Went long DPS on the 12pm bar high but was stopped out. The risk was low enough to take a shot. Didn't work out and that was it. These up and down days are really throwing me off. However, with everything the market's been up to I was happy to have a good September.
Just so you don't think this blog is all about trades and charts... I present to you absolute perfection:
I've read Ron Paul's view... now this article states why a bailout isn't 'crucial'. I'm certainly no expert but I know that if my brother asked to borrow $10k then blows it on drugs and whores... will I lend him $100k the next time he asks? Hell no. Sure, it'll lead to uncomfortable family gatherings for a bit - but the hope is he'll straighten himself out and lead a better life.*
Wow... can't believe the plunge. Although kudos to Congress for not caving in to any package that's presented to them. I know something needs to be done but it sorta feels like Paulson's got a gun and saying 'approve it or else'.
Anyway... I was profitable today but, once again, just a decent profit. I'm sure a lot of folks killed it today. I'm thinking TraderAM is a happy man right now if he was in any position and held to the end of the day as he usually does.
I, however, found it to be pretty choppy early on. My nice winner came from NE. My first short was off a break of 10:30 bar low... scaled out a bit afterwards, then added to my position on a break of the 11:15 bar low. Made a nice profit and sold at around 42.55 or so. V and INFY were my losers. Mondays are going to be pretty difficult days for me to trade as I will be interrupted fairly frequently. That fact that I traded today AND made money was nice.
Here's the NE chart. Using the 'partial at 1R then move stop to breakeven' method of exiting prohibited me from making some nice dough on NE. But I'm not complaining as it's really been a nice technique to use over the past few weeks.
then relatively flat (small loss). Shorted CMI off a break of the 6th bar low, scaled out at 1R, then sold above the ORL. Also shorted TEL for a loss. Then tried to short CMI again off a break of the 12:45 bar low and was stopped out. Shorted BTU off the 12:30 bar low which put me slightly in the red with all the commissions. So... sucks that I let a nice profit slip away but it's been a good week and I thought today was pretty tough trading (tons of candidates).
Should've had another nice day today but I messed up my stop with REP which ended up stopping me out. I entered off a break of the 11:15 bar high (3-min) and placed my stop at the opposite end of the candle. Normally, I would look to place my stop at the break of the previous bar's low on the :15 chart. Live and learn.
NKE did make up for my mistake. Traded it twice. First time was off a break of the 11am bar high (:15)... made it to 1R, scaled out some then was stopped out at around BE. Next, I entered off a break of the 11:30 bar high which was a very nice dummy entry. Scaled out after 1R... scaled again after a $1 gain and was finally taken out at 65.30 later in the day. Less decent than yesterday but it's always nice to work your way out of a hole and end up positive.
When I have a decent day but left a lot of profits I always try to look at the big picture. Which is... when you make a decent amount of money... an amount that if you calculate over the course of a year would lead to a good salary - that's when you know you've done well.
My day will come when my big winners will be fully realized... but it wasn't today. However, I was 4 for 4 today (although 2 of those were partial winners with stops moved to breakeven).
SQNM did well although this is the winner that wasn't fully realized as I exited at the fib. ext. Also traded PXD, INFY and ERTS.
I was eyeing DRYS for a place to enter but nothing compelled me. APD was another but couldn't find a comfortable spot. Saving my capital.
Had a nice day today even though I had to cut my trades short to handle some things. I also messed up my GG order a bit as I went to place my stop I actually entered a buy order and doubled my position. That actually helped me since I needed to run early. Started off by shorting ASML (11am bar low), exited some at 1R then the rest at break even before it continued down to the fib. ext.
Went long GG on a break of the 12:15 bar high, scaled out at 1R and then exited the rest at around 1pm. Missed a nice move after that.
Entered ABX on a break of the 12:15 bar high as well (figured they would both move together since they were Gold stocks). Entered at the same time as GG and, yes, missed a nice move.
But I was happy with my profit for :30 of work.
Found this article to be pretty interesting in regards to the proposed $700b bailout.
Once again, the opening range with most of my WL candidates were exceeded. Ended up watching 3 stocks: MER, AGO and OTTR but didn't feel comfortable with any entry. Enjoy the weekend.
The UK just announced they are banning short sales on financial stocks till January 2009. Just got me thinking of a crazy thought where short selling was banned across the board in the US. That would really mess up my trading :)
This market's not really conducive to my trading style as a lot of the wild swings are exceeding the :15 OR and then I remove from my list. Frankly, I'm absolutely fine with it. I do think once some stability comes around there will be some nice moves.
Very short watchlist and there was nothing that made me want to enter. Well... FXI but IB didn't have a lot of shares.
Shorted FDG, CY and LINE. Made some money with FDG but was stopped out on the others. Not very good action today.
But finally down. Started with a quick loss in LDK, then was up a decent amount long FTO and and short CX. Then, FWLT came along and brought be back down again. I really hate days like this and ending the week on a down note. Felt very choppy out there today so I'm fortunate my loss wasn't that big. Guess that's my goal... keeping the losing days few and the losses fairly minor but make the winners pay off.
I made money today so I'm happy. I'm frustrated because A) my internet connection was down till noon or so and B) I traded like a scared puss. Shorted GDX, OI, NBL and CCJ. CCJ ended up losing me money but it would've been a nice gain had I traded on a later setup. Again, traded like a puss.
Traded CVS a couple times and LOW (both long) and was stopped out on both. Lots of gap fade candidates today. I'm hoping tomorrow will be a little more 'normal'.
All shorts... tried TJX off a break of the 10am bar (3-min), sold some at 1R and then exited at breakeven. Tried again off a break of the 11:15 bar and was stopped out. Also shorted ANF off a break of the 1:15 bar (15-min) but was stopped out after revising my stop. Not a horrible loss on the day.
Finally... I finally had a very, very decent day. It's not just the final dollar amount I was happy with but the fact that 5 of my 6 trades were winners - long and short. I implemented How I Day Trade's (and TraderAM's) method of partialing after 1R then moving my stop to BE. That really helped mentally as I knew at all times that I was pretty much in green territory. I traded LM, PSS, TEX, SAI, LRCX and MTL. Only LM lost money for me. Won't post all the charts but here are a couple:
So... another down day. While I've had a string of down days... each days isn't neccessarily a monetary disaster. But, in keeping with my one-word posts on down days, I make it seem more dramatic than it should be. Also, I'm really not in the mood to post anymore after a down day. I see no therapy in it. Anyway... I traded SNDA, MFE, IM, GLW. All were losses except SNDA. MFE andn GLW were full losses and IM was essentially breakeven. Despite the losses, I feel like I'm on to something and expect (hope/pray) Thursday (today) to be better.
Okay... not that bad but still a down day. ACI proved to me my big loser as I entered it twice. KWK and EGO provided some profit to offset the loss a bit. Tough going for me lately.
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