Chapter 2 Trading journal #38 - 03/04/2019 + $118 “Good, but lost a bit in the end”

Peter Skalon.eth

6 min readOct 28, 2022

Gave back 30% — didn’t like it. Will review each trade to see what happened here.

The most important is that I was working on not letting a stock to produce any emotional response in me. This is sometimes really hard, but it is also really tightly connected to the setups I trade. The more detailed and nuanced plan I have In regards to What I want to see, What I’m ready for, and What I don’t want to see. The more smoothly trading is happening.
To do Tomorrow: Take off your PnL. Trade without it. That is what it takes at this point to take good setups and not get relaxed. One good trade. One good trade. There is no PnL cushion or whatever.
Interesting psychological pattern “ The moment I knew I had some money to give back” I started taking shitty setups. That’s something I have to work on. Tomorrow I will get rid of my PnL and just trade till the end of the day to see how it goes. I think in this manner when you don’t know if you are up or down you have to take only real stuff.
Stop Concept. This thing that HFT has pointed out to me. I still feel that I’m processing it. For every trade, I have to intentionally think about it, to be able to do the right thing. I guess this is so hard for me because I just got used to using stops to get me out of the trade since I was trading all kinds of stuff. But now, when I have basically 2–3 setups I’m trading it doesn’t make any sense to use stops like this. At this point, stop is an emergency market order to get out, breaking news or whatever but- when you are in the trade you have to manage this trade, watch it. If this is no more short setup — get out; if the spot was unclear — lighten up, there is no reason to get hit, if you are completely wrong or something unexpected is happening — you will be taken out (worst case scenario)
Step 1: evaluate your real risk (if it’s not a trade where you step in front of a big offer or bid)
Step 2: get the sizing based on your risk
Step 3: set targets and watch your trade to see if there is an exit signal or if this is a long setup now and you have to get out.

$JMU -$3

*Review one more time when MATA invalidates add to MATA failed setup.

Was up nicely — but the setup was invalidated and I saw the same trade before on Friday $PBYI — will take a look one more time to find similarities

$CIFS +$31

Patience and allowing stock to do its thing were key here.

$GPS +$23

With these MATA setups, I have to teach myself to hold. It will be easier to do with slightly more size.

Missed the perfect re-short that MoneyG called out. Should have jumped in!

$YRIV +$20

*watch and cut tape”

-The first what I missed and got completely out of my attention is HOD 1.18 — ultimate risk

1 was rejected out of the gate and got in — good! big offer shows up @0.93 — can use it as a reference point. After this point I sold too early, I could have held at least 100 shares on the way down, We are talking here 10 cents more. This was a big mistake here, it was a defensive move — fine! bit too early

1.03 was printing on the offer. This was still a V reversal — that just got above $1. Was it a good moment to short? Perhaps not.
1 was holding and then offers were stepping down but were constantly lifted — this was a sign too. When they started hot at 1.04 I could have sold half may be. Because my thesis changed.
And then immediately bids are stepping up 05. 06, 07 And I’m getting stopped out
Bids are holding above 1, there is no reason to get short here
1.09 rejects really hard, but bids are holding — no reason to get short. (While I did) Also at this point, I should have been thinking, ok we are on the move up — what’s HOD — where is my risk? I need to add to my setup!
Didn’t get a good price after rejection. ALWAYS WATCH HOW PRICE ACTS @HOD!
Used the right stop and then get in too early and got stopped out. At this point my average was not good the stock was coming back — I should have hit out for breakeven and re-short with risk above HOD

Main lessons here:

after V-reversal, watch if bids are holding and look for a HOD as the main level. Do not rush. V-reversal means buyers are in control.
If your average is not good, and you covered some already — get out for breakeven and take better entry. Stock is not going down anyway.
ALWAYS watch HOD for rejection
A stop is a stop, but when your setup is invalidated and you see a V-reversal ad they push it higher. No need to be a hero a wait till your stop gets hit. GTFO = Get The Fuck Out

$SE +$8

Completely underperformed here. I’m really having problems with the stocks that are holding. My idea was to hold a core for more and trade around it, but it never worked. With this type of consolidation, I need to be twice more diligent. That’s a serial offender in my trades. I’m watching how many shares I do in stock to be aware when something is off.

$GE +$2