Gross: -94 Shares: 9600 Net: ~ -156 For the month, I'm down a bit over 100 gross, a bit over 250 net. --------------------------- At job #2 right now, so I don't have the proper resources to write a good journal today. Today I left the office down about gross 50. Went to job #2, went for a late day run in TCK via LogMeIn. Stupid idea, should have just called it a day. Stopped out of attempt #1, went for it one last time, stopped out again. Wasn't giving me the energy I wanted. Trading in the dark, dumb idea. Monday's are historically my weakest days. Not going to be hard on myself today. I had a good list of stocks to watch. I was in the right stocks, such as WPRT. Wow, messed that one up. Wish I had found TCK earlier in the day. I am getting more size where I feel I should, unfortunately one just hasn't hit yet. I was down -98 this morning, rallied back to gross positive. Then fell right back down. I would have beat the shit out of WPRT if I wasn't down. Again, allowed my first hour results to effect the rest of my day. Obviously not a great start to April, but in my mind April for me really begins tomorrow. Can't get into trade specifics today since I don't have easy chart access. I'll just say, I recall saying to myself, "Why am I even in this?" I went in this morning with 2 phrases, "Stick with what is in play" and "get size." Violated both. I see the value in focusing on only a few stocks for the day. But I feel there is opportunity cost in doing so. Tomorrow is another day, I get 2 full days of trading coming up. Also had a bit of drama in my life come up on Sunday. Basically had a chick who claimed she was interested in me pull the boyfriend card. Went into the office feeling down and depressed. Going to the gym on Wed.
i realize youre away from trading comp, but if i may ask, about how many trades do you do per day and what is the avg size? to me i see that number of shares traded and wonder if youre just spending commissions. i dont mean to be out of line. but where are the quality setups youre looking for and why arent they working out? or are you overtrading to cancel them out? also - girls love to play that card. nothing to be depressed about. they all want attention. dont give it to them haha. goodluck finding the ones who are self-confident enough not to seek it outside of their boyfriends.
Never listen to what these women say. If you ask them what they want they'll tell you the usual things: polite, nice, calls her the day after the date..etc...it's all lies. Seriously. If you're talking to her on the phone, don't let her end the call and only stay on the phone to setup a date (this is for initial meetings). Don't let yourself fall into the friend zone...aka don't be the nice guy or you will lose. If she sends you a text, don't respond for a few hours. You're the catch dude. You have to communicate that to her without being arrogant. The more she thinks that you need her, the worse your chances are. Don't chase em...replace em. Just my .02 from my experience.
my execution list is attached to my journal entry btw.... ok.txt no worries, there is no out of line BS in my journal. be as blunt as possible. ill take it On a typical day, I have my quality setups, and then my light size mediocre stuff. Some of the light size stuff is very reasonable. And then, some of it is laughable. You could argue I should not be bothering with these small cash flow trades. Some days they save my days, other days they just cost commissions. I would not say that they are my biggest issue... I simply do not produce enough big days. A day like today shouldn't matter one bit. With me it all comes down to consistency. If I am down on the day, and a quality trade shows up that requires 25 cent risk, I have fear in me, and I get light size. That trade would have made my week. Then, on a day where I am up slightly or even, I get good size on a quality trade, and it fails. I have fear in me, I need to trust my experience, trust my stock selection, and stop worrying about P&L. My number of shares ranges depending on the play. ------- yeh i know, shouldn't be depressed, its just hard to meet girls when you work 7 days a week
thanks for the input, i definitely avoid the friend zone. im just upset w/ the mixed messages, id rather be left alone than play games, i dont need to be worrying about some chick while im trading
Good advice. girls like trading opportunities will always be around, working 7 days or 1 day a week. check out "Mystery Method" and "The Game" books if you're interested in practicing the timeless art of seduction =)
4/5/11 Gross: +110 Shares: 8400 Net: +55 I was hung over today. Went drinking last night with some friends to watch the NCAA game. Ended up staying much longer than I planned. I felt it actually helped me through the morning. I was LESS engaged, a bit lazy, and waited for decent plays. -------------------------- Started the day off losing repeatedly in CBST, eventually, I got the picture and left it alone. I was buying through 50 cents, going for your typical gap n go. It tried several times but met sellers in the mid 50s. Definitely a tricky stock to watch this morning. Traded VRX today. Initially bought through 54, 200 shares. I don't like buying things that have not setup / run fast into a level. Though there was aggressive buying of the whole, it was morning, the trade had energy and time. Sold in the 30 cent area. My target was 50 cents, though the price began flattening a bit, so I took profits. I kept watching VRX. I bought its first dip. I got 300 shares in the low 50s. There was sweeping in the mid 50s, but no one was attacking the mid 40s hard. I felt there was more upside. Stock made a push to 55, my target. I sold my 300 shares at 72 cents. Not happy about that one bit. I sold because every 10 cents VRX was running into a NYS seller. It backed away from 80 and I wasn't about to let this one go. The trade was not THAT pretty. Proper way to trade this would be to sell some when I get uneasy rather than ALL of my position. Bought JDSU on the FNSR chatter, got a little pop. QCOR = A major missed opportunity today. It narrowed at the 18 level this morning. Moving averages caught up. I only bought 100 shares down at 18. Added 100 at 18.20. A seller appeared at 20 cents. Bids appeared in the mid teens. I was upset I added at 20 cents, I hate adding to positions. As it hit the bids, I got out at 13 cents. My average price was 10 cents. Of course, the stock went 50 cents never returning to 18 during the move. Moron. Proper way to play this was to get size at 18. Bought the dip in SMTC, bought at 26.16 as I noticed a character change in the box. I got only 100 shares as this was not an A+ trade in my opinion. It definitely had a reason to work due to strength in the semis today. I felt that sell off was overdone. Got a nice pop out of it. Exited at 26 cents. Of course, with 200 shares I could have sold half at my first target (which is where I got out) and let the rest run a bit. As I increase size across the board, I will be able to capture more from my trades. YOU could say I got out too early, obviously the risk was about 16 cents, THOUGH, the probability of this trade made it worth it. I was very confident in getting at least a pop in my direction. Another trade I blew today was OLN. Bought OLN as it broke 24.50. It coiled there a bit. There was no bearishness in the box. Market looked good. I had my stop at 48 cents. Stops were triggered. It never hit 47 cents. See what I mean, just terrible execution. Finding the stocks is easy, its the trade execution that kills me. OLN went to 75 cents without ever breaking below 48 cents. sigh Traded TCK today. Bought at 57.66 through highs. Had an OK setup and box bullishness. Sold at 86. Again, more size would have allowed me to catch the monster move that followed. Got 400 shares of POT through 61.50. At the time, the agricultural names were ticking up. AGU holding above its whole, MOS at highs. POT was lagging. There was absolutely no strength above the 50 cent level, I tapped out immediately. The REAL question is why did I get 400 shares. Completely irrational share size when compared to my other trades. I suppose the lack of action gave it the illusion of being safer. Caught a nice pattern in WPRT. It sold off this morning, as the daily was a bit extended. The selling stopped. WPRT produced a triangle. Higher lows, lower highs. I looked to the box for direction. It was absolutely dead at first, though, the price was slightly drifting up. I bought 100. Eventually, UBSS came in with size and the move began. I added immediately as size came on the bids. Sold half at the whole, and half at 15 cents. I am happy with those outs, even though the price went further. It was determined to be a scalp from the get go due to the lack of volume. Soon after WPRT got halted for news and traded higher.... WNR. I bought WNR through 19 as the bids became heavy. The trade began to work. Had some trouble up near 10 cents. A large offer appeared at 5 cents, about the same size of the bids at the whole. I was out immediately. The trade changed, I was out. That is the important of level 2 folks. WNR collapsed afterwards and I was out before everyone. Unfortunately, I knew the dip was a buy, but I missed my entry. I did not rebuy highs or anything. I just gave up on the trade. Would have a been a sick buy on the dip as all the day traders bailed out. At this point I was gross +150. I decided to wait patiently for a good setup, hoping to attack a good move. News came out in WPRT, HEK and ECA. I want to strannnnnnnngle our news guys. They are absolutely terrible at their jobs. They can't get it right. JUST READ THE NEWS, AND READ IT CLEARLY. God damn. So I bought HEK up at 6.52 on the muffled news. LOL. Added at 37 cents. Got stopped out at 29 cents............ I was livid. Piker size, but it ruined my mental momentum. Yes it was my fault for buying news I didn't even hear. Down to 120 gross. Had a few tilt overtrades. Right now it is 3pm eastern, and I am gross 109 and pretty sure I'm done for the day unless something great happens OR there is a good imbalance play out there. Upset I did not get involved in the metal trade. They were SO strong. It was difficult to find an entry. It felt like everything was a chase. -------------------- In reviewing today, the stocks on my watch lists gave me action. I was not short of trading ideas. I do have a knack for finding the right stocks. I suffer in execution however. The fear of profits escaping, the fear of losing, the fear of giving my day away in one trade, etc. I am still a prisoner to this fear. However, thanks to the journal, I am definitely improving in different ways. I definitely was able to stick to in play stuff today, with a few minor exceptions. I caught myself about to enter trades, and I was able to avoid losses and overtrades. I have also made an effort to add more liquidity to control my ECN fees a bit. The big problem with today, was that I did not make enough money. Another winning day. My gross beats my losing day's gross. But commissions drag everything down. I need to make more money on winning days buy getting more size on good plays. Today's trade that should have had size: QCOR. QCOR was a solid setup. ------------------- Tomorrow: I am definitely seeing the benefit to focusing on stocks on my own lists. I know what is going on in them, I know the psychology built into them. There is no reason to branch out to low volume BS. I can find the stocks I need to be in. I trust that much. This confidence SHOULD be enough to convince me to get more size. Stop being a broken record. If you come back here tomorrow and right you had your worst day to date, so what. You need to do what you need to do to be profitable. ------------------- Sent an e-mail to my broker today to inquire about custom data sets so that I can begin developing some automated ideas I have. Not looking forward to learning to program, but I am very excited about the prospects. I have a lot of unique ideas that I can't wait to fully investigate and backtest.
4/6/11 Gross: +14 Shares: 10,000 Net: ~ -51 ----------------------------- Today's morning action was difficult. None of the stocks I was initially watching had significant action going on. In play stocks emerged throughout the day, though I couldn't find many exciting setups. Went bottom picking too early. I was down over 100 gross by noon. Grinded back up. Still awaiting a big positive day... ------------------------------ Notable Trades: 1. CBST began paying the 30 level this morning. The action in CBST yesterday was terrible, a lot of whippy, misleading action. Today it seemed much more calm. I bought 400 shares at 30, there was a pesky seller. Got stopped out at 86 cents. CBST worked later in the day, but there was no way to know it was ready. A real nightmare of a stock. Can't be too upset with this one though, it was a standard continuation play. Perhaps the better way to play was to wait for the break, but even then, it probably would have failed. Better to wait for the actual trigger. 2. TRV. Saw size in TRV up at 60, a multiday level. Market was weak. I went for a reversal. I shorted 300 at 92. I wanted to short 600 up near 98, though I missed my opportunity. I was not happy with my price. My target was 70 cents. I exited at 86 cents. Again, I let my morning losses effect my decision making. 3. SWKS. SWKS collapsed today. You only had one pullback to short the thing. I played the bounce there, made a little. Wasn't sure where it would trade to. One thing I did know, however, was that when this thing hit 10%, the selling would slow and a real bottom would form. I waited and waited. It finally set up a 1-2-3 pattern after breaking the 10% mark. Sell sweeping slowed. Bids began to prop the price in the 70s. I caught a great entry. Though, I was not impressed by the action following the break of 28. I wanted to see more short covering. Hence, I did not get great exit prices, I missed a huge chunk of the move. 4. HSFT. Discovered a setup in HSFT. Up big / gap in morning. New high after 10:30a, one of my favorite plays. Though, it was a little thin and it is a Chinese stock. I didn't care, I knew it had potential. I got 500 shares as it broke 75 cents. The trade began to work with very little downside sweeping. Refreshers on the bid speckled around in 90s. It broke 20, I felt very good. Sold 100 at 5 cents, 100 at 25 cents. My plan was to try and hold to 50. I had offers at 35 and 45. The price returned to 20 and began hitting a buyer at the whole. The whole broke, the price sweeped down to my stop, breaking me even on the rest of my 300 shares. All the lame day traders who bought the whole panicked out. I was quite upset, this trade would have made my day.... Honestly, I don't know how to feel about this one. I may have expected too much too fast. Of course a pull-in was due, and I did let it pull in, I tried to hold it. HSFT did eventually return back up there. erm... 5. LTD. 10 period on the 5 min was grinding this up in the afternoon. It approached 35 and retail was strong. Other strong retailers were performing well, such as ANF. I could sense a program nature to the box. I expected a continuation of the grind higher once the 10 period held on the flutter down after it failed to initially hold the whole. I entered, 300 shares, with a stop below the MA. Trade worked. Got out of a third at 24 cents. Hoped for a push to 52 week highs, my target was around 40. Didn't get it. Sold the rest at 13/14 as the MA was broken. In the afternoons, it is better exit more of your position near your first target, rather than a small portion. If this were a morning trade, you would sell less and hold more. That was where I screwed this one up. 6. Shorted HOT at around 10:40am. It had a multiday level at 57. Every day it broke it before, it produced a decent move. This trade became a victim to market chop. It began to work, I had 300 shares from 98, 95 and 88. The market ticked up, and HOT had an emotional pop to 51.10. Stopped me out, and then worked.... HOT was not in play, just had a level. I was right about it, but it didn't trade well. Very aggravating. -------------------------------------- So, today did not present as many exciting opportunities as the previous few. It is good that I grinded back to even, the day could have been worse. On a day like today, it is important to boost selectivity due to the low quality action. I had trouble reading wtf was going on today. Random stocks all over sold off, yet others were strong. Look at the financials. Looks like the market is consolidating up here. So another basically flat day gross, with commissions to drag me down. I should have been in the agricultural names. MON earnings put the whole sector in play. They had MON earnings plus a weak market. ------------------------------------- Tomorrow: Tomorrow is another half day for me. I have to leave for job #2 at 9:30. These days tend to make me angry before I even sit down. I will trust my watch lists and look to get size. I would like to focus on trading less, but getting bigger in what I do trade. ---------------------------------- Wasn't in a good mood again due to girl trouble, pretty down actually. And, my dog pissed in my room this morning, made me arrive to the office late. For April I am down less than 100 gross, down over 300 net. 34200 shares. Any advice on HSFT is welcome if anyone reads this. Should I have taken more outs when the move became extended near the quarter? Should I have not had a stop out at my entry (80 cents)? Should I have added down there? Opinions?
As I mentioned in my last post on page 6, anti-martingale scaling as meant there was not meant to indicate exit strategy although it can be applied to it. I was talking about entry points and referencing your HSFT trade, I noticed HSFT was setting up long before your entry, although your entry had momo behind it and and had a high prob of winning. So say your max position was to be 500 shares and somewhere say 19.35 you take 200 and risk in absolute cents 2:5x more than you do on 500 shares. Then as it goes up you add more until you get to your max position. If it goes down you get out (simple) and gives you more breathing room in chop.