Trading Journal, November

MY FREAKING COPUTER FROZE, WHEN I TRIED TO PUT IN A TRADE AT 9:45, MISSED IT AND HAD TO REBOOT, BY THE TIME I CAME BACK UP , THEM MARKET ALREADY GAPPED TOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!

JUST MY LUCK, MISSED A GOOD SQUEEZE ON OSX AND XNG...

HAVE TO SIT NOW , DAMMMMMMMMMMM

ON THE OTHER HAND I COULD HAVE LOST $300 OR $400 LIKE THE GUYS AROUND ME..............

MAYBE THIS IS A BLESSING IN DISGUISE
 
Hi SB,

Looking forward to your journal today, and hopefully soon you will be including the approximate times of the trades as was discussed. BTW, THERE'S NO NEED TO SHOUT BY TYPING IN ALL CAPS! :)
 
80.07 ABK
11:30 Bought it at $55.55 , when IUX was ripping, sold it at $55.76, the stock gapped a little to 90c, before it goes back down to 50c. Went up again after that to $56.00 but closed at $55.40, not a bad trade, should have went back in again.

-26.28 AES
11:17 Bought it when XNG was ripping and ripped they did!! But this stock just doesn't want to move for whatever reason!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lost commission on this.

-24.68 BK
2:30 HUGE size printed at $41.00, which was the high of the day. I shorted it naturally at the high at that time, the stock came in a little and ripped back up and come back down again, I guess there were some stops at $41.06, he printed that and the stock closed at $40.60, didn't feel too bad a thick stock that wiggles too much.

-86.04 BVF
12:20 Bought this stock at $52.10, 10c from the low, thinking that BTK was rallying, but this stock is too thin and bid disappeared the next bid was $51.85, didn't keep my head and sold it at $51.98. Of course the stock went all the way up to $52.75. This stock I should have had my stop at 91c, which was the low of the day!!! Big deal, I lose another 8c??? I was a little nervous because I had 500 shares on this thing, and it could hit 91c for 100 shares and nest bid 70c. unlikely because BTK was rallying, but I was too nervous to notice.

244.78 CAM
A good call to short it when the came in later in the day. Actually I shorted it at 12 p.m., didn't get much, shorted it again at 3 p.m. at $36.50 when XNG sell off more.

-29.95 DNA
1 p.m., stock should be rallying when the whole sector was rallying, got at $57.00, too much action at the figure, immediately bid disappeared and the next bid was 80c. I had to offer it out at 99c. My offer got taken, I lost small, eventually the stock went down to 70c, before doing a U turn and went to $57.80. Oh well.

-20.48 FRX
1:15 p.m. Bought this at $72.35, 30c from the low, the DRG was ripping and the stock didn't want to move, offer keep refreshing, eventually got tired of watching it and sold it with a tiny loss, the stock did go up o $73.00. Have to be more patient with my stocks!!!

-34.72 HD
13:40 tried to pick a bottom in this stock got it at $43.50, stock had bad news and just didn't look right, got out of it, the stock closed at $43.35, but at one point was down to $42.90

75.66 HWP
Nice trade a gap at $3:30 p.m. Saw it late and got in at $20.10, could have gotten $20.02, couldn't break 40c, and I sold it at the close at 30c. Not great, not bad.

103.62 KPP
Bought it at $37.70, a 80c gap down, didn't know the stock and it was so thin, so I went with 300 sharers, the stock retraced slowly and I got out at the first shake out at $38.10, the stock close at $38.44. should have went in with a little more size and hold it longer, but still a pretty good trade given the future and that the stock is so thin.

80.72 LSI
Left so much money on the table, bought it when the SOX started rallying at 12 p.m., the rally seemed to stalled a little and I sold it for a 20c profit at $16.63, the stock went to $17.15 later when the rally really kicks in. Why did I get out too soon? Probably I was a little nervous holding 500 shares of a volatile stock.

-54.52 NSM
Probably the worst trade of the day, bought it at 12:10 p.m got filled at the top of a gap 25c gap up at $31.20, the bid got hit and the next bid was 14c, I got out immediately thinking that the stock was going to retraced, and it did, another lousy 4c, before ripping another point!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was trying to be careful with 500 shares and got shaken out on a little wiggle. STUPID.


Today was a good day, ( stocks went up and down a couple of times and I didn't take full advantage of it) just couldn't get into a rhythm early on. My computer froze at 10 a.m. when I tried to put in some orders, missed MW, BMS ( 2 really good gaps). By the time I rebooted, everything had already gapped down. Didn't have any confidence in picking a bottom in a lot of stocks, thought that it was just a squeeze. Missed a good OSX and XNG rally in the afternoon.
I also started to trade 500 shares today and I was a little more cautious than usual, and as a result I didn't get much out of winners.

Ended up the day with a $300 profit, made back what I lost yesterday, but I let a little computer gliche at the open affect my trading for the whole day. I should have made $1000 today !!!
Shoulda , woulda , coulda.

Tomorrow will be a great day, I can feel it!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Mr.V didn't come in today.

Mr.K lost $250, and last I looked the whole firm was only up $2000, so it wasn't a good day for a lot of people.

But still...

Mr. V 0-1
Mr.K 1-1
Stockk 1-1
 
They are putting up a big christmas tree outside my office building, sure looks and smells nice!!! My favorite season of the year !! Hope I will make my first check by then so that I can get my girlfriend something nice :p

Here's a food for thought, saw this ad in a subway today.

" 20 million people and 1 Mr.Right, you do the math !! "
I think this a great ad, kinda scary too when you think about it, one person for the rest of your life !!! Man, that better be your Mr.Right...

Things that I have to work on today,

1. Don't trade scare, cautious but not scare.
2. Try to get bigger winners, $250 minimum.
3. Don't churn, 2000 shares max on one posiition.
4. Keep having small losers.

On a side note, Mr.T did say that I did a nice job yesterday, I got a 5 and a 4.
He said no more 1's and he loved the fact that my biggest loser was only $80.

Me too, Mr.T, Me too.........
 
There are people who made a killing on DYN/ENE and sympathy stocks EPG/KMI, and brokers/semiconductors. The numbers are very uneven at my firm however, the top 5 averaged more than 20K which is far more than anything we have seen last a week or two, but the percentage of positive traders before commissions is an abysmal 61%.

Wish F called EPG for me, she sits further away from me and as soon as D and her crew move to the new floor we will be trading side by side, hopefully everything will be cool then.
 
-128.85 AEP
Worst trade of the day, as the stock got hammered down in sympathy with ENE and DYN, and I kept trying to pick a bottom.

-73.21 BK
Thought the banks were gonna bounce, no luck here.

15.01 BSC
Thought XBD was going to bounce, well guess again.

4.13 DNA
I was up almost $250.00 on this stock and the stock gaps back down real quick and I lost half of my profit, went back in again, when I thought it was going to rally and lost another half of my profit !! NICE :p

-35.00 JNJ
400 K MOC play, just no buyers today.................

-54.63 JPM
Bad news, SEC probe, thought it would squeeze, no luck.

-35.14 KSS
Bought too early in the morning, choppy market and sector, sold it too early and the stock went up 75c, and did a U turn to close at the low of the day.

-34.27 LSI
I guess semi's didn't rally either.

-99.60 SGY
Thought the market would at least bounce a little??? Maybe should have gotten WFT.

-38.56 WAG
Could be my best trade, got this at $35.56, the low of the day was 44c, stock was choppy and retested 50c several times and I sold it for 2c loss????????? Why I don't know, probably because my P&L was RED! :)

That pretty sums up my whole day, had a long bias and I wasn't flexible enough to go short. Kept thinking that the market was going to bounce and it never did.

I was down right off the gate and that had a negative psychological impact on my trading, it shouldn't but it did, with more losers, my P&L just kept going deeper in the red and I was trading scared, I used more limit orders than usual and I missed out on a lot of good gaps.

I also tried to keep my losers small, but if that focusing on small losers will only get me more SMALL LOSERS, sounds weird , but that was what happened.

Mr.V was down the whole day, almost $800, right off the gate and he made all his money back when he gambled on DYN ( a lot of news and the stock was al over the place ), he ended up $40 for the day, I mean I could be up too if I tried but do I really want to.

On a side note, the firm lifted the daily loss limits on the better traders since a lot of guys complained about the limit being a psychological barrier and not have to think about being not able to trade for the rest of the day when your limit is hit, is very uplifting.

But then again, wouldn't you get sloppier and lose more? I don't know sure hope not.

Mr.V 1-1
Mr.K 1-2
Hitman 1-2
Stockk 1-2
 
Question for you pro firm traders- if you share limit is, say 500 shares & you opened a position with 500, what are the guidelines for increasing your position in one stock before the risk management people kick you in the butt?

Also, do you have a limit on the total # of positions open? E.g. say you're doing a spread you may go with more size than a straight buy or short.

The more I read about this from you guys the more it peaks my interest. :)
 
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