NoDoji's Day Trading Log

+ $309

Took a moment to contemplate where I’d place a stop shorting DISCA @ 15.89 and it fell off the edge of the earth as I looked at it.

Called AIPC short in chat as it moved above 33.00. I was unable to short because I had no access to IB. Excellent short, too, over $1.00 a share very quickly. I hope someone made money on that call! (I am very excited because I’m getting an IB account set up, and I will run it on its own computer so I can have both platforms. This is a great excuse to acquire 2 more monitors as well!)

Short ORLY @ 32.92, covered @ 32.52 oversold (SPY also oversold), for a $200 gain. I regret not adding to my position when it retested the .90’s. I was offering 33.05, and should’ve just added at market when it stalled there the 3rd time.

Short ORLY @ 32.71, approaching overbought. Could’ve taken profits @ 32.50, but held on. Set target of 32.52 (near LOD), touched but no fill. It came back later and I lowered the target to 32.47, then back to 32.52 since it looked strong there, filled for a $100 gain. It did actually reach 32.46 before bouncing.

Short FCN @ 26.11, pull back from overbought, but still up trending a bit. It fell a small amount, then I didn’t like the L2 action at the 20-period SMA, nor the stochastic movement, and I sensed the crowd poised to move in, so I exited at b/e just before it rallied. Offered 26.25, but missed by .03 cents. Then I didn't like the action again and pulled the offer. I was careful with this one because of the wide spread, and the fact that it really had room to move to retest the day’s high. The 20-period SMA on the 3-min chart was acting like a small trampoline. (This one turned out to be a very nice short end of day, but I was so distracted with phone calls and various issues today that I didn’t want to manage more than one trade at once, and I had ORLY back on by then.)

Short DISCA @ 15.58, pull back from overbought, stop @ 16.00 (just above the HOD). It acted nicely at first and I thought I could scalp $50-$100 off it. But then it reached oversold @ 15.52 at the 20-period SMA where it found support, forming a much higher low, so I covered at b/e just before it rallied. Thank you, L2, once again.

Short ORLY @ 32.56 overbought run up (SPY also overbought). Considered adding in the low .80’s and chose not to. Covered end of day @ 32.44 for a $60 gain, using L2 action to get out very close to the bottom of the move.

HOTT reported excellent same-store sales after hours and is squeezing that 20% short interest. It’s back into the 9.00s. They report earnings next Wednesday, and I can only assume earnings will be solid after 5 months in a row of same-store sales exceeding analyst’s estimates. I may actually look to play HOTT both long and short!

I included two charts today to compare how comfortably I trade a stock I know vs. how conservatively I trade a stock I don't know.

 

hi ND

can u please explain when say L2 guided u to close a position; thanks

 

Elit, I've seen certain things happen that have indicated specific price movement. One thing is when prints keep firing off at the Ask despite the appearance that there are more sellers than buyers lined up (I'm shorting, so I imagine it would be the opposite for longs). This generally indicates a rally is coming, and I've been told it's the sign of a large buyer hiding his/her size.

Something else I see a lot is a random 100-share print appears at a price significantly higher than the Ask or lower than the Bid. This is usually a sign that the price is going to move opposite that print. So if I'm short @ 20.25 and the price has moved down to 20.05 and suddenly a print fires off at 20.20, but the bid/ask remain unchanged, chances are good the price will continue to drop.

Finally I look at where support/resistance is in terms of a) the day's high/low, b) the last trading range's high/low, and c) the 20-period simple moving average (SMA), and if I see lots of orders parked at those levels, I can expect pivots there as the "crowd" plays off common signals.

So in the case of FCN today, several of these L2 indicators converged to scare me out of the position, and that was a good thing

 

Hey NoDoji, are talking time&sales (tick) data? L2 data is market depth isn't it?

 

L2 is market depth, yes, and prints fire off to the right of the bid/ask exchange listings.

 

Could you screen cap an example L2 screen when it's convenient tomorrow?
I'm on IB and have market depth, but I don't think that's what you're talking about. There's also ARCABook, Nasdaq TotalView and NYSE Open Book available on IB, but they're all premium subscriptions.

I'm currently subscribed to a real time tick service, but I don't use it much. Tape reading never really clicked with me.

 

Hi NoDoji-

glad to hear you had another profitable day.

I posted these questions/replies to you in my journal, but they've gotten pushed back, so I'll post them here:

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Thanks for your reply ND


I have a bunch of questions at the moment- so forgive me for all of them- but I do feel that I'm closer to "getting" this than ever before..


Do you see what's missing? You had an entry all set up, but no exit. You must know your exit before putting on the trade. If you tend to have personal battles when trades move against you, put in a hard stop as soon as your order is filled. Move it to break even as soon as you're profitable. Then you're free to let your profits run.

Of course, I will be trying this as per your suggestion.

But here is my concern: wiggle room.

I can understand the emergency stop order at support.

But how profitable should I be before I move the stop to break-even?

Say I'm in at 70.10 and I'm thinking 70.20-70.25 is a reasonable range to exit..

on a 1000 share lot, thats $100-$150 gain

should I set my stop to breakeven once I see $50 in the green?

I'm curious as to when you would move your stop up.


I've been in trades like this, where I will get in, see a quick 50/60 dollar gain, then back down to a 10 dollar gain, then maybe a little loss and then wham.. it takes off and I get my $165 or whatever.

If I had set a stop at breakeven though, I would have seen a little green, and then got stopped out.

Wondering how you deal with that kind of thing.

 

Here's another:


It's important to have your exit plan in advance and never change your stop, except in your favor. Today I shorted ORLY @ 32.72 and it moved into the .90's where I missed a second entry to add to the short.


If you were shorting at 32.72, where did you set your stop?

If it moved up to 32.9+, should you have gotten stopped out there, since the trade was going against you, or were you still in your wiggle zone?

 

NoD - glad to see things are going well for you! Thanks again for everything you guys have taught me so far!!!

Today was an important day for me. I was almost exactly 3 months on a winning streak then got clobbered Monday & Tuesday - was nice to be up again today.

Let me know if y ou need a few more t-shirts... one for each day of the week

 

Hey Nod,

Good trading !!!

I was advised to stop doing what I did today and start doing what your doing.


Thought you would want to know : o )

Bob