I made a measly 110$ today...I was recently burned large by the recent choppiness so have been trigger shy and trading just 200 shares or so.I did about 1 long and 3 shorts today...I didnt want to hold any position for long time and as a result missed out big time on each position.Also in the last hour MO was whipping up and down more than a point in as little as 2 minutes-great short/long opportunity.But i couldnt pull the trigger-chickenchit...I earlier had bot 400 shares of VZ avg 35.66 and bailed at 36-it closed at 37.80!!!! Im better just trading less chaotic environments even tho this is where you make a mint
Stick with what you know. There are many at this moment that wish they could go back in time and not pull the trigger. Really, count your blessings and focus on what you have to lose.
A little fable Once upon a time a small cautious trader made only a small amount on April 4, 2000 when the S&P had a daily range of 100 points. All of the other traders ridiculed him for making a small pittance. "If you can't make a bunch of money with this volatility, then youâre not a trader" they all laughed. As the years past, the boastful traders disappeared and the small cautious trader still trades. ps: the small trader isn't me, I remember someone posting that day making a small sum because he kept with his plan.
I made $72.50 today and .... I am kind of happy. Banked $860 yesterday, and.... it could have been a lot worse, a lot worse. BTW I am sure there are many contemplating suicide thanx to the last couple of days of volatility. There is always tommorrow and as long as you have your $$$$ you can participate. I am sure we allknow why OEC and IB increased margins in the last 3 days.
Right here. Made a few trades this morning and had a 3k profit. Kept trading and went negative. Did more trading to try to get back my losses. Increased the size of my trades to try to have one winning trade make up for 2 losers. Probably violated every rule there is. Finished the day down $15k. I think I read too many posts here in recent days where people said "If you can't make money in this environment then you suck." I'm probably like the other guy who said he does better when it's less volatile.
Bought QID on a pullback, chickened out after a big red bar and made 9 cents a share ($40)... only to see the thing shoot up a buck without me. Later my brain filters out the perfect double top/lower high staring me in the face on the chart, I buy on another 'pullback' and average down until I'm in for $160k... luckily I realized the mistake and escaped with only a $1600 loss. Be happy if you didn't lose money
Boy can I relate to this thread! I made $500 today and feel like total crap. Today is exactly the kind of day my trading style is geered for, and making only $500 made me almost break all my monitors. Now before everyone jumps on me, please understand, IF the market now starts going up, I wont be able to make a freaking cent. I'm probably the worst trader alive when it comes to making money in a green tape. I like to trade violent reversals and there just arent any in an up trending market. Europes crash really played with my mind today. That and the incredibly negative up/down volume made me sure the close would be solidly red. I turned off my PC at 2PM after scalping the bottoms only to see the insanity that occured. Just writing this makes me want to throw up. I made a couple thousand last few days but I have a feeling it will be the last money I see for a while. Atleast until this god damn "hope rally" ends and we start making new lows. Sorry I just needed to vent. I know I shouldnt get emotional about stocks but this ramp really made me snap. I think I better call my psychiatrist now. I'm out of xanax
I feel your pain...we all f up....i am a better observer than participant in violent moves...The most i made was 10k in a similar day back in the 90s and i was shitting bricks holding about 3000csco from bottom fishing on a massive selloff...luckily in those days stocks traded in fractions so all it took was about 10-15 upticks and a stock would move 2+ points....i remember watching emulex drop from 35-20 and reverse up 10pts in about an hour!!!I was pulling hair out of my head not jumping on that rocket!!!!!