16/06/2015

Good day, only two trades on a flat market day and refused to get sucking into trading and losing out of impatience and being too clever



A massive $20 and feel rather good about this as it was earned and better yet it was retained

IWM
The one that got away. I like trading this index, it seems to move a bit and falls to a mid level a lot of the time with clear action on the tape and then a fall to support. I am getting more patient with entries but as you can see not so patient with holding. Too many small losses over time and I am jumpy.
This is one area that will make a massive difference to my trading and so working on scaling out with set OSO orders so I can close my eyes and let it happen.
Goal is to take a small profit at the first move up and then hold.
I will get stopped out a bit but that happens anyway so need to endure this and keep at it

I took around 25cents and left the next dollar

MU

Good trade, it fell, corrected and stalled after a small spike up.
Entry was limit and 1 cent less than market so an easy quick fill
Out on bounce at bottom

I was tempted to sell short again but decided not to as it was a stupid idea. The stock was tracking along sideways and no movement so as best it would be a painful boring trade without clear direction

11/06/21015

Felt good today after a break and a fresh set of eyes to look through. I made two basic mistakes today that need fixing as they are bad habits but also a couple of good trades.

PL for day was a negative but very small losses

Bad today
Weak stock selection
Fighting the trend with a short in IWM on a trending day

Good today
Traded SPY long with the trend and off a higher support level rather that waiting for a big washout
Stops saved bigger drawdowns
Cut a trade that was not working
Small losses
Use of limit sell to take profit when away from the screens (asleep)

PL

IWM

Dont fight the trend

Short on stall but not a level for entry

I cut this trade when it moved off the prior high so happy with the exit

All indexes were strong 

Short was not the right trade today

LULU
Bad trade
In to soon and wrong level
Could have worked with some more patience with entries around 1 or 2. The stock has settled a bit the trade would have been a lot cleaner. I got annoyed with this one and made a second trade to soon after the first and was stopped out a second time
Small losses just annoying and not very good trading

SPY

Good trade

Entry after about 20 minutes of sideways action and stop was about 3 cents from getting smacked at one point

Went to sleep and put in a limit sell just below day high and this got taken

Nice clean simple trade

WETF
Long and made a mistake on the drive for this one. It was mixed in with another stock in a news item and so I got it wrong.
This traded in a sideways range all day, I had three opportunities to get out with small profit and it was stalling at 23 with a big seller.
Smart trade would have been to sell just under 23 and get back in if it broke and showed support.

22/5/2015

Another frustrating day. A few stops hit and some profits not taken on smaller gains.




I am not posting all the charts today as there are a few of them and they dont show much of use.
Stock selection seemed ok to start with but then I found reasons to trade on some and they either did not work or I cut them short to save bigger losses.
I entered two stocks twice and this did not produce.

Bad today
Frustrated and did not find good setups.
Trading low probability stocks as the market was for most of the day but did pick up towards the end.
Stayed up for full session and felt like I should be doing something

Good today
Cut some losers fast for small gains
I had two stocks in profit but held them when they tested a level and then never re-tested so got stopped out or cut the trade. I need to hold longer and this will lead to some small winners ending up as losing trades
One good trade suggested by William and followed through with this one for profit VIPS. Traded this short then long


Roll on tomorrow, have another go.

21/5/2015

Interesting day with tiny loss and a good trade that got away

PL

QQQ - long. Traded near end of day off support. Good trade but no movement. Would do this again

PBMD - long.  This was good setup with all the ducks in order. I entered with some confidence and then seen two very good SMB traders go short. After it stalled a little I then sold.

This would have a very good trade and now need to work on some way to ignore other traders if I think a trade has merit. Some form of checklist to let me know the stock is still in play and my thesis is supported by some facts and I can then hold

 IWM - long. Missed the main fall to support in the morning and took this one near close. A good trade but no upside. Would do this again. IWM has a habit of one good wipeout a day off support and always a second level down so one to watch and understand

TGT-long.  Traded off Support after a higher high but not a new overall day high.

In checking there was no reason to trade this one, it was not in play and a weak follow on from some strong retail sector stocks yesterday

A mistake as I did not check this correctly

20/05/2015

Good day, small profit and pretty happy. Any day that is based on nice clean trades is a good one.

TTWO Long - Stock looked strong with pre market up above post market levels and a good drive up on open. It seemed to be holding so I entered on a small move above the prior range.
I held for around 40 minutes and got out when it stalled.
This was a nice clean trade and one I would not normally take. I struggle to buy the new highs and need to put more effort into finding these sort of stocks that are moving for good reason

CSX - Long  Entered on a move about 36 but it failed to hold. happy enough with the trade and in hindsight I should have waited for a re-test of the 36 from above. There was no support at that level and it failed

TJX - Long Strong stock in its sector and posted good earnings along with strong outlook. this put it ahead of some other retailers and gave it a good open. I entered on a test of the open low and it held with some upside. When it stalled and I got out. A bit gun shy and have struggled for winning trades lately so was good to get out after a nice spike up.

14/5/2015

Another maddening day, stopped out of two trades that should have worked and this just annoys me no end.
The two other trades that lost were ok, one just did not work and one was a very well managed loser so happy there

No serious losses but so frustrated on these stop outs.


PL

VZ -  Long and stopped out, LoD around 6 cents beneath stop.

This was not a world beater but there was a good 20 - 25 cents in this trade. I have been caught like this a lot as it seems with the tight range after the open drive and correction there are stops building up under the range.

The correct way to trade would be to place a limit buy around the lows of the prior day and the same stop of 14 cents but it would be down another level.

This would produce a cleaner trade with more chance of working

M 

Another annoying trade. Not sure what to do in this case. Stopped out by a cent and then it runs up just over a dollar. Again it should have been expected after the tight range but it is not so clear on this chart where the stop should have been but a wash out of stops should have been expected with the sideways action.

ESV  tried a short but should have waited for a test of the low as it just kept moving up and got stopped out. Not a good trade and no anguish on this one as it just did not work

KO  Tried to short this near the close. It had fallen and looked to be in a gentle slide down. Trade did not work so took half off and then closed well below stops. A well managed trade that did not work. No issues with this one

13/05/2015

struggled to find trades today.

Two trades with a very small loss for the day

Still will not trade any size until I get consistent winning days and use good trade management. Its is very frustrating but that is the goal I have set and will stick with it

I did not overtrade today and spent a lot of time looking at stocks and also put both stocks into my pre trade planner. This is a good way to settle me so I dont trade all the stocks that look good.

The trade management was good, I gave away nothing and exited trades by choice instead of waiting to see if the stops would be hit.

ZU

Entered trade with support after about 30 minutes of market time. I did have around 20 cents profit but decided to see if it would run some more. In the past I have exited trades far to early and so intend to hold longer. This will give some losses but should capture the stocks that run.

I took of half the position when it failed to move up again and was making a lower low

I cut the rest of the trade when it looked like it might break to the downside

It did end up running up around 40 cents but I was not at the screens and that was also a reason to cut the trade as I was not there to manage the position

PTE

This stock moved up fast on open and spent the rest of the day drifting down to support. I entered on a higher high of the LoDay and held while it tested this low a second time. The stock did not move and looked dead going into the close so got out my fees and was out.