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Rob C

Rob C's Trading Journal - starting Feb 1 2019

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Wednesday 02/05/2020

I had a well-being score of 8/10 this morning.

I took 1 live trade this morning with SNAP.

My watchlist: DIS, AAPL, BABA, SNAP, LK and TSLA.

I was very interested with SNAP and DIS at the open, but no directional bias. I actually have short shares on SNAP today. While I was setting my levels and SNAP was setting up for an ABCD. Pretty good volume for PM. I was waiting for the price to touch the 9MA-1min again, but instead got a L2 signal as it made a PM high. So I went long with small shares. The price dropped bounced off the 20MA and I went long with more shares as it broke the 9MA. There was still a large ask at $18. My target was 18.17 with 20MA as my stop. My nerves didn’t let me wait for th $18 and I took a couple of partial profits. I did keep a really sharp eye on the spread, so all my fills were about where I expected them. I exited when the price broke down below $18 and the 9MA-1min.

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So I was done for the day before the open, so I traded SIM only after the open. I won’t mention those trades here.

What did I do good today? Good add in.

What I am grateful from todaySNAP now has short shares on Centerpointe, so it made my watchlist today.

Edited by Rob C
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Thursday 02/06/2020

I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning.

I took 1 live trade this morning with TWTR.

My watchlist: BMY, BABA, MU, TWTR, UIS and WWE.

TWTR was my main focus. I like the last few minutes of PM the price was hovering just below HOPM. As long as the volume came in I was going to go long at the break of HOPM. There was a few seconds delay before the volume arrived. Then shortly after the price broke HOPM and I went long. My target was the 38.51 level and my stop the 50MA-1min. Because I took the trade very close to the open I did take a reduced share size.

I did enter the trade before it was called in the chat, which I am always concerned about.

My partial profit taking was quite poor. Nerves caused me to take too early and too many. I exited the trade solely because I ran out of shares.

 image.png.3bfa9e68602e4f02f13f5586bcdf4197.png

 

 

What did I do good today? I planned the trade before the open and executed it.

What I am grateful from today? A good watchlist today.

What I need to improve on? I may need to start using the partial profit hotkey limit orders again. I have hot keys set at 1R and 1.5R.

Edited by Rob C
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Friday 2/7/20

Due to family commitments I am unable to trade the open today. 

Good luck to everyone!

Have a good weekend!

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Monday 02/10/2020

I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning.

I took 1 live trade this morning with AAPL.

My watchlist: BHVN, TSLA, LB, HPQ, LLY and AAPL.

My watchlist was more based on short share availability than what I liked. By the time of the open I only liked two stocks BHVN and AAPL. Both were forming some PM levels before the open. I actually had BHVN on my main screen at the open since it looked more promising, but AAPL set up first.

AAPL dropped at the open below the LOPM and bounced. When the price broke 314.50 ( a PM level) I went long. I was so confident on this one I doubled my share size. My target was 318 with the LOPM as my stop.

Due to my high share size my nerves got the better of my and I took way too many partials. The 4th partial was the first one I took under complete intellectual control. So the last 4 partials were fine, but I had a only a few shares left. So maybe taking double shares was not smart. If I took regular size I would have been calmer and taken better partials and would have profited as well if not better.

 image.thumb.png.c3f9bd347a33915b3b76842a6cdc5f69.png

 

What did I do good today? I planned the trade before the open and executed it.

What I am grateful from today? Found a good trade from what I thought looked like a poor watchlist.

What I need to improve on? I had the 1.5R partial limit order hot key, but I never thought to use it again. It needs to become a habit again.

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Monday 02/11/2020

I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning.

I took 2 live trades this morning with TMUS and AAPL.

My watchlist: TMUS, DISH, S, ROKU, UAA and AAPL.

I liked the PM of TMUS, S and AAPL all long bias with the break of a PM level. TMUS setup first with a break of 93.75 price that was respected in PM. I actually didn’t have a good target, but my stop was 93.50. I got 3 quick partials before it retraced. I set stop order at B/E and my fill was terrible at 70 cents below B/E. If I got my fill at B/E I would probably have called it a day. But I wasn’t sure how little I made for the trade so I started looking for another one. After I was finished trading for the day I checked my P/L (which I restarted this month) and I was up +1R after the first trade. If I knew that I would have stopped trading.

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My next trade was AAPL but I took it a bit unprepared. AAPL was on a side chart and I saw an opportunity for a 1min ORB. I brought it to my montage and entered the trade immediately. I did not check SPY, L2 or the actual volume number. The volume was only 600k which is just OK for AAPL and not enough to take an ORB. Plus SPY was dropping. Yes, the price action was fine, but I didn’t give myself the couple of seconds to fully check the setup. So of course the instant I entered the trade it started to drop. I did sell all at my stop of 323.40 but my fill was terrible doubling my losses on the trade to -2R. Ouch.

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What did I do good today? I planned the trade before the open and executed it on TMUS.

What I am grateful from today? Only being down -1R for trading poorly today.

What I need to improve on? Check the setup fully. If you miss the trade while you are checking, that’s fine.

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Monday 02/12/2020

I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning.

I took 1 live trade this morning with TEVA.

My watchlist: TEVA, BBBY, CVS, ROKU, MU and SHOP.

TEVA was on my main screen due to a PM level that was being respected. The plan was to go long on the break of 13.20 if volume arrived. But before that happen there was an L2 signal, not huge but enough, so I went long with half shares. 13.50 target and 13.05 stop. I was watching the bid/ask spread and tried to take a partial at 13.30 four times. The first 3 times got poor fills. At that point I was essentially out of shares but holding. Then at 9:33 volume arrived and the price made a hammer by bouncing off of the 20MA-1min and I added when the price broke the 9MA. This was the start of the real trade. Target was still the 13.50 with the 20MA as the stop. Yes, took way too many partials but better than the first part of the trade.

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What did I do good today? Added to my trade. An unusual action for me to conjure the courage to do.

What I am grateful from today? One and done.

What I need to improve on? Must use the partialling hot keys. I may have to go back to SIM to practice.

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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:

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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):

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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.

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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.

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3 hours ago, Rob C said:

 

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

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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

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Monday 02/18/2020

I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning.

I took 2 live trades this morning with AAPL.

My watchlist: AMAT, ROKU, KR, BEN, AAPL and TSLA.

AAPL was on my main screen due an interesting PM. There were some PM levels that were being respected. Two minutes before the open AAPL made a big red candle. One min before made a smaller candle holding the level. At the open AAPL got big volume and I shorted (half share size) on a new low. The price dropped then reversed and I actually covered below $316, but the cover did not fill. I flipped my postion and quickly noticed I only have half share size. Now I know that half of my buy order filled the cover. I then noticed the open cover order and cancelled it. At that moment the price droped and would have filled my buy order at a good entry. Then snapped back higher. At 1min 24 sec after the open a big L2 ask of 20k at 317 and added shares. See below at L2.

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I tried to take a partial at the 317.39 PM level and got a bad fill. Then 2min later I took another partial at that level. Then I noticed it is actually a good time to add. So I added some shares. Then took 4 partials then got a bad auto fill at B/E.

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What did I do good today? Added to my trade. Recovered OK from my first trade not filling the stop.

What I am grateful from today? A green day, which I really needed after a rule breaking day on Thursday.

What I need to improve on? Some common stocks are getting too high priced. I need to reprogram my hot keys for a larger buffer on my market limit orders.

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Wednesday 02/19/2020

I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning.

I took 1 live trade this morning with NVDA.

My watchlist: AAPL, ROKU, NVDA, AMD, and TSLA.

I actually didn’t like the watchlist today. The stocks with good PM I didn’t have shares to short. NVDA was the best of the list before the open as it was hovering just below the HOPM. Volume arrived quickly and the price popped above the HOPM and I went long. I placed a tight stop around the 50MA-1min. Due to my tight stop I was back to my usual nerves and taking too many partial profits. Then I got lucky and caught the quick jump to $307 where I sold most of my remaining shares. Then all out at a 1min low. But I had so few shares left I was anxious to end the trade.

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What did I do good today? Determined a good stock to trade by PM.

What I am grateful from today? I caught the quick jump in price.

What I need to improve on? Too tight of a stop. If the trade went against me could I have held to my stop?

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Thursday 02/20/2020

I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning.

I took 1 live trade this morning with SIX.

My watchlist: SIX, TVTY, Z, COMM, LB, and MS.

Actually had a big day according to my P/L but it was actually luck. I made a couple of mistakes. I wanted to try another rising devil trade. I have tried it twice before, both times I was stopped out. In the PM, I liked SIX, even though Brian recommends the stock to be still weak into the open. So That was my first mistake, SIX was showing strength into the open. SIX did pop up at the open and bounced off a PM level of $31 just below the VWAP. So I shorted. My stop was just above VWAP, a 30 cent stop. But if it just popped 70 cents, a 30 cent stop is too small which was my next error. My third error is the number of shares I chose. My hot keys is by my stop not share size. I don’t have a 30 cent hot key. I have a 25c and a 35c. I decided to be aggressive and chose 25c. Then I shorted and I was not filled and did not see anything in my order window. I waited a couple of seconds and shorted again (my 4th error). Then both shorts were filled. So honestly I am at 3X too many shares now. I was thinking about covering some and then SIX dropped instantly 60c, where I took a partial. Then the price just sat for several seconds with no volume. While I was waiting I realized I still have way too many shares and I covered everything. Which was lucky since the stock immediately retraced back to my B/E.

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What did I do good today? Bailed on the trade because of too many shares.

What I am grateful from today? Lucky with the fills and the drop.

What I need to improve on? Need to try the rising devil with limit orders.

Edited by Rob C

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Friday 02/21/2020

I had a well-being score of 7.5/10 this morning.

I took 1 live trade this morning with DBX.

My watchlist: DBX, SFM, S, WORK, LTHM, and FSLR.

I had my eye on WORK and DBX heading into the open. Both were creating a PM level near the HOPM. Then DBX made a new high in PM and I went long (90 sec before the open) with 1/4 share size. DBX opened with huge volume and strength. 3 seconds after the open I saw a large ask 25 cents above current price. I went long and got a worse fill then expected (and I expected bad). So I was too far from my stop ($22.07) or I have 1.7 times the number of correct shares. But luckily the price immediately moved higher and I partialed back to correct share size.

I took a few more partials then exited when it created a descending triangle and broke through support.

 

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What did I do good today? Good use of L2 and reducing share size.

What I am grateful from today? Lucky with the good price action. It’s dangerous taking so close to the open.

What I need to improve on? Expect more of a slide at the open. Should have taken much less shares.

Have a good weekend!!

Edited by Rob C
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Monday 02/24/2020

I had a well-being score of 7/10 this morning.

I took 2 live trades this morning with MSFT and SPCE.

My watchlist: AMD, GILD, MSFT, AAPL, ROKU, and SPCE.

I was keeping my eye on MSFT in the PM. There was an interesting PM level at 168.62. When it broke down I went short with half shares since it was PM.

 image.png.c56c73988efc7de8e9cc83b0c38b4656.png

 

There was a nice spike down to 166.90 that I missed. It was way too fast. I glanced at L2 and glanced back and the move was over. I exited before the open for a small win.

 

 image.png.275517fc66f5ddb0ba10aaa4b1962b11.png

SPCE opened with no volume but I really like when the 200MA-1min can be used as a target. It seems to have this price pull in the first minute after the open. I went long with a stop at 29.50 (a price respected in PM). Shortly after theopen  price popped very quickly to my target. I like that I was fast enough to catch a partial there, but since it was my target I should have taken off more shares. I just felt it was going to go a lot higher. The price quickly fell and I was out at B/E.

 

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What did I do good today? Good use of PM levels and keeping share size small.

What I am grateful from today? Pretty lucky getting that fill on SPCE. Happy with my day.

 

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Tuesday 02/25/2020

I had a well-being score of 6.5/10 this morning.

I took 1 live trade this morning with MRNA

My watchlist: AMD, GILD, MRNA, LL, MU, and SHAK.

I liked GILD and MRNA in the PM. GILD made a big reverse hammer in PM, but was at PDC so didn’t show up in the gappers list. It looked like a good short and MRNA had a really strong PM level at 21.75 where I would go long. MRNA broke this level 2min before the open on high volume and I went long. Yeeks my fill was bad almost 2% above my entry point. I was looking to bail at B/E and then a L2 signal with a reasonably sized ask hit. Plus my R/R wasn’t too terrible at at 1.5 (target was 22.78) and since I took half shares my stop was now at 1R. My entry turned out to be a support level in PM and then we got a pop at the open and in just over a minute reached my target. Then all out at B/E. It then looked like a short, but I did not have shares to short.

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What did I do good today? Good use of PM levels and keeping share size small.

What I am grateful from today? Pretty lucky getting that pop at the open.

 

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