Jennifer L. Journal - Swing Trades in Sim

[JenniferL 27]

This is my first journal entry!   

Symbol: DUST
Entry Date: July 24
Long or Short: Long 
Entry Price: $8.18
Sold first partial: $ ?
Target price : $9 first target
Moved Stop: $8.3

All out at approx 8.50 when Brian called it -- I need to record the numbers when I do it because Saxo erases the closed positions every night in sim.

I am just beginning my trading education.  I am interested in learning both swing trading and day trading, but starting with swing trading for a couple of reasons.  Mostly, I will not have the time to dedicate until after the summer vacation is over and everyone is back in school.

Currently, I am using a rather useless sim account from my broker here in Switzerland.  I am in the process of setting up DAS and learning all the ins and outs.

For now, I can say that my first sim swing trade was/is a copy of Brian's $DUST trade. I got in at $8.18.  I did take some profit, and moved my stop up to $8.30, but my useless sim account does not show me what I sold at.  I still have some shares with a target of $9.00.

I am not proud of this trade since all I did was copycat.  From what I understand, the thinking is that $NUGT  had a series of days with no new high, and $DUST a corresponding series of days with no new low.  This was coupled with strengthening USD.  I am intrigued by the idea of playing these two ETFs back and forth.  Will stay tuned for more information.

Looking forward to getting to know the other swing traders in the group!

 

Edited July 30, 2019 by JenniferL

[JenniferL 27]

Symbol: NVDA
Entry Date: July 25
Long or Short: Long 
Entry Price: $175.85

Stop: $173, Previous Day Low
Target price : $184 (Upper Bollinger Band 50;2.5)

UPDATE:  Stopped out at 173 at open on July 29.

I am trying out free version of Tradervue to see if this is a good way for me to journal,  but I cannot export my journal, so I am just copy/pasting!

I considered this trade when I saw pullback on the daily chart July 24. I saw an ABCD pattern forming. Also, appears that SMA 20 is crossing SMA 200.

Bought at 15:16 50 shares at 175.85.

Entry could have been better. I did not see a new low on the 5 minute chart at 15:10 candle and got panicky. It went down all the way until close at 175.07.

Did not initially do a good risk reward analysis. Stop out at meeting of SMA 20 and 200 - $168.00 For 2R the stock would have to get to 191.55 which was a level in April, but not the first good level.

On Sunday July 28, read about Bollinger Bands. Used BB 50;2.5 Set new stop loss between previous day low and previous day close- 173.00. Used upper BB to set take profit at $184.

I like the idea of trading in the upper range of the BB. Need to learn more about how to set them.

NVDA Earnings report on Aug 15 after close, so I need to get out before then.

Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow!
 

Edited July 30, 2019 by JenniferL

[AAgnostic 4]

18 hours ago, JenniferL said:

Symbol: NVDA
Entry Date: July 25
Long or Short: Long 
Entry Price: $175.85

Stop: $173, Previous Day Low
Target price : $184 (Upper Bollinger Band 50;2.5)

I am trying out free version of Tradervue to see if this is a good way for me to journal,  but I cannot export my journal, so I am just copy/pasting!

I considered this trade when I saw pullback on the daily chart July 24. I saw an ABCD pattern forming. Also, appears that SMA 20 is crossing SMA 200.

Bought at 15:16 50 shares at 175.85.

Entry could have been better. I did not see a new low on the 5 minute chart at 15:10 candle and got panicky. It went down all the way until close at 175.07.

Did not initially do a good risk reward analysis. Stop out at meeting of SMA 20 and 200 - $168.00 For 2R the stock would have to get to 191.55 which was a level in April, but not the first good level.

On Sunday July 28, read about Bollinger Bands. Used BB 50;2.5 Set new stop loss between previous day low and previous day close- 173.00. Used upper BB to set take profit at $184.

I like the idea of trading in the upper range of the BB. Need to learn more about how to set them.

NVDA Earnings report on Aug 15 after close, so I need to get out before then.

Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow!
 

Hi Jennifer! I was going to take that trade on DUST too, but I got chicken out at the last minutes lol

[JenniferL 27]

3 hours ago, AAgnostic said:

Hi Jennifer! I was going to take that trade on DUST too, but I got chicken out at the last minutes lol

I am in sim, so decided to also test the question "what happens when I copy Brian´s trade?"

[JenniferL 27]

Symbol: NVDA
Entry Date: July 29
Long or Short: Long 
Entry Price: $174.19

Stop: $171.28
Target price : $184 (Upper Bollinger Band 50;2.5)

 

I reentered this trade when the 20 was about to cross the 50. I got a much better entry than I had on Friday, 174.19 vs. 175.85 but it could have been better. It did not occur to me until later in the day that I could actually do that. From 10:15 candle on 15-min chart, there were only HHHL. Decent ABCD on 5 minute from 10:10-10:45 -- If I had been watching the stock I could have gotten in at 172.35.

Recalculated my RR using low of the day as my stop out, and upper BB 50;2.5 from the day before as profit.

I felt good about getting back in (TTT) but really had to do some creative accounting to come up with a decent RR.

I learned that the BB change a LOT depending on the time frame and how I set them. Seems like I could justify almost anything using this as a way to set levels.

I also watched the MACD which I find an interesting indicator -- I will have to get used to understanding what it is telling me.

Could be counterproductive to look too closely at what is happening intraday when taking a swing trade, but in this case, I wasn`t out on the first strike.

 

[JenniferL 27]

Symbol: PYPL
Entry Date: July 29
Long or Short: Long 
Entry Price: $?

Stop: $?
 

I pre-entered the buy order,with stop loss. Bought and got stopped out in the first seconds of the day. I did not record the data fast enough so cannot enter from Saxo sim.

Lesson learned -- I have to make the trade myself, not expect it to work on autopilot.

[JenniferL 27]

Symbol: SBUX
Entry Date: July 29
Long or Short: Long 
Entry Price: $97.48

Stop: $95

Target 100

 

Jumped in this trade when Brian said that stocks uptrending towards 100USD tend to make it there.  Got in at 97.48.  Set stop near yesterday low of 95.00 with target of 100.  2:1 Done!

[JenniferL 27]

July 31, 2019 AM 

Out-of-town visitors for the next 10 days so it will be hard to trade.  I have not been screening for new opportunities. Still in 2 trades - NVDA and SBUX.  

NVDA - was green EOD yesterday, went lower at the open but moved up.  Made me pretty nervous.  I felt like I wanted to move my stop, but I have to just let it do its job which is to protect my account!  If I had been actively watching all day, I could have taken some profit and moved my stop up to my entry price.  Need to learn how to partial out.

SBUX -- realized that I made a mistake in my calculation and my trade only has a 1:1 RR.  Moved my stop up to 96.25 for 2:1.  This is just a little above low of day.

 

[nassarsyed 82]

I would not move stops and let things work. You really have to think I’m germs of risk reward and over several samples. 

I look at max loss in a single trade as 1%. Will move to 2.5% when more confident gradually. 

This is what I call 1R so currently that’s 1% of my working capital. 

You have to give it long term  I was up 3.38 R, than down to 1.28r than now closing July with 4.61R  which is 4.61%  

made mistakes and could have closed 6% or higher  and if I use 2.5% as max loss, that would be a return of 15% for the month at which I could double my account compounded in 5 months....

there is juice in this stay with it  

for relatives, that’s the beauty of swing trading  do your analysis at night, trigger your trades in 1st or last hour or on buy sell stop, put in stop loss and walk away..... next day take profit, loss or adjust stops....

 

 

 

[JenniferL 27]

July 31 PM

NVDA Got stopped out at 171.25 after Fed announcement -- Lesson learned - macro market moves are a real thing -- pay attention to the bigger picture -- don't enter a swing trade when I know that there is change sure to come in the near term.

SBUX -- stopped out 96.25 at open - ORB -- I need to pay attention to premarket so that I can see what is happening

BIG learning -- looking at the Direxion Bear ETFs -- all are rising while the market is falling.  I did read about this phenomenon in Brian's book -- the option to trade an inverse fund rather than shorting.  I think this could be a very interesting way to go -- concerned about fees on ETFs but will focus on learning how to trade first, and then how to make it profitable later.

I am really not sure that swing trading is any less forgiving that day trading -- intraday shenanigans still impact my trades, I am just not paying attention.  Yes, I can say I think this is the way this will go, but something can always happen, and if I am not watching, I will get screwed.

 

 

[JenniferL 27]

6 hours ago, nassarsyed said:

I would not move stops and let things work. You really have to think I’m germs of risk reward and over several samples. 

I look at max loss in a single trade as 1%. Will move to 2.5% when more confident gradually. 

This is what I call 1R so currently that’s 1% of my working capital. 

You have to give it long term  I was up 3.38 R, than down to 1.28r than now closing July with 4.61R  which is 4.61%  

made mistakes and could have closed 6% or higher  and if I use 2.5% as max loss, that would be a return of 15% for the month at which I could double my account compounded in 5 months....

there is juice in this stay with it  

for relatives, that’s the beauty of swing trading  do your analysis at night, trigger your trades in 1st or last hour or on buy sell stop, put in stop loss and walk away..... next day take profit, loss or adjust stops....

 

 

 

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your feedback.  I am feeling quite dejected at the moment.  I did not risk more than 1% on any trade, but now I can see how quickly one could be out of this altogether quite quickly.  So happy that BBT emphasizes the importance of sim.  Every loss teaches me so much.

One of the most important things I need to do is learn how to use DAS.  The platform I am in right now does not have a good sim -no real time data, no retention of my trade data.

I really am having so much fun though -- there is so much to learn and test and adjust, and test again. 

I do not have time to do any rigorous screening right now, so I will wait to take a trade until I can give it the attention it deserves.  I imagined myself picking up some GE at $10.06 today (I watch it everyday) , and then just stalked it for 3 hours.  If I had more experience, maybe I would have jumped on it.  I am treating my sim account like real money.  I need to have the emotions baked in when I go live.

Again, Nas, I really appreciate your taking the time to give me your input and your encouragement!

 

 

 

[nassarsyed 82]

4 hours ago, JenniferL said:

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your feedback.  I am feeling quite dejected at the moment.  I did not risk more than 1% on any trade, but now I can see how quickly one could be out of this altogether quite quickly.  So happy that BBT emphasizes the importance of sim.  Every loss teaches me so much.

One of the most important things I need to do is learn how to use DAS.  The platform I am in right now does not have a good sim -no real time data, no retention of my trade data.

I really am having so much fun though -- there is so much to learn and test and adjust, and test again. 

I do not have time to do any rigorous screening right now, so I will wait to take a trade until I can give it the attention it deserves.  I imagined myself picking up some GE at $10.06 today (I watch it everyday) , and then just stalked it for 3 hours.  If I had more experience, maybe I would have jumped on it.  I am treating my sim account like real money.  I need to have the emotions baked in when I go live.

Again, Nas, I really appreciate your taking the time to give me your input and your encouragement!

 

 

 

Having fun is the best approach. You will learn. When I look at the first few swing trades I posted at the beginning of my thread, I now see them and go what was I thinking?, you learn as you go. Best advice I ever received:

go to market everyday and just survive keeping small losses, everything else you will learn and it will work out over time. You need to bide that time...

so don’t be dejected. 

[JenniferL 27]

Aug 1-3 Busy with family and visitors so have not been able to give appropriate attention to trading.  Looks like a smart choice. 

Brian's swing trading update said: "Got to be pretty active as a swing trader in this market with the wild moves.  If you can not stay on top of things, best to wait it out or keep positions on the small side. "

I was watching market  some of the time -- lesson confirmed -- you never know what tweet will mess up my plan. I have to be on it! 

Still playing with Stock Charts scans to screen for setups.

[JenniferL 27]

Starting a separate journal for day trading

 

Edited September 11, 2019 by JenniferL