Anyone know the definition of bloodbath? Today would be a great description of it I believe. No trading due to meetings all day, but who needs an excuse on a day like this. Hope for next week.
The markets took a monstrous hit last week. The channels that define the price movements are currently ambiguous. My trading will be very cautious until I see some directions that defines these channels. When being cautious, I'll reduce my exposure to 25-50%. If I know a stock is breaking out on heavy volume and risk is low, I'll load up beyond this rule, sometimes to 200%. I made my stock list for the week. There are 145 stocks listed, quite a bit for such a big downward move on the market last week. I'm really going to try to scrutinize my daily list, starting Monday. I have 5% banked so far this year (3 weeks of trading). As mentioned in my first post, my quota is 1% per week, so I can actually sit back and not trade at all for the next two weeks and still make my quota. This gives me the freedom to wait for the perfect setup. Stocks still breakout in down trends, just not as frequently, so I might need all of the two weeks just to make another 1%. Feel free to review my list and post potential additions.
I just completed my stock selections for Monday. I have only 12 stocks I'll be following. I've cut my average daily list in half to reduce risk (I usually have around 25 per day). Comments are always welcome.
Just a quick update... I bought and sold SMTL today for a $10 net loss. Trade: bought 200 shares of SMTL at $12.43 sold 200 shares of SMTL at $12.43 commission = $10 reason for sale: break of trendline, no volume after breakout (poor market conditions).
Just a quick update... I bought and sold ATI today for a $28 net loss. Trade: bought 200 shares of ATI at $41.77 sold 200 shares of ATI at $41.66 commission = $10 reason for sale: break of trendline, heavy volume selling (poor market conditions).
Here are my stock picks for tomorrow. I tried to tighten my standards a bit more, due to the 2 losses today. Even though there are 10 stocks on the list, I'm only interested in a just few. The rest I'd only trade if volume was impressive. Just a quick note. If I have one more loss in a row, tightening the standards would mean no trading until the market rally's, although I'd still "watch" a couple of stocks that have only the best qualities.
I've heard the saying, "you have to slow down to go faster". Today would be an example of this. I Bought and Sold EME today for a small profit, $43. Trade: Bought 100 shares of EME @ $77.2 Sold 100 shares of EME @ $77.73 Net profit: $43 Today would have been a lot better, if I had taken the time to read my "cheat sheet". I should have bought 300 shares of the stock, but read the wrong value from my data, using 100 shares instead. To compound the error, I also used the wrong daily volume factor to monitor my 1/4 hour volume, thereby selling too soon due to what I thought was extremely weak volume level. The reality is, is that the volume was at the breakout level up to about a dollar higher than when I sold. I should have rode this stock at least up to that point.
Just a quick update... I bought and sold ENTG today for a $78 net loss. Trade: bought 1000 shares of ENTG at $10.05 sold 1000 shares of ENTG at $9.98 commission = $10 reason for sale: break of trendline