NoDoji's Day Trading Log

the dog whisperer..LMAO (maybe even funnier that you know his name too!!!)....
Welcome to the "dark side" Mrs Doji!...the one where we set hard stops and trade with strict rules....let the games begin!

 

Mad_badger: The man responsible for introducing me to the $500 rule!

Thank you for that rule, Mad. This ensures that, barring a dreadful overnight gap, I will never again take a $1800, or $2500, or $6500 loss

 

NoD:
You taught me one very simple thing today; the thing that I was overlooking all this time:

Watch for the stock to drop below 20MA, otherwise the uptrend is still in effect.

Why didn't I do this before?

Thank you.

 

+ $261

Set limit @ 28.90 DMND because I’ve held this one for so long and I was ready to move on: +$86 (Problem with holding stagnant trades too long is when they finally break your direction, you tend to exit too soon.)

Went to short JCG @ 26.90 and it fell .50 cents out from under me before I could click “sell”. Same thing happened with RTI, HPQ and CYH. I missed all 4 trades, all solid, but didn’t want to chase.

ATNI hitting highs for the 4th time and I prepare to short at 38.50 and it falls .70 cents immediately. The spread was .50 cents and it was jumping all over.

ATNI finally settled in and I decided to scalp a bit. Clicked 37.90 to sell, then clicked 37.60 for a limit, filled in about 1 second for +$59.

Short ATNI again @ 37.43 after it hit its head against the intraday moving average on an established downtrend, placed initial target @ 37.20, lifted in about 1 second before I could even contemplate trailing it down: +$43

Short RTI @ 21.69, overbought, lower high, stop @ 21.82 just above previous resistance hit: -$28.

Short JCG @ 26.29, overbought, lower high. Set stop near b/e taken out: +$8
Short OSG @ 41.27, placed stop too close as this one was jumpy: +$9

Short JCG @ 26.22, pullback from lower high. Round number oversold cover target of 26.00 lifted for +$92

Offered too high on two separate LDK shorts, really wish I’d chased.

Short NTES @ 37.90, overbought. It stagnated for hours, so in the last hour I put in a stop near b/e, not wanting to hold or add if it broke out of consolidation, hit for -$20.

Missed JCG short offer by .01 cent, nice .20 cent scalp too.

Offered the HOD for ATNI on the afternoon run up, but it didn’t quite get there before falling off cliff.

Short SYNA @ 40.61 pullback from new high, stop quickly close to b/e because of the 60% short interest, hit for +$10.

It ran up hard to new highs and I looked away long enough to miss another short entry, the best one of the day besides the open.

Short SYNA @ 40.30 on breakdown through the intraday moving averages and highly overbought on the daily, holding overnight for morning move (in my favor, please).

 

Bos, you're welcome!

I've learned to use both the intraday 20-period moving average and the 20-day moving average on the daily chart to guide me in entries and exits.

I attached a chart of NDN, which my husband traded briefly later in the day to scalp $150 off a move from overextended back to the moving average/trend line. He actually picked the top and bottom almost to the penny using this strategy.

This chart shows the power of the trend line and stochastics in guiding a trend follower where to add to a position, where to set stops, and where to take profits when the signal of a true reversal finally occurs.

These same signals allow counter-trend traders to scalp the moves from an extended state back to the trend line, and possibly catch the real reversal at some point.

 

Ya gotta love Ceaser Milan "The Dog Whisperer", the guy is amazing. Pavlov conditioned dogs with treats and food to respond to a certain set of conditions. The Dog whisperer takes the dog and uses the dog to condition the dog owner.

New traders allow the mkt to control their emotions when in fact the mkt gives a rats ass about your emotions. When the trader takes back control of themselves they no longer allow the mkt to control them.

Good work Nod

PS: about STOPS mad badger. Risk management and money management are seperate issues. To set a STOP loss at a pre-determined exit point relative to the entry point that depends on technical spots (levels, breakout, etc) can be set up with proper money management (amount of stocks or contracts placed in the trade), which can control the amount of money at risk (risk management).

Money management = amount of risk placed per trade relative to account size and other factors.

Risk management = how well you control the trade once filled.

Some have different ways to describe those 2 different aspects of trading. Bottom line........... Nod showed great discipline. (she has conditioned herself to control the mkt)

Nod is conditioning her "trader muscles"..

Ok, time to get ready to "make da bacon"

PSS: When Nod joins the futures "mutts" she will also be running with the big dog pack. Sorry, could not resist. Good trading to all.

 

Hog, my ES paper trading today went perfectly! Entered long @ 944.60 off the 9:45 a.m. bar. I had the patience to stick with the trend because there was no 50% retracement (though it came very close to my 945.50 stop). After ranging around a while, the uptrend remained intact and the 1:15 p.m. bounce off the 10-period moving average confirmed that. On the ensuing run up I moved my stop to 953.00, hit on the break down through the trend line, indicating a possible reversal.

 

- $192

Opened IB this morning and freaked out. I was long 200 shares NTES @ 37.61 and it was already down to 36.32 in pre-market, so I offered 36.39 and started the day in the red before the opening bell. Later in the day it climbed back up into the 37.50’s before falling again, but with it being so overbought on the daily, insiders selling huge shares, and the last oversold support level at 31.40, I did not want to take a chance by holding into the open, and it was at my $250 loss per trade limit.

I had set up a hot key combo the other day to cancel all orders and at the day’s end yesterday I hit my hotkey combo, checked my positions (only SYNA open). Also I thought all my orders were day orders, not GTCs. So I ended the day yesterday happy as a clam with my cross-check.

After this morning’s issue, I did some detective work, because yesterday when I initially shorted NTES @ 37.91, and it stagnated forever, I placed target @ 37.61 and stop @ 38.01. When I was stopped out, I clicked the C on the DOM for “cancel”, thinking I was canceling my target order. All I can think of is that the C for the lifted order stays active for a few moments after the order closes and I must’ve clicked that C instead of the one for the target buy order. So I had a buy order sitting there for 37.61 and this morning when NTES gapped down in pre-market, the order was lifted. I looked up my hotkey settings and the “cancel all orders” combo I’d created was not there! Aaargh.

So I spent much of the morning messing around with IB trying to figure out methods of making sure each day truly ends in the clear.

I did offer 41.00 SYNA on open to add to my short and it was not lifted. Later in the day it broke down and I covered my small position oversold @ 40.10 for +$34. And of course instead of giving me an oversold bounce, it basically fell off a cliff.

Then another order entry issue happened. STEC set up for a nice short and I opened STEC in a DOM window with my default quantity of 200 displayed. I shorted it @ 20.26, it dropped quickly to 20.15 and my P/L looked a bit high. Then I saw I was 400 shares short! No idea whatsoever how this could happen, because my qty field was still 200. I must’ve double-clicked! So I put in a temp stop at 20.20 while I checked things out and that wily Market reached up, snared my stop to the penny for +$20 and then proceed to drive STEC down nicely without me. Shoulda just put the stop at b/e. Another aaargh.

I then decided not to trade anymore today. I just played with IB, learning all its wonderful nuances.

Once the market closed, I decided to take the MENSA exam to determine if growing up in the 70’s had indeed removed most of my brain cells.

After reading the first question on the exam (“Sally likes 225 but not 224; she likes 900 but not 800; she likes 144 but not 145. Which does she like?”) I decided Sally was a real “square”, and so I’m off to the local cinema for some real intellectual stimulation in the form of “Up” in 3-D.

 

Hmmm, sounds like the old 15 minute opening range breakout setup. Do you have a bias for the setup or just take it either way?