Innovest trading

I

innovest_11

hi all,

Decided to start a simple journal to post my trading performance here.

Day trading for 1 year+, previously swing trading for many years.

Most of the time i long, seldom short, not sure why every time i short, it make a U-turn

Trade based on pattern, keep a very long list of stocks to track

Problem:
- Difficult to cut loss position
- Occasional big loss appear
 
Trade with DE today, good earning, thought it will shoot thru roof, so bought in early 9:56am at low 57.33 size 200.

No stop.

So new rule is: i should have implemented STOP: at -$0.20 at $57.13

!!!!!!!!!!!For every new buy, i need -$0.20 STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From now on !!!!!
 
DE did shoot thru the roof, but it was before the market opened. Gap up 4.00/share from yesterday's close. DE has almost no short interest so even though it opened with a wide gap, there wasn't enough fuel to propel it a whole lot higher.

Compare it to WFMI, also good earnings and a 2.30 opening gap, but almost 12% short interest. Shorts facing a loss will drive the price higher most of the time as they buy shares to cover their losing positions.

If you want to play earnings and news gaps, check out http://shortsqueeze.com/ before the market opens so you know what to look out for.
 
loss -9

Today shorting the wrong stock, did not realise CLF has good earning news, go and short it in the morning, because previous day activity seems like a good short.

Till later then i saw the good earning news, but still i go and short it, and -$40 stop getting hit numerous times, including there's one time not honouring the stop and lost -160 on that stupid single trade

till -$250, then i stop hitting the short button

Till 12am go and short it another time at $50.64, after regrouping, then cover it at $50.19, but still this is not enough to cover the so many mistakes made in the morning, against the trend

i tend to worry about the stock will suddenly reverse and drop, that's why keep shorting, i should take hint from 1st stop been hit and stop a while and think

Tend to overtrade because of stops been hit, after stops been hit, i go and search for another setup carelessly, i should rethink and regroup

Today generated lots of commission for IB, realised using stops does this, but also realised Stops stop the loss from growing from a tiny small loss into a big red monster

Stops allows me to track my losses closely, and not letting it grow in a uncontrolled manner

But Stops also made me:
1) tend to buy sell buy sell lots of times.
2) urge to quickly take profit
3) dunno why tend to short stocks, cause afraid stocks will plunge suddenly, previously i tend to long stocks, now with stops, tend to short, werid
4) Must honour stops!!

Need to work on above
 
Only a few confirmed short signals on CLF today, lower high around 10:45, failed so you'd be stopped out b/e or so; lower highs around 11:50 and 12:30, and double top around 3:04.

You were definitely fighting a trend. Our automated system that we're testing in a sim account had no problem trading CLF to the long side. It made $291 on 100 shares today.

It seems like you're jumping into trades before they actually set up. I do this all the time. It's so tempting and you think you'll miss the boat if you don't get in, but these trades are almost always a waste for me and then the losses I incur cause me to exit too soon on the profitable confirmed setups!
 
i should realise i'm fighting an uphill trendwhen my stop keep getting hit so many times for CLF, now i know :D

Always wanted to try to build an automated trading system, but will do that only after i "graduated" and able to pay my monthly bills

Quote from NoDoji:

Only a few confirmed short signals on CLF today, lower high around 10:45, failed so you'd be stopped out b/e or so; lower highs around 11:50 and 12:30, and double top around 3:04.

You were definitely fighting a trend. Our automated system that we're testing in a sim account had no problem trading CLF to the long side. It made $291 on 100 shares today.

It seems like you're jumping into trades before they actually set up. I do this all the time. It's so tempting and you think you'll miss the boat if you don't get in, but these trades are almost always a waste for me and then the losses I incur cause me to exit too soon on the profitable confirmed setups!
More...
 
Here is a simple guide to use. You will have fewer stop-outs and more profitable moves:

Place a 20-bar moving average on a 3-min or 5-min chart. Have a 3-day 5-min chart up as well for reference so you can compare today's price action to recent support & resistance levels.

After the market has settled in (usually about 20-30 minutes), note whether the 20-bar MA is rising or falling.

If it's rising, you can buy the dips and place your stop below the previous dip (or below the recent pivot if you waited for price to pivot up again).

If it's falling, sell the rallies, same strategy for stops.

Sometimes if the open's choppy, it's better to wait 45 minutes or longer to get a better idea of whether buyers or sellers are in control.
 
+278

ok, before today's trading i'm telling myself to be:

- Must go with the intraday trend
- Must not be always go short, should go long too

Shorted CLF at 9:48am, at $52.44, CLF has been going up for few days, so thought will be good idea to short it, Dow index is falling -ve, but to my horror, i watch it continue to climb to $52.64, exactly at my stop loss, but i did not honour my stop, i cannot believe it is so strong. Then later it did drop to $52, and i cover it. But i nearly execute my stop at $52.64 and i did not honour my stop, not sure whether this is good, but i know the environment is bad, so CLF cannot keep advancing

Also traded AAPL in nice uptrend in the morning 11:11am to 11:35am

After 12pm, actually i have profit of $387, i know i should stop, but somehow continue. At 2:48pm, i thought aapl is already very low price, but downtrend, and bought it at $202, stop at 201.8, thinking it will sure rebound, to my horror, it drop further down to $201.2, i did not honour the stop, cannot believe it drop further, i waited till i rebound from $201.2 and sold at $201.51

Summary:
- when you have profit, the more you unwilling to cut loss
- do not ever think that the stock is too low or too high, it can still continue the downtrend/uptrend.
- maybe I should not trade the strategy of ¡°buy when the price too low¡±, and against the downward trend
 
Thanks for sharing, yes, your strategy is good, it goes with the trend, and buy at low, sell high.

If i use 1 min chart, will it be different? Cause not sure whether will be used to seeing 3 or 5min chart, but I'll try and see next week

Quote from NoDoji:

Here is a simple guide to use. You will have fewer stop-outs and more profitable moves:

Place a 20-bar moving average on a 3-min or 5-min chart. Have a 3-day 5-min chart up as well for reference so you can compare today's price action to recent support & resistance levels.

After the market has settled in (usually about 20-30 minutes), note whether the 20-bar MA is rising or falling.

If it's rising, you can buy the dips and place your stop below the previous dip (or below the recent pivot if you waited for price to pivot up again).

If it's falling, sell the rallies, same strategy for stops.

Sometimes if the open's choppy, it's better to wait 45 minutes or longer to get a better idea of whether buyers or sellers are in control.
More...
 
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