not much too say shorted as it hit its 50% retracement. i did not have a decent stop either. now i see that when these retrace i need to let them work for at least a few candles so i can get a stop from recent price action instead of a stop from a candle a few hours away. the stock didn't do much but of course i hit out at the hit.






just a view of sds as i was trying to trade it. the first trade was because i thought it had support at the lows of the day. i figured that the market wouldn't break above new highs, guess i was wrong. second time i bought i thought it was going to run because of the big volume candle. third time, fuck it i don't even want to look right now. i looked...i shorted it as i thought it would get another push down, but i guess it didn't happen.





breaking daily lows.

so today was my worst day trading. i made that simple mistake with costco and it put me in a bad mood. when i lose money like that, i tend to just not care anymore about losing and i start taking more chances with crappy setups. i thought i told myself i was going to look for great setups. the problem is, you talk yourself out of one setup only to watch it run (a.k.a. hans, maybe i'll put the chart up) and then you short the next and it doesn't work. one time the chart will work, the next time it won't. i think i definetely need to respect the direction of the market when i am trading. if the market is going up, i am only going long, if it is going down, i will only short. but again, the market can turn on a time and i can end up being screwed again. i need to write down the reasons why i am getting into a trade. i think this will help me in my review and it will also instill confidence in the trade so i don't hit out. lets see what happens tomorrow. need to step up the game. i need confluence with the charts.



i stared at this one and of course, it worked. i dont know, maybe i need to take more setups. that way i can get in some that work. instead of talking myself out of them.

oops!

fibs were previous day high to todays swing low. i shorted at a retracement to the 23%. i probably should have let it hang out there for a few bars but i always think i am going to miss the move. didn't really have a good place to place a stop except for above the .67 candle at 9:45. most likely i would have put it .03 cents above at .70. the 11:25 candle hit .69 but if my stop was there it probably would have hit .70. would have been an okay trade, lets see how it ends up at the end of the day. i shorted too early, and didn't have a nice place for a stop so i lacked confidence and took a small loss.






mee (hcpg) bought as it broke the 22 and pulled back to .95. it based just below it around .85-90. i got out as it wasn't pushing any higher.





costco was my OOPS!. i shorted at 11:38 @ 47.89 while it was hanging around the 50% retracement. then i thought i was buying it back at break even but instead my brain screwed up and shorted another 100. i noticed that my p/l was changing and i thought i was out of all my stocks. oh shit! i realized i had shorted more instead of closing out the position. fucking rookie mistake but it cost me alot. when i realized the mistake costco was around 48. i thought i could wait a little bit and get out at break even, but i guess not. the stock ripped up all the way to 48.45. i couldn't take that kind of jiggle. i got out at 43.32. again, i thought this stock would come back in but i coudn't take the chance of it running another dollar or so. i wound up taking a large loss for me of ($90). that just sucks becuase my other losses on the day were 10 and 12. cost was supposed to be break even but instead sent me into a deep hole. we will see what the afternoon brings.

i tried my hand at the sds but it didn't work out. i am trying to get a feel for the momentum of the market. looking back over today, it could have been a great day for me, but with little confidence, i did not make it happen. both mon and mt could have been great trades. the stt i was early in on, but the volume did seem pretty high at the time, so i am not bothered by that trade. lets see what tomorrow brings.

just realizing now this was a really nice trade. gapped up, placed my fibs over the mornings swing low to swing high. it retraced to the 50% line and hit the 20 sma. i bought some but didn't know where to place the stop. because i had no stop i just got out of the stock. looking back now, i could have placed it blow that wide range bar with the gray arrow. or i could have gone with the simple .25 stop loss. i don't mind giving a stock .25 to move against me but i hate it when i get stopped out for .25. put in different terms, i don't mind being down .20 or .25 as long as it goes my way, it sounds wacky i know. anyway, the stock it the 138 extension on the dot. i really should have been in this one for 200 shares. 25/.16= 156 -> round up to 200. max dollar loss, 32 bucks. exit at 138 fib extension of 32.16 = .87...mucho R...almost 5R. fuck i screwed up that trade

this trade came the way of the hcpg guys. looks like i got in early and i should have picked some up again at the pullback. when i had bought it, the volume candle was large and green but finished in the red. not much to analyze here.

shorted MON as it was breaking lows on the day. i also saw it come across breifing so i had some extra conviction. then, the breifing trader said he was taking his .90 profit and i thought wow, this guy was in here way ahead of me i better get out. i got out positive, which is good, but the stock continued to crumble another dollar. good downside volume, wish i would have held on longer or shorted a couple more hundred shares, that way i could take some profits and let the rest ride. but, i got to keep it easy with how many shares i trade. the losses add up much faster when you have a few hundred shares working vs a hundred shares.

5.26.09

what can i say about today. i bought sds as it seemed that the market was going to roll over.



as i was hitting out i felt that the position would come back to at least break even. but, i could not concentrate on the trade. i was dead tired this morning and probably should not have even put this trade on if i didn't have the focus to follow through.

it is getting tiring putting on losing trade after losing trade. the sds trade i was up .20 and i was thinking about hitting out but i did not want to give up a much larger move that i believed was coming. was i correct in holding on? probably, because i can't keep taking these small winners. they aren't going to support me. i was looking for .75 to 1. but this time, i wound up hitting out pretty low and taking it on the chin.

i know i need to focus more on the charts and not take medicore set ups. i have to treat this as a business and focus my mind. i want to make this work. its only been a few weeks. i am not down because every day is a new day, and honestly, i am one decent trade from being break even. but, getting at break even isn't the objective. i have to take my mind away from the p/l and just trade the chart. the money will follow.

the times i feel i have the most focus is when i am down on the day in the morning and i trade my way back closer to being break even in the afternoon. when i am down, my concentration is great. i need to have that concentration first thing in the morning. every day you come in with a fresh p/l so, it seems as though i am back at break even every morning but really i am not. i feel like it is a video game and i just hit restart and i get all my money back. but, this is not the case.



mon was going down along with the market. i know that there was 3 big down bars, but i thought there could be some more momentum behind and i could scalp .25. it wasn't the case, i made .09 which is shit.

looking at the 3 minute chart, maybe i would have had the chance to get in sooner, because you can see the move happen before its over vs the 5 minute where 3 bars and out you get 7 bars. maybe the 3 minute is a chart to check out for any of these momentum stocks i want to play.




still working things out. i will get there. writing about all of these mistakes is very helpful. it relieves the stress and lets me see where maybe i need to concentrate more.

5.22.09

not much to say. played crm one time for +18 and the other time -100 or so. what the fuck was i thinking. i'll have to look at the chart later. anyway, waited around all day till the end of the day and tried to dig myself out of the deepest hole i have been in yet. i managed to make over hundred bucks by scalping sds multiple times as the s+p chopped back and forth. the last time around i should have held onto a little longer, but hindsight is 20/20. thats it for now.

whew!

made some money at the end of the day by watching the s+p and a couple crazy stocks. i could have made more if i wasn't such a pussy, but i am positive on the day and that is a good. i shorted DE 15:28 @ 41.45. instead of pussying out this time, i shorted more at 15:30 @ 41.55, and i wanted to short more at 41.60 but i didn't. it caved in and and was able to get out at 41.30.

mos i shorted at 15:37 @ 53.03 and 15:39 @ 53.15. i bought it back 15:41 @ 52.93.

after buying them back, i was wondering if i should go long, but i wanted to protect the profits. i did put a bid out for deere at .32 but it didn't get hit. i would have made some change but it is fine.

having a larger position size and scaling in for a better average price helped me here. i also made a mistake with mos. i thought i was hitting out but i hit the wrong button. when i went to hit out again, it was down another .05. i like sticking out the bids and offers but i do not like waiting around to get filled. i think for my starting position i will stock out bids and offers, and when i want to get out, i will just get out right away (no bids and offers). i am not completely comfortable with working the stocks in this way yet. i feel like it is averaging down, something which most books i have read frown on. but, there are many succesful traders who do this, and that is why they make money. my friend who is teaching me the ropes knows how to work a stock in this manner and i am trying to pick up some of what he is teaching me.

i am learning a little more (and losing a little more,HA!) each day.

mt sso

i bought sso as the market was starting to head up from the lows of the day. i believed there was some momentum behind it but i guess not.

bought 10.45 @ 24.52...stop at 24.35...stop executed at 24.36





shorted mt after a morning low and then a small retracement. shorted as it was going back through the low.

short 10.59 @ 28.36...stop at 28.55 (above the previous high .51)...stopped out at 28.57. saving the rest of ammo for this afternoon.



got to put a winning day together already. it feels like i am on the wrong side of every trade. lets see how the afternoon works out.

most of the morning i tried to buy the retracements to the 25 or 50% fib extensions. it did not work out today. i am down on the day, i would like to put on one more trade, but i think i should stick to the plan and not overtrade. i think i need to get better at seeing confirmation. vno's bar did break a the previous candle high, but i don't know if that is enough. nav i bought as it was touching the 50%. who cares if it touches. the next candle needs to break that high. or it needs to close above the 50% line. it did neither of those yet i still bought it. i am trying to get in early on these retracements instead of letting them consolidate. if i would have let them consolidate maybe today would not have been as bad. i am rushing to get into these retracements trade tyring to get a beat on the next guy, but today it ended up screweing myself. now maybe tomorrow getting in early would work, but i know i need to wait for confirmation.


buy 10.28-49.13...stop 48.95...sold 10.48 @ 48.80







buy 10.29 @ 41.95..stop 41.83 (execution 41.76 i think at 10.30)





short 11.30 @ 58.12...stop at 58.25...sold at 58.29. i was trying to short the momentum as it was running into the fib extension





short at 10.48 @ 34.86...stop at 35.03...stop executed at 10.50 @ 35.05. looking back again i was trying to get in early. green bar = momentum to the upside. it did eventually tag the 50% retracement line. a better entry would have been to short the break of the 11:05 low. red bar, going down, breaking a low of the previous bars and set my stop above 35.04 or 35.14. i probably would have put it above the 35.14





buy hp 10.57 @ 33.72...stop at 33.47 just under the half dollar...i sold at 33.42. stop missed the market. never fired off. i have to check into my settings. i just want the stop to be filled. i am not fast enough to watch everything yet.






bought 11.13 @ 22.54...stop at 22.39...executed at 22.39





bj shorted as it was tracing back to lows of the day.

short at 11.43 @ 36.92...mental stop above 36.23...i sold at 37.17








damn. got ripped to shreds. between picking bad stocks, getting bad fills on my stops, and some of the stops not even firing off doubling my losses as i looked over and saw the stop didn't go, i think this morning was an expensive learning experience. i'm just going to throw the charts up. right now i have zion short, and we will see if it will bring me out of the hole.

shorted at lows of the day. just got out as it retraced back to .50.

charts

zion popped up on the scanner as it was getting new low bids and new lows on the day. i second guess the breakdown but i shouldn't have since it was consolidating around the lows of the day since 1:30. for some reason i thought since i am not going to short zion, i'll buy skf instead. i think i am out of my mind. logical reasoning but i can't handle those wiggles yet. i can't even handle .10 how am i going to handle .50.




well here it is.



bought and sold the same freakin' bar only to watch it rip higher. story of the past few days...i am finding the right stocks, they are going the way i want them to, but either my timing is off or i can't take the wiggle. i'll get it soon enough.

too late

it's 3:30 and too late to get into any trades right now. its frustrating knowing the last few days could be positive but they end up being negative because now i am afraid to hold my winners. lame. i didn't think there was anything to trade this late then i saw zion ripping down and skf ripping up. tryed to scalp some skf but... hit the buzzer, because i lost some more change...remove head from ass

hbc,dks

two trades...one winner, one loser

bought hbc on a pullback to the 50%...14:17 @44.63...sold 14:31 @44.89



traded dks because of the tight stop i could put on it @ .91 and it had just rallied 6 bars and was bumping into 25% fib extension. it also had traded above the 20 sma, but i took this as a sign that it would pull back not that it would be strong. lets see what happens by the end of the day. for now i am out of the stock.

dks shorted 14:42 @ 18.80. bought back at 14:54 @ .91. because of the tight stop i bought some more size but still ended up with the same amount of loss as usual...around $25.



i should probably stop trading now because i am just annoyed with myself. i could have had some big winners today if i could just hold on. time for a short break.

2 trades and a piker

stt - bought 10:35 @ 42.95/42.93...sold 10:35 42.81/42.86. i didn't see anywhere to place a stop so i just got out. this one did run for .40 cents, so i ate .07 and gave up .40. stupid. FE were place from pdl to orh.



next one was mdt. placed the fibs over the opening range. i like when there is a wide opening range to place the fibs on vs. using yesterdays high or low. shorted as it was breaking daily lows.



again, i took .09 (actually should have been .17 but i waited a second too long to hit the sell button and it ripped right up). the stock never came close to my stop which was set at 32.27. the previous bars high was .24, too close to .25 for me, so i set it a couple pennies above .25. again, never came close to my stop and i gave up a nice run. it hit the 150% extension at 31.24. i'm finding good opportunities but i am not able to hold onto them. today, we had a discussion about playing the breaking highs/lows. i should be waiting for a pullback, or getting in earlier on the early pullbacks (such as mdt) and i agree. but there is such an art to it all, and each situation is unique so i have to fine tune my abilities. i'm going to try to pay more attention to pullbacks in stocks that move 1 and head back to the 24-38% area.

i just can't believe i am hitting out for a dime. PIKER! lets see what the afternoon brings us.

good day so far

did some light trading, in and out very fast. it feels as though the trade should go your way right away or it is not right. now, going the right way, does that mean in the money by .10 right away, or does that mean not hitting your stop loss in the first 5 minutes. the stocks i buy tend to move pretty slowly. which is killing me slowly. i have to learn to develop patience to let the trade work. but, i was ancy this morning, due to my lack of focus and bad trades on friday. i was taking profits as they came. but i think what i noticed is if the stock moves very fast in your direction take the profit. if it moves very slowly in your direction let it work. maybe the fast moving stock move are here for me to scalp and my slow movers are here for me to hold all day. currently i am holding AYE and it is just printing nr7's all over the 15 min chart. hopefully it will break. if not, i tightened up my stop to .12. here are the charts.

ilf - bought 32.88 (32.85) @ 10:44...sold 32.92(32.95) @ 10:52. i saw that this was some etf i have never heard of and it didn't have much volume. but, it was slowly moving my way and would have been an easy hold, no pain at all. FE pdl-orh



aye - short 23.22 (23.55) @ 10:57...still holding. shorting as it was breaking daily lows. fe pdh to orl



agu - bought 50.31 (50.28) @ 11:31...sold 50.40 (50.43) @ 11:37. stop set at 50.21. FE was set over opening range



clf - bought 22.38/22.33 @ 11:36...sold 22.28/22.30 @ 11:37. i did not like the way this was acting so i just sold it right away. did not seem like enough risk/reward even though looking back it would have been 2/1. stop would have been set below 11:30 candle 22.13 so about 22.11. i think i just got spooked by the company name cliffs natural. i was thinking they make those energy bars, HA! oh well next time.



rtn - short @ 11:38 44.37/44.40...bought @ 11:50 44.18/44.15. set stop at 44.58, 3 pennies above previous candle high. bought because i thought it would break the days low and wanting to get in early. i saw the past 2 candles consolidating and the candle i got in on was moving lower nicely. seemed to have a nice push behind it.




so i think today could have been much more profitable if i had held onto the slow movers. if i would have held onto rtn, i would be back at break even. another thing that will help my trading along is when i step up my size so that i can take profits on half and let the other half ride. then i don't think i would be so quick to hit out of all of the shares.