I took two dumb trades that ruined my day today.

It all started with a very badly timed short in X which right away dinged me $360.

And yes the loss was $360 instead of my “max $200 loss rule” which is another example of why this trade wasn’t executed anywhere near where it should of been.

Granted I didn’t get enough sleep, once again, but there is no excuse for being so far off.

The second trade I took around the same time was a short in AAPL at $131 which was another cloudy entry point and would have been better served at $131.50. Dinged $100 on that one.

The bright spot trade was FSLR which bounced of its 20MA on the 5 minute chart and broke through its 5MA where i entered. In hindsight I should have held that too at least 185 but I can’t complain because it was a nice gain.

So there were my three trades which should have, if I had been following my rules, wrapped up my day. But since I was breaking all the rules today I might as well break that one. Going long ICE was a tedious, at best, endeavor as the stock wouldn’t budge across 140. Closed that one out for breakeven (minus fees).

I then saw AAPL break down and  I jumped in on a short position once again. This one was much better and resulted in a profit. I covered at the 50MA on the 5 minute chart yet it just kept falling.

Next up was X which was breaking down from morning bounce and when it was nearing its lows of the day, I again shorted, but this time near resistance. Covered quickly and magically my day would end positively. Only $47, but still positive which is always better than a loss.

Now, if I had exercised patience and not entered the first two positions where by everything I know they really shouldn’t have been entered, I would have had a much better day.

Here is a screenshot recap (Beside the share count there is a “L” if the position I took was a long or a “S” if the position I took was a short):

Six round trip trades ate up $84 in commissions which left my payday at $47.18.

Now for the daily self-evaluation:

Pros:

1. After two stupid trades to start the day I did bunker down and was able to salvage the day.
2. It’s a positive that when I entered positions at the right spots, they turned out profitable. I need to always keep this in mind and not be quick on the trigger. Patience.

Cons:

1. I let the day start off bad by entering a position at a point that wasn’t advantageous and in turn caused me to climb uphill all day. Next time I cannot be trigger happy. I need to wait for opportunities to present themselves. I need to make sure all the factors are in my favor and not just enter based on my impulse.
2. I fought the trend in shorting AAPL the first time. I thought it would break down but there was no confirmation that it would.
3. Broke my three trades a day rule. Even though it ended up alright things could have went against me and I could have dug a hole for myself. This could have happened especially if I impulse bought. I can at least take some comfort in that I was more selective when trying to fight back.
4. When shorting a stock I really shouldn’t be doing so on the initial breakdown. Instead I should wait for a bounce and  enter on the later breakdowns. Many times I have seen a down stock reverse and fill the gap especially if it’s showing strength early on. Again, I need to be more patient.
5. I let my X loss run. At one point it was at over $500. This was just stupid beyond belief and can largely be blamed on entering a position on impulse without seeing where the “out” levels were. If I had checked I would have seen that the points between where I entered and  the stops were much too far apart. Again, I had no business at all taking this trade.

That’s all from me today. Fed Day tomorrow so it will probably be a slow churn till the statement comes out. After which there may be some opportunities that present themselves so I may save my 3 trades till the afternoon. Enjoy your Tuesday.

Last night I couldn’t fall asleep so I watched some TV and fell asleep quite late which in turn caused me to sleep in this morning and not even bother waking up to trade.

However, at around 9:45 pst. I woke up, fired up the computer and was surprised to see the market up. I then looked at a few stocks and found some near support levels. I jumped right in buying AAPL & WFR. Then added some AGU to the mix.

AAPL & WFR traded near support, dipping a bit and rebounding back up. It was quite the churn and every minute I held I was getting more skeptical that the support would break.

I then got a bounce when the Dow jumped about 30 points and I bailed on AAPL and WFR for tiny profits.

AGU which was bought later then the first two was a much shorter hold and I flipped that quite quickly without it dipping more then a few cents from my buy point.

Here is the rundown of my trades today without commissions factored in:

Commissions took away $42 from my wallet and in turn my profit on the day was +$151.69

Now for the daily self-evaluation:

Pros:

1. All three positions were bought near support although the AAPL long wasn’t really ideal.
2. Took profits that presented themselves and wasn’t greedy trying to hit a home run.
3. I kept my limit of three trades a day.

Cons:

1. With the AAPL position, I put in an order at 130.65 and I think my eSignal quotes were lagging my broker thus I thought I had the fill at that price which turned out to be not the case. Pissed off I chased the stock with an order at 131.00. I should have just let it go or showed patience by keeping my order at 130.65 in place (It would have been filled eventually).
2. The fact I slept in and told myself I wasn’t going to trade today was something I should have stuck too. As soon as I fired up the quotes and charts I jumped into trades without having a feel for the market today. This isn’t an ideal way to trade. Next time when I miss the open and am not prepared for the day I shouldn’t trade.

On another note, I really feel like Google could be a short going into earnings and  I may want to place a 10 or 20 share wager on that thesis. I would prefer to short it near 600 though. We’ll see. Have a good day guys and good luck out there.

After twenty minutes of trading I was done for the day which means my “don’t do anything in the first 30 minutes of trading” rule was broken today but other than that I felt really comfortable and good with my trading today.

Even though I traded within the first 1/2 hour both of the trades I took provided me good setups at the 5MA on the 5 minute chart. Both stocks (AAPL & WFR) gapped up and the market was strong this morning.

Here are the results of the two trades I took:

Commission costs took away $28 so my profit on the day was $381.56.

Here is what the AAPL trade looked like on the 5 minute chart (the white line is the 5 MA and the arrow is around the spot where I went long):

And here is what the WFR trade looked like on the 5 minute chart:

Now for the daily self-evaluation:

Pros:

1. I was very happy with my patience this morning. I was watching both AAPL and WFR this morning and waited for the pullback in the price to make my move. Had I not done so, both of these trades wouldn’t have been winners. Just goes to show how important patience and buying near support is.
2. I didn’t fight the trend. Both stocks were up on the day.
3. I took profits that presented themselves and didn’t get too greedy. If I had not done so I wouldn’t have booked profits on these trades after.
4. I took only two trades and stopped while I was ahead. I didn’t feel the need to force things after two nice and quick gains.

Cons:

1. I had the urge to just “jump in” at the open. Even though I didn’t and showed patience the fact that I had the feeling isn’t something positive.

Have a great weekend everyone!