What we got here is "Failure" to pull the trigger - 5/14/2007

I am really running out of ways to beat myself up. Again I had 3 big mouth stocks to short. Nothing is the premarket. Any stocks I look at going too crazy. So I setup my orders getting ready for the opening. I had 500 share short of KCI 47.90 and another at 48.00. I had a 1000 share short of MEND at 21.40 and the same at 21.50 plus 500 at 21.45. I had a 2000 short of SIX at 6.31, 6.33 and 6.36. What I mean be had is, each of those orders were filled in and saved. I just had to hit transmit and they would be in. I submitted the 21.45 of MEND and the 3 SIX orders. Had no guts for the otherorders, even thou the stars seemed to have aligned in a way they could be great trades. The open hits and I get filled the 500 of MEND. I watch with my finger on the enter button for KCI click up to my price. In a flash, it was too late. Went to MEND. Had my finger on the magic button. It looked like I would miss again but wait a sudden bounce and if I had my orders in - I would have been filled. You can look at the charts for the results. Please - anyone who reads this - leave some really nasty comments to get me so pissed off tomorrow - I will hit the magic button and win or lose - be in the game.

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The numbers - gross +105, net 100, shares traded 1000

Blackjack - 5/13/2007

I was sitting at a Blackjack table in AC today and it reminded me of trading. I am relatively new at the game so I bring my little cheat sheet with me. I think out of all the hands, I played, I only play two not following the correct move. I also had enough money with me to deal with the draw downs. I did OK - made $120 after 2 hours.
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I watched the other players at the table. A gentleman who seem to understand the game well and made all the correct moves was losing. I said too bad and he said " if you play the game perfect - it is a 50/50 bet. I win sometimes and loss sometimes - that is the game". He knew what he was doing and what to expect.
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I saw the other players at the table. Sometimes making large bets - sometimes making small bets. Sometimes they were making plays that just made no sense. They seem to have no plan or any idea on what they were doing. The ones who were making the most correct plays, betting the same amount and had enough money to weather the ups and downs - stayed in the game and do not lose all their money.
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It sounds like trading especially day/swing trading.

A Do Nothing Day - 5/11/2007

There was nothing in the premarket to speak of. At the time of the opening, there were data issues with Nasdaq stocks, soon followed with bid/ask problems from PACX. I tried a couple of trades but this just too difficult to get an edge. Then very quickly volumes were slowing up and the steels were like watching paint dry.
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My hi-light of the day was chatting with MissTrade about gold and kids.
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It is frustrating to have a really good day trading last Friday (May 4th) just to have this entire week be a loss. I hope my life will get back to something more normal in a week or two.
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The numbers - Gross -85, net -95 shares traded 2000

A Mental Thursday - 05/10/2007

Life is being a really PITA when it comes to my trading. It is very hard to concentrate on trading when things are going crazy around you.

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I thought one of the big mouth stocks looked really good for shorting. I was not going to make the same mistake and try shorting in premarket a popular stock at a 52 week high. I waited until the open. Everything worked to plan except following the plan. I got short on the first pop right after the open. When the stock moved down quickly, I moved my stop down quickly - too quickly and was taken out on the second move up right after the open. I never got back in and you can see the results. DT hit it much better and you can get the details at his Blog Site.

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Life then cut my trading day short.

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The stupid numbers - Gross +8, net - 4, shares traded 2400

Pissed 5/10/2007

Late last night this morning, I have been thinking about my trading. Most of the time I am following my trading plan (90%). Nearly every trade I have followed my risk parameters(99%). I always have my biggest losses when I do not follow the plan to the letter. Either the trade is bad or the risk is too big. The other item is too many times I cut the trade off way way way too soon not giving it time to work. This prevents losses but also prevents decent profits and I mean decent profits.
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I have received at couple of life wake up calls this week that I got to be more discipline in my trading both from the plan side and taking risk side if I am ever going to get my chance to do this full time.
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I want a chance at my dream.

INCOMING!!! 5/9/2007

My plan coming into the day was to do battle with the big mouth stocks and go long the steels after the opening. One of the stocks was PAL. It was up a big amount and had never seen that type of gap before. I was hoping to short in the 11.00-11.20 range. It started trading very early. I was aggressive and got short 2000 shares at a cost of 10.97. It spent the rest of the premarket trading between 10.75 and 10.95. I thought I had a big winner. Problem was that the decline stopped around 8:30 and the stock started slowly moving up. The plan for these stocks is short at 8, cover after a decline or 9-9:15, go long if conditions look right, sell long into the opening pop and then go short once the speed of the pop dies.
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I didn't follow the plan. I thought the pop was going to be minor. Most of the big mouths stocks had not popped a lot recently. Boy I was wrong and to add to that, I had orders in to double my position just above the premarket price. Suddenly with in about 3 minutes, I had a position that was $2000 in the red. I wanted to add more to the position but never add to a loser unless it is part of the plan. So I sat seeing the big Mo was slowing and the stock started rolling over. I covered 3/4s of the position on the first dive down only pennies over my cost but I was stupid and held on to a quarter. I covered the rest at a much higher level fearing the highs would be retested. I nearly picked the top tick of the morning. All in all, I felt okay. I did not panic. Was able to reduce my loss a lot. The bad thing was paying so much attention to one stock, I missed beautiful buy signals in the steels. If I took them would have covered the loss easily.
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By time time I could think again - my trading mind was shot. Most important I walked away without a big hit. The lesson is do not predict the market but follow it.
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The numbers - Gross - 435 net - 485 shares traded 8000

Life 5/8/2007

Life got in the way today. I tried to trade a little mid-morning but my head was not set on straight. I tried one breakout (stupid as always) and one pull back. Both of them, I freaked on before they had turned positive. Never trade if you mind is not in the right place. Trading is hard enough. I may take tomorrow off. I am fried.
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The numbers - gross -75, net -85, shares traded 2000