NoDoji, Congrats on your day and for your month. Keep up the great work and its very cool to have you in the chat !! Bob
Thanks, Bob! Congrats on your month, too, though you are used to those kinds of months Your support has been great and you are an amazing trader! Donna
+$1150 There are days where every trade seems to be timed wrong and day trading seems like the most difficult job in the world. Today was NOT one of those days. My timing just seemed right on and my confidence level was so high. VRTX opened lower, and displayed a lot of indecision as it drifted down a bit. A stall in volatility results in lower option premiums regardless of price action, so I took profits early for a gain of $265. Saw POT fall, rebound, pull back, and fail to make a new low. It retraced to the 20-period SMA and I grabbed 5 Sept 220 calls. Very nice rally ensued and as soon as it came close to its high of the day and failed to reach it, I closed the position. A sharp pullback followed. POT then tested support at 200 and rallied hard off it. I missed that move while watching other charts, but I looked for a failure to make a new low on the pullback. Two tests and higher low was established at 201.25. I liked the stock in this price range and for the first time ever bought the actual stock instead of options - 200 shares at 202.10. I was tempted to scalp a profit off the 1-minute chart when it gained, but I really like the stock in this price range as its lower support level is 198 and its resistance is now 214. I consider this a good risk/reward ratio for a swing trade and decided to hold for an initial target gain of $3/share. Placed a stop at 194, as a break below 195 might signal a retest of 189. MFE hitting highs all day, trading near its short term resistance of 36.80 and a mile from its 20-day SMA. That tends to act as a magnet, so I shorted at 36.80. They rallied above $37 and stalled, so I shorted more at 37.10 for an avg price of 36.95. Shorted additional shares on a late day test of 20-day resistance for a total of 2000 shares at an average price of 37.32. Placed a cover at 37.23 (thanks, 1R, for that excellent exit price) and filled for a gain of $180. ICE tanking all day and finally fails to make a new low. It's trading low in its near-term range, so I went long 500 shares the minute it touched the 8-period SMA (3-min chart) @ 92.27. It pulled back a tad, then continued its climb. When the rally stalled around 93.60, I set a stop at 93.44 and was taken out on the pull back for a gain of $565. I considered re-entry at 93.38, but I donât âknowâ ICE very well, having only traded it once; turns out wouldâve been a great re-entry point. POT pulled back to test the high 198âs again and I put on 200 more at 199.50 for an average price of 200.75. There was a nice end of day rally but rather than take profits, Iâm holding through the weekend, as I like its strong support today in the range of my average price.
NoDoji, Thanks so much for posting. In your first post you asked for advice from seasoned traders, well, that makes me ineligible to give advice, but let me comment. Your style of trading is very similar to mine, albeit at a larger scale. I've been working DE with some success, and have run into similar emotional issues (should have waited, glad I did what I did, etc.). I do admire your control and consistency, keep up the good work and hope you have a great next week.
Reviewing CSIQ swing trade put on last week @ 30.92. Was looking for an initial target of 32.50 and a holding period of about a week. This trade came within a hair of my max loss per trade but it didn't breach near term support (26.50), and in fact found higher lows off that. Unfortunately the upward momentum from early in the week stalled, so I'll be watching this one closely as its coming into earnings in less than 2 weeks. (This is where comments from wise old traders are especially welcome )
Hi NoDoji, I'm kind of new at this, so please take all of this a big grain of mediterranean salt. You indicated that you went for a swing trade at CSIQ at 30.something, looking to exit at 32. When I look at the daily chart of CSIQ, I see a downward trend starting at about June 19, so I would trade this short, not long. If I am not mistaken, given this trend, the first swing trade on this stock, would be on July 12/14/15, entering short either on July 15 at $35.05 or on July 16 at about the same point; exit point at your discretion. Moving on after that day, the next signal, albeit a weak one, for a short trade would be July 29-Aug1, as it shows the reversal of the counter rally. There is some good resistance at ~32 which gives a nice stop loss point. You went long on it and I was wondering what chart time reference you are using for swing trades? Good luck next week!
After a strong selloff period in which CSIQ was not even on my radar (those were the shorting opps you describe) it found very strong support Tuesday around 26.60. Wed I traded it for the first time ever when it failed to make a new low after dropping early that morning. Excellent trade. Later in the day it continued making higher lows and I traded long a couple more times for a small profit. The overall trend had now reversed and when it indicated a continuation of the uptrend on Thursday I put on the swing trade with an initial target of 32.50. So I was looking at the previous 5 day trend (7/24 - 7/30) when I put on the trade with the intention of holding for 5 days or less and exiting at a target around 32.50. In general my swing trades range anywhere from 2 days to 3 months.
I see that Alan Farley also considered CSIQ a strong swing trade after Tuesday's bounce off its 200-day SMA support. I did not, however, intend on holding through the end of the year :eek: http://www.thestreet.com/p/_search/rmoney/energy/10431283_3.html
Major drawdown day; even my long term holdings tanked. Every one of my intended swing trades from the past 3 days was profitable before reversing, reminding me why I wanted to switch to day trading in the first place. The main issue is you have to place loose stops with swing trades on volatile stocks and thatâs killed me before. POT falls and fails to trigger my 194 stop. I find that the stop was for 1 day rather than GTC, but POTâs retracing so I move the stop below POTâs longer term support level 184.75 and buy Sept 210 calls. Iâm surprised to see it drop below 186 and I realize that the stop will likely get hit, which it does. It then seems to have found support at that level and I add to the Sept calls, but later drifts down, ending with a test of 177 support, which is holding up so far. CSIQ not behaving as I desired, so I add to my position near the lows to lower my break even point with the intention of exiting on the next rally, which doesnât have to be much. CLF drops and bounces off support in the 99âs and I put on at 102.10 with intended target of 105. (If day trading Iâd have taken my profits at the stall of 103.80 and been a happy camper.) I still like CLF at this price, and anticipate a profitable trade. DRYS drops and I put on for a swing trade off 70 support with a target of 73. It too drifts down all day. So Iâm at risk with potentially getting taken out at deep stops again, as with POT. The thing is, every one of my swing trades from my April/May trading era made huge profitable gains after I got stopped out, which is why Iâm willing to set the stops much lower than I normally would. As usual with losing days, you learn something: Day trading rocks in these volatile times!