yesterday losses

Yesterday was a frustrating narrow range day on the market. No followthrough on anything. I took an opening loss on UPST puts and packed it in. I think this is a good strategy for me. If the first trade is a loss, maybe just call it quits instead of hacking? Yesterday that was the "win"... to not hack on a no-ft day.

spreads and fomo

NKE short was the trade of the day. One minute failure pattern I see over and over again. The spreads were wide, so I had to take targets. It also made me trade too scared, but by "not wanting to give back", I tightened the stop too much / somewhat illogically and missed more. 

Lesson would be to take the ask when I can, and not wait to go out on the bid/stop. I still would have left a LOT on the table, but would have captured somewhat more. BUT, still need to have that protective stop (in the right place).

All wrong today

 Max loss day today. 

What went wrong?

One real problem is BIDU went against me so fast I didn't finish to get my stop in. And then I thought I was going to wait for a new pivot. Too cute, should have done it with a market order.

My read was wrong in general.

Revenge cut my gains

I overtraded on NIO. 

But first, RBLX very textbook trade. Nice gap above level on a strong market day, but also extended and near resistance. Entered above the opening range and scaled out

Then NIO. Market seemed to be weakening at resistance. NIO failed hard at resistance. I ate a short, but reversed long for a win. Did I call it quits? 

Didn't call it quits, and this is one of my weaknesses to pay attention to... revenge trading. I lost on the short and then I wanted to make it back and more. The second NIO trade (calls) was rational. The second try at puts was just silly. I had a great day. Take it and go. Another loss made me want to trade again. So I went for calls again but NIO couldn't (and still can't, as I write) make it over resistance. 

STUDY: What do I notice about my tendency to revenge trade and what can I do to fence it out? Here's questions to ask myself (and also I've asked myself enough times that I know the answers, so I need to keep enforcing the behavioral change)... 

Has the setup played out? Then walk away. 

Am I good at taking new trades in the second phase of the open? Maybe just walk away after 9:50. 

If I need(?!) to trade the second phase, what are my best setups? 

Wouldn't I rather have cash for later than keep stabbing at a dead trade?

Do I tend to do this more on Fridays when I'm trying to have tighter tolerances?

Markets rounding a (interim?) bottom

is this my setup?

On the 1 min, this is absolutely my setup. On the daily? It's an inside day. On an inside day, I shouldn't assume there will be follow through. 

I like this trade. Trading buddy questions me, is this really my setup I have complained about inside day trades before. Do I allow myself to trade inside day setups? Need to analyze my trade data (in progress) to determine if this is at large a profitable setup for me. 

Today it worked. Hit and done.

bullish engulfing day

Premarket (starting down over 1%), I noticed all my gaps down were still above support. No real breakdowns. I watched for some to pull up, then maybe set up for a real breakdown. 

Tried AMZN (was not on my initial list) bc the box was so distinct. When it bounced off vwap I thought to myself, this might be a good long. Wow, it would have been!

I didn't want to go too big into any longs, so I grabbed a SPY lotto to try to participate. Amazing run up and got my account nicely green, but the position size was about 1/10th of the AMZN size so it wasn't a big $ gainer, even if it was a huge % gainer. The definition of lotto.

So, a green day, but how was my behavior? 

I did take a few paper trades this morning before the AMZN. I like that for myself, when I don't have any real setups to just paper trade. What made me jump into AMZN then? Well, greed for sure. Also bc the box was so distinct. But mostly greed and probably impulse(!). Check my greed and impulse control going forward!

wait and try again

Remains to be seen if wait/retry is a good technique for me, but today UPST was my favorite setup. At first, it was the only one I watched that didn't explode up at ~9:35 with the market, so I raised my stop.

Market full bull open so I tried again, early but market still launching, and I had a nervous few bars to sit through until it finally launched. Didn't take pl target bc I'm working on trading by targets on the stock price. This time it worked out great!

recordkeeping

 I have gotten out of the habit of proper recordkeeping. I have become discouraged with the market and moreso with my trading. Lots of knicks and cuts. One bigger one. Some wins, but a lot of toxic thinking. 

This week, tighten up. Smaller size (I also moved some money out). Book smaller wins. Turn the ship. 

Going into summer: vacation, H oral surgery, new programming. I am resolved to a smaller summer anyway. 

Look for my best setups, analyze trades I took and ones I passed on. Take this scale down time to make the next scale up even better.

NMS and other fails

 I don't have great setups in this market and I keep forcing other things (for losses, ofc). Ugh. I also have missed.my setup a few times bc I didn't trust it.

This is standard rookie trader stuff. Really bad behavior. And I'm paying the price. 

I'm moving half my account out, and next week I paper trade.  I need to cool it. Stick to the script.

Today a loser in ROKU for literally no good reason.  I never should have been in it bc inside day... Something I just discussed with G.

no chill!

 This market has no chill! It's just dropping and dropping! The recent major drops have been 10% in a matter of days. I hope we find a level soon for the sake of my long term acct. I don't want to see more red, and I am ready to deploy when the mkt turns. 

However, the talk these days is inflation, recession, food supply chain problems, oil prices, war in Ukraine. It's a pretty big "wall of worry". New forecasting is 2 years to cycle back. 

Anywhooo, I caught 2 trades today for a pretty nice day. Do I need to work on my exits/staying in longer? Not yet! Now I need to keep harvesting the low hanging fruit. Strengthening my self discipline. Tracking trades and analysis. Scaling up and holding longer is the next level when I am wiser.

Whipsaw action

Today I kept it really scalpy. Took everything off for pltgt on 2 trades and PEACE!  This seems to be what the market is giving, aside from whippy volatility.

COIN and ROKU short in the opening flush. One minute chart of each shown. 

Market dump

 The market has had 3 really strong down days. I have not capitalized well. A losing trade each day. The volatility is hard for me. I want to make "more" but I think I should go back to a 10% pl target on _even smaller_ positions. Or hey...how about paper trading. Feeling kind of frustrated and discouraged.

no trade day

 WHAT!?!! An actual no trade day. I think my new trading buddy is having a good influence on me. He gives a vibe of no trade = no problem. Especially as the market chops in this box, I'm becoming less inclined to stab around. Keep my powder dry for the move!

Here's the ones I passed on today:

DOCU textbook setup, gapping above a box. Coincidentally, also above the 50ma. Option is too spready. No trade. Hindsight: it didn't move enough to pay.

ROKU also a nice setup, but I have a saying: ROKU eats its young.... "They"(marketmaker?) seem to run out the stops and reverse. My normal techniques usually get me burned there. So I usually avoid. Hindsight: it moved like a monster, but chopped enough that I maybe couldn't have handled it.

INTC short (ran without an entry on the open)
WDC long (didn't set up for an entry)
ZIM short (option too thin, also ran without an entry on the open).

Range box

 The market has been trading several days in this frustrating box.

Everything is grinding.

Today I lost in WMT. Valid setup. Didn't play out. 

indeterminate

Today's open seems bearish. No great setups again. Do I have to trade today? Can I stop myself? Maybe this is my remaining major weakness... No great setups in the morning, why not spare myself the grief and walk away. Barring that, keep it extra picky -- I'm already not being picky by being here, hm! -- extra small, one "best pick" and get what I get. Examine why I would even try!

MU is an eh' setup on the daily. Nice gap down, but just into the middle of a traffic zone. Don't expect followthrough.

I waited out the opening move. It failed vwap and I shorted. But it didn't followthrough (see previous paragraph). 

Picks I did not take: AAPL, NVAX.

Market chop this morning seems as confusing as yesterday's chop. There is nothing more for me to do here. 

This weekend is Shavuot. Chag sameach. Back on Tuesday.

full bull, I missed it

I missed the trade today. Chop open. RIVN didn't pay. Nothing else seemed clear. I watched for a while, and all my paper trades were wrong so I was glad. A little after 10, the market caught a bid and didn't look back all day. Looks like a bullish engulfing on the daily, but very low volume. 

RIVN short on the open. It RIPPED against me. I only had a minute to be annoyed until I was just really glad. It rocketed up all day. Tight stop is the right stop.

love how I traded today

I love how I traded today. I did a little more than my usual premkt prep. Can't go wrong with prep. 

I think most credit goes to trading like clockwork. Reasonable sizing (I'm pretty good at this), using stops (I'm good at this too), taking reasonable profits... that's my challenge. Especially with wider spreads. I need to be satisfied with "good" gains with a limit order--esp on a partial--than eating a wide spread on a stop. Peace!

I like how I read APPS. I might have thought it was a short, but I also saw that premkt it stabbed way below the support and recovered quickly to open just at/above support. Waited for a nice long setup, then grabbed what it gave. 

LAC one of my favorite setups, gap below trendline. I noticed after I was in that I had the monthly option (let's be real, it happens). It traded slow and also opened a spread. I took an early target and then when it just whimpered down after that I squeezed the stop way down. It did go lower later, but I don't regret getting my piece and having PEACE!

CRM was the setup of the day. All eyes on it today. Huge earnings gap up above the low box, but right into some overhead levels. Waited for it to stabilize, then grabbed. And didn't mess around. I had a target of 184, which it did eventually hit, but I was not willing to give back good (not great, but solidly good) gains. so I stopped it tight. 

$STUDY is this a cowardly move, to take profits before target bc I can't stand the volatility? hm. In a certain way, yes. But if I'm going to take small positions I need to get what I can grab. If I scale up some day (when?), maybe I would elect to leave a tiny runner on. But only if it was a very small (10%?) proportion of my original position... after locking good gains. Just for icing on the cake. 

get what I get

No pressing today. I noticed I had been pressuring myself to hit a daily target. I was pressing too much and was starting to "hope". There shouldn't be any hope in my trading. Just like there shouldn't be despair. I should trade the now, what's in front of me, on valid patterns. Take my p/l targets. Trail my stops. Don't get too cute.

So today, a very clockwork day. The market was opening slightly down/inside Friday's strong up day. Relevant gappers up were gapping into resistance, and those mostly China names. No great gaps down.

First I shorted BABA on failing at resistance. Other China names in tandem. Didn't fill at target, so I yanked the partial it at the tightest stop. Tried BABA again with another setup, on a tight leash.

AAPL short, similar setup, failing at resistance. I hesitated at the best setup at 9:33 because there was a strong premarket level slightly below. Shorted the break of that level. No target, but I was able to move my stop down and that's where it ended.

SPY calls. 0DTE. Oh how I love this trade. I need to hesitate before taking this trade. Am I bottom/top fishing? I'm not good at that. I need a better setup. Today I was trying to catch the bottom. On the 1 min there was an igniting bar. I did wait for the pb and new pivot high after that, so I'm ok with the setup I took. But it failed at VWAP and I cut it. Although I spared myself riding to the new low, in retrospect (of course!) I should hesitate on that trade when below vwap.

Bottom line, nice green day. Very sane. Very clockwork. Done by 10:11. 

Small risk day

Came in with one last COIN call from yesterday. It's now way itm, with crazy spread and zero volume. Can't mess around. Took a limit order where I could, left a lot on the table but it was not liquid and had to take a decent target.

Again today, setups kind of rough. Took DELL and PDD puts on fade of gap-into-resistance. Both had big spreads, I took about 1/4 my usual size. Took targets. Zigs no zags. 9:45 done for the day with a decent green day and all my sanity in tact. Got my piece. Peace!

shifting tide

Yesterday, the market felt different... buillish, maybe? It's hard to remember what bullish feels like ;). 

Today was a followthrough day for price, but it wasn't a dramatic day. More of a melt-up of shorts covering. Was not a big volume day. Fthrough day wasn't entirely clear at the open. 

My best setups were bearish, and so I did my thing: short when the buyers get exhausted. In retrospect it seems clear what went wrong/right, but at the open it was not yet clear (to me!). 

AAPL looked like it could break down. It dumped into the open. I shorted initial strength. Stopped out for a C trade (straight into the red). Thursday stops can hurt.

SNOW was my pick of the day. Big gap down on volume. I waited for the bounce, then shorted. It formed a pattern that ... obvious now... I should have stopped much sooner, but my mind said "don't stop out on the spike."...that advice is not good for me. I'm going to call it a D trade bc it was outsized loss. At least I refrained from tilting. I took that stop, regrettably higher, but good thing I did get out because what started as a 11% gap down, traded full bull into the green for the next 3 hours with no decent outs.

When I [finally] admitted to myself that the market was full bull, I went for COIN long (in retrospect, nms, maybe why it tormented me). Opened with a starter then added. Spread was wide (why do I do this to myself?), and I didn't take the out at 10:25/30. So I rode it flat for unbearably long. Finally got out when it moved again. 

Today was a good reminder that Thursday (and Friday!) burn both ways. Winners and losers are amplified. Most of all, if I keep the losses small-ish, it is easy to overcome them with winners.

Green day.

14 day win streak broken

 Losing day today, to end my streak of 14 consecutive winning days. 

I traded like clockwork. I like all my picks. I like how I managed them. But I didn't make money. Three C+ trades (normal loser, but not max loss). Peace.

Another inside market open. Waiting for fed minutes. Wait for trades, then take quickies.

No great setups on screeners. I think all this together, maybe I should have aimed for 10% pl today. It would have helped me somewhat. Hindsight.

fast_options!

Yesterday was hard money. Today was easy money!!

2 great picks that played out for A trades right away. 9:43am and I'm not going to take any more risk today! I have plenty of cash, and it might turn out to be a fomo day, but I also have a lot to do away from my desk. I got my piece today easy and I'm walking away happy! 

hard work

Trading was hard work today! I know that sounds funny, but they do say "trading is the hardest way to make easy money."

XPEV was a beautiful candidate today. Gap down, below levels, on earnings. But it didn't puke, and the spread made it hard to get paid. I basically broke even for all the stress.

NVDA was a short candidate, but when the initial short failed, I grabbed a quick long. The second short did ok. 

SPY today expirations icing on the cake again today.

Late morning moves

Past few days, seems like the market struggles and chops for an exceedingly long time at the open before it finally makes its move. 

Today I hacked in LI and ROST before SPY finally did the job. 

At a point where I thought to double down on ROST, I had the decent sense to remind myself not to go bigger in something that's not working...go find something that is working. 

Another really clear lesson especially of the last few days: keep the losses small, so they're not hard to redeem with winners.

the ugly

Thursday is usually my favorite trading day. But today was tough. I wonder if I should be more wary of Thursday before monthly options expiration, and/or market participants trying to keep everything in a range after yesterday's huge drop.

I eeked out a green day. The good: very small positions. The bad: I overtraded and mostly just chopped around esp in the opening volatility. 

Also the market chopped frustratingly.

Learn: After I made 2 losing tries in the opening minutes, I should have either walked away, or just sat tight for different kinds of entries. 

Ended up trading QQQ both long and short over lunch to make back what I lost on BABA, AMD, FB. 

Another way to know I overtraded? So many trades, and ending so late in the day (1:20!) that I don't want to annotate charts. Picture this... chop/loss/try again/loss/chop/small winner/big winner... mentally exhausted trader.

I think I sit out tomorrow and let the mental crazies wind down.

Phew!

Made a big recovery today. Was down within a whisper of max loss, but closed up nicely. Thanks, again, to bollinger bands for helping me stay in a trade that's working.

A few minutes later, as I write this, the absolute dump happened without me. Did I trade it too tight bc I wanted to stay green? Probably. No regrets about that. It's after 11:30 already. I was in these longer than I like to be, went through some pain first and not going back to the red! 

I respected my levels. Ignoring levels is usually a recipe for disaster. Heard something wise: Have to only trade the now. Can't trade the past. Can't trade the future. Can only trade what is going on right now.

Did I trade the past by squeezing down to preserve gains? Maybe. But the way I look at it is at first, the stocks didn't immediately do what I thought would happen. So if it's not entirely behaving according to patterns, why should I give too much leeway?

Also the market is down 2-3%... why would I assume it would go lower vs bounce? Didn't want to sit with the risk any longer.

eating spreads

Market gap up today, day 3 (reversal bottom, follow through, gap). Based on the patterns into the screeners, even the strongest gaps up are into resistance, or not even overcoming resistance. Trade of the day may be short initial strength.

First trade was BABA calls. A few days ago it broke down the trendline then came back in. I think it might test the resistance downtrend and there is room there for calls. I got in late, and didn't wait around. Loss #1 (C trade). Then I started seeing gappers failing. Reversed to puts, but the first try didn't work (C). Second try I took off highs and got a B trade.

NVDA was also on my list to fall apart on this "up is down" day. I passed on the puts after the second high--though that has been a winning setup lately in general. Finally got in too late and ate the spread there. Second try was the win (B+).

Market volatility continues to be tough, and I'm adjusting by trading smaller. Trading smaller helps me take multiple trys on an idea, while cutting losses small. Of course I love a good A++ day! But B days also pay the bills.

Zigs no zags.

MOCO and DC area traders!  Bring your trading buddies and join us on Tuesdays. This is a friendly professional networking group for individual daytraders. https://meetup.com/potomac-daytraders-network/

inside day

Inside market day today. We've had a multiday/week selloff and a pivot+ft last week. This morning, inside. A pause day? Even so, day ranges are big enough to trade... carefully.

AAPL premkt and opening weakness. Hated it that the bar that stopped me then immediately dropped out. The next few minutes it whipped wildly and I'm happy to avoid that. Even on the 9:45 drop, didn't get to my target. Simultaneously the market and chips (AMD, NVDA) bouncing hard. Have to cut losses and move on.

NFLX is practically unredeemable on daily. Retested high and then puked. I held for an uncomfortable bounce and sort of regretted it. When the next leg stalled, I cut out. Peace. 

MOCO and DC area traders!  Bring your trading buddies and join us on Tuesdays. This is a friendly professional networking group for individual daytraders. https://meetup.com/potomac-daytraders-network/