NoDoji's Day Trading Log

Thanks Bob! Gotta pay for our Christmas Eve open house food and drink

 

Hey NoDoji,

Thanks for the challenge today.

Having a little push to keep me from just sitting on my laurels was just what I needed today. : o )

 

Bob, the challenge was fun! Can't believe I used limit on APOL and missed that last move. I almost closed out my HOTT position just to try and beat you, but I want bigger profits off that puppy!

+ $248

Shorted AMGN @ 58.32 when overbought stochastic crossed down after a test of the HOD. I placed a very tight stop @ 58.52, which got hit with slippage for a $115 loss. My choices were tight stop, re-enter the trade later, or wider stop. After sitting with trades forever when not using the tight stop, I decided that was the better option.

Shorted MFE @ 33.90 when it had a strong run up on the news that it’s been added to the S&P index. Oh boy, now that’s a reason a stock should rally. It was also very close to major resistance, giving me a great stop price. Despite the fact that this was one of the highest probability trades I’ve had recently, I covered @ 33.71 for a $95 gain at the first sign of oversold pivot, instead of setting my stop at b/e and being patient. It dropped all day after I covered, and I left about $700 on the table.

To prove that I am capable of learning from my errors, I re-shorted AMGN @ 58.28 upon failure to make a new high, set my stop to b/e as soon as the trade was profitable, moved the stop down gradually and waited patiently for the oversold stochastic to cross up, covering @ 57.79 for a $247 gain.

Got bored in the doldrums of the afternoon and put on a swing short of HOTT @ 8.56.

My boredom continued and I shorted MFE again @ 32.92 after previous support became new resistance and it tested that new resistance and appeared to stall. It milled about for some time and I don’t like when that happens because you never know where it’s going to break and it usually breaks to the upside. It had broken through resistance twice, so I covered @ 32.98 for a $35 loss, and of course it tanked after that.

Shorted APOL @ 74.86 when overbought and stalled after rallying through previous 74.84 resistance and pulling back. Set a cover target at 74.66 which was filled for a $100 gain.

Finally after forever and a day, DRI approached my target cover price, but when it stalled and pivoted a bit close to my entry price, I impatiently covered for a $50 loss, not wanting to hold the damn position another day. Of course it hit my original target price right after that and then bounced.

Shorted APOL @ 74.95 after another test of that resistance, and set a cover target of 74.75 which was filled for a $100 gain.

Had a nice “drag trading” challenge with Bob end of day, and was certain I’d wipe him out with a final APOL short, but I set a limit order @ 75.20 instead of just going in at market and missed the big move. Oh well, there’s always Friday.

 

+ $241

Was originally planning to take the day off, but since I had a trade on, I figured I’d close it out before the holiday. Closed HOTT @ 8.45 for $116 gain.

DRI opened to a high and looked overbought so I shorted @ 28.27 and set a target @ 27.97 which got filled .01 from low of the morning for a $153 gain.

And on that note, I wish everyone a happy Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Solstice!

 

Hog, I just got the books, thanks so much! I'll be reading for the next 3 months!

+ $285

Discovered I had an APOL short on from Wed. I remembered thinking of shorting them Wed morning, but didn’t realize I actually had done so. Must’ve had Christmas party on the brain. It never hit my target all day, so still holding. I thought about doubling the position if it rallied above $77 and covering on the pull back, but never did.

HOTT opened overbought near Wed’s high and I shorted at @ 8.59, covered later @ 8.40 for a $190 gain.

Shorted DRI @ 28.32 applying the “if this was a good enough price to short earlier this week, it’s a good enough price to short now” strategy. Waited patiently for the oversold stochastic to cross up and covered @ 27.95 for a $187 gain.

Shorted DRI again @ 28.29 (same strategy), and covered @ 28.19 for a $50 gain. It was up trending at this point, so I used a trend line for my target exit price and it was solid.

ALL overbought and had established strong resistance around 30.75. Shorted @ 30.55 with a tight stop above the HOD @ 30.85 which was hit on a strong rally for a $140 loss. Neglected to watch for a better entry, which of course materialized, because I was busy with…

CELG, which had established a nice range for small predictable moves between 54-ish and 53.85-ish. Shorted @ 53.99 when overbought stochastics crossed down. Covered @ 53.85 (support) for a $67 gain.

Shorted CELG again later @ 54.00 and it really stalled after that, breaking the previous resistance of 54.11, but not really moving enough to add to the position. Toward the end of the day I covered @ 53.97, not wanting to hold a bio/pharma stock overnight. This was basically b/e after commission.

DRI set up nicely again end of day and I shorted @ 28.47, holding over the weekend, unless I get filled in after hours.

 

NOD, Great, my, my the post office did a good job for sending the "BOOK" slow rate. ha

I hope you get some good tips from a couple of the books. Myself i liked to read about the industry as a whole, not just about trading. Many years ago many told me i was crazy to trade because the mkts were about "trading money back and fro with no real winers". Well i am a fighter and do not like to listen to defeatist people and especially if they are referring to me personally. The mkts are about the players as much as it is about value.

Some good stuff in reading about others and their thinking..........after all it is a mkt with many different players. Your challenge is to play with some of the brightest, best educated and smartest people and in their own sandbox.

 

+ $799

Holding DRI short from Friday and APOL short from last Wednesday. DRI dropped nicely and I trailed a stop all the way to 27.75 and got filled on the bounce off 27.62 for a $370 gain.

APOL rallied above 77 and I doubled the position @ 77.23 for an average price of 76.60. Covered @ 76.55 on oversold pivot for a $50 gain, expecting to short again on the bounce, but the bounce fizzled totally and it dropped all the way to 75.39. Damn!

Shorted APOL @ 76.08 on overbought stochastic, set trend line cover target of 75.68, filled for a $200 gain.

Put on a swing short HOTT @ 8.28, looking for another dip to 8-ish.

Shorted APOL @ 75.96, set cover target of 75.76, filled for a $100 gain.

Shorted APOL @ 75.91 on overbought stochastic pivot, set cover target of 75.61 based on expected re-test of previous low, filled for a $150 gain.

Shorted MFE @ 32.73 on overbought stochastic pivot. lower high, and failure to rally through the 8- and 20-period SMA’s. It stalled at my price for about 15 minutes on tiny buying volume and the level II action was refreshing at the same price over and over, giving it that “break to the upside” feel, so I covered @ 32.75 for a $10 loss just as it broke to test previous resistance (which was actually a fine short entry).

Shorted APOL @ 75.88 when it rallied hard after lunch to overbought condition. I shorted it close to previous resistance, and really should have waited for the test and gotten a better entry price. Doubled the position @ 76.76 and set a cover target of 76.26, of which 959 were filled and I impatiently dumped the other 41 shares @ 76.40 so I could stop thinking about them. Gain of just $55 on this one due to my impatience.

Shorted APOL near end of day @ 76.30, looking to catch an early morning spike down.

 

+ $54

Shorted DRI @ 27.79, covered at the exact bottom of that particular move @ 27.69 for $50 gain. Set limit to short again @ 27.85, missed by pennies. Should’ve gone in at market again, as it dropped very nicely. Watched it retrace to previous resistance and shorted @ 27,73, knowing it was too soon. I even sat there thinking to myself, “Wait for a test of the HOD.”, but shorted anyway. Patience, patience! Held it without adding to the position until late in the day when I covered @ 27.68 for a $30 gain when it kept finding major support in that range.

Shorted BBBY @ 25.18 on failure to make a new high, set stop just above previous resistance @ 25.31. Became impatient watching the trade and exited @ 25.13 for a $25 gain, when if I’d simply left my stop in place and ignored it, I would’ve captured a better profit.

Shorted BBBY again later @ 25.23 after a retest of 25.29, stop @ 25.35. Covered @ 25.19, basically b/e, when it stagnated forever.

Shorted MFE near day’s end @ 33.47 after a long run up, but covered @ b/e when it didn’t pull back like I thought it would.

Wanted to add to HOTT short end of day and no shares available. Also still holding APOL short.

 

+ $11

I awoke this morning with my plan in hand: After holding the APOL short through yesterday and watching the S/R behavior, I planned to add to my position on the morning rally and cover for a profit on the morning pull back. So it rallies all morning and when it’s doji-ing up there between 78.50 and 78.60, I place a limit order @ 78.60 and it pulls back before filling. I always go in at market, but I hesitated and missed the opportunity for great profit. I could’ve done the same several times today, but held the original position. I think I analyze things too much and miss my opportunities.

Shorted DRI @ 28.09, finally covered at 28.06 later on after it rallied and pulled back to 28.04 support again and again. Basically b/e trade after commissions.

Shorted CELG @ 55.32, trailed a stop which was hit @ 55.05 for a $146 gain.

Shorted MFE @ 34.73 with a tight stop after a long run up stalled. Covered @ 34.70 when the moved stagnated. Again b/e after commissions.

Shorted CELG @ 55.41, overbought near HOD. Covered @ 55.34 when oversold for a $35 gain.

So here I am with some profit on the day and CELG sets up nicely again. I short @ 55.52 and place a stop at 12/19 HOD of 55.80. It starts to pull back then a sudden spike up takes out my stop for a $140 loss. The story grows sadder: I quickly short again @ 55.77 stop @ 56.00, and it drops nicely so I trail my stop to b/e, then to 55.75, and damn if there isn’t a nanosecond spike to 55.80 and back down again to take me out at basically b/e before a beautiful drop down. I was about to short again late day @ 55.75, but hesitated, afraid I might get stuck holding a bio/pharma stock overnight. She who hesitates is lost – it dropped in minutes to 55.24.

Shorted DRI @ 28.22 and it milled around a bit, actually hit my cover target of 28.12 at an exact bottom and did not fill, so I held the position through close and placed an after hours order with a deeper target of 28.02, and so far 100 shares filled for a $20 gain, ha!

Many thanks to 1Reason, Bighog, Neke, PatrickQ, and Red_Ink for answering the many questions this new trader had over the past months.

Happy New Year’s to all! Best of trading in 2009.

 

- $406

Unfortunately I fought the market today and the market won.

Covered remaining DRI short @ 28.04 for a $160 gain.

Shorted DRI again @ 28.49 at overbought, but this was not smart because that 28.49 was the HOD at that point and I am supposed to wait patiently for a test of the HOD. It did not fail to make a new high and instead rallied, stopping me out @ 28.80 for a $155 loss.

Shorted larger DRI position @ 28.87, this time waiting for stochastics to cross down from the new high before putting on the trade, and covered too soon at the first stall for 28.83 and a $40 gain.

Shorted small position POT @ 75.63, stop @ 76.00. It milled around a bit and looked full of indecision, so covered @ 75.87 for a $48 loss so I could short DRI which was setting up nicely @ 28.82, and I covered on trend line target @ 27.71 for a $110 gain. The trend line worked beautifully as usual with 28.65 being the bottom of the move before a long uptrend. (Definitely should’ve been playing the up trends on a day like today.)

Shorted DRI again @ 28.92 quite overbought and near round number major resistance of 29.00. but covered on stochastic cross up @ 28.99 for a $72 loss. Good decision as it rallied from there. Next time I trade a stock where the stochastics cross against my trade, I’m going to close and take the opposite side of the trade, as this seems to be a strong reversal indicator. In fact, I can’t recall too many times when a trade ended up in my favor once that happened.

Shorted WYE @ 38.02 when it hit the high ticker to an overbought condition. Since this was a new HOD, I placed a tight stop @ 32.15. It only dipped as low as 37.98 before bouncing, taking out my stop for a $62 loss. Again, the moment the stochastics crossed up on this one @ 38.09, it was an excellent continuing long.

Shorted DRI again after new high, and overbought. I was shooting for a small move since it was still uptrending, but I got my fill significantly lower (29.23) than the price showing when I placed the market order (29.29). It pulled back to 29.18 before bouncing hard and taking out my 29.53 stop @ 29.55 for a $157 loss. First time I’ve had slippage both ways with this stock.

Shorted CELG @ 55.80 at a strong near term resistance level. It sat there for a while and got “that look”, but I left my 56.00 stop in place to give it a chance. Then it actually dipped to 55.71 and I thought it would fall, but it rallied again, then struggled mightily for quite some time and finally took me out @ 56 for a $100 loss. Yet again, when the stochastics crossed up it was a very strong signal to close the short and go long, as it rallied to 56.60 by day’s end.

I’ve been keeping my peripheral vision on FSLR recently and bought a Jan $145 put for 6.60 when it reached an overbought condition on both the intraday and 30-day charts, as it has pulled back $15-$25 each time it reaches this condition since it began uptrending from 11/21. It basically rallies away from the 8-period SMA to an overbought condition, then pulls back to it. Let’s see if past performance is an indicator of future results. If so, it will erase today's loss