Chapter 1 Trading journal #34 - 02/26/2019 +$60
Morning Prep
This is tough competition, especially with all these numbers on the board. So…
- I will not short the bottoms
- I will not trade after 11:30
- I will use proper stops
- I will be constantly re-evaluating my trade ideas via different timeframes
- I will take and recognize only my setups
- Also if this is something I didn’t expect — I will GTFO!
Day overview:
- I didn’t short the bottoms, but I was impatient, all the trades where I didn’t get my entry resulted in losses or stop outs. Basically, with my piker style of trading, it just doesn’t make any sense to hit the bid unless this is A ++ setup for me, where I know for almost 99% that that’s the last chance
- I will not trade after 11:30. I still gave back a lot, to be honest not that a lot, and perhaps today although I avoided trading my problem was that I made mistakes that cost me money. In this game considering fees and time if you are not making money, you are losing money.
- I will use proper stops. I must say by the end of the day I screwed up a couple of trades, just because I didn’t want to get anything back, and I didn’t give enough breathing room to stock ( basically I got stopped out where I should have been adding) This is something I will continue working on.
- Re-evaluate. That is something I only trying to do, maybe because at this point I’m recognizing my setups slightly better and I now know what’s the difference between scalp on the frontside or scaling in “short the pops setup” However, this is something that I must do constantly especially after the first stop out — just to see if my thesis is still intact. I will re-evaluate my positions and my thesis.
- I will recognize my setups. I believe I started to lose the bigger picture by the end of the day. Think I have to control myself by being more concentrated on what’s up with trends, daily levels, etc.
- GTFO — it was fine today. I happened to be in the trade I didn’t want and got out not right away, but almost immediately when I realized that my exits were not being hit.
In general, I like this mentality, that I didn’t want to give anything back, it helps me to stay in the right trades and avoid bullshit. But there is a huge amount that has to be done in this direction in regards to right sizing= right stops =right risk.
Trading overview:
$HTBX +$29
The stock showed itself as a weak PM — so it was interesting to see if it’s gonna hold any levels or not and scale in against one of these levels. The 60s was a zone of the fight, but based on the tape it was clear that it was not gonna lift. When you see stuff like this you probably always have to add.
*tape
- didn’t spend much time in the 60s, was tested multiple times but was always rejected ( this probably could have been a confirmation to get in)
- Offers were stepping down gradually, there was no buying interest whatsoever and even when it was the offer would hold
- Also on the way down, bids started to flip lower.
$ZYNE +$21
$GE +$17 “1 cent flip moving stock”
With these types of stocks, there is only one type of entry at top of the range and at the bottom. All other entries just lead to inevitable chop, whatever you see, feel or think you can only enter in ranges of couple cents from resistance. This is the only acceptable entry.
$KHC +$10 “1 cent moving stock”
Good entry but a poor hold. Once again this setup is called “1 cent flip” and it is allowed to take entries here only 1–2–3 cents off the resistance otherwise you’re gonna be chopped.
$TLRA +$8
Ross’s pump
$CIFS $0
Should have given this one more chance.
$NIO +$3
- Mistake #1 Was impatient and was buying strength — I think till the end of this next week, I will be buying only on the offer or bid, This rush almost never gives you good entries and hence it’s harder to hold when your entry is being out of the money
- Mistake #2 The trend was clearly rolling over, above me there was still a lot of resistance — I should have recognized it and got out instead of getting top ticked. or ideally re-short it! Cover and go long.
- Mistake #3 Chop where I saw a potential double top. Was it a high-probability trade? NO, The stock is strong, it just came back for a retest after quite a brutal selloff, you know that the offers that were taken out — are not a big deal when a stock trades 50M a day. So, wtf the risk here??? I could have and should have avoided it!
$M -$13
ok entry, but when I was trying to re-short it I accidentally went long (instead of short IDK) and then added ( when I wanted to cover half). Could have been my trade of the day. But I fucked it up. It shows that there are still many things to improve before sizing up.
$FTNW -$27
I got my level of rejection of 33 cents. Why the hell rush in? I must do whatever it takes with myself to be patient — this is the only way I will be able to survive in this environment.
$GNW +$13
MoneyG passed me the position and basically, it contributed to 10% of my PnL. Thanks, MoneyG, if you read this in 2019 and if you are somehow reading it now in 2022 or later. I’m super grateful for what you did for me.
I need to learn to trade these setups:
- I need to setup multi-order — to be able to send orders on multiple exchanges
- I need to start testing mids more often. I have only 1 or 2 mid routes set up.
- Into the close, my algorithm should have been — try to get filled on the bid last 15 seconds > if no try mids last 10 seconds > if no hit the offer (as I did — the last 2–4 seconds)
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