Trade Journal 11-10 and 11-11

11-10-09













The arrows are entries, the circles are exits and the circles with the line through them are stop-outs. There were several stop outs on this day since I was continually trading against extreme early strength. Kept trying to fade it and finally caught it around 6:55am. It was a small losing day, but should not have been.

Early trades are VERY choppy and is the reason I was not able to hold on to the early long (Trade 1). That would have been a beauty had I let it ride, but the market did not feel right at the time.

As much as I would like to catch the daily trend as early as possible, it would be best for me to sit on my hands for the first 5 minutes. This way I can let the day develop and have a better feel/read on momentum.

11-11-09













Today's plan was to scalp unless a strong move presented itself. Took a few small scalps prior to the selloff around 6:45am. The downmove then based and since I expected the selloff to continue down to the 20sma, I was too late to catch the bounce back up. After 6:55, I scratched the last 3 trades. These should have been longer term holds since the market had made its decision to move back up. Need to hold my stops and not just throw in the towel.

Trade Journal 11/5/09

Trades 1-4 today were basically feeler trades to get myself into the groove. Indices were lower to rangebound for the first 15 minutes with the Q's acting the strongest and IWM/EEM weakest. I've noticed lately that my early trades have all been scratches/small losses and that the larger moves come 15 minutes or more after the open. The 7am economic reports really set things off (at least in the very short term).

I think it is hard to find that balance between being patient and being too patient and missing moves. Tomorrow I will try to be patient and let the market pick a direction before taking a position.

5. Symbol: IWM
Reason: I had been following IWM all morning, so this was my index of choice to play on an upside breakout.
Long/Short: Long
Time: 6:46
Entry: 57.03
Size: 2000 shares
Exit(s): 1000 at 57.17, 1000 at 57.30
Time in Trade: 1 minute, 4 minutes

Best Practice(s): Focusing on one particular ETF while monitoring the other indices. Scratching.

Worst Practice: Not noticing that the early range would produce a larger than anticipated breakout. The longer the period of chopping, the bigger the eventual breakout.

Trade Journal 11-4-2009

1, 2, and 3. Symbol: EEM
Reason: EEM showed bullish leadership on the open, so i got long. Then it couldn't hold the 39 level, so I got short (twice).
Long/Short: Long, Short, Short
Time: 6:32, 6:35, 6:39
Entry: 39.06, 39.00, 38.99
Size: 1000 shares each trade
Exit(s): Trade 1- 39.03, 39.02 scratched
Trade 2- 39.00 scratched
Trade 3- 38.98 scratched
Time in Trade: Trade 1- 2 minutes and 3 minutes
Trade 2- 2 minutes
Trade 3- 12 minutes
Looked to be a super choppy morning with all the scratched trades.

4. Symbol: EEM
Reason: EEM and the other indices were holding up near their respective LOD's, so I entered for a scalp long with large size.
Long/Short: Long
Time: 6:54
Entry: 38.93
Size: 2000 shares
Exit(s): 500 at 38.99, 1500 at 38.92
Time in Trade: 5 minutes, 6 minutes
Lightened up into the 39 fig. Scratched the rest of it as price dumped upon release of ISM manufacturing report.

5. Symbol: EEM
Reason: EEM started to hold the low .90's and began to move up along with other indices.
Long/Short: Long
Time: 7:02
Entry: 38.92
Size: 2000 shares
Exit(s): 1000 at 39.07, 500 at 39.05, 300 at 39.15, and 200 at 39.18
Time in Trade: 1 minute, 2 minutes, 10 minutes, 13 minutes

Best Practice: Focus on the indices and dollar to get a fix on direction. Scratches were good as well.

Worst Practice: ?

Trade Journal 11-3-2009

Trades

1. and 2. Symbol EEM
Reason: EEM showed strength on the open and the other indices were falling, so I went for a quick short.
Long/Short: Short
Time: 6:31, 6:32
Entry: 37.52, 37.50
Size: 1000 Shares each
Exit(s): 37.52, 37.50
Time in Trade: 1 minute, 2 minutes
Scratched both after EEM held up and other indices were moving higher as well.

3. and 4. Symbol: EEM
Reason: Went for a quick scalp to the upside and decided to add another 500 on the second trade. All indices were perking up at this point.
Long/Short: Long
Time: 6:39, 6:45
Entry: 37.56, 37.62
Size: 1000 shares, 500 shares
Exit(s): 500 at 37.58 (scratch 1/2), rest of position exited at 37.55
Time in Trade: 3 minutes, 3 minutes
Indices were making new HOD's at entry. There was some wavering, so I lightened up the first 1/2. Added 2nd half after detecting some strength, but exited entire position as price moved back to break even.

5. and 6. Symbol: EEM
Reason: Early breakout range in EEM held up, so I got long.
Long/Short: Long
Time: 6:51, 6:51
Entry: 37.56, 37.62
Size: 1000 shares each
Exit(s): 37.73, 37.74, 37.76
Time in Trade: 1 minute, 2 minutes, 6 minutes
Had 20 sma as target which was reached quickly.

Best Practice: Identifying momentum across indices and scratching trades quickly.

Worst Practice: Exiting 2nd half positions. I get so anxious holding these and esp. when they drop below first target levels. I will start selling out 3/4 of the position on first targets and hold 1/4 for secondary targets. This will make them much easier to hold.

Trade Journal 11-2-09

Trades-

1. Symbol: EEM
Reason: Detected weakness after early move up could not hold
Long/Short: Short
Time: 6:45
Entry: 38.00
Size: 1000 Shares
Exit(s): 1/2 at 37.84 (20 sma), 1/2 at 37.98
Time in Trade: 2 minutes, 7 minutes













2. Symbol: SPY
Reason: ?
Long/Short: Long
Time: 6:59
Entry: 104.46
Size: 500 Shares
Exit(s): 104.85
Time in Trade: 2 minutes
SPY, Q's, IWM, and EEM all rallied back from the early selloff. Q's and SPY held near HOD prior to econ report at 7am. Entered SPY and watched it chop back and forth for a bit before launching higher. It could have easily slammed down as well, but I was prepared with my stop at 104.26. Took profits right after the report as it held mid 80's. Should have looked to 105 fig as a natural target.













Best Practice: Identifying momentum across the major indices.

Worst Practice: Not thinking through targets esp on the SPY trade. 105 should def. been the target.

Trade Journal 10-29 and 10-30

10/29/09

1. Symbol: EEM
Reason: Early strength in EEM
Long/Short: Long
Time: 6:31
Entry: 38.50
Size: 1000 Shares
Exit(s): 1/2 at 38.66, 1/2 at 38.70
Time in Trade: 1 minute, 4 minutes
SPY, Q's, and IWM confirmed strength shortly after entry, but EEM was far and away the leader. SPY was testing 105.30's before sliding back down to test the 105 fig. This was my sign to exit the 2nd half. Should have paid more attn to SPY at 105, since that has been a major battleground number.

2. Symbol: EEM
Reason: Base and break setup
Long/Short: Long
Time: 7:00
Entry: 38.70
Size: 1000 Shares
Exit(s): 600 at 38.85, 400 at 39.00
Time in Trade: 4 minutes, 21 minutes
SPY, IWM, Q's all near HOD when I entered EEM. Took quick profits on first half and held the other half for fig, since we had strength in all indices.













Best Practices:
1. Ability to identify momentum via change % from open (ch%O) on the EEM, SPY, IWM, and Q's. EEM was strongest off open, while the others chopped slightly. When the others picked up buying I entered EEM and caught a quick move.
2. Allowing position to go for T2

10/30/09

1. Symbol: EEM
Reason: Early weakness in EEM
Long/Short: Short
Time: 6:31
Entry: 39.03
Size: 1000 Shares
Exit(s): 1/2 at 38.93, 1/2 at 38.94
Time in Trade: 3 minutes, 3 minutes
Early weakness with IWM=EEM < SPY < Q's. Exited as SPY picked up strength. UUP was also moving up fractionally.

2. Symbol: EEM
Reason: Early weakness and a sudden pop that didn't look sustainable (SPY popped .60, but EEM/IWM remained relatively weak)
Long/Short: Short
Time: 6:45
Entry: 38.90
Size: 1000 Shares
Exit(s): 1/2 at 38.74, 1/2 at 38.46
Time in Trade: 6 minutes, 47 minutes













Best Practice(s): Identifying weakness, Staying with position through pullbacks to 20 sma (very difficult for me)

Worst Practice(s): Not adding when EEM pulled back up to 20 sma in the 38.80 area. These are rare since I usually only trade the first 30 minutes, so this is something I should def. watch for in the future.

Trade Journal 10-28-09

I was anticipating a rally since we had sold off so hard the past couple of days, but right from the open the bulls were not able to show any strength. The selling began with weakness in EEM, which was followed by IWM, then SPY and Q's.

1. Symbol: BTU
Reason: Support buy triggered near open
Time: 6:32
Entry: 41.00
Size: 500 Shares
Exit: Stopped out 40.91
Time in Trade: 8 minutes
It almost ran to T1 (41.41), but missed by pennies due to selloff in indices. Chart on bottom.

2. Symbol: WLT
Reason: Support buy triggered near the open
Time: 6:34
Entry: 60.00
Size: 300 Shares
Exit: 59.82
Time in Trade: 8 minutes
Got stopped out after not being able to hold above 60.30. A second try on this name would have yielded better results, but due to the big spreads (.10 at times) I decided to look elsewhere.













3. Symbol: SU
Reason: Support buy triggered near the open
Time: 6:42, 6:45
Entry: 34.04, 34.31
Size: 600, 600
Exit: Closed it out at break even as the indices sold off
Time in Trade: 5 min / 2 min
Added second position as it crossed early high of day. SU could not hold above high of day, so I closed it out.













4. Symbol: BTU
Reason: Short on resistance at target number after not being able to stay above it twice before.
Time: 6:52
Entry: 40.97
Size: 1000 Shares
Exits: 500 at T1 of 70.72
200 at 70.72 (prior to 7am housing report)
300 at 70.50 (right after housing report)
Time in Trade: 2 min / 7 min / 8 min













Best practice today: 2nd add on SU even though it didn't work out. It was aggressive and the risk/reward was good. Also glad that I cut it at break even.

Worst practice today: Not scratching WLT and BTU after they failed to hold in positive territory and the indices were showing weakness as well. Stops were in place and kept the losses minimal, but I should have closed them out after not holding above resistance numbers. These trades are to be somewhat quick scalps off support.

Trade Journal 10/27/09

Trades:

1. Symbol: MON
Reason: Support buy triggered on the open
Time: 6:30
Entry: 70.25
Size: 250 Shares
Exits: 1/2 at T1 of 70.95
1/2 at 70.50 as indices dumped off
Time in Trade: 6 minutes, 11 minutes













2. Symbol: EEM
Reason: Weakness after two strong up bars
Time: 6:52
Entry: 40.18
Size: 1,000
Exit: Scratch
Time in Trade: 1 minute

3. Symbol: EEM
Reason: Strong selling after touching 20 sma
Time: 6:55
Entry: 40.18
Size: 1,000
Exit: 1/2 at 40.09
1/2 at 40.10
Time in Trade: 3 minutes, 4 minutes













Best practices for today: Being decisive and catching MON on the open. Scratching EEM when risk/reward area near 20 sma had not been reached yet.

Worst practice for today: Not taking partial profits on EEM and holding the other half with stop at break even. Despite the housing report at 7am, I have to see if my initial assessment would play out fully.

Trade Journal 10/13/09

Recap of early session: Indices gapped down slightly and ran up for first 15 minutes with Q's > SPY > IWM. Sudden selloff at 6:55am with all indices near LOD.

Trade 1- RIMM
6:54am
300 shares (short)
68.30 w/ stop at 68.50 and T1 of 67.62
Entered on double top in the stock and with indices basing before the 6:55am selloff.


Trade 2- RIMM
7:05am
300 shares (short)
67.95 w/ stop at 68.18 and same T1 as above.
RIMM traded quickly down to 67.70 before reversing sharply and stopping out this trade and stopping out the other trade at BE.

Since I added to the position and since I was trading against the longer term trend, I should have tightened up the targets and taken profits more quickly. I followed correct sizing and was able to identify short term momentum.

The Roller Coaster Continues

Another roller coaster week comes and goes. I'm still dearly searching for some consistency in my trading.

The most important thing that I learned this week was that I need to find my own trading style. Over the past month and a half, I have been trying to read the tape off of the open on stocks with fundamental news. This has only led to frustration and some damage to the account. I do not possess the mental processing skills to see what games the specialist is trying to play.

My specialty and background comes from chart based trading. Although I will agree with my mentor that the tape will always lead the chart, it is my preferred way to find entries and exits. I recently subscribed to the High Chart Patterns Group newsletter. Their site can be found here.

Their methods are clear (identifying possible breakout/breakdown price levels on momentum stocks and trading it with clear objectices). I will focus on their focus list stocks as well as add my own. I will be keeping a list of momentum stocks that may show clear intraday base and break patterns and will trade them according to the HCPG system.

Here is a trade I made on LVS. The setup was a clear ascending triangle at the $114 level. I was able to hop on for a quick point and a half.


The 3 things that I listed last week as things to work on were not as clear as they should have been. The 3 things were patience, persistence, and mentally resetting myself after large ups/downs.

In terms of patience, I meant that I need to have an exit strategy that gives my position more wiggle room. I will start using the HCPG method of 0.3% stops, since the stocks that we trade should give us an immediate move.

Most days I trade only a handful of stocks and some of them I will go back and forth in several times before giving up on a particular stock only to watch it blast off or crater soon afterwards. I will give each stock 3 chances to make its move and if it strikes out then I will leave it alone for the rest of the session. This is enough persistence and will clarify in my head the point of execution that I am striving for.

Mentally resetting is pretty simple. I can always play a few songs that I listen to prior to market open and do my breathing exercises again. This will bring me back to a calm and collected mental state where I am ready for anything.

Dow -360 WOW

This week has been WILD. Monday was my best day up to that point. Tuesday my WORST and today my new best.

Monday I owned AIG back and forth up and down. It felt great. Traded with the 2-min / 20 ema most of the time. Tuesday started off with getting chopped back and forth on MS around the 20 ema. I would go long, get stopped out, go short, get stopped out. After about 4-5 times I decided to give up. Of course MS drops a point in the next minute. This really got me mentally. Missing moves is a real fucking killer to the psyche. Add on top of that that I was down and quickly racking up commission made for a killer day to the downside. I couldn't even get the balls to enter moves that I saw throughout the day. Rough...REALLY ROUGH.

I will become the mentally toughest mofo that I know after a couple years of this.

Today I caught some DAMN NICE moves right off the open. PL provided the first (100 shares and caught about 1.20 points) and BBG provided the second, which was also my new most profitable single trade. Here are the charts:




Things to work on:

Patience

Persistence

Mentally resetting myself after being up or down a lot. Taking a few minutes and going through some breathing/visualization exercises.

Self destruction

Its usually one trade that tears my day apart and sends me down the road of despair. I traded the open the way I was supposed to by catching early momentum off of TUP mostly. I always have the thought to just call it a day after taking some early profits, but today with the Dow down nearly 200 early on I decided to keep trading and swing for the fences.

I reached a major point of frustration mid day and decided to pop into some LVS seeing that it was near its low of day. Price ripped against my tiny position and my profits for the day were gone just like that- POOF!

The rest of the day has been trying to pull out .25, but getting stopped out for .10 over and over again. Now I am down a fair amount and have already traded 13,700 shares.

The commissions are another thing that gets at my mentally. The commissions keep piling up hour after hour and steadily eats into my profit and really hurts me after I am down.

Today has been another grind, but I have continued to learn about myself. I trade well at the open and should steer clear of the market during mid day. I am going to go read a book till noon.

Random Thoughts

These past few days have really been MAJOR GRINDING SESSIONS. It's very similar to going to play poker knowing that you will be folding hands for 8 hours. I put trades on then scratch them. I'd say that about 1/3 of my trades are scratches. This wears on my mentally and a bit physically. I repeatedly have expectations that are not met leading to frustration and exhaustion.

One positive is that I have finally gotten rid of my secondary watch list. This was the list of high flying stocks (LVS, CMI, PCP, DE, RIG, POT, etc.) that would take my attn away from the focus list and cause me to miss opportunities. They also led me to losses the majority of time. Its kind of a relief not to have these up anymore.

Another positive that I have taken note of is how quickly I am able to get out of losers. It is done with little to no hesitation. My mentor talked about controlled losses the other day and I totally agree with him. As long as individual losses are controlled then a trader can stay in the game and not have unplanned losses drag on his/her psyche and performance.

One of the metrics that I need to start tracking is time in a position. I'm pretty sure that most of my winners come from holds that last less than a few minutes. I'll check on that and post my findings.

300!!!

I have been raised to 300 shares! With the added size comes many more options and challenges. Profit potential has definitely been raised and downside risk as well.

Stocks I traded included Textron (beat earnings and raised full year guidance), Parker Hannifin (beat earnings and raised guidance), PKG (beat earnings Wed. afternoon and was a pick from the mentor).

TXT gapped up and chopped around pretty much all day. Had a couple early scalps and scratches on it.


PH dumped on me real fast near the open (I entered at 77.17 and the bottom just fell out). Shoulda stayed with it.


Packaging Corp. of America dropped down hard and fast at the open. I was able to get short at 31.10 and covered about .40 later.



Had another rough day as I was jumping all over the place and trading anything that looked like it would break a round dollar price level. My mentor even commented on it, which brought me back on track.

The stocks we start our days with really do move and I just have to trust that they will move and position myself to catch those moves.

Some performance goals for tomorrow-

* Focus on only 3 stocks

* Enter without hesitation. Go long above opening print and short below.

* Exit quickly if the stock does not move in my anticipated direction.

* If I am in a position with full size (300 shares) and it moves 1 point in my direction I will exit 1/2 of the position and hold the rest until the 20ema gets broken or stock breaks even.

An important thing that my mentor discussed in lecture today was the fact that our losses should be controlled losses. It's the losses that are out of our control where we exit in total panic that wears us down and makes us second guess ourselves on the next trade. We need to always be cautious while in a position and an exit is always an option. Controlling losses is our best defense.

CRUSHED!!!

The title pretty much says it all. I had a total loss of focus within the first few minutes and it snowballed into a streak of several losses until I could no longer take the pain anymore and called it quits.

The lack of focus started with the priority watchlist, which consisted of the following:

ATI (lowered guidance yesterday afternoon, gapped down ~10%)

AKS (I thought this was a competitor, but was only indirect. Direct ones are CRS, X, NUE, MT, PKX)

HDB (pre-announced a higher earnings number than current estimates)







Those are some damn pretty openings. I got chopped around in ATI at the open and jumped to stocks on my secondary watchlist like MA, NYX, POT, and CMI. These all resulted in losses or tiny gains. I was pretty much out of control for maybe an hour.

I need to figure out a way to get myself focused again after a string of losses. Going back to the breathing exercises would have been good.

Gross P/L: -285.00
Net P/L: -329.00
# Shares Traded: 4400
Stocks Traded: AKS, ATI, MA, POT, NYX, CMI

More Patience Required

Gross P/L: $196.00
Net P/L: $178.00
# Shares Traded: 1800
Stocks Traded: WGO (earnings), RIG (momentum oil stock), SAY (competitor of INFY, which reported today), DVN (momentum oil stock), MA (major momentum stock)

I was able to catch some nice point level breaks both on the long and short side today. The opening momentum trade was on WGO this morning as they reported earnings and I quickly caught a .60 move. Entry was damn good- WGO opened at 32.00 and I got filled at 31.96.

Once they increase my size I will be able to scale out more easily and catch bigger moves like this one on WGO:


SAY was a competitor of INFY (which reported earnings). I guess everything was factored into the gap down.


RIG chopped me around before making its move up and out. I have to be more careful on stocks with no fundy news and let them build their morning ranges.


Took a short on MA when it broke down the 168 level. The move didn't have any real strength to it, so I took half off at 167.09 and then at 166.51 when it really fell down.


My tape reading skills are still pretty bad. The information is just a little too fast for me. I'm not sure that I want to trade in this manner. But I will keep trying.

I really need to be more patient and go back to my chart trading ways. I gotta utilize the 20ema on those 2-min. charts to catch moves that follow through. PATIENCE, PATIENCE, PATIENCE!!!

My mentor told us about one of his star traders who clears 150k shares a day and who can manage 25+ positions at once. Supposedly the guy averages 10k per day (His profits were about 8500 for this particular day, which our mentor went through with us). Simply amazing.

Building Consistency

Gross P/L: +121.00
Net P/L: +113.00
# Shares Traded: 800
Stocks Traded: SGR (earnings report), URS (competitor of SGR)

Today was a repeat of yesterday- stuck with my market open trading plan and was rewarded.

Entries were a little off. URS opened at 60.90 and I was only able to get in at 61.20. SGR opened at 67.11 and I entered short at 66.26 (entry made at 6:33:40) after the bottom had fallen out of the stock. Now looking back at the tape I see that the 67 level was taken out at 6:32:40.





Earnings season is here again! Suhweet!!! Tomorrow I will FOCUS on 2 stocks again and work for better entries/exits.

Sticking to Your Plan Pays Off

Gross P/L: $100.00
Net P/L: $90.00
# Shares Traded: 1600

Today was the first day that I stuck to my plan (trade the opening momentum in stocks with major fundamental news and keep profits by not trading during mid-day). It was amazingly hard since the FOMC minutes were released in the afternoon and I wanted to trade off of it so bad.

My goal will be to continue finding stocks with major fundy news, enter above or below open price, and to catch a move away from the opening price.

Here are my two main trades from today AGU and POT (both competitors of MOS, which released positive earnings this AM). I was able to catch a point in AGU. POT took a couple of trades to get the direction right (what a monster...this bad boy ran for 7 points!!!).




Pretty happy with my first triple digit (gross) profit day. HAHA...Not too long and i'll be hitting my first 4 digit day!!!

From Loss to Profit Back to Loss

This morning I started out by watching R, CNW, and OMG. R guided lower for Q3 and FY07 and was down about 6% in pre-market trading (CNW was a competitor). OMG bought out another company for $265 million, which is a pretty large % of its market cap ($1.7B).

My first trade of the day was a short in CNW (open price $46.25). I got filled at $45.95 and proceeded to bounce around and stopped me out just above the $46 level. Fear got the best of me in this trade, since price never went above the open for the rest of the session. I find it very difficult to stay objective while in a trade. I get caught up in every tick back and forth and I get emotionally involved. This leads to exits out of fear rather than price areas where I know I am wrong. CNW proceeded downwards the whole morning.


My worst trade yet took place in OMG. I was caught up in my CNW short and entered OMG as it ramped up at the open (open price was $55.70 and my long entry was at $56.01). I took my attention away for a sec and OMG took a nose dive. Price was at $55.40 before I could get it together and exit at the market. I had flashbacks of the "deer in the headlights" moments from past trading sessions that really freaked me out.

Then right after my exit, price proceeded back up a point past the open price, which I was unable to get in since OMG had "hurt" me.


After mentally gathering myself, I put on a short in R as it slid from its opening price. I was lucky enough to catch a point before exiting.


The overall markets were sliding, so I scanned my momentum stock list for possible shorts. I caught POT as it was breaking the 105 price level and rode it down for 1 point.



The afternoon was spent churning and giving back profits plus a little more. I was extremely frustrated today just as I was on Friday. I keep thinking that my job as a trader requires me to contstantly be trading. This defies my rule against trading when you don't have an edge, which will be the mass majority of the time.

Tomorrow I will continue to focus on finding stocks with major fundamental news, catching the early move on these stocks, and taking my exits when they are given to me. I will also make it a point to sit on my hands and wait out the rest of the session, so that I don't churn my account and give back all my profits.