Ouch, never would I imagine 300 shares can ruin an entire game, and it did, in spades. One touch of death blow in the hand of DST and I never recovered from that, couldn't keep my composure and churned myself into a deeper hole but managed to make some ground during the final hour, finished with my worst game since early June, and 75% of that came in one trade off 300 shares on a day I traded 20000 shares each way. I was opening the door to a much much bigger hole and I was very lucky to finish where I am today, playing uphill against a large deficit is a true test of mental endurance and I simply missed so many shots I normally make, and did not show toughness. Basically, I mailed it in after the DST disaster, as I stopped believing in that I could have pulled the game out. With the number of opportunities this afternoon, I had every chance I needed to get back into it.
6 of 19 shooting on 20800 shares, -510 before commissions, -988.48 after. I was down as much as $1500 and I lost $750 on 300 share's worth of DST. With the pay period closing in 3 games, I must avoid disasters and keep my composure, forget going for 10K, I am shooting 42% second pay period versus 70% first half, this will NOT get it done. I am still holding on to a $2000 lead for the pay period, it is time to play with a sense of urgency to build upon this lead, DO NOT give it up! I handed a size day right back to the market with sheer stupidity, protect the lead!
Pre-Market: DD beat earnings (CEX), HAL beat earnings (OSX).
9:30: BTK strength, took DNA and it was very choppy, got 30 cents out of it. I have watched this for way too long and I simply ignored the energy sectors. When I realized they were going up (the indexes didn't immediately open, the stocks did), I was chasing tops, took VTS and out for flat, took EPG and lost 30 cents (it already ran 60 cents when I bought it, very dangerous to do off the open), took EOG after I saw the first print at 34.00 and I was filled at 34.45! Sector reversed and I should have got out immediately half on a bad fill, instead I waited and got out at 33.90! A very bad open performance as had I went for the energy first I would have got nice moves out of oils, instead I was hit hard by the energy reversal as I chased trades.
9:52: Took TER on SOX pop and lost 20 cents. BKX move, took COF/PVN, lost a nickle on COF but got 40 cents on PVN. BKX and futures was very choppy in the morning and I had to get out. CEX pop, got DD and stopped out flat. Took some ROH and made 20 cents. A serious lack of momentum in the morning. Tried DNA again and made 15 cents on a BTK pop.
10:30: The art of bottomfishing, found ENR on the losers list. Very thin, trends slowly but nicely, just the type of stock I excel at. Yet I uncharacteristically blew it. With this kind of plays you have to get out at first down tick, and you must not rush your shots. I took 400 at 20.50, got out at 20.47 immediately when I saw that the huge sizes printed at ASK didn't do anything. Took 600 at 19.99, very rushed shot, VERY, lost 20 cents as I didn't get out fast enough, very bad. But it gets worse, I bought some at .85 on a chase, went to 800 shares before the tape shows confirmation, and allowed it to go 30 cents against me. You MUST get out as soon as you see a downtick and you can not allow anything more than 5-10 cents loss when you try this type of trades, excluding slippages. Finally, I nailed it at 19.11 with a limit buy at 19.20 but I only got 600 shares filled there, sold for a nice 60 cents gain as the seller was done, but I lost way too much first two attempts. On this kind of plays, if you get it you get it, chasing equals sure death.
11:54: A trade that I will remember for a very long time to come. Given the ENR trade, which I ended up losing money on, I knew I wasn't hot with bottompicking today, so when I saw DST on the losers list I really should have spend more time watching it. I was down $200, who cares, I know I can come back from a deficit like that very easily in the afternoon with just one or two good plays. Stock was falling like a rock, I saw huge, and I mean huge size going off at 52, I rushed and bought 300 shares before I scrolled through the tape to see that this stock has been falling through figures! This is a news stock that is falling like a rock and it is far more volatile than my usually bottompick plays. As soon as I bought, I saw the BID stepped down to 50. I should have sold market immediately, I thought the specialist was playing games, 2 prints later, 51, and I should have just ate that 1 point loss, but it was down 5 points, how much lower can it possibly go? Besides, I have 300 lousy shares, a trivial position. Risk management called me "something is up with this stock, avoid concentrated losses", and I was like, 300 shares? Boom, 50, big psychologically support level, boom, 48.50. I waited for a squeeze and got out at 49.50. This is hands down the most number of points I have ever lost since I worked at this firm, and the underestimate of how much 300 shares can hurt did it for me. When a stock is trading figure to figure, 300 shares can hurt A LOT . . . Psychologically, I was shot, I was stunned, and I could have done myself a favor if I just went home. I was lucky this afternoon that I finally hit a couple of solid shots because I really could have been blown out.
12:00: Risk Management just announced that those traders with negative caps should avoid trading DST at all costs, I guess a lot of other people got smoked. Took MMC on IUX pop and out for flat. Took UTX for a 8 cents pop. Took SLB on AG Edward upgrade and lost 20 cents, when I trade based on news events like that I am too desperate. Took MAY on RLX pop and got out flat. Took DNA on super high volume prints and lost 20 cents. Took AT on XTC strength and out for flat. I slapped myself a few times and went for some cold water, the lunch was just delivered and I really didn't have much appetite for it. Yes, I have lost far more than what I was down before, I started to remind myself that it was all one trade (even if I can not blame on the slippage because I had quite a bit of time to get out), and if I continue to play the way I was playing I could be looking at a much bigger deficit. It can ALWAYS get worse.
2:00: Everything started to run up. Took CVS and stopped out for 10 cents loss, stock just not ready to rebound today, . Got serious churned in DNA, really thought it would break out with BTK/Futures/Daily all pointing up, didn't happen, broken even in him across a number of trades, seller won't let this one rip. Tried WLP on HMO strength, churned away 10 cents as it would not join the rally. Took AT and lost 20 cents. Fortunately, got 1000 UTX and got 45 cents off that, biggest winner of the day and I looked at the score board, I am down 3 digits and there simply wasn't much I can do. Everything rallied and once I missed the beginning, chasing is a sure recipe to get hacked.
Tommorrow I am looking for a solid game to close the week out, I am still up $800 for the week, don't want to give that up.
I really don't know what happened with that trade. Normally I am a lot more careful than that. The best time to get into a position like that is when a stock comes down stepping with size, and you limit buy just as it takes out a large offer. In the case of DST, there was no offer, there could have been any number of shares to go and it was like playing chips at a casino to jump in. Very very bad shot, and it was made far worse due to the inability to take the point hit immediately.
