July Trading Journals

13th in a row as I have finally made my way back to an all time high on P&L. It has been 3 months since mid-April when emotional issues coupled with a tougher market broke me down. A wonderful way to finish the pay period off as I have captured $4200, $800 shy of the goal I set for myself before the month started. With two weeks left I fully expect to beat earnings.

I am shooting 70% this month, which is far and away the best percentage I have ever shot, back to back clean sheets without a single losing trade, 4 of 4 shooting on 3700 shares, +1284 before commissions, +1199 after. My size has not been there, I must push myself to trade more and bigger positions when I have a hand this hot.

Pre-Market: Saw good news in energy from European markets, that alone probably saved my day as I didn't short energy today and had a long biase all the way.

9:30: Saw a BTK reversal and good tape on DNA, jumped in quickly took 40 cents but left 40 cents on the table. Missed two huge shots in AGN and MRX on DRG reversal, both were down quite a bit but the tape showed 100, 200, 500 shares, it was so obvious the specialist was playing games and I should have went market, I went limit and I didn't get the key fills.

9:55: Saw the energy reversal, took NOI and sold for 17 cents profit, but then I saw some serious blocks going off on stocks like SLB, took HP for 75 cents off 800 shares, pared out too early or it would have been a much nicer trade. Got 60 cents out of EPG on XNG reversal, left 60 cents on the table. Tried NOI again and got out flat when OSX ran out of momentum.

 

Tough game but I managed to extend my winning streak to 14 straight games and I have already completed my summer month's goal of $5000 (mis-calculated my P&L the other day). With almost half a month left, I am looking to smash earnings estimate.

+629 before commissions, +414 after, 3 of 7 shooting on 6100 shares, 1 bullet.

Pre-Market: C/BAC positive earnings (BKX strength), CAL beat earnings by a whopping 16 cents (XAL strength).

9:30: Banks haven't opened yet so took PGR on IUX strength which turned out to be my game winning trade, made 1 full point . . . Took UAL on XAL strength but the stock refused to move today and I got churned for commissions. Saw XNG pop and took EOG but got spreaded 60 cents on a bad fill, lost 5 cents in the trade, could have been much worse as the energy completely reversed and yet again I was unwilling to pay for the bullet. I must be more decisive on those kind of trades. BTK looked so weak after the futures squeezed and I really really should have shorted DNA there into the squeeze, I could have got a natural short on that but I am too used to the power of bullet shorting. Got COF at 65.4 sold for a 15 cents profit when futures tanked, but BKX was up so much this morning and COF was flat and I should have held on for the next 80 cents since it didn't go against me at all. I tried to catch too many things this morning and I stumbled a little, by then I already missed all of the energy shorts.

10:15: Saw some strength in RLX, took BBY, and got 17 cents. Tape looked very weak so I got out fast. Saw some SOX strength and that happened to be the perfect time to short it, lost 6 cents in TXN.

3:17: Thought people will cover energy shorts, they didn't, churned away some commissions on VTS, time to stop.

 

Highest volume of the month as I churned my way to the 15th straight victory. Quite honestly there was zero reason to trade during the dead zone and the afternoon but I could not stay away once I took a hit in the dead zone. +668 before commissions, +233.77 after, 8 of 17 shooting on 15300 shares, 1 bullet (that basically killed me as I over traded it in an attempt to get the bullet cost back).

While it was an ugly game, I am happy that I came through for the win, as long as the winning streak is alive, I can always make more tommorrow. Gotta be happy with anything in summer time, as I struggled through every afternoon I played. I guess after a pair of $1000 day's I was hoping for more, I have to remember it is still summer time and I should be very cautious about afternoon trading. I am shooting 42% last two games, 28% off previous nine games of the month, is it the Boca vacation? I have to stay focused and finish the week strong.

Pre-Market: MER beat earnings (XBD), PFE beat earnings but JNJ missed, (DRG), BJS upgraded (OSX), a full batch of technology downgrades but NVLS beat earnings.

9:30: MER beat and most brokers opened the day down 50-80 cents, I have seen this script many times before, gap-fill, unchanged, up 1 point on the day, I was hoping for a similar play so took MWD, as soon as I was in the money with that I bought MER which was down 80 cents on the day! Took GS too, I was in the money and I thought I was set, all of a sudden all 3 showed up with size offer and I stopped out for 10 cents profit a piece on GS/MER, 30 cents profit on MWD. By this time I already missed two huge moves in CEX and BTK. I thought those offers were fake, but they were real and stepped down knocking out BID's with authority!

9:44: Thought OSX looked weak and put up a bullet in HP, churned with this bullet all day and got absolutely nowhere. Any time I saw an ASK I sold some, and of course it didn't work because OSX was choppy today, churned away $260 by the time it was over.

9:53: Felt it was total bull crap all along with the XBD sell-off, took 500 shares MWD long and pyramided for 1000 shares as soon as a BID showed up, lost 25 cents on one batch, 15 cents on the other batch, which happened to be the bottom and I missed a huge move. Took BSC for a 20 cents scalp and missed a huge move. I had this feeling the sell-off was merely a fake out, and I should have jumped in with confidence, but by the time it was confirmed, already too late.

10:20: Fortunately, I took 80 cents out of LEH, 30 cents out of LM, but I should have took so much more out of the broker rally. Saw XTC strength, tried Q and stopped out for flat, telecoms have been untradable since the summer started, not enough movement and very inconsistent the way stocks follow their indexes. Tried TER on the long side on SOX move and got out flat.

12:30: Energy rally, but on very weak volume, churned in VTS, RIG, EOG, KMG.

2:00: I was eating and all of a sudden SOX rippped under my nose, too late to take positions. Bottomfished MEE for a 15 cents scalp (I was getting desperate and bored, I looked at the biggest % loser on NYSE list and decided to bottomfish that one, a very bad sign). Took CAL on XAL rally and churned (like energies, not a good sector to play in the afternoon. Took WY for a 16 cents scalp on a bounce . . . Tommorrow is another game . . .

 

Magna:

Too many of those wins were in reality, flat days, (like today) where I just squeezed above black. Back in April I made more money in one week including one down day than this entire 15 games winning streak combined, so as good as it feels to be on a roll, I must continue to play with a sense of urgency, without it this streak will end tommorrow.

 

All good things eventually come to an end, and I simply could not make that one shot to push me into the black today. The 15 games winning streak finally came to an end as I dropped my first game of the month after a frustrating defeat.

7 of 16 shooting on 15800 shares, +99 before commissions, -340.34 after, 1 bullet. I was down double digit twice in the afternoon and I simply could not get that one trade to go black. Had I been up $10 I would have stopped. Unfortunately in an attempt to salvage the streak I cut myself a greater wound in the process, as I really didn't see anything worth trading in the afternoon. Up $300 this week, and I must win next two games to maintain momentum . . . Still up $5000 for the month which is my monthly goal, do not ruin it, I can't wait for tommorrow's opening bell, today my offense was completely shut down as I could not catch a single big winner.

A few of my co-worker trader friends are definitely getting better, and I must take my own game to the next level. The firm had a better day than Monday and Tuesday, my performance didn't kick in. Even the guy next to me who is down close to 18K 6 months into the game had a great day today thanks to home builders, I must bring my A game tommorrow. My opening game has been weak this week, tommorrow I must play a better first half.

Pre-Market: Very mixed, upgrade + downgrade on MER, a quality list of earnings beaters including INTC/AAPL but questionable forecasts. Mixed news in DRG sector as well, and last but not least home construction went up, I have a list of home construction companies and I should have used them, they all shoot up 1 point or more today with no gap-up's. Stocks that most other day traders don't trade tend to be much smoother and make for great gifts, and I need to work on those.

9:30: MWD gapped down 1.8 point (which I knew was total bullcrap given the overall market atmosphere) and I bought off the open, stopped out for flat because I just didn't have the confidence when the offer showed up, and missed a 80 cents move. Started churning in my HP bullet on OSX weakness, this stock doesn't trade like it used to anymore, very choppy and wiggles a lot. Saw SOX rebound and took IRF, got out for a nickel profit when the SOX faded at unchanged. By now, I have missed CRA/DNA on morning BTK pop, and a drugs rally. SOX is getting untradable lately, have to avoid that sector most of the times. The futures totally tanked but for some strange reason I had a long biase today, and that biase prevented me from going short.

10:38: When I am down this late into the game, I know I am in trouble. The market pretty much stalled and I wanted to make something happen. Tried to bottomfish MRX/MIR and got nowhere, very low volume and very tough trades. Since I took a lesson yesterday in churning during the dead zone, I went for a great honey club sandwich. Saw a half million print on DNA just before I left, and stock went up 1.5 point. You have to give him a lot of wiggle room, a tough specialist to trade unless it is the open (this is why I love the open so much, everyone shows up with real sizes even if it is a gap and trap, at least the sizes don't lie). Unfortunately I was long ROH on a CEX rally, and I lost patience and sold market, stock ran up 1 point when I came back . . .

2:00: Energy rally, took APA and all of a sudden it tanked. I thought it was just a specialist shakeout but the prints were getting larger and larger, all 3 indexes were getting hammered and I lost 30 cents. Since I had that bullet on HP, and the momentum looked very real, I sold HP short and pyramided into 1200 shares at 29.5, back then when this stock gives you a BID/ASK, you can lean on him, nowadays, you can't, I was quarter point on the money and I put my stop at the offer for half of the shares, he took it right away by hitting the offer and triggering my stop. Then showed a large spread, because I wasn't having a great day and OSX was squeezing a little, I covered the other half, had I held the other half a little longer I would have got back in the black. I was down $125.

2:40: Horrendous play. I was looking at the list of biggest losers on NYSE again since I really didn't have anything else to go for, saw MTD, the stock hasn't been moving at all last week or so, and today it wasn't doing anything until a sudden seller appeared to kill the stock. The specialist is very crafty, he doesn't allow you to lean on the ASK if you are short, he will hit the ASK with 100-1000 shares every one or two ticks down to trigger stops, he will even lift the ASK 20-30 cents higher every half a point down to trigger stops! For the most part however, he was stepping the ASK down with authority and taking out BID's like crazy. The guy who bought all the home builders in the morning was pretty damn cocky, he bought 600 shares when the BID/ASK was 12 x 300 at 42.06 because the volume was peaking. Still, why didn't he wait until someone actually hit that 30000 shares offer before he jump in? Too much confidence, and why didn't I trust my own judgement? I bought 300 shares and I said I will buy more if he hits the offer with size, not going to happen with this guy, he is way too crafty. BID gets taken out and I should have DPed out immediately, but I had this feeling "300 shares, volume is already peaking, how much lower can he go?" I watched him step down tick by tick and got out at 41.70, 20 more cents than neccessary. I had a lot of time to get out as soon as he broke the figure and stepped the offer below the figure.

3:00: Some serious size went off and I tried to get MTD at 41.45, like magic, he pulled the size offer as soon as I went for the shares, without cancelling my order I went for another limit buy at 41.6, as 15 cents is the max spread I am willing to pay. I only got 200 shares filled and made half a point out of it, a waste as the stock went up another half a point. The specialist must been a day trader himself, the one thing that will make me getting out of a bottomfish position is the sight of a large offer, and he showed one at every level then lifted it as soon as someone hit it with 100 shares. It is incredible, there were a lot of size that went off on the way down, but at same time he did a tons of shakeouts and truly played a world class game. Talk about abusing his power! Took MMC and PGR on IUX rally, PGR went up first and I pyramided and it tanked immediately, I lost 30 cents in the trade. MMC went down first and I sold when I could have got out near flat, it went up 40 cents. I should have took neither one of those trades, there were no volume, but I wanted to do something to save my streak, and it didn't work. Took ADI as a last ditch effort but the SOX was stagnant, plain stupid trade as I paid commission for a flat.

There are so many things I didn't do well today particularly off the open, I didn't go after the energy shorts until it was too late, and I didn't catch the easy BTK lay-ups. Also, I need to pay attention to those home builders, when there is news, they move.

 

Trader RX:

Forget about $2000 a day, if you make 1 point off 500 shares every day that's like six figures a year! In a year you will have like 100K then you can trade much bigger sizes! Or show your trading record to any prop. firm and I am sure they will accept you in a heart beat. Why settle for 500 shares 4 points when you can do 5000 shares for 4 points? SEBL has more than enough liquidity for that type of trades if you are so sure about that one.

I consider anyone with an account under 25K unquestionably a newbie trader, and I fully stand by that evaluation. Most people on this board probably made more money than I did today had they traded (they would have made more money than me had they not traded), and even a broken clock is right once in a while, but I would like to see some YTD performance numbers before you kindly give me some words of support after a down day . . .

I am very sure it is possible for a top notch trader to make more money than me on a consistent basis, trading an account under 25K, via IB and Quote Tracker. The problem is, by the time they get to that level, they have to be stupid to not go for something better.

 

I think everyone's got their own style. There's no better or worse style if both work, in my opinion. btw, im interested in learning more about your technique traderRx.

 

traderRX, there is a saying "If you are not humble, you are not in the business long enough".

I have traded fast naz babes for more than a year now, in a choppy market like we have in the summer, getting multiple points is very difficult. Hats off to you if you indeed perform as you claimed.

On day to day basis, scalpers going for quarters are the most consistent, simply because of the big sample size of trades, followed by "intraday swingers", followed by swing traders.

For pros like Hitman, scalping is probably the most suitable style as consistent income stream is needed to pay bills.

For part-time folks like me, we have the luxury to have an equity curve with bigger ups/downs.

So for the one millionth time, there is no "best style", but there is the most suitable style for a specific trader.