+$1199
What an interesting day that hopefully taught me a lesson. I only sim traded from the open because I was bound and determined to learn how to manage my trades properly without cutting my profits short and letting my losers go full throttle. Once I felt confident in myself, I was ready to go live.
ETN had been making a strong run and I put on a small counter-trend short position on a stall at the new HOD. Since I was top-picking, I locked in my stop near b/e immediately, which was hit for +$4 and price resumed the uptrend.
I did some more sim trading, and watched ESRX out of the corner of my eye because it pulled back quickly right to the 20 EMA from a new HOD (and a new 52-week high), and as volatile as this one can be I thought it would be a solid short off a lower high if that 20 EMA became a ceiling instead of a floor.
I watched price move up off the 20, then there it was, pulled back down through the 20 off a lower high of 92.64 and without hesitation I put on some SIZE to the short side @ 92.41 with a .05 stop. I was going to catch a momentum ride or not and I had no interest in piddling around off a confirmed setup like this.
No sooner did I put in my stop, we had a power outage. A total power outage that messed up our internet connections and by the time we got that going, our UPS backup times were exceeded and our systems shut down. I said to my husband, âNow I know absolutely, positively that Iâm jinxed.â
Just over an hour later, the power returned and I logged in expecting to see my Realized P&L of -$30. Instead I about had a heart attack as I looked at nice green +$1222 in that field. I checked the chart, saw that a solid hammer had been left behind off the LOD of 89.66 and I trailed a tight stop hit @ 90.01, realizing a gain of $1195.
I looked at the chart and figured that in a best-case scenario I would've likely left $300 on the table if Iâd been micromanaging this trade, because I wouldâve covered the whole position on the first pivot off that initial selloff.
More likely however, I wouldâve excitedly scalped $200 at the first hesitation when price reached an oversold state, never even enjoying the Yippie! ride that quickly ensued.
So Iâm thinking perhaps the power outage was actually an effective way to demonstrate to me the value of letting profits run on at least half a position. Especially on a confirmed setup.