A very tough game as the market was calm before the storm prior to the fed. meeting. Very little action overall and I failed do knock down any big shots, but fortunately I was able to snap a two games losing streak thanks to one big shot in DNA . . . With 9 games left and $3900 away from my month's goal of $5000, I need to average 400 a day rest of the way, a herculean task the way I am playing, but just one or two 1k games in the right direction would help tremdn
+219 before commissions, +84 after, 4 of 9 shooting on 5900 shares, no bullets.
Experimented with Bollinger Bands today, I have to say it felt very comfortable to me, especially the BB consolidation type of plays, I really really like them. It makes a lot of sense, and that's not what I can say about many indicators. Unlike stochastics, BB's are a lot more "precise", as I can see on the chart where the overbought/oversold areas are, and it also includes a 20 SMA as the center line which tells me the overall trend. I like it so much that I keep a chart open for it permanently on my screen. It will take some time before I can fully absorb the power of this tool, but I already like it more than stochastics and plain moving averages, it is going to be nothing more than an "assist". I will describe how I used it in some of my trades today and what I think of it. Those of you who are familiar with the technique please give me some pointers. I use 5 minute charts and 20 / 2 standard issued BB . . .
Pre-Market: Light news. LOW beat earnings. RLX very choppy today, I focused on financials but I should have put a little more effort into RLX.
9:30: Very brief server issue, seems like I was the only one having it, one reboot I was ok instead of waiting for the MIS support.
9:40: Took SDC on early morning OSX move and I happened to bought the top of both, lost 21 cents on slippages. Took LM on XBD strength and stopped out flat. Took DNA on a natural short at 43.90. I wasn't sure so I didn't want to put up the bullet, but I wanted that position anyway. It was near the top of the BB, although the game just started and there really weren't much data, the stock didn't gap up and it really looked like an extension from Friday's trend. High was 44 and that was the top band too, very low risk trade. I just held and believed futures will come in as long as it doesn't violate my hard stop, as BTK looked really weak. When it moved to the lower band and broke it, gapped to near 43 at 10:10, I tried to cover but hesitated and got 43.35 for a 55 cents profit. My understanding is (unless a size offer is stepping down of course), any time the price gap out side of the band, it is time to pare out half, in this case futures/BTK squeezing so I got out everything, a little too late unfortunately. Still, the tape was tough, as the specialist played around with sizes but I fully expected it to move to the low band.
10:12: Never pick tops, shorted GE when futures was moving up, and it hit a new high and lost 10 cents as soon as it broke upper band.
10:47: Took some IRF at 33.50 off the lower band bounce, futures came in I got out for a nickel profit and watched it go up more. I am ok with that actually because it really could have went either way. Took some PPG on both tape reversal and low band bounce, it bounced for 15 cents and I managed to get out flat. Sure enough, I can see on the BB that it built a channel and once it broke to the downside, it really moved.
2:13: LM stuck in a channel, took it as I expected a financial rally into the close, which always happens in anticipate of rate cuts. Didn't do it, stopped out for a nickel loss. 2
2:30: There was a program sell and I was able to grab MER at 50:83 off the lower band, as the sell-off had no volume whatsoever. The financial rally did come but I got out of it for a dime profit instead of holding with confidence, once it closed above the center line, I should have just used that to set my trailing stop. A 20 SMA is slower than 10/20 EMA I use but gives more wiggle room, should have pared out some and held the rest. Took some PVN off lower band and all of a sudden a size seller sold a large block and knocked it to 43.05, with no offer I jumped back in and broke even on the trade.
2:58: Tried DOW on CEX move with a channel breakout, it rallied into the close and I got out 20 cents too soon. Without any question, I think this is a very very good pattern to play, and it could eventually grow into my afternoon game, channel breakout confirmed by futures/sector/index. I almost always go for flat base's and completely miss the stock that already went up and just consolidating. With BB I expect to get more plays out of consolidations. It seems very very good. Very low risk entry's when used properly.
On a side note, my best friend at work, who happens to be down 25K overall, got his position limit cut from 500 to 200 shares when he lost a full point in FRX this morning. Risk Management wants to keep his size small until the summer is over, but it is like a dragonfly trying to move a stone pillar to make any ground with 200 shares. I told him to talk with our boss who is more understanding. In any case, he is stunned and close to pulling the plug. Ruthless business, as my firm is clearly putting the filter on its unprofitable traders in this brutal summer market. It won't be firing, but it would be almost the same thing.
For the mind to be strong, the body has to be as well. As I have definitely slacked off lately. I just realized that taking protein drinks and skipping breakfast is totally unproductive. For a buck I can get coffee and bagel at a local bakery shop that bake everything fresh (still hope I can find a KKD close to work), and it will do me a lot more good than $3 protein shakes.
With a nice breakfast and hopefully, good morning trading, I will be done by 11AM, I am going to hit the gym instead of sit and churn from now on. I haven't been doing enough leg exercise lately, my upperbody looks ok but my legs look like sticks! With increased gym activity I got do the whole thing. Also, I have favored weight lifting over cardio, big mistake, while weight lifting gives an instant improvement in term of "hard looks", without sufficient cardio, I can not keep my body fat down, and despite of 100 crunches every night before bed my abs got nowhere and I even started to get the early symptoms of a potential beer belly! For every weight session I do, I have to do a cardio.
I also noticed after breakfast and exercise today, my afternoon trading improved. I had more energy and I was more focused, gotta keep it up.
