MUCH better than follow-throughs).

 

It is moments of brilliance like this that gives you hope that you will make it someday, even if it is also days like this that make me truly miss her as the weather is as pleasant as my P&L and I would rather give it all back just for a night out in the city with her.

13400 shares each way on 13 of 18 shooting, +1985 before commissions, +1755 after, no bullets. $100 away from the bottom of firm's top 30 list.

Pre-Market: No real news to speak of for me.

9:30: Definitely no regret whatsoever today with the open strategy, got 50 cents from ABT long, 10 cents from DD short, 10 cents from TYC long, scratch TXN long. +$700 right off the bat.

9:40: A little late getting into chemicals as I took ROH for just 20 cents. Had BLS/VZ as potential Tony Oz "bitter sweet" reversal plays, wish I held all the way tho as I got 70 cents from BLS thanks to a great fill, 25 cents from VZ, unfortunately just 500 shares a piece. I HAVE to force myself to take bigger positions. Got a little ahead of myself and thought XTC will rebound with those two stocks going up and took PCS, lost 10 cents.

9:55: Yet another "bitter sweet" reversal put me ahead for good as I caught DNA at 41, unfortunately I did not hold but still got 75 cents. When the market trends a little more, when plays like this are the norm rather than exceptions, I will have to force myself to hold. Lost 4 cents on lagger STR as I already missed the amazing XNG move. Lost 15 cents off BHI on a nasty shake out.

10:20: Mini-home builder rally as I took SPF, DHI, HOV "touch of love", got on average a quarter a piece. Had PPG/ROH for chemical move, got 40 cents from PPG, 10 cents from ROH. Unfortunately lost 20 cents in STI as I was shaken out at the low print of the day.

10:50: Tried LAB for what I thought maybe a fourth "bitter sweet" reversal, I was in the money by as much as 40 cents and stopped out for a 10 cents profit.

2:00: Churned more LAB, churned EP on XNG rally into the close, but did take 30 cents from DNA on a nice breakout into the close.

Even if I am meant to lose her in the end, I have to enjoy the fight for the time being. I can not imagine if I had a 9 to 5 job, I will probably go insane from thinking of her. Or worse, imagine I am in a losing streak, I will probably feel like the biggest bum there is . . .

Team Stats:

9 of 10 active traders
68100 shares each way on 43 of 73 shooting (58.9%)
+6515 before commissions (8 of 9 positive)
+4999 after commissions (7 of 9 positive)

Top 3 Symbols: ABT, CAL, DNA
Bottom 3 Symbols: APA, CTL, APC

 

Good, I might suggest a "post-opening" strategy that might be fun. When you see one of your sectors "green" right after the opening, but not all stocks are open, place OO orders on the rest (up 30-30 cents from close), this has worked well over the years, and is back in "vogue" lately.

 

A sea of red ink drowned me today as I had my worst day in more than two months, 13100 shares each way on 4 of 17 shooting, -594 before commissions, -818 after, no bullets.

Even worse, including myself, my entire team did not have a single net positive trader today, as we combined for 4K loss before commissions, 7K loss after commissions. It is the typical worst day after best day thing as our team had our best day ever yesterday with 6.5K gross and 5K net. A total collapse and it started with the point man, me.

Our firm suffered our second down day this year (and a much worse one than last, as the last one was essentially a flat), by 10AM stocks like DNA, IBM, FDC, SP were added to the restricted list (stocks that you can not trade unless you are positive in your account). It was amazing how nobody went short off the open, and several big traders tried to bottom pick and were destroyed.

And that's not all, our firm did its quarterly clean up today and 75 traders were let go, one of them happen to be a guy on my team, and with a gross loss of 9K, and just 2K in commissions (total loss 11K), that's a horrible ratio, just happend that today he managed to lose 2 points again in a stock, and there was nothing I could do to save him from the axe.

It is inevitable that you need to do some clean up every now and then, especially in this market environment. The guy had serious problems with cutting his losses and the amount of money he lost trading 100 and 200 shares was just insane. It was the right decision. You CAN NOT teach discipline.

This is the kind of day that make me wish I have that other half of my life. I called her today when I was down $500, checking to see if she can come out tonight or tommorrow, and she is busy (not surprising now that she is in a relationship). Right there and then I knew there will be no rebound for me, as emotionally I was drained.

With another guy leaving for medical school in August (He may as well leave now before he digs a much deeper hole), sometimes I wish I never took on this contract (as I won't be seeing any result for my work for a long long time, even if I doubt I am alone in this category as far as team leaders are concerned), sometimes I wish I am still in that cozy little office trading with my closest friends at work.

Yet I know come tommorrow morning I will be rejuvenated and ready to fight again with my team, as I am not the type to back away from a challenge. It is a herculean task to run a profitable trading team, but like the quest for princess, I will do my best, and disregard the result, even if I am destined to fail.

I am tired, really really tired, from the bottom of my heart, from the core of my bones, but I will be strong, I will be faithful, for love is the greatest strength, even if it is misplaced.

Pre-Market: Big cap news galore.

9:30: I feel unbeatable when I am up something with Don's open strategy but today was not one of those days. I lost 15 cents BA short, stopped out of MER for 10 cents on half but let the other half against me way too much as I lost 45 cents on the other half.

9:45: Churned SBC, LAB, got a quarter from SGY for my best winner of the day. Lost 10 cents in RSH. Lost 20 cents in DYN. Churned a lot of CTB on a failed breakout. Small losses ate me alive as I didn't have a shorter's mentality until it was too late.

10:30: Kept on churning as I refused to put up bullets with market already at very low levels. Churned LM and lost 10 cents.

2:30: Churned BLS, DOX, SEE . . . Quite honestly, I did not want to go short with the market already so low, I took small shares for bounces but it never happened and this market destroyed my entire offense. It was just an awful feeling as there were incredible opportunities today . . .

Team Stats:

10 of 10 active traders
130000 shares each way 24 of 77 shooting (31%)
-4188 before commissions (3 of 10 positive)
-7102 after commissions (0 of 10 positive)

Top 3 Symbols: CAL, TLB, MHP
Bottom 3 Symbols: GE, SP, DYN

 

Hitman,

Just curious, but how long are traders given to prove themselves before they are let go?

SJ

 

Sometimes you need a good flush down to get things going up again.

 

I guess the SPAZDAQ wasn't the only market that was difficult today.