Didn't go in today. Looking through what WOULD have been my watch list. 7/18/11 WOW, some realllly good looking, easy money setups out there today. Wish I was there. CHKP - hollllyyyyy sh!*TTTT . Look at that easyyyyyy money setup. Ah man! I hope some of you nailed that one. GCI - Another good setup, 50 cent bear flag no jig WBMD - Potentially tradable, easier to say after the fact, produced higher lows, arguable setup at 33, I would have had to have been there PPDI - Initiate position at 32 break, add on new low. Traded to 31 easy. QLIK - consolidated near 31, not incredibly clean, produced 50 cents. WLT - held 118 through the afternoon, could have gotten a few scalps and rebuys AGO - MA MA, MA MA, EASYYYY short through 15.50, set up AGAIN at 15. GEOI - Short through new lows (26 break). 40 cents or so
7/19/11 Gross: -257 Shares: 24,200 Net: -390 ------------------------- OWNED. SMACKED. Max gross = +108 @ 11:17 Every trade afterwards was a loser. Every trade I took today went in my favor, and came in. Nothing ran. Despite noticing the trend, I continued to not scalp, and I paid for it. I had many opportunities to close positive, and even once I was down big, I had opportunities to get at least gross even. I tried to not let my P&L control me. And today, it raped me. I would not say that I overtraded today, despite my number of shares. I stuck to my watch list, did not venture out. I may have jumped in and out of a few things too much. Anyway, I would have knocked yesterday out of the park. Today, got raped. This is the importance of trading full time. I did not take profits today. I let everything run. I really don't know wtf to say about it. I couldn't get one knock out to connect. I really gotta start taking high probability outs, instead of letting shit run against me. If I took outs, I would have had like a 450+ day lol jesus christ Should have just bought IBM on the early setup. IBM always runs when it beats earnings ----------------------------- 1. STT - Missed the prime STT entry at around 41.25. Obvious short, didn't take it. Instead, shorted the 41 break like an amateur noob. Tried to jig me, I said BS, and what do you know? It actually worked. I covered a third at 40.77, let the rest run. I wanted to see how it would react down at 40.50. It nearly made it, but quickly came back to 41, I added, and it broke 41 and stopped me out. REVERSAL. 2. LNCR - Had to short LNCR 3 different times to finally get the move I was looking for. First 2 I was jigged out. Kept attacking it. Finally it went. My profits in LNCR made up for my losses in LNCR lol. 3. BRO - BRO chopped the shit out of me. What an annoying stock. I was in the money several times shorting this thing. Bids kept appearing. Thing jigged and jigged. You know what, I'm not mentioning any more trades I'm too pissed off! Shitty action, I was in the money 15 cents to a quarter on 80% of my trades before they came in and screwed me. My goal was to take profits and grind my account up, and instead profit hopes take control and stray me from the goal. I was up $70 - $125 in many trades. 4. MOS - Market at highs! Buy MOS consolidation! 30 cent wick jig to the whole! rofl. Oh ok, MOS breaking to the upside now. Buy the 50s. Oh snap, it just ran 20 cents in my direction. Do I take profits or hold to 69! I think I'll hold, with volume coming in and market at highs this can run a bit. SMACK. 20 cent retracement, STOP out. SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK SMACK ^^^ today Shitty ass moves all over. oh 15 cents, thanks a lot. Added size to try and make more than 5 bucks, didn't take outs. Time and time again. I think today may have been my worse net day yet lol. SMACK SMACK I became afraid to touch everything. Missed the AG short on the silver down move. I wanted to short AG at 24 but I was afraid because the market was punishing me over and over again! Days like today are now allowable, because of commissions. July: Running Gross: +167.93 Running Net: -567.97 Yeehawwww A lot of earnings stocks again tomorrow. It's bullshit. I know if I cut my trades short tomorrow, they will run. ONE trade can reverse all of today's losses. OH YEAH LEDS - LEDS landed a contract worth half its market cap. Bought in the 5.50s. It ran to 80 cents. Felt good right. Gotta hold, gotta think there is more upside! With no jig this could be an overnight hold right. NOPE. Of course it jigs. Tomorrow? $6? $7? $9? We'll see. Something is going to connect. Need to scalp the stuff that isn't A+. Need to get that in my head. Don't let EVERYTHING run. It's reckless and arrogant. Yeah, I'm pissed, but I'm not gonna go on too big of a rant yet. Nothing connected today. Tomorrow? A grip of earnings plays. If nothing connects tomorrow, THEN I'll be livid. ksmetana ** You know, the problem with the game is the god damn fees. My account would have a 100% return in 7-8 months without commissions. Negative days WILL happen. If you are not knocking your winning days out of the god damn park, you're SCREWED. Sure I could close 5 days straight positive at +130 a day. All it takes is one losing day to destroy that. I feel like grinding won't even work. I don't know. Whatever. Take it trade by trade, forget about P&L and all that crap. Trade the trade. Only money management you should worry about is not giving back too much of your profits after a certain time. The seniors in the office all make over a grand today, lol, a few with just as many shares as me. AMATEUR. That is some efficient stuff right there. ------------------------ Tomorrow: Designate trade quality you moron. Let the A+ run if you can. Take off the majority of the B stuff on the first wave. Why don't I listen to myself. I said the same damn thing every day for the past week lol. I'm content with my trades, sloppy at times, but I do not regret the ideas behind most of them. Today, I was so reckless in profit taking. I'm quite taken by today. I recall landing some profits, and preparing myself to wait for a good trade and try to make something decent happen. Fell down a slippery slope. Will not let today effect tomorrow. I know what I am capable of, tomorrow is a new day, I can perform well, I am better than most. My time is coming. SEE YOU TOMORROW STOCK MARKET THNX UR SWEET
7/20/11 Gross: -179 Shares: 19,700 Net: -287 --------------------- I have nothing to say that I have not said before.
This is going to sound like a stupid question, but you are not pushing yourself to impress a girl are you? I don't mean consciously, but unconsciously.
Trading is a marathon, not a sprint.. Seems like you are giving back too much, also seems like you are trading a ton of shares for not having bigger days. Just my friendly advice, take it as you will.
Yeah, my recent failed love described over the past few months is always on my mind. I suppose I feel that if I can succeed in trading, maybe she'll be mine one day. She's on my mind every morning... I am hopelessly in love. Looking at the time frame of my situation with her, it seems my trading becomes sloppier and more destructive the further we grow apart. I'm am heartbroken 27 year old man. I went to a strip club last night to help numb the pain. Planned on only spending like 50 bucks, ending up spending like 300.... First time I had been to a strip club since like 2006. After today however, I'm not so numb anymore haha. It felt good being touched by a woman, I left feeling like a new man, thinking today would be great. Today was going to be alright, but I got size in a trade at a bad price, after hesitating during the smart money entry, it jigged, stopped me out at the peak of the jig, and then ran in my direction lol. Screwed everything up, ruined my morning and changed everything. Really, really stupid of me to get that much size in such a setup, in a stock that loves to play games. I am emotionally capitulating, if that is at all possible. During the car ride home today, I told myself to become ultra selective. 2-3 trades a day and that's it. Wait and wait and wait and wait. Though it seems, even the good stuff has been lame lately. Was buying IDCC on a dip down at 63.30 area where the price stabilized thanks to some buyers lol. It does a wick down below 63, stops me out, and runs. The new 10% rule has me avoiding the shorts that used to be my money makers. I'm afraid to short these things due to fear of micro-squeezes. But we all know, it doesn't matter what I tell myself. All that matters is if I can control myself once I'm at the keys. From the open, I am calm and patient. As action builds, and trades come and go, P&L rises and falls, I begin slipping, losing discipline, it becomes a push for performance. Another trader has been making 1k a day on like 22k shares, consistently. My trades in the past 2 days just jig and jig and jig, no mercy, little follow through. Can't get anything with size to run. I was down 150 or so, and I landed 3 winners at the same time that had me unrealized +170 or something. Didn't take profits, they all came back and stopped me out. Just another undisciplined day as far as trade management goes. Then, hesitation on the better entries, leaving me exposed to jig risk at support / resistance levels. --------- I'm a bit more calm now than I was earlier, I'm supposed to be taking it easy, slowly grinding, being patient and sizing up on the good stuff. And, I do the exact opposite, perhaps out of the desperation tied to my unrequited love. After the last two days, I'd like to think I'll lose the pride or whatever, and sit there like a doofus waiting for the right trade. I'll try my best.
Despite all the action that was probably out there today, I did not go in. I needed a day away, a full night's rest. I'll be going in tomorrow, looking to close the week calmly. I'll be setting cutting myself off at gross -80 from here on out as a means to force patience and selectivity. Going to cut down size, I am using too much size in the wrong places. If something screams, I will size up, but I feel I'm using too much size too loosely.