Skin of the teeth

I opened today with a big loss. From oversized trading. And then I recovered for a +1% account day.

On one hand, I learned that if I keep my cool and keep using clockwork, I can recover. I still have to take that first target. I still have to skim along the way. One single trade will not magically save my day, but smart incremental trading can give me a comeback.

I also learned that maybe I can start trading a little bigger. ...or maybe I should stay in my comfort zone.

I was 5 for 5 green days this week. Extraordinary gains this week. BH.

Maybe charts later, but it's winter Friday so, I have to rush off.

Trying a new p/l technique

I think I'm pretty successful at getting my 20% p/l target most of the time.
"I think"?
Ya, no good data on this.
But it does seem like, on the trades that go well enough to get 20%, there is often even more there. 

As long as I'm also manually trailing a stop for worst case, I'm trying also to set a t-stop on the tgt order. Instead of a limit order I'm trying:
If the bid goes to [+20%] sell on 0.05-.10 t-stop. So, maybe I'll start getting more than 20% on my first target? 

I'm also considering, instead of 1/2 off at pl tgt, do 1/4 - 1/3 at 20% pl, then another notch at 30-50%, and then let it run on a manually trailed stop.

Today I mostly finessed it and I did pretty well on my gut. I actually LOVE how I traded today. Felt effortless. B"H!

Afternoon profits

I was right to be scared today. It was nuts again! Connection problems, trade execution problems, market volatility!!

I tried TSLA in the morning. Got a late entry, and then I had problems with the closing order. I was worried that a contingent order wouldn't work right, so I tried a bracket order. The stop triggered and the order disappeared, but the put didn't close. WTF?! So then I tried to enter a regular order, but the system wouldn't take orders (this is one of the connectivity problems I've been seeing). Finally, I managed to get a market order in to just close it. Regretted that at first bc it dipped back down, but OMG was I glad after 10:20 when it ran up! No reason to try to trade that or anything else bc fear of the brokerage problems.

Meanwhile, GME was on a totally siiiiick run up, then all the way down. I was captivated by the drama all around it, and had some crazy puts in the swing account that I managed to get out of with my life in tact for a pretty solid gain. (not shown here bc other account).

Later in the afternoon it seemed like it all calmed down and I tried a few tentative trades. Made back what I lost on TSLA and then FB paid the rent, baby! Strange feeling to trade the pm session but "zeh mah yesh" right now. B"H I got what I got today. 

scared!!

I'm literally scared to trade today. Not just because of crazy nutso market volatility, but also because of what the brokerages are doing to try to slow it, and most of all because of the outages!

Wednesday - 6 days to recover

(didn't finish writing and posting unfinished...)
Today, 6 trading days later, I finally recovered from the huge loss I made last Monday. While it is encouraging to know I can recover, I don't want to be having losers that big. It is too destructive to lose all that ground. 

Again today, 3rd day in a row, Schwab (and other brokers, I'm told) couldn't handle the open. I alternately couldn't log in, couldn't place trades, couldn't transfer money. In today's case, I was simply sidelined for the opening ~30 minutes. Monday, I was able to enter an opening trade but not close it (happened to be extremely profitable, but also could have sliced the other way). Yesterday the problems were later in the morning when I was finishing up. Outrageous!

Market/Internet can't handle the open?

Another horrible day. Everything on downdetector. The market can't handle the open??

9:42 am:

10:08 update

I was able to get in a few minutes ago, and apparently so was everyone else. This is the pattern I've seen when that happens, strong buying!:

The downs and the ups

I opened with 2 big losses this morning, on PLUG and the front part of DKNG. Then OSTK came along and saved the day massively.

Some market connectivity problems this morning, but mostly as I was finishing my trades, not on the open. Apparently affected Google, Zoom, etc. What's going on with this world? Do I need to be bracing for something? Hold more cash? Go withdraw actual cash in case electronic transactions stop working?

Annotating charts, a few hours later, my trading looks sloppy. I feel like part of it is slippage on my orders Time slippage? like I ordered at 9:31 but it's reported at 9:32? maybe I got a worse price fill, too? Can I correct that with limit orders? I feel like I'll just miss the boat. Because ultimately, I'm not trading with sensitivity to the penny. I just want in. I just want to get the meat of a move, and I feel like I can mostly do that with market orders. Am I leaving some on the table? Probably. Am I getting my piece? Yes. 

Keeping an eye on DownDetector

Today SSE/Schwab platform got crappy at 10:10. I will be checking/reporting to downdetector. Current status:

and later in the day...

Profiting on platform crash

Seems more and more common that on wild market opens, my platform crashes. I should call Schwab about this, but I don't think it's specific to Schwab. (called. they offered to help me file a dispute. no substantive answer to platform problem). Looking into it more, Trading Fraternity was saying 7 different brokers were on downdetector this morning. Can our stock market actually not handle hot electronic trading volume?

I managed to get in an order to buy/market PLTR calls, but then I couldn't get in my sell orders. Panic!! but it paid big. By the time I could trade it, I got off 1/3 for +142%, and other exits on the way back down, including the last piece off on a bounce for +11%. What a wild trade! Another reason not to take a position bigger than I could afford to lose in entirety, bc actually I could!!

Also today, at about 10:50, the market sold off HARD! I was glad to be mostly out by then. Important to have those stops in.