NoDoji's Day Trading Log

I've attached the FLR chart with the initial reasoning for my trade, the mistakes I made, and how my optimal trading strategy would have made for a very profitable trade.

 

Ahh, ha.......... I see you use candlesticks, i use bar charts.

Personally i still say you are doing fine. I am seeing a difference between a stock daytrader in your style and a stock index trader as my style.

The styles might not differ as much as the instrument: I mean TA is basically the same for stocks and futures but with a twist.

Stock traders are mainly BUYERS, that in itself places a bias to the upside to stock daytraders. Stock index traders on the other hand do not or should not have a natural bias because of the habits of the players such as stock players having a bias to the upside.

Index traders actually should have a natural bias to the downside if they assume the main purpose of index futures are to HEDGE a portfolio of stocks.

Buy programs and Sell programs aside (let the arbs play that game). Stocks going up WILL drag the futures along for the ride, for some reason which we as traders are not worried about the street decided stocks should take the LIMITED supply of outstanding stocks higher in price. If stocks are marked down the hedgers will see stocks falling and if not hedged might go in the futs and hedge their portfolio which increases the open interest because the supply is not limited. That places more pressure on the futures and COULD drag stocks down further. (thats basically what happened in the 1987 crash as portfolio insurance was tested for the first time).

The point simply is this: a trade either way needs a solid signal and without a bias. One instrument is easier than the other to go short...........that is imo a hinderence to trade stocks as a daytrader.

Hope i explained it good enough. Be assured i do have a bias toward one over the other as the trading vehical. Is that obvious?

 

BH, your PS and PSS on the previous page sparked an epiphany in me yesterday. My past 6 months experience combined with your comments (and 1R's comments about not rushing into things), all sort of fit into a place for me yesterday and I had an "aha" moment. We'll see if it translates to greater profitability in the next few months.

PS - I loved The Music Man link!

PSS - Regarding your PSSS, I use 3-min and 5-min charts for my main trading strategy. My husband started day trading a few weeks ago and he settled on using 1-min charts to trade high-priced, high volatility stocks in a 1-3 minute holding time frame. That just freaks me right out :eek:

 

Ditto on the Music Man.

 

FWIW

I used to have the 3 and 1 minute charts up also thinking they would call an early signal. I quickly discarded the 3 min because the signals were basically the same as my MAIN DEAL, that being the 5 minute chart. ES charts we are talking about.

I kept looking at the 1 minute chart but this chart was also didscarded because i saw the signals as being to many to soon.....in other words they were for trading noise and not my usual setups in the 5 min chart.

I had a 15 minute chart up also and though all the trade signals were taken from the 5 only i did find some value in looking at the 15 minute chart. Looking at the 15 kind of gives one a glance of the larget possibility for objectives. So it made sense to me to get rid of the 3 and 1 minute charts as distractions (same deal for using volume in futures).

I do not trade for noise so many traders should understand the logic presented there. A perfect fill will get 5 handles as a target, never gonna happen all the time but i found value in looking at the slightly bigger picture in persuing the INTRADAY SWINGS. Thats the goal. I try to trade from a level to another level and consider what is in BETWEEN the levels as noise and IF NOT IN at the time..........i prefer to wait until the next level is taken out, tested and failed, a false breakout etc, etc. You know the drill.

Have a great upcoming trading week.

 

Have found the last exchange(s) between you and bighog most enlightening.

Thanks to both of you.

 

- 619 (From now on my blotter will be on the P&L 2008 thread; this journal will include a chart of the day attached instead).

This was a day where every trade I hesitated over or was unable to trade paid off big. I started to feel jinxed, but at least I something profitable at the end of the day.

Bought STLD @ 25.34 upon failure to make a new low and heavy buying volume. Placed a stop at 24.85 and was stopped out for a loss of $245. A better exit would have been at 25.20 when they failed to make a new high and hold up through the 8-period SMA.

Noticed CALM hitting new highs and trading at 52-week highs. Saw the rally stall and retrace downward, and placed an order but there were no shares available to short.

Noticed ESRX hitting new highs and shorted them @ 75.87 when the rally appeared to be stalling on selling pressure. It rallied a bit, then stalled, then rallied some more, taking me out at what I thought was a loose enough stop. They hit resistance not far above that and then tanked all day. I definitely need to wait for retracement or a failure to make a new high before shorting. This was a great short had I been patient.

Bought ICE @ 82.83 upon failure to make a new low. They rallied and I moved my stop to lock in some profits. Was taken out on a sharp downturn with significant slippage for a gain of only $120. Because ICE was weak all day and this was a later day reversal, my best choice would’ve been to exit around 83.27 when the rallied stall under selling pressure.

Long term, I bought FWLT Nov $55 calls, as they are a strong company with excellent earnings growth ranging around 52-week lows, and I believe they are due for a retracement back to at least $55 between now and Nov. My similar take on AMED paid off well.

 

+ $143

Today I mainly studied the behavior of stocks trading near 52-week highs. I had reviewed charts on several of these (as long as they weren't biotech, they were fair game for shorting IMHO).

I had a hot list before the open of what I considered to be the highest probability shorts - APH, BECN, HW & PNRA - and every one of them turned out to be just that. Of course the down market helped.

I was glad to see FWLT find some ground and fresh buyers this morning. I was very tempted to add to my Nov call position when they dipped near $45 today, but I would have to see that floor tested more than once before doing so. (Honestly, I would like that floor never to be tested again as the stock retraces back to $60 )

I placed short offers on UAUA and ESRX upon their failure to make new highs, neither of which got filled. I think I'm being way too picky and conservative, as both of these dropped like crazy at the points I wanted to short them.

My one actual trade was ICE, which I couldn't resist after it hit the lo ticker all morning. I chose and timed a perfect entry, then moved the stop too close and got taken out on a wick literally to the penny, missing a fantastic run up by not re-entering the trade. The choppy market and ICE's choppy behavior in general kept me at bay.

Keeping watch on RDEN for a short opportunity. Still a lot of volume buying spikes amid very low volume trading overall, so I'm going to be very patient with this one.

 

+ $255

FWLT performing as expected, topping 49.50 a share when the big boys came out to play after lunch today. I closed out the Sept calls from last week earlier in the day for a $200 gain when the stock pulled back; not really sure why since Sept calls still had plenty of time to work and I left money on the table. I’m holding the NOV calls since they were put on as a long term high probability trade, are currently quite profitable, and I want to let the profits run, run, run.

Bought DV @ 47.64 on a failure to make a new low. It spiked and I moved the stop up to lock in some profit and got taken out @ 47.77 (slippage) for a $65 gain. Re-entered the trade @ 47.70 and got out at market @ 47.96 when the move stalled for a $130 gain. This is a much better way to exit the trade. Had I stuck with DV instead of moving on to another trade, and re-entered when it stabilized a few minutes later, I would have caught the best move of the day.

Bought STLD @ 25.12 off a failure to make a new low as it appeared it would retest 25.50, but it stalled and I exited at market @ 25 for a $60 loss. This is the second time I traded STLD and it’s done the same thing twice: appeared as if it would retest a resistance level, then suddenly drop and find a lower support level off of which it makes a great run. I will remember to trade them later in the day if they drop from the open.

Picked up some TEX Sept $50 calls on the recent pullback from their Monday high @ 1.75 after they twice tested a higher support level than yesterday. Looking for a retest of 50 to see how it holds up. TEX stock is not nearly as strong as FWLT, though they are both solid companies fundamentally.

Scaled into HW short @ average price of 16.01 not far from its 52-week resistance. They’re trading at 52-week highs and are not a very strong company. How can they be trading at 16.00 with a negative growth record, while a true growth stock like CDS with quarter after quarter of record earnings and revenue growth is trading at 6.50? There should be an SEC regulation against that kind of thing.

P.S. – Wise old traders, I know the answer to that question: Trade what the market tells you, not what you think should be so. The market tells me HW is good for another pullback to at least 15.80. I’ll take that.

 

Good job! About this, what's the p/e on them? I think the same thing sometimes and then I remember that the actual price is arbitrary since they may have a smaller or larger float.