ElecEquity's Active Trading Journal

Discussion in 'Journals' started by ElecEquity, Jan 25, 2011.

  1. Yesterday's results....sorry for the late post

    122,200 shares traded; $2175.58 in profits

    Did a good job today taking good breakouts -- still missed a few, but I have to accept the fact that it's going to happen.

    I think the key difference in my trading yesterday was that I totally turned off my "realized profits" and could only see my "open profits" throughout the day. Frequently I've fallen into "protect-profits" mode and limit myself from taking quality opportunities that could possibly add positively to my day.

    With that said, it's nice to put up 2gs only trading 500-1k shares positions with my breakout plays because there's a lot of room for share growth on the upside. Its my best day thus far with the new strat approach...but today is a new day.

    2.3.11 = Day 5 of the new strat.
     
    #11     Feb 3, 2011
  2. 68,800 Shares trades; +$790.47

    pretty slow day for me; filters stop working midday, but I don't think I missed much

    Biggest Winners
    OTEX - bought 57.77s -- sold 58.88s
    FCX - shorted 55.51s --- bought back 55.15s
    PLUG - bought 0.85s --- sold .90s (took a few thou shares)
    CCME - bought 11.10s --- sold 11.80s and 12.14s

    Biggest Losers
    BX - bought 17.88s -- sold 17.80s
    V - bought 72.41 --- sold 72.26s (blew by my stop)

    No big losers and no really big winners.

    SFN this morning was probably the one that got away today. I passed on a valid signal after playing it right at the open. Really had no real reason to exit that trade. Beyond that, I've been doing well sticking to strat and not taking big losers -- in terms of cents, never dollars.

    Thanks.
     
    #12     Feb 3, 2011
  3. 86,000 shares traded; +272.77

    Traded well in the morning although I was a little unfocused due to some company I had at my home. That's the worst. Either way, I lost focus and its my own fault.

    I accidentally went to check on a stock that I traded towards the end of the day and looked at my P&L. I was up just over a $1k on the day. Managed to give most of that back towards the end of the day. Mostly due to forcing trades that really weren't there. If (When) I cut this type of useless behavior out of my trading, my performance and my P&L will rise substantially.

    Wins
    CELG - bought 49.05 - 49.10s --- sold 49.58s - 49.91s (heck of a move at the open in this stock...only had 1400 shares)
    POT - shorted 181.32 - covered 180.88 (breakdown in the am)
    EEE - shorted 4.60 -- covered 4.29s (fade play)

    Losses
    WNR - shorted 14.98s - covered 15.03s (an okay trade, probably dropped way too much $$$ in it; it's had a nice run, and in the coming days I'll be watching for a breakdown in it)
    URZ - shorted that spike into the close; kind of stupid -- b/c I kept shorting after seeing the imbalance...definitely shouldn't have lost a penny here. Rarely is that the case for losers. But it certainly applies here.
    _____________________________________________________

    For next week, I'm going to mainly focus on taking solid signals and being more vigilant in seizing opportunities. I'm comfortable in my new breakout/breakdown strategy (it identifies strong and weak stocks...not random intraday breakouts/breakdowns, that would be far too noisy and I tried that path 4 years ago at the beginning of my career & I lost money for 3 months consistently) and it's shown a lot of promise.

    My Process Goals for next week are as follows:
    (1) Only manage the downside; don't try to predict the upside
    (2) Take good signals from my breakout/breakdown strat
    (3) Lay into the fade plays with more size and leave 1/4 of the position on until the 3-min bar reversal trend breaks
    (4) Continue to catch the early big moves in thin stocks at the open that report earnings
     
    #13     Feb 4, 2011
  4. If you can do these things better, how much do you think this strategy will allow you to profit in a given week if you execute it better (obviously it will depend on what the market gives you, but can you approximate it).
     
    #14     Feb 4, 2011
  5. Handle123

    Handle123

    Have you ever just day traded maybe like two stocks instead of spreading it our so much? I day traded IBM for five years before going onto ES in futures. I found that most stocks have a personality, and that each have reoccuring patterns that another may not have. When I have the time to day trade stocks, it is either IBM or Google. Just curious.
     
    #15     Feb 4, 2011
    beginner66 likes this.
  6. No I haven't ever tried that. I like to trade what's moving either because of volume or news. Even on days where the market goes sideways all day there are still stocks moving for technical and news-related reasons. Ive met and listened to Mr. Bright encourage one stock for life, it's just not ideal for me. Thanks for checking out my journal and I'm always open to suggestions. Thanks again.
     
    #16     Feb 5, 2011

  7. I have no idea. When I stick to my rules and really increase my size, I think the results could become unbelievable. But I don't wanna speculate because the reality will be here in black and white. For me, at this stage, the process is more important than size. Once the process is habitually ingrained, then I'll progressively raise my size.

    Hopefully my results can make me become a baller like you are. Thanks for checking out the journal baller! What do you trade?
     
    #17     Feb 5, 2011
  8. I know you are trying to focus on setups and making good trades, and not the p/l but I had to ask, haha - my bad.

    Stocks.

    I actually don't usually touch breakouts (except on rare occasions, and only in the afternoon usually).
     
    #18     Feb 5, 2011
  9. Oh no big deal -- I do think about the possibilities of my P&L, and I do focus on it post-market, but not trade-by-trade or intraday unless I hit my loss limit for the day. I'd rather not share what I think the possibilities are for my intraday, weekly, monthly, or annual P&L. I'd prefer to just produce it. If I hit the levels that I think are possible, I'll be sure to make a note of it in my journal posts.
     
    #19     Feb 5, 2011
  10. Mutz

    Mutz

    I agree with trading whats in paly. That is one of my rules. You will always get hurt trading a stock that is not in play.

    Just curious to what scanners you use and how you configure them
     
    #20     Feb 5, 2011