Leaderboard

Thursday 02/13/2020 I took 3 live trades this morning with AMAT and BABA. An eventful morning. Which is never good for trading. I was just saying to myself yesterday, that I need to be careful. The month is going so well for me in both day and swing trading, my self destructive behavior may kick in. I usually check after hours trading on my swing trades, but last night for some reason I did not. So it was quite a shock this morning to see my only real current swing trade down 20% this morning. BE apparently were not honest with their reporting. I sold in PM and took a huge loss throwing away all my swing trade winnings for the month. But what REALLY hurt is my finger was on the sell button, on BE, right at the close yesterday. The price was weak the last have hour and I was going to bail, but waited until the close. The last minute was strong so I stayed in the trade. Plus I was still 1.2% above my B/E as a buffer. And the last three trades that I exited because of weakness at the close all opened up big the next morning. So that was also weighing on me. So I was so close to selling it, and instead it became the bigest loser on the gappers list. My first thought was to trade SIM this morning. But I should have just shut the platform down and walked away. By having the platform up you have the option to trade live right to the open. By the time of the open I had intellectualized that it wasn’t a big deal. It was bad luck and I minimized the risk. I considered BE on the risky side so I only took 60% share size. And the weakness at the end of the day was not big enough to trigger my 2% trailing stop. And BE was still well up for the day. So I traded live….. I didn’t like anything from the premarket so I was watching all 6 stocks on my watchlist. Most of them got no volume at the open except AMAT. The price was dropping hard on strong volume and broke the LOPM. There was also a bearish L2 signal. Though not that big. There was also the 200MA-5min just below, which I like in the first minute of trading as it tends to pull the price down. So I shorted. PDC was my target with the LOPM as my stop. So far things were OK. Note L2 when I took the trade: The price reversed immediately. Now here lies the problem and why you don’t trade after a big loss. Your ability to take a loss is now even more difficult. I already have FOBW so when the price retraced I instantly changed my stop to the 200MA-1min. As the price approached my new stop I saw it looked like a long. The candle was creating a strong hammer and there was a strong L2 signal. So I flipped the position and went long and took a big loss on my first trade. What the chart and L2 looked like when I went long (note the big ask at $67): Just after I went long the price instantly went against me again. At this point my nerves were shot. The price did bounce from my stop (LOPM) and rose and I added to my postion when it broke VWAP because I saw SPY really climbing. I took two quick partials and set my auto stop at B/E, where the price shot right though giving most of my profits back. I am sad to report I didn’t hold to my 2 trade limit (if one trade is a stop out) and took a revenge trade on BABA. It had no detup and I took 3 times the correct share size and was also immediately stopped out. I then turned off my platform and walked away. Lost -5.5R today, the exact amount I was up for the month. So even day and swing trading combined my P/L is back to zero for the month. Will definitely be on SIM tomorrow or possibly not even turn on my platform. No more swing trades this week.

Wednesday, I only had 15 minutes to trade before I had to leave to help some friends make some coozies. I probably shouldn't have even logged on Knowing I had prior commitments. -$84.00, -1.8% (-$95.89 -2.07% After Commissions) Rules 5/7 again: 4. NO 6. NO Trade 1 & 2 MU I was watching for 5 min ORB again, I was switching between a few stocks the first 5 minutes. I didn't see anything I liked. I moved MU to my trading window. I was too late, I chased the trade. Took a couple partials and then got stopped out .05 below my stop loss somehow. Maybe it just dropped too fast? My entry should have been earlier in the candle or even at the prior candle near the VWAP, my risk could have been about .08 cents. Forced another long try above a daily level break out, almost immediately got stopped out for loss. Trade 3 Again I entered a trade way too late. This entry should have been one of the tests at VWAP. The entries I missed are very easy to see now. I need to concentrate on entering near VWAP to keep tight stop losses, that would also help my BE stop not get triggered so easily later in the trade. I will be able to handle the normal pull backs.

Rob, sorry to hear about that swing trade with BE. I can't imagine being able to maintain proper focus and stick to the rules after losing over 20% on a trade. Hope you come back stronger than ever, man. We all handle stress different, but I'd personally stay off the SIM tomorrow. Good luck brother

I have had these days a few times and are now going back to one of my more simple things I did in the past.... I have a little Red notebook that I have wrote in No Revenge No FOMO ect.... In large print I wrote to myself Remember how crappy it feels when I break my basic rules .... It Ruins your Day/Night and sets a bad tone for the next few days I then set this book in front of my trading screen.... It has seemed to help me Take care and good luck tomorrow

Feb 13 $AMD I got into AMD but did not feel very comfortable, I was having a lot of issues focusing. I should have been scanning other stocks looking for a trade, but I was kept finding something to occupy my time. Lost of focus. Eventually got stopped out. No big deal, it was my setup that just didn't work. Executed it well. I will not be trading tomorrow as I have to travel to San Diego to get my DD 214. Big day. Enjoy the weekend and see everyone next week.

2-13-20 AIS 0755, 7 hours, 7/10 PAT: Overtrading..... correct entries.... montage in correct account.... KHC PB1.1 This was a premarket callout on levels.... I was a little late on break of 28.94.... I figured if it broke .64 with momentum we should be good to 28.00.... the first partial was a little early but felt like it was a good time to lock in profits.... stop was at the top of the candle body on the 1min so I was in for a small share size..... I missed adds and partials as I was in and out with a new windshield being replaced.... +2.6R Cons: missing partials and adds..... Pros: took premarket plan and ran with it.... PB Trade: KHC Rs: +2.6R

2-13-2020 Overall, good morning. I took 2 trades in the early morning. First trade $BE I was looking at BE on the open. It shot above VWAP and extended pretty far. Monitored and waited for a bounce off the VWAP. Saw an ABCD pattern on the 5. When it broke the support I anticipated at that point it would test VWAP. Waited for it to break on the 1m and got into the trade long. Original stop loss was $9.00 with an original target of around 9.60 for a 2R. I readjusted my stop loss to 9.12 and then break-even as it continued up. Took my first partial at 9.35 (after my first adjustment of my stop loss). I meant to sell off another partial at 9.46, but ended up messing up the hot key and buying into another position lol. Then sold out of my entire position at around 9.55. Second trade $KHC I saw this trade was just ripping downwards. I was originally waiting on a pullback to VWAP, but realized it was probably going to just keep ripping for a while. I knew it would pull back to some extent and reject a level, so I waited. I saw it pull back to the 20EMA on the 1 minute and go above. When it got rejected I took the trade short. Original stop loss was at 27.80, readjusted it later to just above break-even. Took my first partial at around 27.45. When it pushed through the 9EMA on that higher 1 minute candle, I got out of the entire position.

that's my little secret

Day 26 - Feb 12, 2020 15 Tickets 1 Symbol Green Day 1. LYFT - Short - 1min - Failed Pop LYFT earnings beat but kept guidance unchanged, investors were looking for more following UBERs shortened timeline to profitability. Was thinking long at the open off the 50 daily level - but failed to push and hold through VWAP with upper wicks rejecting. Got short 1/2 size with previous high as stop, target 2R+. Bounce off previous level and shorted as it continued into VWAP expecting to reject - confirmed rejection could be a good idea to add more risk. Went to cover fat fingered a sell - instant cover for break even. Started covering into 2R+. Good: Instant cover on mistake entry, although would have been profitable it’s a good habit. Improvement: Need to have better exit strategy - too many unplanned covers. 2. LYFT - Short - 1min - Breakdown (Not in Game Plan) Was watching waiting to see if it would have another leg down thinking could be putting in a Bear Pennant on the 5 min, with decreasing volume. Shorted 1/3 size as broke through consolidation level on rising selling volume. Consolidated briefly at that exact level and continued down, short another 2/3 size looking for it to test previous low at 48.55 with stop just above previous consolidation. Ended up getting lucky (1c away from stop) but covered as It seemed like could be a double bottom and I had to head out to work. Good: Cut loser for small loss. Improvement: Terrible R/R heading into this - should not have taken this trade based on R/R <2. Today's Review Green day, felt good sticking to one ticker. Right ideas, but unplanned exits - would like to have a better exit plan. What I did poorly: Poor R/R on 2nd trade What I did well: Nice entry and scaling in when it was confirmed. What I need to do: Review my Trading Game plan, Stats. PUT THE TIME IN. Treating it like a hobby right now.......

Feb 12 $BBBY I was not awake today. I think I was mentally exhausted this morning and it all started when I got my fist cup of tea as you will see. I had $BBY, $MU, and $TEVA on watch, but at the open I could not seem to stay awake or keep my focus, so I decided to go get another cup of tea, only to realize that the first cup was caffeine free. Of course. I felt it better to call it a morning and wait till the afternoon, but that was not much better. I was awake by this time but just not in sync with the markets. I did end up trading BBBY to the long side. I got a partial and then stopped at B/E. I also missed a trade on $CVS that would have worked out nicely, but I was too slow on the analysis.

Finally have received the withdrawal today. It took 8 business days.

I know right, but it is my rule, once I take a partial I get out at the break-even. Lately it has been stopping me right to the penny, but I can also count numerous times over that year that it blows right past my B/E and keeps running.

Did you have a stop order already set in the system? If you did and it's the error I think it is, it's because of the way DAS compiles the order. Example [just tested this]: QCOM is SSR: QCOM Long, Qty: 50, $69.25 QCOM Stop Order in Place, Qty: 50, $69.00 Sell 25% Position --> Rejected w/ same error. Clear QCOM Stop Order Sell 25% Position [same command] --> Order Fills What's happening is that DAS see's the Stop Order as an unfilled (pending) order, any additional order (even one that sells your position) is considered on-top of the pending order. If you add the Stop-Order qty with the Position scale-out qty, you get a SHORT position. DAS rejects this because of the SSR. A similar thing will happen when up against buying power limits (DAS uses the offset from the Stop-Order qty + Scale-Out qty to reserve more buying power than what is actually needed, rejecting if you don't have enough). The Fix: Clear any pending Stop Order and recreate afterwards.