- $181
Shorted HIG @ 16.20 after it established a high around 16.40, tested it twice and reached overbought stochastics and stalled. Couldâve taken a tiny profit but my plan was to have a stop at 16.50 and watch what transpired. It climbed to 16.40 yet again (I was surprised it would reach for it a 5th time), then pulled back. As usual when a trade moves against me at first, I get impatient and I exited @ 16.15 for a $25 gain when the stochastics reached oversold. Of course it continued all the way down to 15.88 before bouncing.
Shorted RMBS @ 13.65 close to the HOD and overbought. This was a very slow mover and the plan was to give it all day to drift downward. I set a stop above the HOD @ 13.80 and didnât think about the trade until I was stopped out for a $75 loss. Turned out it actually dropped to 13.55 and I couldâve taken some small profit had I been watching it.
Shorted HIG again @ 16.25, same rational as before. Covered market @ 16.10 for a $75 gain when stochastics were reaching for oversold and it started to rebound. It was a weak attempt at rebounding and dropped all the way to 15.20. I was sick over the profits left on the table. Here was a case where setting the stop at b/e as I was doing yesterday wouldâve been perfect.
Iâve been watching POT very carefully lately, trading it in me head based on some very predictable patterns: It makes a strong run up, then pulls back about 1.50-2.00. So I shorted a very small position @ 68.35. I figured with the HOD @ 68.95, it could run all the way to 69.50 and would likely pull back to 67.50, giving me a good range to work with. So with a mental sop at 69.55, I watched the price action and covered at 68.05 as soon as the stochastic touched the oversold line for a $60 gain in 2 minutes.
Shorted AMGN @ 15.95 upon failure to make a higher high. Used a trend line connecting dayâs lows to determine a cover target of 57.80, which was filled for a gain of $75.
Shorted my favorite adrenaline pumper, MA, @ 143.19 in an overbought condition when it banged its head against the HOD and stalled. My mental stop was @ 143.95, just above the HOD. I entered this trade at market losing over .40 cents on MAâs large spread, but I always miss entries with this one if I donât jump in. I set a profit target of 142.50, which was filled for a $138 gain, and that was almost the exact low of that entire move. The trend line worked beautifully as they have been for me since I discovered how to use them not long ago.
POT had a double top around 68.95 and thatâs why I shorted them originally. They drifted down for quite some time and then pivoted off 66.42. They rallied to an overbought stochastic at 67.82 and stalled. I shorted at 67.60, but this was not a good entry point because the stock was now up trending off a much higher low and therefore would very likely test resistance. I was hoping to catch a small move off the stall, but it only dropped a few pennies before continuing the move up. Instead of exiting immediately at that point, I thought about the 1.50-2.00 pullbacks it usually has and placed a mental stop at the HOD of 68.95. However, once I noticed the stochastic cross up at 68.50, I exited immediately for a $178 loss because when the stochastics cross against you in the middle of the trend youâre trading, this is a huge red flag to get out. This was not a high probability trade and I should have waited for a test of the HOD before even considering a short at that point.
So I waited for that test and shorted again @ 68.95 in an overbought condition and set a tight stop @ 69.20. I was stopped out for a $55 loss. It did pull back to 68.33 before the end of day rally, so in this case I simply set the stop too close, but I was mad about giving up profits on the previous one. Ahh, the psychology of trading can be so difficult.
Now things werenât so bad at this point, but then I made the mistake of the day. MA broke through the HOD of 143.80, pulled back a bit and bounced off the HOD meaning previous resistance had become support. This is a LONG signal. I missed it completely. All I saw was that it re-tested the new high and then stalled and I figured since it was near the end of the day there would be a selloff and I shorted it at 144.14. The key words here are âI figuredâ. Day traders should not be thinking! They must use their technical analysis and discipline to put on good trades and manage them well. So I missed the âresistance now supportâ signal on the chart because I was thinking, and then I a) failed to take the small profit offered me, then further failed by waiting too long after the stochastics crossed up to exit, leaving me with a $120 loss.
Iâve included the MA chart today to point out the good trade and the bad trade all in one.
Shorted HIG @ 16.20 after it established a high around 16.40, tested it twice and reached overbought stochastics and stalled. Couldâve taken a tiny profit but my plan was to have a stop at 16.50 and watch what transpired. It climbed to 16.40 yet again (I was surprised it would reach for it a 5th time), then pulled back. As usual when a trade moves against me at first, I get impatient and I exited @ 16.15 for a $25 gain when the stochastics reached oversold. Of course it continued all the way down to 15.88 before bouncing.
Shorted RMBS @ 13.65 close to the HOD and overbought. This was a very slow mover and the plan was to give it all day to drift downward. I set a stop above the HOD @ 13.80 and didnât think about the trade until I was stopped out for a $75 loss. Turned out it actually dropped to 13.55 and I couldâve taken some small profit had I been watching it.
Shorted HIG again @ 16.25, same rational as before. Covered market @ 16.10 for a $75 gain when stochastics were reaching for oversold and it started to rebound. It was a weak attempt at rebounding and dropped all the way to 15.20. I was sick over the profits left on the table. Here was a case where setting the stop at b/e as I was doing yesterday wouldâve been perfect.
Iâve been watching POT very carefully lately, trading it in me head based on some very predictable patterns: It makes a strong run up, then pulls back about 1.50-2.00. So I shorted a very small position @ 68.35. I figured with the HOD @ 68.95, it could run all the way to 69.50 and would likely pull back to 67.50, giving me a good range to work with. So with a mental sop at 69.55, I watched the price action and covered at 68.05 as soon as the stochastic touched the oversold line for a $60 gain in 2 minutes.
Shorted AMGN @ 15.95 upon failure to make a higher high. Used a trend line connecting dayâs lows to determine a cover target of 57.80, which was filled for a gain of $75.
Shorted my favorite adrenaline pumper, MA, @ 143.19 in an overbought condition when it banged its head against the HOD and stalled. My mental stop was @ 143.95, just above the HOD. I entered this trade at market losing over .40 cents on MAâs large spread, but I always miss entries with this one if I donât jump in. I set a profit target of 142.50, which was filled for a $138 gain, and that was almost the exact low of that entire move. The trend line worked beautifully as they have been for me since I discovered how to use them not long ago.
POT had a double top around 68.95 and thatâs why I shorted them originally. They drifted down for quite some time and then pivoted off 66.42. They rallied to an overbought stochastic at 67.82 and stalled. I shorted at 67.60, but this was not a good entry point because the stock was now up trending off a much higher low and therefore would very likely test resistance. I was hoping to catch a small move off the stall, but it only dropped a few pennies before continuing the move up. Instead of exiting immediately at that point, I thought about the 1.50-2.00 pullbacks it usually has and placed a mental stop at the HOD of 68.95. However, once I noticed the stochastic cross up at 68.50, I exited immediately for a $178 loss because when the stochastics cross against you in the middle of the trend youâre trading, this is a huge red flag to get out. This was not a high probability trade and I should have waited for a test of the HOD before even considering a short at that point.
So I waited for that test and shorted again @ 68.95 in an overbought condition and set a tight stop @ 69.20. I was stopped out for a $55 loss. It did pull back to 68.33 before the end of day rally, so in this case I simply set the stop too close, but I was mad about giving up profits on the previous one. Ahh, the psychology of trading can be so difficult.
Now things werenât so bad at this point, but then I made the mistake of the day. MA broke through the HOD of 143.80, pulled back a bit and bounced off the HOD meaning previous resistance had become support. This is a LONG signal. I missed it completely. All I saw was that it re-tested the new high and then stalled and I figured since it was near the end of the day there would be a selloff and I shorted it at 144.14. The key words here are âI figuredâ. Day traders should not be thinking! They must use their technical analysis and discipline to put on good trades and manage them well. So I missed the âresistance now supportâ signal on the chart because I was thinking, and then I a) failed to take the small profit offered me, then further failed by waiting too long after the stochastics crossed up to exit, leaving me with a $120 loss.
Iâve included the MA chart today to point out the good trade and the bad trade all in one.
