Greed + Fatigue = Bad Trading Decisions: +$182.69

Glancing at the total today, you may feel like my title is not fitting but let me assure you that it certainly is.

I count only my closed trades in the daily recap number and tonight I am holding a position in SKF overnight. I Purchased 150 shares at 106.50 and the stock closed at 102.50 so as you can see I am down $600 at the close. We will have to find out tomorrow if it ends up being booked as a loss or a gain.

Now on to my closed trades recap:

With commissions I did manage to pull a profit of $182.69 on the day.

The profit number doesn’t tell the full story however. I did alright to start the day and should have called it quits when I was up over $400 but decided to get into that BIDU trade you see at the bottom of the graphic. That one trade led to my SKF purchase which I’m holding overnight. I mentioned last week that I trade very poorly when I give back gains and this is a prime example of that.

I was pretty tired all day and did not feel very focused at all. I felt very similar to how I felt last Monday when I took a big loss. I think it may be something I have to work on, trading after a weekend. We’ll see if it is a pattern soon enough.

I want to touch on a few other things but it’s getting late and I have some other stuff I need to do. I’ll leave you with the one chart I did make and that is the one that shows my DIG trade at the start of the day. Back at it tomorrow.

The Week That Was: +$673.69

The first week back writing on this blog is in the books and it was a profitable one to the tune of $673.69. It would have been much better had it not been for the horrible Monday which was a blowout caused purely out of my own stupidity.

I must say that it does feel good turning thoughts into words again as it gives me a good perspective of what I am doing. I’ve been on and off with this blog for a while now but really feel like this time around it will stick especially if it proves beneficial to my trading.

Here is a quick recap of the week:

Monday: -$1634.10 [ recap link ]
I wouldn’t call what I did on Monday trading because it was not. Instead of following my plan and trading according to my rules, I placed a trade based on a thesis that never did materialize. This one day hampered my results for the week in a major way but it did serve a purpose to remind me to stay focused.

Tuesday: +$912.82 [ recap link ]
A good bounce back day which did include a risky trade at the open that panned out. The first trade set the stage for my other two trades which were also winners. Not bad at all.

Wednesday: +$705.76 [ recap link ]
My best trading day of the week. Felt comfortable and focused while following my rules like I should.

Thursday: +$338.38 [ recap link ]
This day was much harder on me emotionally than Monday until the final trade when I called it quits. I was good at cutting my losers but felt like I over traded and wasn’t picky on my entries. Even though I ended the day in the positive, my trading wasn’t good at all.

Friday: +$350.86 [ recap link ]
I felt very comfortable again, traded with patience and took good entries on the two trades I did place. Next to Wednesday, this was my best day of the week and I know it will set a positive foundation for next week.

Ending The Week Quickly And Positively: +$350.86

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday I had to work my butt off to squeak out over $300 in profit. Today, on the other hand, I achieved that number in 45 minutes of trading.

I made two trades, both of which were positive and decided to call it a day. One thing I’ve learned over the years is to quit when I am content with my gains and my trading. I react badly to giving up gains and that leads me to lose my discipline. Bad habits die hard. When I am able to end a day on a positive note, it builds a good foundation for the next trading day.

Here are today’s results:

After commissions I ended the day with a nice profit of +$350.86.

Now let me show you how both trades looked like on the charts. Financials including GS looked strong off the open so I jumped in at 67.30 with a stop 1 point below. After some bouncing around it finally broke 68.50. I set my mental stop to that # and when it was hit, I exited.

I always keep an eye on SKF as it presents some great trading opportunities. My basis for the trade was that once it broke 143 this morning it would run to test 145. As you can see my thesis did come into fruition. I exited at 144.39.

Glad to end the week on a positive note and I feel very good about my trading today. Later on in the day or tonight, I will do a weekly recap post. Till then.