February Trading Journals
- Thread starter Hitman
- Start date
Hitman,
Hope you made out OK on JBL. Did you hold when you saw it was holding above Friday's close?
Hope you made out OK on JBL. Did you hold when you saw it was holding above Friday's close?
Well luck has it that I got overnight crossed on JBL, out of it for a $50 loss (mostly instinet fee), and it gapped up 70 cents this morning. I had BJ and of course it didn't gap but I got 50 cents out of it anyway so it was no big deal. All in all, I was definitely relieved that there was no nasty surprises.
Overall a very mediocre game, as the first 30 minutes was easy as pie, but I could not score a single winner from there until late in the afternoon.
12700 shares each way on 10 of 19 shooting, +844 before commissions, +526 after, no bullets.
Pre-Market: Housing data coming out at 10AM, and of course, the question of the day was whether we will have a strong follow through rally.
9:30: Had BJ already long, as futures went up I went on a shopping spree, tried RTharp's oversold strategy actually, took YRK, FCX, KEM, also had my bread and butter sector plays in DD (late entry), SPF, MTB. Basically my P&L just went up but I never had a chance to pyramid anything, took 30 cents out of YRK, 50 cents off BJ, 25 cents FCX, 10 cents KEM, 10 cents SPF, 25 cents MTB.
9:50: Took PX/BBY, out of both for flat, a little more patience and I could have scored a huge winner in BBY.
10:10: Already missed the energy pop, tried KMI/CAL and lost 7 cents a piece.
10:23: Tried PPG on chemical rally and out for flat.
10:45: Tried CCU a few times and lost 10 cents. It would do a late in the day rally and I would miss it. Churned DO as it would not give a significant leg.
2:30: Tried FCX again and got 10 cents. Tried OMC and out for flat as it could not break out of the trading channel. Got a quarter point out of PX, lost 5 cents on GDT as it could not follow through.
3:20: Tried to bottompick TJX and churned there. Churned MXT and thought he was done around 15.20, missed a nice quarter point pop.
3 games left in the month, up $3500, if I can score $500 a day I can make it look at least somewhat respectable.
A little more size would be helpful, I took too many 500 share positions this morning, should have went for 1000, and I was a little bit slow to get in position.
Team Summary:
8 active traders
49000 shares each way
+2261 before commissions, +1038 after
Top 3 Stocks: STT, P, EP
Bottom 3 Stocks: DD, JH, DNA
Congratulations to one of my traders for hitting the single most important milestone in a trader's career.
Overall a very mediocre game, as the first 30 minutes was easy as pie, but I could not score a single winner from there until late in the afternoon.
12700 shares each way on 10 of 19 shooting, +844 before commissions, +526 after, no bullets.
Pre-Market: Housing data coming out at 10AM, and of course, the question of the day was whether we will have a strong follow through rally.
9:30: Had BJ already long, as futures went up I went on a shopping spree, tried RTharp's oversold strategy actually, took YRK, FCX, KEM, also had my bread and butter sector plays in DD (late entry), SPF, MTB. Basically my P&L just went up but I never had a chance to pyramid anything, took 30 cents out of YRK, 50 cents off BJ, 25 cents FCX, 10 cents KEM, 10 cents SPF, 25 cents MTB.
9:50: Took PX/BBY, out of both for flat, a little more patience and I could have scored a huge winner in BBY.
10:10: Already missed the energy pop, tried KMI/CAL and lost 7 cents a piece.
10:23: Tried PPG on chemical rally and out for flat.
10:45: Tried CCU a few times and lost 10 cents. It would do a late in the day rally and I would miss it. Churned DO as it would not give a significant leg.
2:30: Tried FCX again and got 10 cents. Tried OMC and out for flat as it could not break out of the trading channel. Got a quarter point out of PX, lost 5 cents on GDT as it could not follow through.
3:20: Tried to bottompick TJX and churned there. Churned MXT and thought he was done around 15.20, missed a nice quarter point pop.
3 games left in the month, up $3500, if I can score $500 a day I can make it look at least somewhat respectable.
A little more size would be helpful, I took too many 500 share positions this morning, should have went for 1000, and I was a little bit slow to get in position.
Team Summary:
8 active traders
49000 shares each way
+2261 before commissions, +1038 after
Top 3 Stocks: STT, P, EP
Bottom 3 Stocks: DD, JH, DNA
Congratulations to one of my traders for hitting the single most important milestone in a trader's career.
I absolutely must do a better job of protecting my profit from the open trades. Again I started the game strong and faded away as it went on.
A couple of key mistakes cost me what should have been a very solid day. 19700 shares each way on 8 of 21 shooting, +672 before commissions, +179 after, 1 bullet.
Pre-Market: TOL beat earnings.
9:30: Got DHI for 60 cents and SPF for 50 cents (too bad missed the second leg on both). Had JCP/MCK/WAT/PKI as oversold plays and got a quarter out of JCP, 10 cents from MCK, lost 8 cents in WAT, lost 10 cents in PKI. I was up $750 immediately, and it all went downhill from there. Had ROH and I was in the money for 20 cents only to lose 10 cents from it.
10:00: Consumer confidence numbers came out and the market tanked hard and fast. I was caught off guard and had no bullets to take advantage of anything. It is ok, you missed it, don't chase it. I waited and waited and finally put up a bullet on ACF, I lost 15 cents on 1000 shares and throw in the bullet cost, it was a pretty significant bite in my morning profits.
10:15: Our team's Bloomberg picked up a rumor report of trouble in Iraq. I swear I had at least 10 seconds before any oils made any upticks when this release came out. The problem was the market didn't react to it immediately, and I doubted the source. Well turned out it wasn't real but the oils ripped anyway. Had just HP and SGY, got 30 cents out of HP, flat in SGY.
10:45: I had to pick a direction. Do I believe the market will make another run or fade away. I went long BEN at 39 and got out at first downtick because I was struggling internally. Tried PX and lost 20 cents off it as it just collapsed on me.
11:00: Up less than $500, should have stopped until 2:30, instead I churned APD. Churned EOG/BR/KMI/APA/NBL on XNG rally.
2:50: Had CCU/EMR and got a quarter out of CCU after the churns. EMR went up half a point but I got out for flat becuase futures came in. Thought WAT will go positive, churned. Very difficult game after the open for me, should have kept my profits.
Team Stats:
8 Active Traders
94900 shares each way
+4124 before commissions +1911 after
38 of 85 shooting (45%)
Top 3 Stocks: AHC, CAM, DHI
Bottom 3 Stocks: LOW, EOG, PX
A couple of key mistakes cost me what should have been a very solid day. 19700 shares each way on 8 of 21 shooting, +672 before commissions, +179 after, 1 bullet.
Pre-Market: TOL beat earnings.
9:30: Got DHI for 60 cents and SPF for 50 cents (too bad missed the second leg on both). Had JCP/MCK/WAT/PKI as oversold plays and got a quarter out of JCP, 10 cents from MCK, lost 8 cents in WAT, lost 10 cents in PKI. I was up $750 immediately, and it all went downhill from there. Had ROH and I was in the money for 20 cents only to lose 10 cents from it.
10:00: Consumer confidence numbers came out and the market tanked hard and fast. I was caught off guard and had no bullets to take advantage of anything. It is ok, you missed it, don't chase it. I waited and waited and finally put up a bullet on ACF, I lost 15 cents on 1000 shares and throw in the bullet cost, it was a pretty significant bite in my morning profits.
10:15: Our team's Bloomberg picked up a rumor report of trouble in Iraq. I swear I had at least 10 seconds before any oils made any upticks when this release came out. The problem was the market didn't react to it immediately, and I doubted the source. Well turned out it wasn't real but the oils ripped anyway. Had just HP and SGY, got 30 cents out of HP, flat in SGY.
10:45: I had to pick a direction. Do I believe the market will make another run or fade away. I went long BEN at 39 and got out at first downtick because I was struggling internally. Tried PX and lost 20 cents off it as it just collapsed on me.
11:00: Up less than $500, should have stopped until 2:30, instead I churned APD. Churned EOG/BR/KMI/APA/NBL on XNG rally.
2:50: Had CCU/EMR and got a quarter out of CCU after the churns. EMR went up half a point but I got out for flat becuase futures came in. Thought WAT will go positive, churned. Very difficult game after the open for me, should have kept my profits.
Team Stats:
8 Active Traders
94900 shares each way
+4124 before commissions +1911 after
38 of 85 shooting (45%)
Top 3 Stocks: AHC, CAM, DHI
Bottom 3 Stocks: LOW, EOG, PX
An incredible day for me and not just because of the P&L. I have finally received the long waited commission reduction. It has been almost a year since I had any significant reductions but the wait was well worth it.
This is the first real benefit I received since I became a team leader (other than a boat load of work), hopefully more will be on the horizon.
0.8 cent per share from 1.0 cent per share
(This will HELP, a LOT, I do not do enough volume to warrant this kind of a reduction, but I am thankful that I have it)
0 ticket charges, from 60 cents per ticket per stock per day
(Pocket change but it will add up, as I trade at least 10 stocks a day and it is a deduction of $12 a day)
0 bullet ticket charges, from $9 per ticket
3.4 cent per share for bullets, from 3.6 cent per share
($51 for a 1500 shares bullet versus $63), which is our minimum size, there is plan to remove the minimum size requirement, and even new traders will be able to use them frequently, even I would much rather have 2 bullets 800 shares a piece versus 1 bullet 1500 shares)
96% payout , from 94% payout
(Consider the guy who made 1.5 million last year has a 98.5% payout, no complaints there)
Very important changes, considering that I do at least half a million shares roundtrip a month, that is an automatic $1000 saving a month.
18000 shares each way on 8 of 15 shooting, +1489 before commissions, +1076 after, 2 bullets.
Pre-Market: The day of sell on the news's. The housing data at 10AM, the natural gas data at 2PM, and the Greenspan speech all triggered extreme sell-off's. Not just because the numbers were THAT bad, but simply because everything is so overbought.
9:30: IRF opened down with SOX up and I was lazy and went with a market order, he filled me at 39.3 and ouch, stopped me out at 38.5, a 80 cents hit! When I saw where he filled me and futures didn't exactly collapse I went long again and got 20 cents back, still, that was a huge hit. Lost 5 cents in S long, lost 20 cents in RSH long, as RLX quickly sold off after a small pop in the morning. Tried WAT long and lost 5 cents there. Went long LAB on XBD move and made just 8 cents. Lost 8 cents in PX as it could not go with the chemicals today.
10:00: I was long SPF and got out for a 5 cents profit as I saw huge offers in every home builder on my screen! Sell on the news! Went bullet SPF/MDC and got half a point off each, if I was up in the morning I would have went a full 1000 share lot immediately, but I was down quite a bit so I went 500 first and didn't get as much out of them as I should have.
10:35: Thought the sell-off was overdone and started taking some small positions on the long side. Had KBH, MHO, PHM, LEN, MDC, BZH, and the rest was history. Made at least 30 cents on everything except BZH, which did a painful 80 cents shake out and I held because I knew it is a high risk/reward stock and went only 200 shares. I really wanted to force myself to hold on to it and I would have scored a point, while 200 shares won't make or break my day, I just want to get that specialist once, as almost every time I trade him I am right, but the kind of shakeout's he pull is just way way too painful for me to hold. Instead I got out as soon as BZH allowed me to get out for a 20 instead of 80 cents loss.
12:00: Unfortunately I got out KBH/PHM too early, at least I didn't leave much profit on the table with LEN. Futures looked toppy and the fierce morning sell-off left doubts in my heart.
1:53: Went short BEN and lost 10 cents, when futures tanked like that I should have just held. Only had two bullets (MDC/SPF) and didn't want to put up another one. Home Builders didn't do anything when the market tanked. Natural shorted BEN and he stopped me out for a 10 cents loss then tanked it.
3:00: Noticed the amazing daily set-up on SPF. Yesterday was big volume, and today's volume was even bigger. At 2:00 or so it already traded yesterday's volume and was very strong. Scored half a point off it into the close.
Team Stats:
6 active traders
+1606 before commissions -230 after
74000 shares each way
31 of 59 shooting (53%)
Top 3 Symbols: MDC, SPF, MHO
Bottom 3 Symbols: KMI, BR, IRF
This is the first real benefit I received since I became a team leader (other than a boat load of work), hopefully more will be on the horizon.
0.8 cent per share from 1.0 cent per share
(This will HELP, a LOT, I do not do enough volume to warrant this kind of a reduction, but I am thankful that I have it)
0 ticket charges, from 60 cents per ticket per stock per day
(Pocket change but it will add up, as I trade at least 10 stocks a day and it is a deduction of $12 a day)
0 bullet ticket charges, from $9 per ticket
3.4 cent per share for bullets, from 3.6 cent per share
($51 for a 1500 shares bullet versus $63), which is our minimum size, there is plan to remove the minimum size requirement, and even new traders will be able to use them frequently, even I would much rather have 2 bullets 800 shares a piece versus 1 bullet 1500 shares)
96% payout , from 94% payout
(Consider the guy who made 1.5 million last year has a 98.5% payout, no complaints there)
Very important changes, considering that I do at least half a million shares roundtrip a month, that is an automatic $1000 saving a month.
18000 shares each way on 8 of 15 shooting, +1489 before commissions, +1076 after, 2 bullets.
Pre-Market: The day of sell on the news's. The housing data at 10AM, the natural gas data at 2PM, and the Greenspan speech all triggered extreme sell-off's. Not just because the numbers were THAT bad, but simply because everything is so overbought.
9:30: IRF opened down with SOX up and I was lazy and went with a market order, he filled me at 39.3 and ouch, stopped me out at 38.5, a 80 cents hit! When I saw where he filled me and futures didn't exactly collapse I went long again and got 20 cents back, still, that was a huge hit. Lost 5 cents in S long, lost 20 cents in RSH long, as RLX quickly sold off after a small pop in the morning. Tried WAT long and lost 5 cents there. Went long LAB on XBD move and made just 8 cents. Lost 8 cents in PX as it could not go with the chemicals today.
10:00: I was long SPF and got out for a 5 cents profit as I saw huge offers in every home builder on my screen! Sell on the news! Went bullet SPF/MDC and got half a point off each, if I was up in the morning I would have went a full 1000 share lot immediately, but I was down quite a bit so I went 500 first and didn't get as much out of them as I should have.
10:35: Thought the sell-off was overdone and started taking some small positions on the long side. Had KBH, MHO, PHM, LEN, MDC, BZH, and the rest was history. Made at least 30 cents on everything except BZH, which did a painful 80 cents shake out and I held because I knew it is a high risk/reward stock and went only 200 shares. I really wanted to force myself to hold on to it and I would have scored a point, while 200 shares won't make or break my day, I just want to get that specialist once, as almost every time I trade him I am right, but the kind of shakeout's he pull is just way way too painful for me to hold. Instead I got out as soon as BZH allowed me to get out for a 20 instead of 80 cents loss.
12:00: Unfortunately I got out KBH/PHM too early, at least I didn't leave much profit on the table with LEN. Futures looked toppy and the fierce morning sell-off left doubts in my heart.
1:53: Went short BEN and lost 10 cents, when futures tanked like that I should have just held. Only had two bullets (MDC/SPF) and didn't want to put up another one. Home Builders didn't do anything when the market tanked. Natural shorted BEN and he stopped me out for a 10 cents loss then tanked it.
3:00: Noticed the amazing daily set-up on SPF. Yesterday was big volume, and today's volume was even bigger. At 2:00 or so it already traded yesterday's volume and was very strong. Scored half a point off it into the close.
Team Stats:
6 active traders
+1606 before commissions -230 after
74000 shares each way
31 of 59 shooting (53%)
Top 3 Symbols: MDC, SPF, MHO
Bottom 3 Symbols: KMI, BR, IRF