+$715 Day +$1599 Week +$1196 Month +$13826 YTD (23%) APOL up 2.50 pre-market, placed tight stop on open, hit for +$372. Too tight, it went not far below my stop and quickly rebounded to new highs. Trailed stop on DMND as it broke down and became oversold, and also placed a limit. Limit just missed, literally by a penny, stop hit: +$190 Small DMND short @ 28.94, intraday or swing, looking for retracement of that move up. Scaled into SNDA short @ 56.69. I had to hit re-center on the DOM every .05 seconds just to find out where the damn price went, it was jumping .40-.50 cents at a time. It dropped nicely and I trailed a limit to 55.77, snapped up for +$183 on just 200 shares, and oddly it was below the pivot low on my chart. My unintentional STEC short from last week seemed to find heavy support at 16.51, so I placed a limit at 16.49 and planned to trail it down. But the damn thing stagnated so long, I ignored it for a while and then it suddenly broke down quite hard before I could respond, so the limit was lifted for an $8 gain, and I was shouting expletives as it fell off a cliff. (I havenât yet attained that requisite professional traderâs calm.) Scaled into another SNDA short @ 56.30. I had the intention of holding for a swing trade for retracement as it normally does each week, and of adding to the position if it approached the HOD. Then as it broke through the HOD, I thought to check short interest from my Etrade fundamentals page and it said they report earnings Monday, so I put in a stop @ 57.10, not wanting to risk getting stuck in a loser prior to earnings, and it was hit with major slippage for -$400. Yikes! As soon as I saw Monday earnings I thought of GMCR going from 52-week highs in the 55.00 range to 80.00 on earnings. Iâm mad at myself for not checking that first because itâs something I generally look at when considering an overnight trade. It seems they just reported earnings and it didnât occur to me to check. ESRX puts became nicely profitable and I placed a limit @ 3.00 as the stock price came to the round number 63.00, lifted for +$350. Late in the day I scalped ANF a few times to the short side. First time went to place a stop when it approached the round number and accidentally left-clicked instead of right-clicked which closed my position immediately for +$22. My intention was to trail a limit on the expected breakdown through 30.00, but the mistake on the stop took care of that opportunity, costing me $20 in profits. Then scalped a couple more times end of day for +$10 and +$13. It was nice to have the month end green after a few weeks of hanging my head and kicking at rocks. I think I had only one order entry error this week (today) and one major due diligence error (today). Hereâs to a prosperous June for everyone!
Call your broker and tell them that your stop was $57.10 and it was not filled at this price, despite being in the system. Request readjustment on your account. Then request 10 free trades. Works like a charm with Fidelity. Glad to have you back as a trader (not if only I could follow suit) Wish you a terrific weekend and a very profitable June!
Thanks for you kind words, Bos! I can see how that tactic might work with Fidelity, but the SNDA trade was through IB. Think of Fidelity as a fuzzy warm kitten, slinking around your feet, purring, wanting to make sure you're always there, trading away and forking over those pleasant commissions. Now think of IB as one of those massive scary behemoths in "The Matrix", luring you into the illusion that you have a broker you can actually "call". XXXOOO NeoDoji
Hey Nod, There are Hedge fund managers that would step on their mothers heads to get a return like yours. Way to go !! You also officially kicked my butt this month too. Very nice. Have a great weekend and be ready for 'game on' next month......JK, its all good Robert
Mr. W, You are too funny! I'm not sure how many hours you put in this month, but it appears neither of our bosses met minimum wage requirements, and should be reported to the proper regulatory authorities. I look forward to some butt-kicking June, but let's make it more like $40K vs. $50K... NoD
+ $265 Traded very actively today, but still very small position size. Really wish Iâd been way more aggressive in size by scaling into the positions. I had 4-5 trades on at once and used Etrade for several because I couldnât fit enough IB windows on screen and still track my charts and L2. I had one order entry error which took me out of one of my ANF trades too soon, but it was a profit, just couldâve been a much bigger one. My biggest problem today was not being able to trail limits fast enough on more than one trade, so ended up leaving quite a bit of money on the table. Tomorrow I will focus on less trades at once and larger positions in the trade. âTwas very good practice though in keeping my focus. I think Iâm actually getting better at this. Was too busy to note my trades in this journal today, but the end results are: ANF +$30 ANF +$4 ANF + $43 ANF +$31 ESRX +$45 ESRX +$37 SYNA +$36 URS +$39 Added to DMND short from Fri and decided to hold it instead of taking profits because it broke down quite hard today on a very up day in the market, leaving a bearish engulfing candle on the daily chart that says âShort more!â Also holding a small STEC short at an average price of 17.10.
Nod When traders decide to trade Gold, they trade gold as their main line of expertise, same for grain traders, same for interest rate traders, stock index traders, softs, spreads, meats, etc. Stock traders in a modern world believe there are unlimited opportunities in stocks because there are so many stocks to weed through in trying to find a flower or two. Computers allow a trader to widdle through the weed patch to select stocks from preset instructions to the computer. Finding a 'weed" and trading it is a different situation. Poison ivy is a weed also. Finding a perceived opportunity and booking a profit from the weed patch is asking to much for traders in the first few years, especially day traders scalping the weeds. The GOLD trader (as example) does not get into the weed patch because there are snakes in there, there are poison ivy plants all over the place. Get the picture? The Gold trader is focused on what he/she knows, what makes them comfy, what makes them confident and ozzing with courage to get into the game and break bread with the best of the worlds gold traders. They know the innuendos of the mkt, they know the other players. Even today with all the power of computers you still have stock SPECIALISTS that trade (set prices) on maybe a single stock. To focus on less is less stressful, less work, less screens, less thinking and more acting, less poison ivy, less snakes, less spiders, less mistakes. You, yes you are a person that could very well become a really good trader if and when you narrow the playing field. You are swinging at to many pitches from to many different pitchers. Decide what pitchers you want to come up to bat with and get to know their throws. The rest becomes easier, far easier. Stocks are better for investing, for trading short term go with something where the majority of the players are playing in your timeframe. Sometimes it is a good idea to switch sides as conditions change and as the trader works to find the best area of expertise. Good Luck as you work on finding your niche.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3QuKCmfiMA&feature=related Be careful looking for a Rose in the wrong places. :eek: