Prop Trader Journal

Net P&L= +50
Shares traded=1400


Wow what a day. Somebody killed it today or got killed...me not much lol. So basically had one trade off of a bad news/good action play. Dabbled in some other stuff not worth noting

DB:

Downgraded today. Held in and made an A-up. Got long some and took it off after it failed at the pivot. Financials ended up rallying hard into the close. Rally in the market was probably the fastest and biggest i've seen.

SODA:

SODA was acting weak all day after being upgraded. Trickled to the A-down and just made lows all afternoon. I tried to position in but it never ticked up as it was CB'ed. No luck getting filled...damn ended up being decent. Of course ended up rallying with everything else into the close.
 

Attachments

10/5/11

Net profit=-147
Shares traded=1200

Took a few trades today and one unfortunate hit in LUFK in the last 20 minutes of the day.

YUM:

=-3

Reported today with beats on top and bottom line...reaffirmed guidance.
was. Made an a-down through the pivot. Shot straight down. As I was watching this I thought that there was more room to go and held onto my initial position. Later I found that the level it bounced from was its ATR and it would've been a good idea to take my profit there. That would have been 50 cents or so.

AAPL:

=-5

Went long as AAPL held up nicely yesterday on the disappointing product release. Went long on the breakout of the A-up level. Was in the money a buck or so. Held through as I knew that it could go much higher. Took it off after it came back to initial entry. Eventually made the move...without me of course :(.

LUFK:

=-132

This thing was beaten up all day and has continually lowered guidance. Was watching it all day. Came into the A-up level in the last 20 minutes. Held there for a few minutes and I bought near the highs. It spiked down 60 cents and I was trapped!

In ACD you must wait for a time confirmation above/below levels and I chose to not follow that in this case, because it was late in the day and i thought this stock would close near highs. I anticipated a confirmed A but instead got worked. In these cases if I am doing this, I should have a 1 lot or something and add on the confirmation!
 
Anybody catch APKT? Was watching this all day. Missed it after the
A-up. It eventually chopped around for a bit and ripped higher! Same
situation...Bad news/good action.

I am trying not to over trade and chase moves after the initial move does not work, but look at this chart...This thing had a clear path from 38-41.
 

Attachments

Hi Shanb, nice journal.

I trade from home by myself. Just wondering how are the traders at your prop firm doing in this environment?
 
Quote from kistrader:

Hi Shanb, nice journal.

I trade from home by myself. Just wondering how are the traders at your prop firm doing in this environment?
More...

Hey there...I'd say it is mixed. Daytraders are not doing as well. Better than earlier this year, but not like a few years ago(thats what they tell me) .Markets aren't as liquid. Not alot of retail or institutional participation. Fighting against the algos for what is left LOL.

On the other end, we have some guys who run a quasi long-short strategy and they are doing great. They are mainly trading REITS, smaller banks, water, electric companies etc. There's a kid my age who is pulling in mid 5 figures a month that is apart of that group! Sometimes I wonder If I'm on the wrong end of the spectrum :-/

How long have you been trading?
 
Given my lack of significant progress, I've changed what I have been doing significantly in the past month. I have seen progress and hopefully everyone else will see that going forward.

The daytraders are being crowded out by the algos, who can execute and employ trades faster than any human can. Given this, I know that I have to do something different.

I've been focusing on using what I have learned so far from watching the market and trading, employ this so it can work for me. My friend Maverick really opened my eyes to this...even though he has been telling me to do this since I started :). Look for the things that others aren't looking for. Where are other people will be trapped and will push things in your direction! Mark Fisher talks about this alot...you don't want to be on the same train as the bus people. When something is obvious these people/computers etc. will take it...and they are always wrong.

Mark Fisher's ACD gives a simple framework for interpreting Price action. I then look for stocks with news that I have seen usually interpreted as bullish or bearish. Put those stocks on my radar and watch them to see which ones aren't acting as they should. When a stock with bullish news doesn't uptick with the market and goes from positive to unch. something is wrong. When it makes the A-down the bias is confirmed and the trade is made. People who buy or are in positions will have be squeezed out.
 
I'm going to take a look at APKT right now. They issued downside guidance and the stock was down 30+% premarket. Slowly but surely inched up and opened down less. People sold this thing and all it did was slowly recover going from premarket to the morning.

The A-up was confirmed around 9:30, but the BO failed. Normally I might move onto the next thing, but I know that the company guided down(for whatever reason) and people obviously sold this thing. If it had attempted to break out again an hour or so after the first attempt it might not be a good long because it is too obvious and has allowed too many people to take a shot at it. However, three hours later APKT is slowly inching towards its highs, eventually breaks and probably took stops out above it and ripped higher.

I saw this whole thing happen and did not trade the second breakout. IMO...taking this thing long around 12:45 as it made new highs would be a good trade. It has bearish news, made an A-up, put everybody to sleep and when it rips it will rip...if not get the hell out!

I'm trying to strike the right balance with taking the best R:R opportunities and overtrading. This same thing happened with my DB trade yesterday...check out the chart!
 
Quote from Shanb:

Given my lack of significant progress, I've changed what I have been doing significantly in the past month. I have seen progress and hopefully everyone else will see that going forward.

The daytraders are being crowded out by the algos, who can execute and employ trades faster than any human can. Given this, I know that I have to do something different.

I've been focusing on using what I have learned so far from watching the market and trading, employ this so it can work for me. My friend Maverick really opened my eyes to this...even though he has been telling me to do this since I started :). Look for the things that others aren't looking for. Where are other people will be trapped and will push things in your direction! Mark Fisher talks about this alot...you don't want to be on the same train as the bus people. When something is obvious these people/computers etc. will take it...and they are always wrong.

Mark Fisher's ACD gives a simple framework for interpreting Price action. I then look for stocks with news that I have seen usually interpreted as bullish or bearish. Put those stocks on my radar and watch them to see which ones aren't acting as they should. When a stock with bullish news doesn't uptick with the market and goes from positive to unch. something is wrong. When it makes the A-down the bias is confirmed and the trade is made. People who buy or are in positions will have be squeezed out.
More...

:cool: excuse me, shanb....

1--just which group of traders have you been talking to, pls? and

2--would you be a little more specific about your following statement, pls:

The daytraders are being crowded out by the algos, who can execute and employ trades faster than any human can. Given this, I know that I have to do something different.
--------------
during the past few weeks, several of us trading longs and shorts in seconds and minutes time line have been abundantly rewarded to the tune of low six-digit per week.

am quite certain we are not the only group who are reaping the rewards from markets volatility. however most are just not in the habit of disclosing their trade activities. only once in a while some would jump in to disquiet some claims by those who really are not able to trade short term profitably and consistently, or to dispel those claims by most armchair monday night quarterbacks.

not implying that you are not profitable or anything like that, ok? just what you said seems to attribute certain degree of doubts to your statement, that's all, ok? on the contrary, i personally wish you well beyond all expectations so we all would be even more generous in our giving back to the trading communities. three cheers, shanb.

also after having looked over your posted trading chart, i must also admit that i am far away and far below your trading ability and insights indeed, for i am not able to trade profitably using your chart and indicators as provided.... am just not that smart.... really. but thx for the trading chart.... anyway, still three cheers to you and what you are able to accomplish.... :cool:
:cool: :cool:
 
Quote from nakachalet:

:cool: excuse me, shanb....

1--just which group of traders have you been talking to, pls? and

2--would you be a little more specific about your following statement, pls:

The daytraders are being crowded out by the algos, who can execute and employ trades faster than any human can. Given this, I know that I have to do something different.
--------------
during the past few weeks, several of us trading longs and shorts in seconds and minutes time line have been abundantly rewarded to the tune of low six-digit per week.

am quite certain we are not the only group who are reaping the rewards from markets volatility. however most are just not in the habit of disclosing their trade activities. only once in a while some would jump in to disquiet some claims by those who really are not able to trade short term profitably and consistently, or to dispel those claims by most armchair monday night quarterbacks.

not implying that you are not profitable or anything like that, ok? just what you said seems to attribute certain degree of doubts to your statement, that's all, ok? on the contrary, i personally wish you well beyond all expectations so we all would be even more generous in our giving back to the trading communities. three cheers, shanb.

also after having looked over your posted trading chart, i must also admit that i am far away and far below your trading ability and insights indeed, for i am not able to trade profitably using your chart and indicators as provided.... am just not that smart.... really. but thx for the trading chart.... anyway, still three cheers to you and what you are able to accomplish.... :cool:
:cool: :cool:
More...

Maybe I'm wrong. Don't know, just an observation ive made by looking at traders around me in chicago(at least in stocks).

If your making six figures a week, more power to you! You could prob teach me a thing or too :)
 
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