Friday Trade Review "How to blow your month in one stock" 5/29/2009

I have no idea how to talk about my Friday trading. I traded VMC aggressively as a big mouth stock even thou it barely fit my specs for one. I loaded up on the short too quickly for not knowing the stock and the price it is trading at. The I get pissed and threw some more trades at it and by the end of the trading day killed my month.
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Much earlier in the month I had been up $2000 and with what I made near the end of last month, suddenly I had dreams of making 4k a month. The last 7 trading days killed me with a combined loss of $1800.
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The stupid thing is I must have had the opportunity to make over $500 on ten trades which I planned but did not take or I bailed too soon. I just fell apart at the end of the month like I have recently.
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I need to get off my ass dusk the dirt off after being hit by that train and remember the good trades I have recently made and the trades I should have made and stop being a wimp.
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My brain was all over the place these last few days. I did not know how to write about Friday. My daughter had her 24th birthday on Saturday and it was the first time in years I could see her on her birthday. That was great but on the way home (4 hour drive), my wife said I could buy her a dress with my recent profits. She has no clue on my trading or how I think about it she did not know how much I had lost on Friday. In simple terms, I went postal. No matter what I tell her. No matter how I explain things - I always feel like she thinks I am playing video games or something. The crazy thing is she swing trades stocks and at times does very well.
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Women.
The numbers:
Stocks; gross -1063 net -1088 shares 5000
Stock Futures: gross 0 net -19 contract 8
Forex: none

Thursday Trade Review - Dropped pass addition 5/28/2009

First before I get into my trading today, I wanted to share how I trade YM futures. A few readers wonder what my rules or methods were so I thought I write them down - (especially for Jules who I know only trades futures).

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I use three methods and two of them are written up on the first chart. I either trade the news where I buy or sell the break out of the range caused by the news. Second - I buy or sell a 9/14/50 exp moving avg crossover with chart formation and third I buy or sell break out of trading ranges usually the inter day plus over nite range - a simple chart method.

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I mainly use two contracts. I will only add to winners and most of the time I will use a 20 tick stop. I move it to break even after gaining 15 ticks. If the trade does not start working within 5 to 10 minutes, I try to scratch it. I usually trade off of a 89 tick chart but I look at the signals on a 1 minutes chart to confirm. If the 1 minute is giving clearer signals, I may just use that.

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If you look at the above charts, using the 1 minute chart would have produced great profits today. Too bad my head was not screwed on straight. My first futures trade was on the 8:30 news. Instead of selling of the break down of the range, I gave myself an extra 10 ticks because of recently being whipsawed too often. I got filled on the bottom tick for my short. It took a while to get stopped but I did.

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My second trade was using the crossover method. I was looking at the 89 tick chart and not using the other to confirm the direction of the trade. Dummy me. This got me in earlier than the 1 minute and so I sat on a trade for nearly 8 minutes where most of the time, I was in the red. I gave up and scratched the trade. If I used the 1 minutes, I would have stayed long enough to have this be a great trade. Also if I did not loss on the first trade, I might have stayed longer. I have that problem that I trade differently when I am in a hole than when I am not.

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My third futures trade should have been the long near the bottom of the day. I did not take it because I was too pissed at myself.

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I did trade some stocks but the trades are not worth talking. I will say I blew them too.

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So this in my 3rd losing day in a row and I really need to clear my head for tomorrow. This is why I wrote what I wrote today. Instead of mainly stating how much I fucked up - I wrote up my method to show myself that my system can work only if I remember to follow the rules.

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The numbers:

Stocks: gross +78 net +43 shares 7000

Stock futures: gross -180 net -198 contracts 8

Forex: none - I got to start swing trading this stuff.

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There was no big mouth stocks today.

Wednesday Trade Review 5/27/2009

I officially declare I am in a slump. Four trading days and I have lost $600 total and had my first two day losing streak since the end of March where I lost 7 out of 10 days (-$200 total only). The frustrating part of this is not taking the trade or not staying with the trade like I should. During this time, I have had four trades that would have netted over $500 each if I sat on my hands or took the planned trade in the first place.
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I got to get myself out of this funk. Five of the last six months, I have produced weak results late each month after starting strong either at the beginning or middle of the month.
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Above chart is the big mouth stock of the day- if I either was more aggressive with early shorts or sat on my long - I could have made money there and turned in a positive day.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross -113 net -148 shares 7000
Stock Futures: none
Forex: none

Tuesday Trade Review 5/26/2009

I did not do well today. I missed some easy YM future trades in premarket. I could not get my orders on the big mouth stocks filled in premarket at higher levels but I was smart and left them alone in the regular market session. I was long RIMM before the consumer number but decided to get out not trusting the number - stupid. Then I spent the rest of my morning getting chopped up on some X trades by having too big of size or too close of stops.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross -91 net -121 shares 6000
Stock Futures: gross -40 net -50 contract 4
Forex: none

Tuesday Big Mouth Stocks 5/26/2009

The big mouth stocks today - sucked - enough said.

Friday Trade Review 5/22/2009

I only traded futures today and not much. I knew I needed to let my brain air out after the mental beating I gave it with my Thursday trading.
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The Numbers:
Stocks: none
Stock Futures: gross +60 net +41 contracts 8
Forex: none

Friday Big Mouth Stock 5/22/2009

Another thing of beauty. The oil market was up strong near the open and all the oil stocks were 2-3% including APC. I thought I was not a good idea to try APC. Near the open crude sold off hard but APC still opened up 2% making it a good play. Damn.

Thursday Trade Review 5/21/2009

This was a crazy day. I should have realized that I was not trading well and stop early. Instead I decided to trade more and more and then smarted losing all discipline. Look at he Big mouth Stock post too - only 2/3s of my trades were captured on the 5 charts. I have this type of melt down about 8 times a year. I need to never have them.

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The numbers:

Stocks: gross -266 net -404 shares 27,200 (nuts)

Stock Futures: none

Forex: none

I forced too many trades here on a stock going no where. When I finally had a good setup, I blow the entry by being to anal about getting slipped too much on the entry. A course I than missed the trade and it could have produced a positive day for me even though I traded so insanely.

Wednesday Trade Review 5/20/2009

My blog is having problems loading at I post this. I do not know why..

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There was no big mouth stocks today. The above charts were some of my trades. I did not sit on things long enough to have any good trades but I made a little money.

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The numbers:

Stocks: gross +152 net +87 share 10,000

Stock Futures: gross +50 net +40 contracts 4

Forex: none

Tuesday Trade Review 5/19/2009

Another silly day for me. The chart above is the only big mouth stock of the day. A thing of beauty to play. I got short 1500 shares at a nice price and blew the exit big time. Some reason I have tighten up again. If my stop losses were 30 cents instead of 15 or 20 as they have been for the last couple of days, I would have made a ton of money. Instead I have about 80 bucks to show for my trouble.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross +40 net +3 shares 7400
Stock Futures: gross -10 net -19 contracts 4
Forex: none

Monday Trade Review 5/1/8/2009

To put in simple terms - I sucked today. On and off recently, I have said you had to be in the right place at the right time to profit. Today, I was at the right place many of times but old habits kicked in where I did not give the trade long enough to work or once I had a profit, I moved my stop to break even too fast. I think there was two reasons for this - one the big mouth stocks gave me lots of trouble and second I have not slept well for the last couple of days. I do not know why.

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Any way if you look at the below post, the big mouth stocks were a handful and I tried working all three. They could have killed me if I was pigheaded about them. Anyway, I made just over a $100 so I am happy with such a screwed up day. A kind of a draw - with what I saw I should have made a lot of money today - with the way I played it, I should have lost a small amount of money.

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For what ever reason, I had a lot of weird fills today of some small lots. I wonder what that means.

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The numbers:

Stocks: gross +159 net +106 shares 10,500

Stock Futures: none

Forex: none

Monday Big Mouth Stocks 5/18/2009

I was really lucky not to press my luck with the big mouth stocks today. If I was too aggressive too fast, I could have lost a lot of money on them. Instead, falling back to plan b, I could have made a lot of money but failed at that.

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Details on the chart, but I was patience with ORLY and missed the entry, very lucky with BUCY but missed the long setup and was very aggressive with CIEN and happy I lost a small amount.

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Remember - I try shorting big mouth stocks around 8 am EST, near the open, or right after the open. If a big mouth stock is rallying after 9:50 or 10 am, and takes out it HOD, it becomes a long instead of a short play.

The Jump - the video version

I may be having problems displaying youTube videos - so here is the link to my Jump Video.

Enough said.

Friday Trade Review 5/15/2009

The above chart is X. Talk about early morning crap. Not a good day to trade unless you were in the right place at the right time. I was not and I did not want to force too much. Unfortunately, I missed the only really good part of the market when we had the decline late morning. I decided to do some yard work for an hour. You win some and you lose some but the main thing is to keep those losses small in this game.
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And the big mouth sucked too.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross -77 net -112 shares 7000
Stock Futures: gross +50 net +30 contracts 8
Forex: none

Thursday Trade Review 5/14/2009

Above is the only trade worth talking about and it was only for 500 shares. A lot of nickle and dime stuff for me today and looking at the wrong thing at the wrong time. On top of that, there was NO big mouth stocks today.
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Another back at you Jules - you need to start planning your bungee jump. I had already before I bungee jump told many people I would jump out of a plane in Las Vegas the year of my 50th birthday. That is next year but I had so much fun bungee jumping, I may do my airplane jump in November if me and wife go to Vegas this year. Seeing where you live, I would recommend this.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross +257 net +222 shares 7000
Stock Futures: gross +10 net 0 contracts 4
Forex: none

Wednesday Trade Review 5/13/2009

Above is the chart of my only big trade of the day. It was a big mouth stock. I amazed myself being able to sit as long on a position 5-7 minutes knowing this stock was thin enough to move 40-60 cents in like two minutes which it almost did twice today.
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I made a little over $400 today. In my last 6 trading sessions - I have made or lost over $400 in 5 of them. That is amazing for me seeing I have only had 3 days over $400 in the last 4 months.
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The other weird thing today is that I felt disappointed in the fact I only made $400. For the last two years, I would kill for a week where I made $400.
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And to my favorite regular reader Jules - yes - you should go Bungee jumping.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross +464 net +444 shares 4000
Stock Futures: gross -30 net -39 contracts 4
Forex: none

Tuesday Trade Review 5/12/2009

Had a late night with friends.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross +47 net +37 shares 2000
Stock Futures: gross +40 net +22 contracts 8
Forex: none

Free Chat Room

This is an invitation to join us in a FREE chat room. We are not looking to sell anything but we are a group of day traders (mainly stocks) shooting out trade ideas, talking stocks and markets. We have a core daily group of 7 and looking to expand so come check us out.
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The Trading Chat Room

Monday Trade Review 5/11/2009

See charts below for the Big Mouth stocks. I made all my stock trades in them. All my other trades were in the YM futures. Nothing really to brag about. I was trying to go 10 ticks by risking 10 ticks. As soon as I had 5 ticks, I move my stop to plus 1 tick to cover my commissions. I made 16 ticks on 3 trades. Not bad for a little nickle and diming on a day that had really small moves.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross +578 net +546 shares 6400
Stock Futures: gross +160 net +132 contract 12
Forex: none

Monday Big Mouth Stocks 5/11/2009

All of my stock trade in the two big mouth stocks today. The main ones I have noted on the charts above. The other were scratches. There was not much movement but I made the most of what they gave. I feel very proud of myself.

Friday Trading Review - leaving a lot on the table 5/8/2009

Above is the only stock trade I made for the day. It was a big mouth play. Most of the recent month, the big mouth stocks have been like shooting fish in a barrel. I have not been aggressive enough to that full advantage of this yet.
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Again day today I had the right idea but did not jump in with enough shares and then covered the position where too soon. I should have been short 5,000 or more shares.
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The only other trades I made were some small scalps in the futures markets. I was not looking for home runs there. Even though I left a lot of money on the table with my ONNN, I felt good that I was able to trade again after really screwing up a trade on Wednesday. Most important right now is to keep my head in the game and try when I can to force myself to try to run when I would normally walk or even crawl.
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For the first time, in a long time, I am starting to see the results I want. I need to keep moving forward.
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The Numbers:
Stocks: gross +346 net +331 shares 3000
Stock Futures: gross +120 net +92 contracts 12
Forex: none

Thursday Big Mouth Stock 5/7/2009

This big mouth stock was a thing of beauty. I did not trade today. I thought it was best after the last couple of days had too many screw ups. I wanted to get my head back on straight and I had some much needed business to attend to but it is 9 pm EST and I can't wait until tomorrow.

April Monthly Numbers

My April monthly numbers:
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Wins: 38 Losses: 13
Avg Win: 65.32 Avg Loss: -64.23
Gross Trading: 1,647.00
Commissions: -307.80
Net Trading: 1,339.20
Biggest Win: 825.00
Biggest Loss: -178.00
Data Fees: -167.95
Interest: 0
Account Net: 1,171.25

Wednesday Trade Review - falling back to earth 5/6/2009

It is late. I sucked. I panicked. I loss big time or at least it felt that way. I did not read the early warning signs. I got greedy thinking I could walk on water and went the thing popped against me - instead of keeping my cool, I covered my short near the top. I keep on telling myself when you really get yourself in a screw up trade - still calm. I have yet to do that. Some more details on the chart. All my biggest big mouth stock loses has been on stocks that have come back down where I would have had a profit except one.
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The sad thing to is after my super bad trade, I was in 3 different trades that moved more than a point in my favor if I only held on to the trades. I could have been a big day for me.
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In the end, I needed my head headed to me to make sure I was ground in my trading.
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Fear and Greed. Fear and Greed. That is 125% of the game we play.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross -757 net -802 shares 9000
Stock Futures: none
Forex: none

Tuesday Trade Review and Big Mouth Stock 5/5/2009

The big mouth stock is above with the trade details. I nailed it nice. I had only two other trades for a gain of zero. I should have spent more time looking or trying to trade the YMs. The action was slow but the setups were simple.
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The numbers:
Stocks: gross +521 net +496 shares 5000
Stock Futures: none
Forex: none

Monday Trade Review 5/4/2009

Not a happy camper I was today. I started out doing okay on the big mouth stock - see below. Then I caught Rig for a fast 25 cents but had no reason to sell. Suddenly I am up nearly $300 on my first two trades, I just had a great week last week, and that was my 8th straight plus trade. Time to get stupid.

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I started trading like anything I touched would go straight up. It didn't. Then I start taking super small baby gains after losing on a few trades. Then just when I thought I was getting my shit together for the day, revenge trading. Thank God after one of my stupidest trading days since March - I ended the day up $4 and only my pride hurt.

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I wish every stupid day was only a $4 gain.

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The numbers:

Stocks: gross +47 net +4 shares 8600

Stock Futures: none

Forex: none

Monday Big Mouth Stock 5/4/2009

I had this one nailed today. As the little guys are getting more bullish, these plays are working better. I only wish I was more aggressive with this one.

Friday Trade Review or letting greed and fear mess with your mind 5/01/2009

Action of the day:

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SWKS - missed on 8 am opening to get filled - pissed.

YM - falling in late morning - pissed not being in.

YM - after open - get in but do not trade as planned because of lost profits on first two missed trades.

MEE- missed big profit trying to protect small profit because of last YM trade.

CNX - trying to be greedy but missed bigger profit allowing fear to scare me out of the trade.

POT- bought nice BO but just got out- hate trading POT.

SLB - bought break out but had to sell too soon because of running out of trading time.

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Details on the charts.

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Why did I write this up this way? To prove a point to myself that if I traded the plan for each of these trades, it would have been a great day for myself instead being okay. To again show to myself, I do two things two often and nearly every day. I allow other trades to effect my current trade and I trade way too much on emotion than a straight forward plan.

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The numbers:

Stocks: gross +236 net +216 shares 4000

Stock Futures: gross +60 net +50 contracts 4

Forex: none

Friday Big Mouth Stock 5/1/2009

Not a bad trade - I missed even lookly at it for having PC problems on the open.