illegal Friday trading

 Here's exactly why I swore off trading on Fridays: Today I sat down for "one little trade" 🚩 and while I did get one little green trade, I then did my usual flotz and went in for more. No charts today, but AXP for nice opening gain (big spread, cut it WAYYY too short). AMD both ways to dig a pretty serious hole and back out of it. Closed the day down a smidge after a miraculous recovery, and it's 2:30 and I haven't started cooking. UGH!! Wasted my day and mental capital for no gains. 

hard work!

I was out this morning for the open, but I did market prep before I left. XOM pick of the day, got a great (but super small) entry on my phone. Played it super tight so I missed a lot, but it did make my day. Only regret that I wasn't home to trade it maximally from my desk.

LI was another premkt pick that was making a nice base when I got back to my desk. Ndh at lunchtime didn't launch, Scaled down with a partial stop and ate a big spread. Sat in it in pain for a while until it came back but was extremely hard work. I finally shaved off partials for ~+10% and a net 0% for the trade. 

TSLA had earnings last night so is on watch for intraday setups. Nice setup for a short, but only took 25% off at pltgt. The rest went to ~b/e stop for net +4% on the trade. 

This week has been a really great gainer, even with Tuesday's annoying losses. 

No trade Friday tomorrow.

early but it worked

MSFT earnings last night putting a big pull down on the market. Indexes back below key levels of the past 2 days. Strong bear bias this morning.

GOOGL gapping down strongly on MSFT cloud outlook. Below 2 day level and crossing back down some mas. I got in tooooo early! on the first down bar (come on! I can't wait even 60 seconds for the most minimal range to develop?). Added, also too soon, and was willing to give it the mas as a stop. When it rolled back down, I added one last time. I should probably call this a toxically lucky trade, esp because it really made my day. OTOH, the loss wouldn't have been out of range and the market was weak so shorts can have a little room. 

BA gap down, red against green, market dumping and this "should have" fallen apart. But I should know that BA shakes out everyone before turning for the move. The last line in the sand would be above yesterday bar, which would have been bull engulfing. Market weakness saved me. With the add, the net on this trade was +4%. ugh. It looks like the opening trade here was a long, and yes. But that's not my setup. I'm not great at picking bottoms. My better trade would have been to wait for the short to set up much better. Realistically, if I had waited until 9:40, I'm not sure I would have taken a short at all off that huge run up against a short setup. Again, only the market weakness saved the day.

Checking in later...BA back to day highs. 

I got lucky to close that short flat.

trading my pl vs trading the chart

PREMARKET THOUGHTS

I wonder if I've become too focused on my p&l, at the expense of good chart reading. 

I always want to take the pltgt, that's my bread and butter and it's part of my psychological strategy (as long as I heed it!!)

What I'm thinking about is maybe I've been setting orders for the back half based on option price and not stock price. Too scared of giving back that I miss a continued trend. Should I squeeze stops a little less tight? Should I take the back half off in 2 chunks instead of 1?

Am I losing confidence because of an inside day yesterday that I traded too aggressively and took a loss?

It is good to shed some of the confidence I build over a couple of stellar days. Stay humble!

AFTER MY TRADES 

This morning (ignoring how far I rode in the wrong direction) on GOOGL and BA I tried to use stock price levels more than p/l levels. Technique is to trail stop, but wait for the price triggers. Today it worked great. Not sure it's made for every market. 

got chopped on the inside day

The FIRST rule of inside days: don't expect followthrough. 

How many years have I been trading?

This morning on the open there was a wild market glitch. Lots of strange halts and weird action. Fortunately I didn't get caught in that. 

Then I took 1 "normal" loss and 1 C-game loss (0dte) and I'm calling it quits. Coulda' shoulda on the last one, which...  wtf, self!?!  0dte is poison. Also poison: not taking the pltgt bc I want so much more. 

Repeat: the pltgt is my bread and butter. I need to take that target every single time. Either I take the target with a limit order, or run a trailing stop behind it for more. But there should never be a time when I hit +20% and don't take it off for at least +15%. +20 should never go red.

And helloooooo....! I only turn to 0dte in the first place when I'm desperate 🚩. 

If I'm even looking at 0dte, I should shut down.

Ba BAM !!!

Very nice morning! 9:44 my last trade closed and I'm done. Take my money and go have a great day!

Started with SHOP calls, too early. Moved to AMD and got all my levels. Also reentered SHOP and it was a little tough but got pltgt then a squeezed stop. 

Market continues to surge, QQQ breaking 285 long term level. Some tough downtrend lines above.

As I write, market continues up so strongly without me. Regrets? Not really. I made terrific money today, with very little exposure. Everything is extended now, so no great entries and if I was still long I'd be sweating my gains. I do not regret taking MY piece.

Maybe some day, in the evolution of my trading, I will be more willing to give a runner a lot of room to go moon or bust. Right now that doesn't sit well with me. I'm hit and run!

Here's a great thought experiment about runners. I used the same trading techniques today on both SHOP and AMD (pltgt, then T1 and squeezing stop to trail). I missed a little more on SHOP but also spared myself the flush. On the other hand, I missed continuation on AMD. How could I know? 

My rules are based on my trading personality knowing that I'm ok with good gains and missing some upside, vs being exposed to one of those dumps. I'm zigs, no zags. When I give room, I feel like (no good data) I'm more likely to eat it than moon it. Zero complaints about the money I raked in today in 15 market minutes.

Peace!