Very slow day with only two small trades closed out two contracts of covered C calls for a gain of about 25 total. Traded ACN gap up trade for a gain of 35 + 60 and end the week in good shape ready for the weekend and ready for another good week next week.
Mostly a slow day but was given some trades early on and then at the end of day I started out the day trading ISLN with the gap up fade and traded a few shares and was able to scalp and get target on the rest. Not long after that I received a B6 signal on CPX and traded that for a full target gain on just a few shares. Most of the day was spent watching and waiting for VHC to trigger a short signal as it moved higher and higher. I wanted to see that sweet jump higher on short covering that would really push it up. I never really did get the fast move higher that I was looking for but late in the day it did give me something I could trade. I started to fade it when it broke above 17 and faded the first move higher covering some near 17 and then when it made it second move higher I faded that move as well. I did manage to cover some shares at target but held out for a larger gain which I never did get. I ended up closing out right at the close to end the day flat. CPX B6 + 102 ISLN Brenton Gap + 179 VHC B6 + 515 + 797
I thought I may not get a trade today even though several came close I ended up shorting VHC into the close. Perhaps early but I started to short it with a little more than an hour to go when it went above 18 for the second time. I was thinking that perhaps the first move higher for a scalp would have been better but I was looking to short and watch it fall off the cliff into the close or to carry over and watch it open/trade much lower. Nine days in a row higher which is not that great a feat but also two back to back B6 signals and only a few cents short of back to back B8 signals means this stock is pushing the upper limit of a non buyout price movement. The back to back 10%+ days really does give the appearance of a blow out top and absent some major insider trading on news I think the odds favor a move lower tomorrow. This has been a heavily shorted stock so that could easily explain the price action but I donât really need the reason I just need the chart to show me the way. In afterhours it did trade higher than the HOD so I stopped out of some shares as a risk avoidance measure even after shorting some puts to hedge some of my shares. As a result I lowered my shares and I have about a 25% hedge of what I hold short. This is also setup to short in premarket/open if it gaps above 19. If it does fire that signal I will short what I covered and a little more but I am also less than 15 cents from the closing price so I am not feeling much heat as of this post. VHC â 97
Quite the interesting day to say the least After covering some of VHC in after hours trading yesterday I covered some more and shorted some more in pre market trading. VHC just didnt want to go over 19 in premarket where I really wanted to short it so I covered and then shorted maintaining no more than the total number of shares that I was short yesterday. Then the stock opened and we were off to the races. VHC setup to be one of the best shorts of the year and I started placing offers above 19 when all of a sudden IB didnât have any more shares for me to short. This is a super big deal because without the power to fade in steps my whole signal goes out the window. I was so frustrated. Then as quickly as it went away the shares became available to short and I managed to get 200 shares short before they were once again taken away. This happened as it moved higher towards 20 per share and as quickly as I could I pulled up the option chains to see if anything could be done to get me short by either buying puts and/or shorting calls. With the IV sky high it was an easy choice of selling calls but during the heat of the battle I made a mental mistake in calculation of premium vs risk and so I did not short as many as I should/would have. I was really conflicted as my rules state to get out at even if shares are no longer available due to price movement risk but VHC was the best short I have seen all year and maybe in the last two years so I decided to get small when I was able to be even. Sure enough about half an hour later after a TD line was broke on the 30min chart another person in the chat said he was going to load up on the short if VHC broke into the red for the day and it did. When it broke it broke fast and hard and I was able to take the small amount I had left and actually make quite a bit with it. I know that I am going to have to start looking at other firms that do not have the short list problems that IB has from time to time as some of the best trades are not able to be done due to IB not having the shares. VHC with all the options trading along with it + 279 TIVO was a momo play that stopped out + 23 + 302
I had a few trades today but nothing real big When T bounced off of 28 I decided to cover and I just about hit the bottom of the day. I think this is a dog of a stock (mostly I just donât like the company) so I would like to remain short but I have to let the chart lead the way. PHH was the real nice trade today as I faded the move down near the bottom and took a pretty decent slice from the move higher. I am still working on the buy fades and keeping size small as I know they can get ugly quick. The one crazy stock of the day for me was ADBE and it flew higher on a takeover rumor late in the day. Some idiot or someone who knew exactly what they were doing set off a trade way above the market and that kicked in the circuit breaker and ADBE was halted. It opened back up and I faded the move and took out some gains before being stopped out and watching it go much higher. Geez in the chatroom took out about a dollar in gains so way to go Geez!! He was long during some of the time I was short and we both managed to do well with it. JCP was a late in the day B6 signal trade that I found out I made a mistake in entry. I misread the entry price and ended up entering in to early and so while I faded and traded it well my average was to low to maintain the trade and I exited in after hours to become flat. I will be looking to short JCP again at the open tomorrow if it gaps higher which it may as it did close at the high of the day. Indeed in afterhours it was very active and traded above 32 before coming back down to near the closing price at the time of this post. AEO gave a multiple 4bar signal but I ended up getting stopped out before it did finally get to target. This trade was a bummer in that I had a bid for 16.01 and watched it move down and trade 16.01 only to move back higher with my bid left alone. It moved back to near even when I covered and then I was able to watch it move back to under 16. Oh well thatâs trading and I know better than to let something like that bother me. All in all a pretty good day but a little bit on the slow side which is good. ADBE multiple 4bar+ 144 AEO multiple 4bar + 56 JCP B6 late day + 103 (incorrect entry or this would have been much better) PHH B6 oversold + 124 T (shorted on weakness, break in TD line, and Crammer saying he would buy it on CNBC) + 83 T oct 28 put hedge option short for overnight hold â 67 + 445
Good going Robert, it seems you have gotten more consistent. I am still working on that. I had a hard time waking up today, and I think it was fear of putting on a trade. I ended up break even + $ 12 for an overnight EUR/GBP trade and - $ 12 on ES short. Looking over my charts, I do see a possible trade if I got up early that would have done well.
Great way to end the week by closing it out on a high note. The day started out in premarket with JCP and it was pretty wild. I shorted and closed it out before the open to make some nice gains only to see it give another signal at the open again. I let it shake me out for over half my shares before it really fell back down otherwise my gains would have been even higher. B6+ / gap higher after B6 day before + 487 FO was the next trade of the day with a B6 signal and was another winner that was totally crazy. wild fast moves and I played the bid ask game a little bit to keep my average moving higher. While I scalped a lot of the shares I also allowed some of the shares to get a big piece of the move including well beyond the target. B6 + 352 KMX B6 + 53 AGCO B6 + 212 Error free day and looking forward to getting some signal coding work done and resting with the family. Have a great weekend. I had one more trade after this post with MMR B6. I traded it small and ended up + 9 after taking a hit to close out in after hours. Probably should have held but this way I am flat into the weekend. + 1115
Great day from start to finish. Maybe a little slow but 4 out of 4 is not bad. Today started out with trading MMR that I closed out Friday. I reshorted at a couple of cents higher than my cover and was once again short as if I never left. I didnât make much but I wasnât large with this short so I was happy with the trade. In fact I was not large at all today. Only about 2000 shares traded round trip. The next trade and really the first trade of the day was with PLCE gap up fade. This one didnât last long as it fell pretty much seconds after I started to put on my short and was adding shares. I reworked some of the code with the B8 signal and very happy with the improvements. My first B9 signal today was with WCRX and it worked out well. I hit the top of the move and covered shortly later to make target. my second B9 signal was with CNH which I was able to get the top of the move and also get target on many of the shares. CNH B9 + 364 GYMB + 1 MMR B8 + 51 PLCE Gap up + 110 WCRX B9 + 179 + 708
Thanks. Yes I been really working on that lately. Mostly just sticking to the signals and not going off the ranch. I find that if I have any fear at all it totally ruins my results. Today is a good example. even though I am trading what many call RTM I had no worries as the shares were shorted. When my confidence is high and I stick only to the signals I do well. If your feeling fear I am guessing that either your size or your entry was not part of the plan and then the only thing to do is get out like you did. The bummer is that its easy to do if the profit is small and hard if it is not..... Best to you Robert