Fast Friday

Do I dare to trade on a Friday? Only if I'm willing to trade small, and with tight stops.

Today's trade is precarious, will the market hold onto the highs of yesterday's extreme run up, in context of a downtrend, and below the 5dma?! In the sense that the mkt was way oversold, maybe. In the sense that some levels need to be retested, maybe not.

Rule of the day, don't give room! Do it right away or get the blast out.

SQ paid out of the gate. Ran through my 20% pl target before I even got the order in so BH I grabbed even more. Tried it again later for vwap bounce, that didn't work.

UPST was on gap screener, but I don't see the gap on the chart. Maybe this is a function of a stock that trades such huge ranges, a 2% gap is barely visible. $STUDY. Consider if I need a bigger gap on a bigger ranging stock. Stock is spready, option is spready. Can't give room! Tried the long above VWAP but it failed and I bailed! Reversed for short and (greed!!) aimed for 40% pl, which I got (39% counts bc trading increments). Then it didn't follow through and spread widened to almost $2 on a $5 option so I had to get what I could with a market order (while watching lvl2). Lucky I hit +/- mid and did ok. [Update, thinking about this more later in the day, when I see that it's run back up, this could be another case of a "pull back more than I think" it should.]

And then get out of here! Opening setups are played out, I got my piece--today with a great deal of "luck"--and I'm shutting it down.

+13% week. I wish for 20%+, but won't knock this at all. Won't get rich quick, but might get rich slow.

illusions of grandeur

Today the market opened with a ~3% gap below the previous interim pivot. Premkt I felt a panic about LT accounts. Put in stops, and approached my trading account with a ton of caution. Trade tiny, if at all.

Ignored the gap scanners and went to the straight volume scanner. 
TSM gap down right to long term level and flushed on open. Following the flush, a run up "higher than expected"... learning my lesson from the past several days. Then I shorted against a level. Took that first p/l target despite illusions of grandeur. Stopped where I should (...despite illusions of grandeur). Peace, and also looking back later was very right to do. 

MRNA strong on weak day. Very big spread on options as usual (so why even try??). Need to try to preempt and need to take those targets. Started with preemptive call. Tight stop. Failed. Tried puts for intraday steep trendline break. Failed, but hung in to my stop while simultaneously starting a new long position. Took the p/l target bc esp here, take those gift horses. 

Loved the ongoing runup and held illusions of grandeur. but on that top tail I had to either tighten up or go for the ride. Today is no day to go for a ride, and MRNA is no stock to ride a zag. Was at first disappointed to stop (classic emotion). Later, glad. Tight stop is the right stop.

Pleased with my decisions today. +11% on account. Peace.

EOD update. Holy cow!

Lizard brain trader (LT)

(see also previous post, use the brain)
Saga of the lizard brain trader (long term account edition). Morning update on today's freakout gap down open. Decided on stops premkt and placed them. Down open traded almost immediately up. I'm not sure this is capitulation if the panic flush happened overnight. Meanwhile, my head is more clear. I will reevaluate my stops now that I'm more rational.

OMG!! Lizard brain end of day update

Was today the capitulation day? On Jan 24 I did not feel fear. Today, definite lizard fear. Equally important pivot is in. A definite lower low, but an unmistakable pivot.

use the brain (LT inv)

(see also next post, Lizard brain trader)
Premarket, SPY down almost 3% premkt, breaking strong through pivot low from January. What a freaking mess. I'm a daytrader, but I also have friends, family, self with long term accounts. Absolutely everything is dropping out.

I'm psyching myself out now. Lack of composure. On one hand, dump! On the other hand, red dog reversal?. On the other hand, does this feel like capitulation (no)? Otoh, I thought I was going to hold "forever". Otoh really?, absolutely no line in the sand? Otoh, if I sell here and it bounces, I can always buy back; if I don't sell here, am I willing to see where it goes? Dumb money will panic here? Russia invaded Ukraine / geopolitical uncertainty. Inflation. ... 

I've been doing this forever. Why am I indecisive here? Why is this not clear to me? Why did I wait so long? Why can't I engage my rational brain and make a decision?

Market could open down 3%. Could it go down 5%? Sure. Could it go down more? Yes. Would that be the capitulation flush to buy? ...eh...  Brain says "just sell. stop the pain." Another part of the brain says set a stop somewhere... why didn't I set a stop further above?...why didn't I hold onto those puts?... am I panicking? Is this capitulation? Am I too experienced to feel capitulation, or do I have the same lizard-brain as everyone else?

Let's pull this s#!t together before the open. I feel fear/panic. That means I need to sell some to ease up on my emotions. Don't try to micromanage... just put in the order and don't look back for a while. I've already missed the point of "optimization." Now I'm just part of the herd.

oy this market

Sad for long term holders. This market is utter pain for longs.

I got DDOG short. Needed a better entry for more gains here. This is new pattern I'm noticing... the shorts run MUCH higher than I think before reversing. OR they drop out too fast to catch. Maybe I need smaller positions and then adds. Or stop and try again.

MOS. Really, the one stock that went up today?

SPY, right idea wrong time. Was already oversold. After the *bigger than expected bounce, the thing fell apart. 

Red day.

literally flat day

I think I'm up 20 cents today. 

M juicy box, but I preempted the play and didn't even time it right. I deserved that loss, which provided the "loss to overcome" of the day.

SQ... I mean... hm. I like the setup, I like how I waited. I don't love how much room I gave it. I was within loss tolerances, but sure didn't feel good up there. Got lucky on the fade side. At a certain point I couldn't hold the risk anymore bc sometimes those snap back hard. So, this trade countered M. Peace.

BABA looked like a great setup. In retrospect tightening my stop after the push below vwap was too tight, but also that can go either way.

So, just one of those flat days.