Trade Review 3/31/15

Trades for March 31, 2015

(Click on charts to enlarge entries/exits)

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GENE Long

(Entry: 5.47 Exit 5:46)

Tried to get a piece of the high volume, dead cat bounce on this one today. Tried to long it after a little pullback because a lot of the experienced guys were warning against the short saying it could go a lot high. A good idea in concept but once again executed poorly. What I did wrong was not wait for a decent pull back and consolidation. This is exactly what I also did in a previous trade, I can't remember the ticker atm. 

As you can see, there was a much better ABCD long an hour later. There was a good size pull back, a higher low, and then it blew through highs. I'm not sure if I could've held it that long but the important thing is to recognize the money set ups. 

Lessons:

• These big volume, float rotators are still too advance for me. They move way too fast for my experience level. 
• For ABCD longs, wait for strong pullback and consolidation instead of longing in a chop fest.
• Patience. If I waited longer I would've had the money set up with the pullback, consolidation, and higher low.

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JCP Long

(Entry: 8.18 Exit: 8:16)

Hmmmm. where do I start with this one. On the hourly chart, I saw a lot of support/resistance at the 8.10 level as seen below. It also had strong momo the previous trading day. 

It broke the 8.10 level out of the open and I should've longed before the break(anticipate the move, don't chase it). But since I still have a problem with conviction, that didn't happen. Haha. longed it a little later for a reason I can't remember. And if I can't remember it, it probably wasn't a very good one. Bad trade all around, chased the move instead of anticipating it and had no good reason to long it after the break. (No pullback, consolidation, higher lows)

Lessons:

• Anticipate the move, don't chase it!
• If you miss the move, have a damn good reason to chase it. Pull back or consolidation with it holding higher lows is ideal. 

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Overall I was very happy with today's session because I got over my little hump of being so fearful of taking a trade. I took some trades, had enough confidence to let them try and work and stopped out for small losses. Kept size small. Looking forward to tomorrow's session as there is some good names in play. 

Jay

Conviction

March 30, 2015

Going to ramble about a topic today to help myself in this area. Have had no trades lately, and that's what I wan't to talk about actually.

I haven't taken any trades in the last 4 or 5 trading sessions. Been having a real hard time with finding conviction in my trades and I am working on getting over this little hump in the road. Lack of conviction can be a very virtuous trait in this business but can also hold you back a great deal, like me right now. 

Lately, I've been having a very hard time finding the conviction to take a trade. I think I know what lead to this; When I first started trading roughly a month and a half ago, I found decent, quick success making over a hundred bucks a day. Then I took one good sized loss and then had many red days in a row. I haven't had a green day in a couple weeks now, I think. I'm having trouble taking trades because of that fear, I guess, of going back to red. I am basing my trading decisions on EMOTION instead of the price action. This is one of the very basic trading rules. 

What lead me to my 'last straw' i.e. this blog post was my plan for $RADA this morning:

This was my plan watching $RADA from last week Friday's strong close. It has good momo at this point and is nearing the 52 highs. I was completely ready for this trade and had a plan ready 15 minutes before the open. I was going to buy a bounce if there was a washout at the open and look for a green roll and 52 week highs break.

Here's how $RADA traded today:

It traded exactly according to my plan! 

This is prime example of the problem with conviction and how fear prevented me from banking on this trade. I was scared of going red, of continuing my red days. Scared of losing, scared of being wrong.

What I'm going to work on:

• Review - I'm going to clearly go over what I need to work on before the open, mentally. 
• Trust - Going to try and trust the set ups. This will help me get out of this hump and in the future for bigger picture trades. Too much trust can be catastrophic though!
• Take a leap of faith - Going to have a sort of 'just go for it' type of mentality, I need to just jump the gap and hope I can make it. 

Jay

Trade Review 3/17/2015

Trades for March 17, 2015

(click on charts to enlarge entries/exits)

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ARTX Long 

Entry: 3.49 Exit: 3.40

Took a max loss on this trade. Had a a/h run up and a little gap in the morning. Ripped up at the open and had a little pull back. I got long hoping for the ABCD set up and a push through the high of day. Didn't happen obviously and this area ended up being the high of days. 

I think what I did wrong in this was not wait for some consolidation. Was watching a webinar last night by Dough (@FlourWaterYeast) about long set ups and now I remember he said that you should look for consolidation and gearing action when looking to long through a HOD breakout. There wasn't any of this in this setup and it was more of a chopfest. Definitely going to take this into account in the future for trades.

Even though I'm losing money here and there, I'm  trying to stay focused on learning from my mistakes. If I'm learning even while losing money I think it's worth it in the long run. 

Jay

--------'';lear

Trading Review 3/16/15

Trades for March 16, 2015

(Click on charts to see entry/exits easier)

Took 2 trades today. One in the morning and one during the lull. One was for scratch(+5) and the other I lost for an absolute stupid reason and actually shoulda been up nicely on it. 

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MVIS - Short

Took MVIS short at the morning rally at 3.33 and covered mins later at 3.22

I took this trade because it had a parabolic move into the P/M highs and stalled there. Put on my full size(my full size is small). I took it off for scratch because it was just grinding at the highs instead of retracing a little. I was right in this one. I wasn't here for the HOD move but in hindsight one could've gotten short at the sideways action at the top with a a small risk above the highs and a great potential reward. But of course, everything is easy in hindsight

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AMRN - Short

Took AMRN short at 3.04 after the little rally of the G/R was a good concept as it was nearing the 3.10 resistance from earlier. This was my risk and I was hoping for it to wash through to red for a great trade. Covered at 3.08

Wow, where do I start. Bad, bad, bad. This shoulda been a 100 buck winner for me. First off, I completely dishonored my stops completely b/c of emotions. I clearly laid out in my mind that 3.10 is not a bad stop considering the downside potential. Still, it grinded against me a little and a chicken out. I literally top ticked my cover in this little channel. What I should of down is downsized my position to half or 1/3 when it was grinding and just add to the winner if I got into the green. Lost 15 bucks on this one. 

Things to work on:

1. Emotions - I am to emotional and it is turning potential big winners into losers and winners into smaller winners.
2. Honor stops - I always chicken out of small losers and am not allowing myself to take on the full risk I set out when entering the trade. My AMRN trade was a easy winner turned into a loser because of both emotions and failure to honor my stops. 
3. Stay confident - I need to stay confident in trading. I have not made a profitable trade in a week and am starting to get discouraged at times. It's only my first month but I still seem to be in the gutter a lot. I can't let this get to me as I dont want this to snowball into more bad decision making

Thanks for reading.

Jay

Introduction

March 16, 2015

Hey guys, you're most likely here from my Twitter. I'm starting a little blog mainly for myself right now. I say that because I don't think I'm at the trading level to be able to help or be of value to others, haha. I'm wanting to track my trades online since 1. it is a lot easier 2. I just hate writing in town in a notebook as Im really disorganized and it gets all mangled with studying notes and not really of value. 

Figured a blog would be better so I can do weekly reviews and end of week analysis as well. Still gotta figure out how to add chart snapshots and stuff as. I think if I just write down that I entered/exited at x price that it wouldn't be ingrained in my head as well. If I have a visual I can go back and easily figure out my mindset/reasoning for taking the trade and why it may be right/wrong.

Trade on!

Jay