-6% day. mechanical misjudgements. technically ok

 It was a "good" losing day. I held my stops and took my losses. Peace! esp later in the day I saw how much worse...Thats what stops are for.

If anything, I jumped into BABA so early that I didn't see it fill. I couldn't see it to sell it at a nice profit a minute later (as if I would have, but I didn't know how to manage it). Basically traded blind in that opening minute, which I don't like. The bright side, the first opening position was smaller bc it was potentially a chase.

I think I had good picks to day and played them pretty well. ROKU was the one that got away, for a short off highs, but it wasn't clear at the time that the market was going to puke. Or at least, maybe I could have seen that my breakout longs didn't run "right", but that's not enough evidence to short a heart attacker like ROKU.

Flat on volatile week. BA mistakes today

 The part of my trading I am trying to REALLY work on is avoiding the big damaging loses. I have a lot of thoughts on the topic, as this is my perpetual downfall and possibly THE single thing that stands in the way of my dreams.

Today BA was the only possible setup, and was not really my best setup. Still I dug around in it, both ways, ultimately giving away what little gains I had on the week. UGH!

Fakeouts, and I got burned.

 Fatal flaw. Giving losers too much room. Doesn't matter how good a trader I am if I blow it on oversized losers. Last bits are so close to zero, all I can do is hold overnight and hope I get a lotto win. $OSTK, $NIO.

Frustrating day, my own fault.

 A down day. Bigger than I would like, -12%. My own fault.
Starting with: I didn't get a good night's sleep last night. I showed up for work a bit late, and didn't bother to restart my (flaky old) computer. 

At the open, I missed the NFLX long bc my stinking computer, which was my juiciest play and would have paid so well. I stabbed at a few others, including jumping in tooooo late to NFLX. JD calls got me twice, including the second time when I didn't take the gain because it wasn't "enough" (UGH!!). The biggest loss, though, was BA calls. 

I should bring annotated charts of my losers, but I don't have the heart... another fault.

Why I love daytrading...

 Some people say daytrading is risky, but what I love is the short-term exposure. Make my money, lock my cash. PEACE!

Today near the open I traded BA long based on long term trendline breakout. I had a very nice trade for about 20% avg. Later in the day, I came to check on it, and bc some news it dropped out. My green move looks tiny in the rearview...

Losses recovered. +22% stellar day!

 Ahhh! Tremendous day! B"H

Past 2 days have been bigger losers than I want to have. I am happy to redeem myself today, but I still need a good method for preventing significant losing days. 
I don't like stopping to trade if I still have cash. I need a method to pause, though. Trigger to pause should probably be
If first 2 trades are losers, pause until setups come on the 5 min chart. 
Always stay clockwork.

BA - I know it does this, doesn't launch right away. I bought too early. Today this was a loooong term trendline breakout so I "trusted" it to go. I've been burned before (including yesterday), but today it worked even though the mkt simultaneously traded down.

BYND - Champion of the day! Continuation of yesterday. Jumped on the train because I know the personality of this stock is to runaway.

JKS - Daily is crazy overbought. I tried to short it several days ago, but today Tradenet called it so I tried again. Didn't rinse fast after my entry, and I chickened out for a small loss. It did bounce down from VWAP (47.14), but I didn't try again.

Struggled for flat, then breakdown for -7%

 Lots of volatility with upcoming elections (less than 1 month) and Trump with Covid in/out of hospital. Gap up day on mkt, with a move above a small resistance. Breakouts didn't sustain. Breakdowns didn't sustain. 

I wish I had grabbed more profits while I had them (bigger partials, tighter stops), but I thought it would be a runner day. Why? Do I think every day should be a runner day? What would have made this a compelling runner day?

Red day. Under control. -7% ouch.

A thought on the "up is down and down is up" phenomenon: let's say market gaps down, so people go for shorts, but then the market trades up. Shorts have to cover, sending big green moves into gap-down stocks. But the stocks with original relative strength don't have as much excitement for new longs, so no new buying in down mkt, just maybe some profit taking (selling).

Example today. Market big gap down. Open traded up. I waited well, but shorts (DAL, WYNN) didn't work, and moved higher and higher. Otoh long AAPL didn't work either.

I think I traded right today, except I didn't stop after 3 losers. Next week options. Good position sizing. 

Last AAPL calls (second try) still ride. I'm still hoping! Bracket is set.  (Update stopped for a loss as market plunged)

Need to go build a sukkah (quick! it's tonight!).

1 min, midday

5 min, near eod

up down up. +5%

First hits were up (STM, OSTK). Second hits were down (CAG, TSLA). Third hit made my day back (OSTK).

OSTK was really the star of the day, making and regaining most of my profits. 

I have not been upset to take these big losers. It's a bummer to go from up a few % green to down 1%. Today I came back again, but how will I behave on a day I don't come back again?
I MUST NOT DRIVE IT INTO THE GROUND!

Take my losses. Lick my wounds. And ALWAYS stick to clockwork. 

CAG - was on my gap up list, but gave it up fast for bear engulfing. Missed the short.

MRNA - Daily caught my eye for a reversal. I missed this one too.

OSTK - a lot to unpack today. Top pick of the day for daily pattern so tight, volume breakout today. My general technique is to chase these, but sometimes I get really burned. So this time I took half for starters and added to full when it surged again. So then where's my pl target? This paused immediately after my add so I got scared and adjusted for 20% on my starter vs on the full. The spreads were big so I had to shave into it, when it started perking up again, I added back and though it was tough to wait it out (as SPY dropped!), I did ok, including on that last sell which I was super bummed about... until I wasn't. It is now trading even lower.

STM - new ath on volume. Grabbed it. Took off less than half at the top, regretably, but still closed it green.

TSLA - Daily breakout of steepest downtrend line, but another one overhead. Bought shares in  swing account (to hold), but one call here disappointed.

I left money on the table, but still very satisfied

 I liked my picks and plays today. I liked my trade management. I love my gains (+14%). I left a lot on the table, but on the other hand, I felt well synced with action and like how I managed the trades, orders, spreads, etc. Very satisfying.

BABA Gap above pullback bottom. Enter on opening strength above premkt level. Add on continued strength. Then it pulled back and I got nervous. Lowered my first target. Then shaved on targets on the way up.

BLNK Gap above resistance on massive multiday strength. Enter on drop/recover 50ma and vwap. Big option spread, coulda shoulda taken more off at pl tgt #1 (greed, I took 3/10 vs 5/10). Then I missed T2 bc kid/school. Stop was fine, even though I missed the next leg. I don't want to be sitting scared in a trade. Better to capture gains and move on.

DKNG. Not really my setup. Took a stab bc everything so strong today, but I chased and then got scared so I just yanked it for minimal loss. Didn't try again bc it would still be chasing.

MRNA Gap above resistance. Opening bar flushed (not shown here) and recovered. I entered a small partial. Added on continued strength. Then it went bonkers and I shaved into it.

ZM. Tried to get cute here. Looking for it to give up daily support level/s after strong open. First try, glad to stop and super-glad not to be in for the ndh. Second try didn't flush like I wanted. Stopped for b/e.

Gained it then lost it.

Gained it then lost it... I could say the opposite about my recent weight loss... !<rimshot>

Nice opening gainer on AMD and BYND. Gave it all back (and more) to BIG and TSLA. SPY lotto put for tomorrow still open.

Having missed yesterday (Yom Kippur) where the daily chart crossed the level I was wanting, bought some QQQ in my kids' accounts for long term.