4/5/11
Gross: +110
Shares: 8400
Net: +55
I was hung over today. Went drinking last night with some friends to watch the NCAA game. Ended up staying much longer than I planned. I felt it actually helped me through the morning. I was LESS engaged, a bit lazy, and waited for decent plays.
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Started the day off losing repeatedly in CBST, eventually, I got the picture and left it alone. I was buying through 50 cents, going for your typical gap n go. It tried several times but met sellers in the mid 50s. Definitely a tricky stock to watch this morning.
Traded VRX today. Initially bought through 54, 200 shares. I don't like buying things that have not setup / run fast into a level. Though there was aggressive buying of the whole, it was morning, the trade had energy and time. Sold in the 30 cent area. My target was 50 cents, though the price began flattening a bit, so I took profits. I kept watching VRX. I bought its first dip. I got 300 shares in the low 50s. There was sweeping in the mid 50s, but no one was attacking the mid 40s hard. I felt there was more upside. Stock made a push to 55, my target. I sold my 300 shares at 72 cents. Not happy about that one bit. I sold because every 10 cents VRX was running into a NYS seller. It backed away from 80 and I wasn't about to let this one go. The trade was not THAT pretty. Proper way to trade this would be to sell some when I get uneasy rather than ALL of my position.
Bought JDSU on the FNSR chatter, got a little pop.
QCOR = A major missed opportunity today. It narrowed at the 18 level this morning. Moving averages caught up. I only bought 100 shares down at 18. Added 100 at 18.20. A seller appeared at 20 cents. Bids appeared in the mid teens. I was upset I added at 20 cents, I hate adding to positions. As it hit the bids, I got out at 13 cents. My average price was 10 cents. Of course, the stock went 50 cents never returning to 18 during the move. Moron. Proper way to play this was to get size at 18.
Bought the dip in SMTC, bought at 26.16 as I noticed a character change in the box. I got only 100 shares as this was not an A+ trade in my opinion. It definitely had a reason to work due to strength in the semis today. I felt that sell off was overdone. Got a nice pop out of it. Exited at 26 cents. Of course, with 200 shares I could have sold half at my first target (which is where I got out) and let the rest run a bit. As I increase size across the board, I will be able to capture more from my trades. YOU could say I got out too early, obviously the risk was about 16 cents, THOUGH, the probability of this trade made it worth it. I was very confident in getting at least a pop in my direction.
Another trade I blew today was OLN. Bought OLN as it broke 24.50. It coiled there a bit. There was no bearishness in the box. Market looked good. I had my stop at 48 cents. Stops were triggered. It never hit 47 cents. See what I mean, just terrible execution. Finding the stocks is easy, its the trade execution that kills me. OLN went to 75 cents without ever breaking below 48 cents. sigh
Traded TCK today. Bought at 57.66 through highs. Had an OK setup and box bullishness. Sold at 86. Again, more size would have allowed me to catch the monster move that followed.
Got 400 shares of POT through 61.50. At the time, the agricultural names were ticking up. AGU holding above its whole, MOS at highs. POT was lagging. There was absolutely no strength above the 50 cent level, I tapped out immediately. The REAL question is why did I get 400 shares. Completely irrational share size when compared to my other trades. I suppose the lack of action gave it the illusion of being safer.
Caught a nice pattern in WPRT. It sold off this morning, as the daily was a bit extended. The selling stopped. WPRT produced a triangle. Higher lows, lower highs. I looked to the box for direction. It was absolutely dead at first, though, the price was slightly drifting up. I bought 100. Eventually, UBSS came in with size and the move began. I added immediately as size came on the bids. Sold half at the whole, and half at 15 cents. I am happy with those outs, even though the price went further. It was determined to be a scalp from the get go due to the lack of volume. Soon after WPRT got halted for news and traded higher....
WNR. I bought WNR through 19 as the bids became heavy. The trade began to work. Had some trouble up near 10 cents. A large offer appeared at 5 cents, about the same size of the bids at the whole. I was out immediately. The trade changed, I was out. That is the important of level 2 folks. WNR collapsed afterwards and I was out before everyone. Unfortunately, I knew the dip was a buy, but I missed my entry. I did not rebuy highs or anything. I just gave up on the trade. Would have a been a sick buy on the dip as all the day traders bailed out.
At this point I was gross +150. I decided to wait patiently for a good setup, hoping to attack a good move.
News came out in WPRT, HEK and ECA. I want to strannnnnnnngle our news guys. They are absolutely terrible at their jobs. They can't get it right. JUST READ THE NEWS, AND READ IT CLEARLY. God damn. So I bought HEK up at 6.52 on the muffled news. LOL. Added at 37 cents. Got stopped out at 29 cents............ I was livid. Piker size, but it ruined my mental momentum. Yes it was my fault for buying news I didn't even hear.
Down to 120 gross.
Had a few tilt overtrades. Right now it is 3pm eastern, and I am gross 109 and pretty sure I'm done for the day unless something great happens OR there is a good imbalance play out there.
Upset I did not get involved in the metal trade. They were SO strong. It was difficult to find an entry. It felt like everything was a chase.
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In reviewing today, the stocks on my watch lists gave me action. I was not short of trading ideas. I do have a knack for finding the right stocks. I suffer in execution however. The fear of profits escaping, the fear of losing, the fear of giving my day away in one trade, etc. I am still a prisoner to this fear.
However, thanks to the journal, I am definitely improving in different ways. I definitely was able to stick to in play stuff today, with a few minor exceptions. I caught myself about to enter trades, and I was able to avoid losses and overtrades.
I have also made an effort to add more liquidity to control my ECN fees a bit.
The big problem with today, was that I did not make enough money. Another winning day. My gross beats my losing day's gross. But commissions drag everything down. I need to make more money on winning days buy getting more size on good plays.
Today's trade that should have had size: QCOR. QCOR was a solid setup.
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Tomorrow: I am definitely seeing the benefit to focusing on stocks on my own lists. I know what is going on in them, I know the psychology built into them. There is no reason to branch out to low volume BS. I can find the stocks I need to be in. I trust that much.
This confidence SHOULD be enough to convince me to get more size. Stop being a broken record. If you come back here tomorrow and right you had your worst day to date, so what. You need to do what you need to do to be profitable.
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Sent an e-mail to my broker today to inquire about custom data sets so that I can begin developing some automated ideas I have. Not looking forward to learning to program, but I am very excited about the prospects. I have a lot of unique ideas that I can't wait to fully investigate and backtest.
