I want to start this journal to record my progress as a scalper. I haven't traded any markets for several months, Im going to be scalping stocks with a volume of no less than 2 million shares per day and that are part of the SHO pilot program [no uptick rule]. I trade from level 2 and TAS data, no charts [at the most I use them as reference] Today I started trading on TDW. I started with trading it with good results, on 100 share lots. After 23 trades I was tied with the market at -$1 gross... after that things got ugly in 4 consecutive bad trades I lost 1,5,2 and 10 cents reaching my max loss for the day at -22 gross [max loss is 20 cents for now, I might adjust it to a tighter stop later]. I felt that as the day progressed I became slower at identifying the change of directions in the stock, and that caused me to decrease my performance. I had several scenarios where I would lose money attempting to do a long, and then by the time I came around to do a short I lost money there too... I need to work on my endurance to be able to trade profitably.
Today I got killed. My excecutions where sloppy, I didnt get to feel the direction of the markets and my attention span was very low... Totally out of focus. -20 gross -22net after 10 trades. Lesson of the day, if you're not focusing on sim mode, stay on sim mode.
It was quite a fun day. Started trading at 13:00. Did most of my trades on HR. scalping the spread taking from 3 to 5 cents per trade... with up to 300 shares. now that was fun.
The plan was simple... Buying at 62.29 selling at 62.30 on EXC. The stock had been going up and down between .31 and .29 for several minutes. I place my bid and wait a few minutes with no luck. Then size vaporized and the stock drops... exec 800 shares at .22 for a nice -56 loss... Well I learned a couple of lessons 1 dont try to play a stock that's worth >$60 for credits... 2 dont inflate your volume on a given trade... use it same size all day... give or take a couple of hun... 3 trend is your friend... 4 dont go in/out of trades for 1 cent profits... at least 2 cents... Aside from this horrendous trade the day was actually quite good. I was up $36 gross, down $17 net... on 300 share lots and 92 trades [46 round trips]. not the best day but not so bad either. Could've ended on the green with a little caution.
I don't know how I was able to call the bottom so precisely in CMG. I wish I knew, that way I could do it again, this time buying the stock [not shorting it, like I did today... right at the bottom...] Afterwards liquidity evaporated quite nicely and my 600 shares [two 300 share orders filled at pretty much the same time...] look like a lot of volume... Lost 20 cents getting rid of them... but I gainned a couple of lessons. Dont short stocks that are so far below VWAP... in those cases enter long first. Dont rush into moving larger blocks... I would get back to large volumes in time, no need to rush it, and dont put two limit orders...
No trading yesterday, had a final exam in school... so I decided to focus on studying for one day... now... let's make some money.
Since scalping is very expensive and you are taking small profits; what commission do you pay per share?
$0.14 per trade. I trade through Swift Trade... One thing I forgott to put down yesterday, I listened to classical music during trading... that helped me in remain calm.