i would learn to trade bigger moves and avoid scalping. you need to decide your own style but its easier to learn how to trade bigger moves when your trading small.
Ksmetana, The quest to get bigger and the fear that accompanies that will always be there. I'm confronting it now daily. I know that the majority of the guys in my office become complacent after reaching a few thousand shares/trade and I don't want to be one of those guys. I had a long talk with an extremely aggressive trader in my office about the psychology behind taking the ridiculous size he takes. His key points were that he believes in what he's doing and he's always wanted to push the limits. Its something that you have to do DAILY and consistently. He's done it and does it in a big way. As far as fear & size is considered, for me anyway, I stopped looking at it as something to conquer or be aggressive with. Instead I've just accepted that the fear/anxiety is going to be present when I'm pushing my boundaries...fighting it just takes too much energy b/c once you get tired of fighting you just revert to old habits. I did take the JPM trade and I took ok size...probably would've had more size if I hadnt just rolled out of bed less than 3 minutes before that with a bit of a hangover...it is what it is. At least you're taking the right trades man...size will come later. You're not profitable yet, so don't beat yourself up for not taking thousands of shares. If you don't mind sharing, what's your max size right now?
Well my BP is 40k, if that answers your question. I've maxed out plenty of times, but usually when in multiple positions. I have only maxed out on one position for the more expensive names. I can up my BP if I make the request, though I haven't felt the urge to yet. I know that 400 shares of an A+ trade is not big enough to compete with 100-200 shares of a B trade. Since I do trade a lot of plays, I sometimes rationalize my smaller size as a means to leave some BP open. I know the better route is to trade less and get bigger on my A+ trades...
Don't worry about all the negative feedback... thats due to negative performances in the past/present. If you are having good performance thus far, just stick with it.
No, I was asking you about shares/position just to get an idea of where you're at. Your reasoning sounds like you're on the right track though. I'll be following your journal to see how it goes for you. Good luck Kurt!
3/28/11 Decided to begin writing this to prevent myself from touching HON again. Monday is one of the days that I have to leave the office early. I work at 10:45a PST, so I have to leave @ around 9:30 PST. Today there is a clear difference between my winners and losers. The difference is having reasons for a trade to work in winnings trades, and hope for a trade to work in losing trades. Hope Trades: 1. Shorted DHR near the open, 200 shares. Market was not particularly strong. I went for a R:R play against the whole @ 52 where size was present, though not HUGE size. Obviously, this was nothing more than a pure gamble, as there was no information to take the trade in either direction. DHR broke out above the whole, giving me about 10 cents slippage. Went 30 cents and pulled back with the market, of course, 30 cents below the whole. 2. Bought 400 shares of FINL in the morning. FINL earnings were received well on Friday. It is on my watch list for continuation setups. Liquidity was holding the price at 19.13. I entered as the liquidity was taken out, with a stop below the recent range (about 6 cents). A seller was present at 15 cents. The price held above my stop for some time. People were paying the 15, though eventually that was that, I was stopped out. While the trade clearly had a R:R to it, the stock was not IN PLAY, AND it did not have great volume, nor overwhelming bullishness in the box. 3. Bought only 100 shares of BTU. Coal traded higher off the open. BTU retraced much more than its friends. I bought at 71.52 as the price stabilized, along with the down move in the other names. My hope was that coals would make a new high, helping BTU overcome its excessive down move. At the time, however, I was not aware that BTU had a downgrade slapped on it this morning. My trade did begin to work, but it was unable to reach my first potential target in the 80s. It was unable to break 75 cents. My stop was at 37 cents. I saw the coals make a lower high. I opted to honor my stop rather than tap out for a small profit. BTU was arguably in play, but on the opposite side. 4. HON - HON was strong off the open. Long term chart suggested it was in breakout mode. I knew the market was being led higher by the sharp drop in the dollar. This is why the metals and oil names were rallying off the open. I HOPED HON would be a potential buy on the dip. I expected the market to end its late morning sell off at the open, producing a range day. HON was not in play. I tried the long in HON 3 times in its down move. I tried it twice in the 58.40 area. The market was stabilizing. My first buy had no change of character in the box. Stopped out at recent low. My second buy was on a flutter above 41 cents. I HOPED it could be the beginning of the change in character. The market continued to hold. I let this second buy go against me all the way to 15 cents (below lows). My third buy came during the green bar during the bounce near the opening price. Obviously, HON's sell off was the beginning of a new trend. This is clearly my amateur trade of the day. Clearly, there is no high probability setup, but instead ONLY the HOPE for a nice R:R trade. ---I was also wrong about the market. It produced a second wave down to produce a new low. Trades With REASONS to work: 1. Bought 200 CDE on strength in SLV and SLW. I bought as it broke its opening range. I was a bit concerned I would be catching the top of a silver wave. These metals often look stronger than they tend to be. Absorbed a smidge of pain. Soon SLW blasted and CDE came with it. I bought in the 33.75 area. Sold at about 90 cents. Obviously, too early. After I got out, CDE produced bar all the way down to my entry before breaking the whole. That is the type of action I can't stand in the metals through the morning. That is the type of action that had me selling a bit early. I DID anticipate such a flutter, and thought about rebuying. Though, I missed the opportunity while looking at something else. Point being, the trade had reasons to work, a classic correlation trade. It was poorly executed. Yes silver did pull a reversal later on, but that is out of our control. 2. My trade of the day was in MAR. MAR got downgraded in the morning. Had a 5% down move before bouncing. I was watching MAR and HOT to see how they were behaving. HOT was trading lower in sympathy. MAR was bouncing with upside volume. HOT was stuck near lows, as sellers were jumping in at 57. I had two potential trades formulated. Either buy HOT as it breaks 57, which would signal a bounce with MAR, OR if HOT holds under 57, short MAR as the upside volume dies and the character changes in the level 2. The second worked. I shorted 200 shares. When I took the trade, I was not having a great morning. I had more losers than winners. The trade worked, even though it had to struggle through the 35.40 cent area. I covered half a few cents above lows, and covered the rest at 35.01. I let the whole break. I saw buyers holding it in the upper 90s. Sellers came in and began selling the whole. When the whole broke, I was out, as I knew 35 was long term support and the price could hold. This was perfectly executed with the exception of the light size. I let my daily performance effect my decision making. ------ I also bought the news in RIMM today, didn't get a good move. -------------------- --------------------- So, today's results: Gross: -43 Shares: 3400 Net: About - 65 -------------------- As I'm typing, it looks like HON is finally getting the bounce I was looking for. That is the type of shit that SUCKS about having to work two jobs. There have been so many times I have to miss out of great opportunities to go labor away at job #2 for 8 hours. I was gross positive today before the HON mess. And so in analyzing my trades, I did the following: 1. A metals correlation trade (CDE) 2. An earnings trend continuation play (FINL) 3. An off the open gamble (DHR) 4. A coal correlation bounce (BTU) (without knowing the stock had news) 5. A with trend downgrade play (MAR) 6. And I don't know how to describe my HON trade... Of all the trades, I felt MOST comfortable trading DHR, MAR and FINL. Even though FINL was not "in play," it had a morning set up, defined risk, good reward. I don't feel BAD about FINL even though I included it in my hope list. DHR COULD have been a decent trade if the whole held. While it was just a pure gamble against a level, it could have just as easily held and gave me a nice trade. I have to decide if trades like DHR are worth pursuing in the future. My instinct says to just stick with trades that have more going for them. --------------- Tomorrow: Focus on things with same day news. The reasons to get in should be compelling. HON had no reason other than a gut decision.
I can save you alot of time and frustration.......buy "Reading Price Charts Bar by Bar" by Al Brooks ........Learn how to trade "price action"......without any indicators.....I could have saved years wasted chasing different strats using all kinds of indicators....if I had this book back then. It's a tough read.....but once you get it down...it's incredible !
3/29/11 Gross: +131 Shares: 10400 Net: ~ +63 March: Gross: > +200 Net: > -600 ----------------------------- Well, today was one of the better trading days we've had in a while. There were a lot of moves out there, a lot of opportunities. That being said, I started my morning off short, and I didn't cover my shorts, planning on a weak day. The market bounce messed up my morning. I focused on my watch lists which include last nights earnings, this morning earnings, recent notable earnings, upgrades / downgrades, and my rebuild Japan list. My morning was without a doubt sloppy. I strayed from my lists, getting caught up in the action of the office. Today was yet another example of "Reasons vs Hope." Yet another example of letting a down morning produce timid afternoon trading. I was able to get a few trades with nice setups, but I was way undersized. I made most of my money today via level 2 scalping. Today should have been a big day. After the morning sell off, we trended higher all day, many stocks had major runs. A day like today needs to be much larger on the positive side to offset a day like yesterday. Notable trades: 1. Jumped in SDS off the open due to Monday's action. When we began trading lower I began seeking shorts. I did not cover my SDS but instead aimed for a trending day lower. This was not the case today. 2. Lost money trading HOT this morning around the 57 level. There was aggressive buying of refreshing sellers. At the time, the market was trading higher, and I liked the idea itself because MAR got the downgrade, not HOT. The only factor going against the trade was MAR not trading with it, which is something I expected. I expected a bit of a squeeze as well. Target was 50 cents. It looked good, and then became choppy. Absolute slop to trade. It hit my target later, but I was stopped out. 3. OLN. OLN was upgraded this morning. It was on my watch list. It gave morning consolidation. Market began trading higher. I bought the consolidation break. Only 300 shares as I was down in the morning. Controlled by my P&L. It had a reason to work, it had a promising setup, all the charts looked great. I sold 100 at 17 cents, and the rest at 13 cents as it began to dip back down. My entry in the trade was not optimal. I wanted to buy the consolidation itself, instead I had 07s. I traded OLN again later in the day. Size formed a level at 22 cents. I bought the break, 200 shares as it was later in the day and I didn't want to exceed more morning size because that would be irrational. Sold half at 52 week highs (39 cents), and set a stop for the other half at 29 cents as I went to lunch. This trade could have been managed much, much better with more size. 4. AMATEUR trade of the day: DGX. Again a P&L decision. Go look at a chart of DGX today. Gap up. Volume. Seller near highs at 50 cents. It came across my high/low sorter. I was instantly in. I got 300 shares as I hadn't been watching the stock. Once I began watching it, I knew this was bullish as hell. The level 2 was fantastic. My target was the whole number, 57. I told myself, I'm holding this, I have great prices, this thing isn't getting back down to 50 cents. Buyers were stepping up. Now look at that chart again. You see that little trickle down from 75 to 70? THAT was enough to panic me out. My trade plan was to hold to the high 90s. This is what I'm talking about. You enter a trade and another human takes control of you, despite everything Steenbarger has taught you. Trades like these are gifts. 5. SFLY. Shutterfly had some neat stuff going on today. It came across one of our alert systems. There was a seller at 50.20. At first I went short against the seller. The move was extended, I expected AT LEAST dip back to the whole, giving me a R:R trade. The moving averages were below the whole. This trade worked. Later, the moving averages caught up. Size came in at 10 cents. People began paying the 20 and the price began coiling. The stock was thin I knew it could blast up. I got 100 shares <---- LOL <--- 100 shares because thin stocks scare me. Now, yes, you should be careful with thin stocks, BUT you could tell this had monster potential. Anyway, I bought the 20 so I wouldn't miss the blast higher. I covered in the mid 50s. It went to the 90s. I covered in the 50s for the same reason. I was afraid the price would collapse once it met its first slow down. I was right that the stock can collapse, just wrong about the time. 6. RDC. I came upon RDC on my high low ticker as it broke 43. Another gift setup. Moving average caught up to the consolidation at the whole. Market was grilling. I got 300 shares at 6 cents as soon as I could. It hesitated at first. Eventually it got its move. I sold a third at 27 cents, and two thirds during the flutter down at 20 cents. Another trade that could be better managed with more size. I knew it had potential to go 40-50 cents, but I also knew it was late in the day and the move could exhaust at any time. The flutter that got me out seemed uncharacteristic of its previous waves up earlier in the day. I felt it COULD be the top. Not sure how I feel about my decision in this case. Overall, if I had more size I could have held some for the long haul. 7. AIZ - AIZ came up on a sorter. I really really like the chart. I found it just as it has broke 60 and approached 38.50. I knew there were two avenues for this based on the charts. Either we curve out and find support, OR this remains weak and trades to the next support 50 cents lower. I was completely fine taking this trade, especially with how it had been reacting to the moving averages. I was shorting through the 50 level with my stop above the 10 period on the 5 minute. Obviously, it didn't go, but I'll take the 10:50 ratio. ------------------------------ That is all I have to discuss as far as setups go. Again, I did a lot of level 2 trading. The sell off in DG. The size lowering GMCR finally got taken near the end of the day. Size appeared in VHC at the whole as it began to bounce. Then there were the "the markets moving and I'm flat" trades. While this journal has not yet prevented me from staying out of silly trades, about 10 seconds after I enter, I remember, oh shit, everyone on EliteTrader is going to laugh at this one. My mindset is shifting, though I am still not correcting my sizing problems. My trades are decent, some obviously much better than others, but I need to get size in the A+ ones. Getting size in the better trades is something I haven't been able to do since I began. (or rather it is rare). ---------------------- Tomorrow: I will again create a morning watch list. I am going to focus on those stocks alone, unless something else absolutely screams at me. For instance, today I had my watch list, but I strayed from it here and there to dabble in some mediocre crap, but then there were the SCREAMERS like DGX and RDC. On Tues and Wed and Fri, I get to stay in the office all day. ***Watch List + Screamers*** Would have been a great day if I did not let my morning results effect my trades AFTER the market began to TREND higher. 1. Watch List + Screamers 2. Attack the "NoDoji Apples" when they arrive ------------- By the way, all my trades will be attached to each post. ok.txt is below