The Big One That Got Away

Those charts came from Ameritrade. Yes I use Ameritrade to buy/sell. I know there is better out there. I just haven't learned to use them yet. Ameritrade charges $11 per trade, $22 round trip. However, I use Ameritrade's "Advanced Analyzer" to get daily charts for screening purposes. This is a software that costs $15/mo.

Quote from NihabaAshi:



Deb Trader,

Before I start with my comments...

are you daytrading via BigCharts or was those just some convenient charts you found instead of using charts from your actual trading software?

NihabaAshi
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Quote from Babak:

omcate,

would you mind telling us which online broker went to bat for you? Also which stock was this? TIA.
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The broker was Ameritrade. At the risk of sounding ignorant, besides saying the ticker symbols were MEDC & MCTR, I'm not sure how to define the stock beyond that.

- Deb Trader
 
Quote from nkhoi:



repeat the same performance until you don't feel sad any more.
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Thanks nkhoi. Yeah, I guess you're right.

But the advisors always tell us to limit our losses and let our winners run. I will never let a winner run if I continue to use those methods, I think.

- Deb Trader
 
Don't feel too bad about missing out on more $$
I do that everyday :mad:
Like Thursday I could've earned an extra $1300 but got out of my positions too early
Friday I could've had an extra $900 but got out to early too
I get sooo stressed out over this greed I have
Come to think of it I'm fuming up again right now hahaha :D

I have to realize this is part of trading
 
Quote from Deb Trader:



Thanks nkhoi. Yeah, I guess you're right.

But the advisors always tell us to limit our losses and let our winners run. I will never let a winner run if I continue to use those methods, I think.

- Deb Trader
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I get the impression that you're not really listening to what nkhoi is saying. Read his post again. Then again. He's raised issues that you're not addressing.

--Db
 
Quote from Deb Trader:

Scratch that last post. Just noticed that Babak was asking Omcate, not me. Duh.
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Good recovery, that would have been a classic message board mistake.
 
Quote from Deb Trader:

An analysis of how not to set Stop-Limits:

In 2 days I could have made 50% on 2 stocks that I actually owned when they started to rocket up. Here's the setup:

I created a stock filter using Ameritrade's Advanced Analyzer. Studied daily charts to find ones that were at a low ebb in the beginning of what could become an uptrend. Found 2: MEDC and MCTR. Charts on these are attached

Scenario 1: MCTR

1. Bought MCTR at .94 on 1/8
2. On 1/9, MCTR started rising, so I tightened my stop loss
3. MCTR rose to 1.10 so I'm doing a jig...that's 17% rise
4. I set my stop to 1.08 (just a stop - not a stop-limit - bad move)
5. Then the inevitable drop - I'm stopped out with average sell price of 1.04
6. Take a look at the attached chart - it rocketed to $1.50. Damn! And it's still going. Didn't want to jump back in, because of fear it would drop like a rock any second.

Scenario 2: MEDC

1. Bought MEDC at 7.05 on 1/9
2. At the end of the day, MEDC started rising, so I tightened my stop-loss
3. MEDC rose to 7.50, so now I'm dancing again
4. I set my stop-limit at 7.40 as it rose to 7.60 (This time I wasn't going to get burned by the plain-old stop)
5. Naturally, I got stopped out at 7.40, so I'm very happy as I watch it hang there
6. Not so happy as I watch it rocket up to $9 at the close
7. Even less happy as it peaks at $10 in the morning of 1/10

I've been burned by not setting a stop when a stock was zooming up and missed the profits on the spike. So I thought I was being wise to set tight stops so I didn't lose the bulk of profit from these spikes. However, I'm not sure what the heck to do now. I've been burned both ways.

Any wisdom on this sad story of the big ones that got away would be appreciated!

Deb Trader
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Deb, after reading your post, the thing that I see missing is your price target. Did you set one with your entry point and stop loss? :confused:
 
Quote from dbphoenix:



I get the impression that you're not really listening to what nkhoi is saying. Read his post again. Then again. He's raised issues that you're not addressing.

--Db
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:( ... Note to self: take a deep breath, exhale slowly, remember this is a new year, some things change... some never will.

Ahhh that's better.

Now, Deb... as Ashi said, you did everything right, so nice work.

And what nkhoi is saying is true also, although it is a bit like telling a story, "the people in the village along the craggy slopes of Mt. Vesuvius watched in terror as the great volcano began to erupt, but everyone lived happily ever after." You get the impressin that there might be a bit more to the story that was omitted.

It is important to remember that you will leave money on the table every trade. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

A scenario you might also describe one day is that you tightened your stop on a profitable long position, got hit, and watched the thing tank afterwards. It will all even out.

Or you could take the testing route and determine the average amount of swing that occurs in your chosen time interval and place your stops outside of that.
 
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