Monday Trade Review 3/31/2008

Very sick - first look at market - going back to bed.

Friday Trade Review 3/28/2008

Other than shorting the ags late in the day, none of my ideas had any follow thru at all. And when I tried to short MOS, I picked the wrong time. I did get to watch many others make a ton of money there.
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I tried a couple of YM trades and I got no where either. With he Dow Jones going down 50 then up 30, then down 50 then up 30 and on and on and on. I just do not function well at all.
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The only good things on days like today, I know to play lite and I did not get hurt. In fact, I made 40 cents an hour for a day's total of $3. Time to hit the value menu at Mc Donald's.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross +4 net -2 shares 1200
Stock Futures: gross +15 net +5 contracts 4
Forex: none

Thursday Trade Review 3/27/2008

Lot of mistakes today for me. If a trade does not look like it is going to go in my favor or it just sits there, I get out. I usually wait 5 to 10 minutes. In the past, most days that works well. Today it sucked big time. Three trades would have gone a lot in my favor if I only waited a couple of more minutes. On top of that, when a trade is not going my way but has not hit my stop, if it rallies a little in my favor I get out sometimes figuring I save a little money. That did not work for me today either. I hate these days when a little more patience could have turn a small day into a pretty good day.
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This market this week was been never hard to trade compared to last week. I see a lot of traders bitching about it. I have things to do and like I said yesterday, my wife is really ill.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross -76 net -90 shares 2800
Stock Futures: gross +20 net +10 contracts 4
Other Futures: none (I wonder if I should continue to put this here or not - it has been a long while for these)
Forex: none

Wednesday Trade Review 3/26/2008

I can't seem to get things done. The wife is sick and my throat hurts now so this will be brief.
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The market was messy and I could not find the right stocks at the right time to be in. So...
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross +38 net +23 shares 3000
Stock Futures: gross +20 net +15 contracts 2
Other Futures: none
Forex: none
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I do not understand but this fall/winter/spring - me and my wife have been sick more often than I can remember. She also tells me people at her office have been very sick too.
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I am going to bed early.

Wednesday Midday Thoughts 3/26/2008

This is a really sucky trading day for my way of trading. I am up $23 in stocks and $15 in futures. I have a doctors appointment this afternoon and a bunch of things to do after. My results may not be posted until very late or tomorrow.

Tuesday Trade Review 3/25/2008

The market sucked today. By that I mean for the way I trade. I had a lot of other events that just made it hard to focus. My wife had to go to a class at work. She needed to get up a lot earlier. In fact, she had to get up 90 minutes earlier. She told me to sleep and she would wake me at the right time. She gets up and decides to unload the dishwasher at 6 in the morning. Who is Gods name does that at 6 in the morning. In the process she makes enough noise to wake the dead. She came upstairs and asked why I was awake so early. ERRRRRRR.
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Like I said above, this was not a good day for my method. I added to my problems by buying when I meant to close out a long position that was quickly going against me. Later in the day, I chased after a stock that was no where near a good setup. These two mistakes alone cost me $130 which would have meant I had a break even day in a bad trading market. Most of my trades, I was a little late to and again I did not let one run.
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I just sucked.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross -104 net -122 shares 3200
Stock Futures: gross +10 net +5 contracts 2
Other Futures: none
Forex: none

Tuesday Big Mouth Stock 3/24/2008

You had a shot at making money of this one.

Monday Trade Review 3/24/2008

Both charts are of AKS - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I tried going long this morning. In fact before the trade on the chart, I made one attempt to go long before that trade. I followed my play and got out on the fast retreat the stock had. I wish it had a little more of a gain before it retreated. I might have held it longer. I got out with a small gain.

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The second chart is my short trade. I was waiting for short opportunities in the afternoon. I saw the setup in AKS at 54.10 but failed to act fast enough. I had a bunch of opportunities in front of me but did not do anything. I then saw the next short setup at 53.75 and got filled at 53.70. I did not like how fast AKS rebounded so I covered instead of adding to the position. I pick the top of the move back only to watch AKS sink close to 53.00 soon after.

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The sad thing is if I took my first shot at the short. I would have had a good day (and break my daily profit goal) - instead I had a breakeven day and feel stupid. To add to take, I had another trade I cut short that could have turned out a lot better.

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The numbers:

Stocks: gross +20 net +8 shares +2400

Stock futures: none

Other Futures: none

Forex: none

Monday Big Mouth Stocks 3/24/2008

A non-starter today.

Thursday Trade Review 3/20/2008

I made 9 trades today and only one really worked. The one that worked is the chart above and I did not stay in the trade long enough. Most of my other trades were just stupid. I was attempting to buy intra day trend break outs or break downs and there was no follow threw. I guess looking at the trades there was one other that some what followed threw but I cut that off for a 12 cent gain when it ran 50 cents.
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Right away lunch, I made a stupid trade which I mean picked a bad setup. Usually after I screw up the first time, I take a break; instead today I decided to add to my mistakes with a couple of more idiot ideas. I felt into the red for the day and decided to work on my honeydew list.
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The only saving grace to this is I had a very bad undisciplined day and only lost $10.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross +19 net -10 shares 5600
Stock Futures: none
Other Futures: none
Forex: none

Thursday Big Mouth Stock 3/20/2008

I was good, one was bad and one was even.

Wednesday idiot trade review 3/18/2008

I made 8 trades today. Three of them showed great follow threw. Five did not. One trade that I had the orders places but things did not happen the way I expected and I pulled them. The details of trade plan are on the chart. It would have followed threw. So each of the trades I did not hold on to would have gone +$400 in my favor. My goal is just to make $400 a day. For the last four five days, I have had 1 to 3 of these trades each day. I could be in hog heaven making the money I always dreamed of. Instead, I have a string of $100 plus days. Better than loses but not paying the bills.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross +136 net +114 shares 2800
Stock Futures: none
Other Futures: none
Forex: none

Wednesday Big Mouth Stock 3/18/2008

This one was a great one. Why I did not try it ? I have no idea and I should be shot.

Wednesday Morning Thoughts 3/19/2008

This market has been exhausting. I do not do that many trades but scanning threw everything looking for setups and not knowing when the next news event will send the market up or down a 100 or 200 points. It became sickening that every time Gas-man would come on, the market would rally regardless of the crap that came out his mouth.
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This market is also frustrating because there is so many good ideas on both the long and short side of the markets, my brain does not think of things fast enough to make winning trades. Most of my trades have been in the Steels lately but during the last 3 days there have been great trades to be in like the banks, brokers and homebuilders. I find out about most of them after the makerts have closed even thou people in the chat rooms are pointing them out. My brain can only process so much.

Tuesday Trade Review 3/18/2008

I am frustrated with my trading. Before you jump all over me, I am now frustrated from leaving too much money on the table instead of being frustrated for not taking trades. The chart above is of MT. I had the opportunity to make 500 or more and only took 100.
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There was a lot of craziness today. I saw a stock RIO at 32.74 and I placed a short order in. The market was bouncing around fast but this stock trades a lot of shares with a penny spread. I got filled at 32.68. In minutes, I was up a 100 and placed a stop at 32.60. I saw on my screen quotes first pop up to 32.58 then back down to 32.54. Next my shares disappeared. I guess my quotes where about 4 to 6 cents off of the action. Not good to trade that way.
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I still need to be more aggressive but I have had 3 plus 100 days in a row. I am getting better.
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The numbers:
Stocks:
Stock Futures: gross +124 net +106 shares 3200
Other Futures: none
Forex: none

Tuesday Big Mouth Stocks 3/18/2008

One worked and the other was a breakeven at best.

Sign of a market bottom? 3/19/2008

Goldman's Cohen Replaced as Chief S&P 500 Forecaster.

I hate Teenagers 3/17/2008

I did battle again tonight and I failed. I started out slow, down 9-0 in the first game. At that point, I started fighting back but still lost 15-6. The second game started better, up 3-0 but I faded quickly and was down 8-4. We had a couple of long points and I was able to tie him at 8-8. He got a head 11-8 but I got back and went a head 13-11. At that point, we debated on some calls. I cut him a break but he then did not return the favor. I got pissed and lost the game 15-13. I made too many errors I normally do not - pisser.

Monday Trade Review 3/17/2008

The first chart is my big order screw up for the day. I should have been able to make good money on the trade but freaked when I screwed up the order to smart the position.

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The second chart was nearly a perfect trade. I got in at the right place. I let it run until it started to reverse but I did not a complete trade size on and a little later I missed the same setup again.

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Today, I play that damn 13 year old again in the playoffs - God help my body.

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All is all, I feel like the market is easier for me to trade. I need to use the correct size and not f-up my orders.

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The numbers:

Stocks: gross +187 net +156 shares 6200

Stock Futures: none

Other Futures: none

Forex: none

Monday Big Mouth Stocks 3/17/2008

They both sucked.

Friday Charts of trades

The trade info is on the charts.

Fridays Big Mouth Stocks 3/14/2008

This is a level of frustration I can not believe. The Big Mouth stocks have been so damn hard to play recently. This was the first day in weeks I gave up on them and did not look. What happens? Both of them work out just perfect. ERRRRRRRRRRRR.

Friday Trade Review 3/14/2008

What a crazy day! I had data issues twice two. I do not understand. IB a course tells me it is my problem or my internet provider problem. What happened is the bid/ask gets reversed and if by chance I have the same stock up on TS, TS and IB - it is like looking at 3 different stocks. The price may be all over the place. I had orders twice in to buy BSC and the prices showing on the screen meant I should have been filled but no luck. I do not know even where to begin to look. My PCs are not even two years old and I plenty of memory.
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Outside of BSC, there were not many setups I like to trade. I made only two trades today and both where winners. A course both I could have held on for much bigger gains.
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Tonight is Friday night which means date night. Hopefully, I will post some charts tomorrow.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross +125 net +119 shares 1200
Stock Futures: none
Other Futures: none
Forex: none

Thursday Trade Review 3/13/2008

Today was a weird day for me. I had all of my charts up and ready to go. The market opened and suddenly things did not make sense. I had 3 different numbers for the Dow that span 30 points. Some watch lists were updating. Some charts were updating. Nuts. I reboot IB. It was taking for ever. I tried rebooting TS. It came up a mess. I waited a while - nothing. I closed everything and rebooted my machine. My layouts came up a mess so I had to rebuild everything. That took an hour to do. Then I noticed I needed to do the March contract rollover. All of this took a little over an hour. Not Happy.

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I finally get to trade and I fire off my first trade too fast with out thinking it threw. That is the first chart of MOS. I nearly got stopped with in 60 seconds of placing the trade. I started to think - double up maybe with the same stop. I watch it until it gets stopped. If I bought it where I normally would and had the guts to hold it, man the stock went many points higher. I am an idiot.

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Trade number 2 is AKS. I should have called it a day with being pressed on my first trade and so frustrated with my computers. Did I stop ? A course not. AKS is the second chart. One of my favorite stocks to trade. So I was going to start a small position in the flag and add to it on the break. I should have calm down before trading again. I did not like my fill. I was debuting that if I should add some more. The waiting for the break out took longer than expected. It tried to break out but dropped 20 cents real quickly and the market did not look well. I got out. It did not drop any more. It finally broke out and it ran 40 cents fast. It started pulling back and what did I do? I got out. I am an idiot.

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On the third chart is the trade of NUE. Same type of detail on this one. It broke out. I bought it. It run 50 cents real quick then started falling and I bailed. I am an idiot.

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If I sat of these stocks and added at the right times, I could of made $2500. What did I make? $51. I was down over $100 on that first trade so I did turn black but the bottom line is - I am an idiot. I do not place my orders correctly on two of the trades. I did not follow my stops correct. I did not end up with the correct share size. How the hell do I ever make money doing these errors over and over on a day that it seem like Wall Street was handing out money.

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The only 3 pluses, I can come out with is I turned a losing day into a winning day. I continue to day with a little bigger share size and I did not do anything completely stupid today.

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The numbers:

Stocks: gross +68 net +51 shares 3200

Stock Futures: none

Other Futures: none

Forex: none

Thursday Big Mouth Stocks 3/13/2008

The big mouth stocks for today. I held computer problem at the beginning of the day so I could not watch these at all. As they have been recently, they were all hard to trade today.

Getting Ready to Buy 3/12/2008

The Bull/Bear numbers came out and the first time in a long time there are more Bears than Bulls. This seldom happens. Sentiment numbers are apart of the numbers used to come up with the Smart/Dumb indicators from at Sentimentrader.com - a great tool to figure out what is going on in the markets. Their Smart money indicator is mildly bullish but their dumb money indicator is insanely bullish. The difference of the two was only been greater twice in the last 10 plus years. I have been waiting for this for a long time. This may not be the perfect bottom but 3 months from now - we should be higher and a good case that in 12 months from now we will be higher. The only thing that could stop this is a major event like WWIII or a nuclear bomb being dropped on NYC.

Wednesday Trade Review 3/12/2008

I keep making the same mistake over and over. Either I do not have the guts to enter a trade or I did not have the gut to stay in a trade. I thought I would have different results today. I would be damn if I was going to leave a trade early. I bought AKS and set my stop and walked away. Ten minutes later my stop was hit. I entered a trade in STLD. It went up a small amount and then just stayed there for about 10-12 minutes while most of the other steels marched a head. I got out. A minute or two later, it runs a good 40 cents. I shorted the YM. Sledom does the YM stay in a small range but I up 5 ticks then down 10 ticks then up 10 ticks and then down 14 ticks. It came back to my back even point and I got out. It did not stop at my B/E point. It just kept running. Before it stabilized, it had dropped nearly 40 points.
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There have 3 other trades I had orders in that just missed were I would have taken no heat on them. Am I blaming the market makers, no! Am I blaming my computers, no. Am I blaming the weather, no! Am I blaming anyone other than me, NO! I put the orders in. I determine how much I am willing to lose. I determine how long I stay in a trade.
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It is just really frustrating seeing that my trade selection has gotten so much better since I started this and my own damn head is the problem keeping me from making good money.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross -65 net -74 shares 1800
Stock Futures: gross +70 net +55 contracts 6
Other Futures: none
Forex: none

Wednesday Big Mouth Stocks 3/12/2088

I was all excited after yesterdays big run up that the big mouth would recommend some great stocks to short. Instead the stocks he did recommend did not play along. You could have made some money from DD but next to nothing from WWE. Unfortunately I play WWE and with my entry and exit not being good, I lost a big $17 bucks on it.

I hate getting old.

I will be 48 years old soon. I have mentioned Racket Ball here before. I love playing the game. It keeps me from going postal. Years ago I could play 5 or 6 matches and still walk the next day. Now I play 2 or 3 matches and I need a host of drugs to function.
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This winter league has been a PITA. Out of the 7 people in this league, 6 could win it. This time around there was two teenagers in the league. The fall league was the first time we ever had someone under 25 let alone a teenager.
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Let me tell you they are a pain to play. They run around like mad man never getting tired. I play one last night. During the breaks between games, I was being told by people that I did not look well and I needed water and rest.
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I started off with a 7-2 score in the first game but failed and lost 15.9. In the second game, my serve came back and my young oppunent screwed up more than I ever saw him do in one game. After getting up 14-0, he tried rally and rally hard. I finally won 15-6 feeling like the game took days instead of 30 minutes. I started giving up in the last game being out of energy but he made an error or two and I was able to tie it at 9-9 after doing down 9-2. He then finally won what we call the tie breaker 11-9. The last couple of points in the game my body began to shake where I thought I might throw up.
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The bottom line by winning the one game, I score enough points to make it into the playoffs like I have done every year for the last 6. That is the good news. The bad news is I am fourth seed in the playoffs so guess what, I play the number one seed - the fricking kid I just played. I pray to God I survive.
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I hate getting old.

Tuesday Trade Review 3/12/2008

A mixed day for me. I picked a couple of good place to trade and others were just stupid. I was happy with only one of my trades today. I had 11 trades today and 7 would have worked out better if I held longer. I am trying to figure out the best way to do this. One trade would have gone for $700 and I took only $16. 3 other trades would have gone over $200 also. To add insult to injury, I had too many trades were I missed good gain because I missed the trade entry by pennies.
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One good thing from today is that I was down close to $400 and cut my lose to $161.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross -119 net -164 shares 8400
Stock Futures: none
Other Futures: none
Forex: none

Tuesday Big Mouth 3/12/2008

You could have made money on DNA which I did not expect because of the strong market. The other SRCL was a messy to deal with.

Monday Trade Review 3/10/2008

Even with a strong decline, my trading sucked. I have been whining about I pick goo stocks at good time only to not hold on to them long enough for a good gain. Today, my trade placement just sucked. A couple of times I could have done better but nothing to right home about. The Ags - AGU, TRA, MOS, and CF were my main hunting ground. Too many times I was selling broken bottoms (new lows) too late and getting hurt. I should have been selling the two times those stocks rolled over. That would have lead to big gains but I was too wimpy to sell them there.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross +20 net -5 shares 3400
Stock Futures: none
Other Futures: none
Forex: none

Monday Big Mouth Stocks 3/10/2008

One would have worked nicely. The other just would not. With the market decline - a lot of the Big Mouth Stocks are not working how the usually work - a pop on the open followed by a decline. Some of them are opening lower and not popping at all - very hard to trade.

Big Mouth Stocks from last week 3/9/2008

Tuesday

Wednesday
Thursday

Friday

This was the worst week for Big Mouth Stocks since the beginning of September. CHK on Tuesday was a big winner but the rest of them where tough enough to make it an even week at best.

January and February Reviews 3/8/2008

My January monthly numbers:
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Wins: 46 Losses: 27
Avg Win: 49.62 Avg Loss: -49.28
Gross Trading: 951.97
Commissions: -257.45
Net Trading: 694.52
Biggest Win: 626.00 Biggest Loss: -265.00
Data Fees: -97.00
Interest: 397.66
Account Net: 995.16
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My February monthly numbers:
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Wins: 51 Losses: 42
Avg Win: 27.57 Avg Loss: -31.14
Gross Trading: 98.00
Commissions: -342.78
Net Trading: -244.78
Biggest Win: 130.00 Biggest Loss: -104.00
Data Fees: -87.00
Interest: 272.70
Account Net: -59.08
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Looking at my results, a couple of things stick out to me. The months I make money or is close to break even are the ones that I do not have the big bad loss on any one given trade. Two - my commissions are going up as I push myself to increase my trade size. Three, even with the medical issues I had since the first of the year, I did ok. Many traders have complained about how hard it has been to trade.
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My goal is to continue to push my trade size higher and to keep my losses low. Both, I have done well with. My third goal is to hold on to my winners longer. Too many times I take 15-25 cents out of a trade only to see the stock move 75-200 cents in my favor.

Friday Trade Review 3/7/2008

Today was a very crazy day. I listen to the S&P pit noise all day. Sometimes it helps and sometimes it hurts. Today for the most part, it was just entertaining. It seemed like right off the open today, two traders were buying everything in sight. Soon after 11 est, a trader came in and started selling over and over and over - 25 cars a pop. As soon as he was done, about 3 traders started buying everything in sight before the local traders decided to sell the market. I know the traders receiving orders from outside the pit could be receiving from many sources but when the selling was going on for 3 hours, it all seemed to be one large order from one phone call - amazing.
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Again I gave myself the opportunity to make a lot of money and decided a little would be enough. I need to gain the confidence to hold a stock thru a bumpy ride. So many of my trades would start out where I am plus or minus $20 then I would gain $40 before coming back to break even. This is where I would stop myself out so many times - gains of $10 or 20. but so many times the stock would go to B/E for me only then go in my favor $75. It would then back up again before processing a $150 to 200 gain or more. I made 12 trades today and I could have easily gotten $250 plus on 5 or them where I would have only been hurt once using this idea.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross + 144 net +111 shares 5800
Stock Futures: none
Other Futures: none
Forex: none
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Tonight is date night again. I hope to post some charts over the weekend. I have missed doing that as often as I should.

Thursday Trade Review 3/4/2008

I just could not find entry points in this market today - so much up and down with no resting. So many times when something broke out or broke down, there would be no follow threw. I did not trust anything. I only know a hand full of traders that made good money today and there seem to be a lot of traders with blood on their hands.
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I only made 3 trades today and one was a fat finger. And I missed a couple of good trades today. It has cost me a lot recently by trying to get a certain price. I missed two trades in YMs by 2 and 3 ticks trying to time pull backs. One went for 25 ticks and the other 70 ticks. I missed going long the EURO by 8 pips and that sucker has run 90 pips since.
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I have always been a big question of mine - market order or limit order. I always use a market order when I am getting out of a trade but 90% of the time, I use a limit order to get in a trade or sometimes a buy/sell stop order. I just do not know what the best way to do things is.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross -31 net -36 shares 800
Stocks Futures: gross +20 net +15 contracts 2
Other Futures: none
Forex: none

Wednesday Trade Review 3/5/2008

I won't make any mention of my mental or physical health today.
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The markets were very choppy based on all the ABK news and the reports that came out. I was going to stick with the Steels today and that was where all my trades were. I took one good loss today when I put a trade on with the market bouncing around on the pending ABK. It was a trade I should not have put on and I did not get the stop in fast enough. Why did I put a stupid trade on? I was greedy thinking the market would explode on the news and it did not. Dummiy me.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross +52 net +27 shares 4800
Stock Futures: none
Other Futures: none
Forex: none

When should one trade? 3/5/2008

I am at a lost with this. I have talked it over with many friends and bloggers. For some reason, I have been sick a lot since Thanksgiving. I thought being away from people (I trade in my basement), I would not get as sick as often. It seems to have worked the other way around. I recently went through all my trading days and found I make money about 60% of the days I feel physical well and only about 30% of the days I feel physical sick. It would seem like it would best to take those days off but at times that would kill 2 weeks at a pop. I do not know.
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A second thing is I had to adjust one of my medications back in early January. The doctor decided instead to change which one I was taking. There would be a few side effects. Seven weeks later I am just starting to feel normal. My blood pressure went too high along with my heart beat. My sleep became crazy and my moods where all over the place. Just when my blood pressure became normal, it decided to drop suddenly and was too low for little more than a week. If I told off the majority of days I did not feel normal, I would have taken off 5 out of the last 7 weeks. Add in being sick - maybe I should have not traded for the last 7 weeks.
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A third thing is I find even before the above two items, my moods can be all over the board for many reasons. If I had a trade day that was very frustrating, I may be stupid allow myself be affected by it the next day. I know totally that this is stupid and will not lead to success. Sometimes I have a bad day and then the next day I get out of my mood quickly. I even have the problem sometimes if I have a really good day, then I get too crazy the next day.
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Bottom line is - I write this blog mainly for myself. I know I need to get more control over my emotions. I am never stating I am blaming my trading results on my mental or physical wellness. I just write down what I feel and think and how I feel sometimes - period.
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Comments anyone?

Tuesday Trade Review 3/4/2008

My head is still all fucked up from yesterday. I did not trade well today. I had more problems pulling the trigger than normal. I did not see clear places to trade. IB kept on going in and out then it crashed for about an hour while the market made it big rally.
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I made a couple of trades for my retirement account but even those I felt I screwed up.
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And on top of all of this, my heart was broken today - Brett Farve retires after having one of his best seasons. It just sucks. I thought he had maybe two or three years left in him.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross -505 net -543 shares traded 4400 (I blow out a swing trade that was going badly)
Stock Futures: gross +40 net +35 contracts 2
Other Futures: none
Forex: none

Monday Trade Review 3/3/2008

These are the days I just want to scream. I have one about a week I figure were I take a good day that has the chance of being a great day and turn it into a nothing or bad day.

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I usually do not post all the charts of all my charts but I did today. I figure I have two main problems - when to take profits and how much pain is good in a trade. I usually pick pretty good stocks to trade. My eye has gotten better as time has gone on but the game plan sucks once it is in action.

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Here are the trades one by one. The First one was TKC (see the chart in Big Mouth Stocks). It would not good down so it must go up. I bought at a good place 25.14 but only got 300 out of 500 shares filled before it started going up. No problem, it is a thin stock to begin with. It went up and I sat on my hands and just after it start rolling over, I got out. I did not make much on the trade but I was very happy at the results.

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Trade number two is AKS. I bought as the market was recovering and the steels were moving well. I got a good entry point and I was good at sitting on my hands trying to get every cent out of it. I had 300 shares. It started going sideways and I was scared it was going to break fast. The market did not look well. I should have held for one push up because it never broke. I could have made another $50-70 out of the trade. An okay trade over all.

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Trade numbers three and four were NOV. This was after lunch now. I tried shorting on a break of 62 at 61.99. I got slipped 5 cents. Quickly, I found myself in a loss for about 10-12 minutes. I got not nearly the high tick of the counter move - Pisser. Less than 60 seconds later, it was falling again. I reacted quickly and short again at the next new LOD. It quickly ran 15 cents in my favorite and than right against me then started down. I covered at plus 10 cents. This is my old problem - getting out of a trade quickly if it shows any heat or too much spread. On the first trade of NOV, I should have made $500 if I held on or $300 on the second trade. Dummy me.

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The last trade of the day was APC. Very similar to the NOV. I freaked after taking a little heat. The stock never went against me for more than 25 cents. Crap.

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So bottom line is - I lost $14 today when I could have made about $750. I am not going to last long in this business if I f-up like this on a regular basis.

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The numbers:

Stocks: gross +1 net -14 shares 2800

Stocks Futures: none

Other Futures: none

Forex: none

Monday Big Mouth Stocks 3/2/2008

These really did not work well on the short side today. I have a rule if it is smaller or lesser known stock and it will not go down, then it becomes a long candidate. TKC would not go down so I went long and made a couple of happy meals.

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Friday's big mouth stocks ( DE and MBT) you could have made big money with. VIP would have given you trouble.

Busy Weekend

I have spent a lot of time doing little things around the house including paying a lot of attention to my better half.
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Friday sucked for me. I again allowed myself to get out of a position too damn fast. Made $10 on a short that I could have made $180. I also picked a couple of stocks near the end of the day that made new lows by a tick or two only to run back up. In both of those cases I only lost a little but frustrating anyway.
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Monday looks to be a new battle. The Dow futures are down about 100 points from their close.
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The numbers from Friday-
Stocks: gross -108 net -127 shares 4400
Stock Futures: gross +30 net +25 contracts 2
Other Futures: none
Forex: none