TonySanDiego TRIES to trade

Status
Not open for further replies.
The charts.. ?? mostly I haven't had anything especially needing a chart to illustrate.

The times in my spreadsheets are Chicago time. Just pull up a chart and look. If there is something special, I will post a chart too.

Today, Friday 13th... well it seemed like the 13th.

Was doing good until I went to short KLAC around 15:00 or so.

I had the window live for QCOM and didn't notice it. Hit my hot key to get off my KLAC short, got off a QCOM short instead. (probably an illegal one to boot, I will be getting another "DON'T do that" letter ) In the subsequent confusion I shorted again instead of covering. Then I didn't realize I had shorted more QCOM. I covered the first short, but lo and behold.. I was STILL short some QCOM. Of course QCOM is ripping up this whole time.

Finally got it all unwound.. cost me .25 plus commisions. And I lost the .20 I almost certainly would have had in KLAC.

So.. instead of a very respectable +.70, I have a not so respectable +.28 (even less after expenses).

Oh well, could be worse... I could be negative for the day.

Another lesson learned.

Here are the trades.
 

Attachments

Got rid of the hotkeys today.

Second day in a row, I hit the hot key and had the wrong stock screen active.

Cost me -.07 in slippage in KLAC, and about +.20 in LLTC which was not in trouble and I didn't want to exit when I did.

Also had 2 occurrances of "bail out early only to watch it go my way".

CMCSK was a dumb nervous move, it had already been against me nearly to my stop, and was now going my way. If I held through the first wiggle, why bail?

XLNX was not quite so dumb, but had the same net effect. It went my way a bit, then came ALL the way back to my entry point. Still should have held, ...but that is mostly hindsight tallking there.

When a trade comes all the way back to your entry, oftentimes it seems to portend bad things in the near future.

NVLS was not a real clean setup, but was good enough, just didn't work.

Here are the trades. Times are Chicago time.
 

Attachments

Did something different today. I took advantage of Allen Z and reality trader's kind offer of a free day in Allen's futures room.

So I tagged along on some of Allen's trades.... and did fairly well.

I was also trading some stocks, ( I have been trying out thier stock trading room too ). I did not do as well in the stocks. I was a bit inept and slow in a couple of cases.

Sold myself short on NVLS, sold myself way short on BBBY, and I was a laggard getting out of that last KLAC.

It was very interesting trading futures and stocks at the same time. At one point, I was in a trade on both at the same time, and I am not multitasking. :eek:

Anyhow, a fun day and a little profit too. :p

Here are the trades.
 

Attachments

And after my disasterous opening orders fiasco, things did not get any better.

Zero for 4 today.

My last day in the Reality Trader chatroom trial. They are pretty good folks there, but they can't perform miracles. I missed their good calls, but was right on hand to catch the busts.

And I can always be counted on to manufacture a bust or two of my own.. to wit.. QCOM today.

This is a tough market even if you know what you are doing.

Here are the trades, such as they are.
 

Attachments

Originally posted by Tony
------------------------------------------------------------------
10-09-02 05:34 PM

And after my disasterous opening orders fiasco, things did not get any better.

Zero for 4 today.

My last day in the Reality Trader chatroom trial. They are pretty good folks there, but they can't perform miracles. I missed their good calls, but was right on hand to catch the busts.

And I can always be counted on to manufacture a bust or two of my own.. to wit.. QCOM today.

This is a tough market even if you know what you are doing.

Here are the trades, such as they are.

Attachment: wed trades xls.gif

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have not followed all of your trades, but some of the ones I have, appear to me that you are waiting too long for confirmation of reversals. You're right when you say this market is tough.

Qcom moved mostly .20 to 40 cents each time it reversed. By the time you jump in it's ready to move back the other way.
Just thought I would offer my observation.
I like playing this one as well as KLAC and MSFT but they pretty much do the same thing.
Good luck.
Don
 
Another "not for profit" day.

Actually, I made just one poor trade, the last KLAC trade. I exited early again, just a moment before it finally got it going and ran up another .25 or so.

Gave the last SPY some room to work, but it just wouldn't go until I was stopped out. :mad:

Here are the trades.
 

Attachments

A "for profit day" :D

I tried something different today.

I decided to do some "scaling in". I started my trades with half the shares I intended to use for the bulk of the move.

My thinking was that if the trade moves immediately against me, a not uncommon occurrance, then I am stopped with half a position. If it moved immediately in my favor, I planned to add the other half. And if I needed to get in, but felt like I was chasing, I would add the second half to the trade if it pulled back to a suitable support and held.

Well, it worked sort of OK.

GS was a good trade involving a pullback and add the other half.

BAC just ran away with my half lot, so I only cashed in half. But I probably would have never entered without the comfort that an immediate adverse excursion would not be a killer. ( only half a killer :p )

The SPY were all over the place, and BRCD was a good chance for it to work, but I didn't add the second half.

The most interesting effect was that I was a calmer trader, maybe because I was mentally working the scaling problem, instead of sweating bullets over the possibility of getting a loss.

Here are the trades and charts.
 

Attachments

One mediocre trade, KLAC, long early for +.15.

I sat out the rest of the day and worked on my opening orders spreadsheet.

This was such a drifty day. There were moves, but so erratic I couldn't see trading them.

Better day tomorrow.
 
Originally posted by TonySanDiego
A "for profit day" :D

I tried something different today.

I decided to do some "scaling in". I started my trades with half the shares I intended to use for the bulk of the move.

My thinking was that if the trade moves immediately against me, a not uncommon occurrence, then I am stopped with half a position. If it moved immediately in my favor, I planned to add the other half. And if I needed to get in, but felt like I was chasing, I would add the second half to the trade if it pulled back to a suitable support and held.

Well, it worked sort of OK.

GS was a good trade involving a pullback and add the other half.

BAC just ran away with my half lot, so I only cashed in half. But I probably would have never entered without the comfort that an immediate adverse excursion would not be a killer. ( only half a killer :p )

The SPY were all over the place, and BRCD was a good chance for it to work, but I didn't add the second half.

The most interesting effect was that I was a calmer trader, maybe because I was mentally working the scaling problem, instead of sweating bullets over the possibility of getting a loss.

Here are the trades and charts.
More...

what was the rational for riding the 1/2 position of GS up to the next round number and then riding it all the way down past your original entry and then adding to a loser? was there some sort of R/S rationale?

i scale out more than in, although i will add back. but, i try to take high probability set-ups based on my system with real small stop loss - so, im either right or wrong on the entry! i cant see anything wrong with your taking 1/2 of the 1/2 at the round #, where you also got a series of NRBs (consolidation - lack of upside momo/losing steam). not a bad spot to hedge and sell 1/2 of the 1/2 - no?

if memory serves me, your daily P&Ls have rarely reflected $.60-$.70 gain. when i went through my worst bad stretch (there have been more than 1 :cool:) i came back i tried to hit singles - consistently! i just traded smaller lots and got profitable - winner - winner - winner!!!!

you said you were more relaxed - maybe this is a better size for you to trade until you lay a stronger foundation? but, dont get too relaxed and not take profits because "its not big enuf." just like you passed on a trade because the futures looked bad (assuming they really were), which is part of your plan, if your plan is to scale, then scale - if you have 1/2 of a position - then maybe scale out in 1/4 or 1/8 or whatever - just work your plan and THEN increase your size. you get in for 1/2 and then sit there looking to get in for another 1/2 and the profits run right through your hands.

im no expert, but that was my impression... and i realize that it sure is easier to trade fridays charts on the following tuesday!

good luck

:eek:
 
originally by Tony
--------------------------------------------------------
One mediocre trade, KLAC, long early for +.15.
I sat out the rest of the day and worked on my opening orders spreadsheet.
This was such a drifty day. There were moves, but so erratic I couldn't see trading them.
Better day tomorrow.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Tony, how many shares are you trading now? if it's different depending on the stock etc. what's the average share size?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top