+ $927 Went long IBM early in the day off the big selloff @ 69.80 and sold a few seconds later (way too soon) for a $186 gain. GPRO hitting lows and I bought in @ 30.39 off a failure to make a new low and exited at break even when it seemed to totally stall, leading me think maybe it would restest lows. Too bad because this one moved up very nicely not long after my exit. Later in the day bought AAPL Dec $85 calls @ 6.50, set what I thought was a target profit of 6.80, only to find out later when the close order got filled that I accidentally had fat-fingered the target price as 6.50. So I gave up my expected $300 profit and paid commission for nothing. Shorted WTR seven times today, all profitable. Shorted again near the end of the day for a hold, looking for a Monday morning pullback off that squeeze.
- $342 Bad timing, and didn't grab my opportunities today. My WTR short was profitable early, but I failed to have a cover order in place, which I normally do on overnights, and missed it. I added to the short on a later rally and then failed to take profits again! Then I had a target in place all day and at the end of the day it was hit exactly, but I didn't get filled because it was the bottom of the move and it bounced too fast. So holding the short overnight again and plan to have my target order ready in the morning this time! Saw APOL making highs, waited for failure to make a new high, then didn't get my target entry hit and should have just gone in at market, damn, a $2/share move down! Shorted WHR @ 34.08 on a run up and covered @ 33.98 for a $50 gain. Shorted IDCC @ 23.46 on a run up and covered @ 23.36 for a $100 gain. Shorted XTO @ 33.50 on a run up and didn't grab my quick profit, then it went against me and I failed to add to the short. When it dropped back close to my entry I exited at what I thought was 33.75, but got slippage that cost me $200 more. Scaled into another IDCC short later in the day and holding this one.
- $2123 I held my IDCC short overnight despite some misgivings. The rumors were already on the table pretty solidly about their settlement, but when it was confirmed after hours, it gapped up another $4/share. So this morning I knew would be damage control. Quite a double gap up and sure enough it began the retracement down on open. I had a stop in place in case of a sudden rally and I was keeping too close, because a small spike took me out for a $2500 loss - ouch. Had I been looser with the stop I could've reduced the original loss to around $600, and played the same stock to cover that. I'm just too new of trader to handle this kind of thing well. Again missed an entry on APOL and again should've just gone in at market, better move than yesterday's. Covered my overnight WTR short at some point, then played it the rest of the day to recoup some of my losses. Shorted more at the end of day run up, holding. Hopefully no news pending :eek:
- $270 Placed limit orders on MOS in 5 accounts for 26.10, and it missed that price by pennies. Took $100 profit on my overnight WTR short, which delayed me realizing how close my MOS orders had come and missed. By then MOS had already climbed to a stochastically overbought position and I had to leave for 2 hours, so I figured I'd try again later. Forget that, it was in the $28 range by the time I returned and what it all comes down to is about $10K left behind here today. Shorted APOL @ 75.40 on its failure to make a new high and covered @ 75.25 for a quick $75 gain. That was nearly the whole move, so I watched for next test of highs. It became overbought again at 75.40 and I shorted there, with a stop @ 75.70. It moved up a few pennies, milled around for quite a while, went back down a few pennies to my entry price, then suddenly rallied and took me out for the $150 loss. The rally continued to new highs and I missed a short entry by .01, and did not chase at market because of APOL's wider bid/ask spread. Watched APOL again for the test of the new high. It became overbought and stalled at a failure to make a new high, so I shorted there @ 76.22 with a stop @ 76.52. Suddenly it rallied again and took me out for $160 loss. I tried to short again with a limit of 76.80 and missed the fill by pennies. Near the end of the day shorted SWN @ 36.36. It milled around that price for what seemed like forever and finally I saw a market on close buy imbalance and did not want to hold this one overnight, so I exited at what appeared to be b/e but slippage on this volatile stock got me for $55. I feel jinxed today and am ready for some profits on Friday :eek:
+ $8 I had a WTR short I was holding from Wednesday and set a cover target of 21.39. Price dropped to 21.39 first thing and lifted 400 of my shares for a $40 gain. How I hate picking an exact bottom and not getting the complete fill. So I'm still holding 600 shares @ 21.49. Shorted HANS @ 29.52 when it had a nice run up and wasn't too far from yesterday's high. Covered @ 29.38 for a $70 gain, taking advantage of most of that small move. Shorted HANS again @ 29.78 and placed what I thought was Wednesday's high as a stop (29.95), but I actually entered 29.90 as a stop and you can look at the damn chart to verify that 29.90 was the EXACT TOP today and I got stopped out for a $60 loss after which it commenced a very nice drop down to 29.30. So you can see why I feel jinxed, picking an exact LOD on WTR and getting only a partial fill, then fat fingering a HANS stop that happens to be the exact HOD. I am going to perform jinxed trading exorcism rites this weekend so I can start the new week and new month with only the finest trading ahead of me!
+ $110 Basically spent the day giving Etrade commission $ :eek: Thought WTR might retest 22 today, so I placed a very conservative target for my remaining 600 shares for a $30 gain. Short WTR again @ 21.40 and covered @ 21.30 for a $100 gain. Bought HNZ off lows @ 37.60 and sold @ 37.70 for a $50 gain. That was about the entire move, too. Bought HNZ again @ 37.53 and sold @ 37.64 for a $55 gain. Shorted WTR @ 21.20 and it moved pretty quickly against me, so I exited when it moved back down near my price for about break even. Too soon unfortunately as there was quite a bit left in the move down. Bought HNZ again @ 37.29 and set a tight stop @ 37.18 which was hit for a $55 loss. Missed some good entries on OSIP and AMED, but didn't want to chase when all the moves seemed to be in fits and starts.
Nice journal, NoDoji. Please keep posting charts when possible -- gives a glimpse in to your trading day. Also, how do you generate your stock list? Via screener or another method? Good trades.
Thanks RT. I'll remember to post charts again, got lazy with the market open an hour later now in my time zone. I pick 6 charts to watch from various sectors, usually a tech, ag, bio/pharm, energy, airline, and then may switch out based on stocks that come across the hi/lo ticker. These I check for lower highs (short) and higher lows (long). I also have the Trade Ideas screener built into my PowerEtrade, but I haven't really found the signals to be timely. I prefer the hi/lo ticker, then just watch for the setups.
you seem to follow/trade the same stocks for awhile (like WTR), which i just wanted to say works for me. i feel like the more i watch the better feel i get for how they move. keep up the $making.
nodoji do you trade full time or have a part time job or what? just curious how much time you devote to trading because I feel like we are in very similar places as far as trading goes. anyway i like the journal, keep up the good work. Also do you ever try to use power etrade through a blackberry? i heard it works pretty well and was thinking about trying it. last question are you a pdt or do you get capped at three trades per five days?