If I gave myself an “F” yesterday, I’ll give myself maybe a “B” today. Let’s see why….
First, the stats: I made three trades for 3 R. That was 2 winners and 1 loser. Not bad, especially for an under-trader like me.
The first two trades were on Research in Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM). On the first entry, which was earlier in the day than I like to trade, I sensed weakness, and feared a big drop. I didn’t wait for my stop and got out for -0.45R. It’s always ironic when your blackberry beeps to confirm that you lost money on RIMM! :-) So, that’s the first reason I can’t give myself an “A” today. I didn’t trust my own stop, which was a pretty tight stop in the first place.
Then, a few minutes later, things looked rosier and I jumped back in with an aggressive stop (click to enlarge):
Even though I made 2 R this time, this was the heartbreaking trade of the day. Just look at the other 10 R I didn’t make! :-( I was watching the Qs, and the TICK when I got out, and I thought they looked weak. But, RIMM didn’t skip much of a beat, and kept on rolling. I could’ve gotten back in, but a third trade on the same stock felt too much like revenge. (Yes, you can take revenge on a stock even after winning).
Later in the day, I traded Trimble Navigation (Nasdaq: TRMB) for 1.45 R. First the chart, then the story (click to enlarge):
So, after seeing what I had done on RIMM, I was determined to be a “hold-to-the-close” guy on my next trade. When TRMB set up, I bought in. I put a stop in the market (which I almost never do… I’m a mental stops man). I set an email alert for my target of 49.50, and I just walked away. (If you must know, I watched a couple episodes of Alias on DVD).
At the time, I imagined I’d be writing a blog entry like this:
I really love this new trading style. Is there anything better than making money while relaxing? I’ve done my job, getting into the trade, and now it’s just carefree money-making time.
… but what I really felt like was more like this:
Any second, my blackberry’s going to beep. Aaaaany second. And it will either be my stop executing, or my target getting hit. Yep, should be soon. Maybe I should check that the alerts are set properly. No, that’s silly. Sure has been a while, though. I hope the markets are holding up. Geez, this is nerve-wracking. In a minute, I think I better check on it.
I was far from relaxed! But, I may keep at it, and try to get used to it. Anyway, eventually I did get the email, and I had managed to pick the exact top as my target. I was able to get out for just a few cents less than that. If my platform had order-cancels-order options available, I wouldn’t have even had to do anything to get out of the trade, but it doesn’t.
Highchartpatterns.com
Both stocks I traded today were from Highchartpatterns.com. Last night I had someone send me email saying “If your watchlists work, why do you need to use a stock picking service?” Well, I don’t need to, but today is a good example of why I might want to.
Yeah, I have lots of setups I’m watching for at all times (right now there’s 25 or so active on my StockTickr watchlist, and I’ve started posting my most useful nightly scan here on the blog every day). But, those setups can take days to materialize. So, even with 25 stocks on my screen, some days none of them are tradeable by my standards. Today was one of those days, with only Time Warner Inc. (Nasdaq: TWTC) hitting my price at the end of the day.
So, on days like this, it’s really nice to have access to some ideas by another set of traders. Since their style is similar to mine, I find their picks natural to trade. Since their style is a little different than mine, they tend to find different stocks than I do. Perfect!
So, this isn’t the first newsletter I’ve subscribed to, and it won’t be the last, I’m sure. You can never have too many ideas to work with!
| Stocks Mentioned In This Article | |
|---|---|
| Stock | Links |
| RIMM |  |  |  |
| TRMB | | | |
| TWTC | | | |
August 16th, 2006 at 5:56 pm
Never exit on a green bar except I do the same thing all the time - my rule in this regard - don’t look back for at least one day and if you do look back - no tears - no regrets - a profit is a profit is a profit. It cost you nothing but a little time and the game will still be here tomorrow.
Thanks for the 30 day lists - I’m experimenting with a secondary filter on them and will share that with you and the others here once I’ve got it refined enough to trust.
August 17th, 2006 at 1:02 am
@John: Well, of course the bar was red at the time I took my exit! It turned back around. Rules like that confuse me, frankly, because the bars will be different colors at different time frames, anyway.
My problem is I just don’t trust an up market. I’m so sure it’s about to turn around that I’m running at first sign of weakness.
August 17th, 2006 at 4:35 am
I understand that. I’m the same way but here’s a useful exercise that you can use for practice - switch to 4 minute charts using 8 period EMA. If you look at RIMM for yesterday in this configuration you will see a clear buy point (about the same as the one you picked) and a clear exit (around 12:30). Again this is just an exercise but I find that the 4 minute bars calm me down and make me a better 15 minute trader.
August 17th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
@John: that’s interesting about 4 minute charts. I’ll take a look at them, and see if I can figure out what you are getting out of them. Thanks!
August 17th, 2006 at 8:51 pm
Yo Richard,
Nice day, congrats. You seem like you have been working hard, nice.
The one thing that I think is totally pussified about trading blogs is NONE of them use actual dollar figures.
Lame-o. I think this is because most people with trading blogs don’t make money, I really stand by my belief that most retail traders that blog make way less money than you’d think, most lose but won’t admit it. Just the way it is.
Stuff like this, man you should be the first guy to do this, I will be if you aren’t when I get back to trading:
http://tinyurl.com/qnj9m
or this:
http://tinyurl.com/lbmrz
I’m getting in a little at gamblinted.livejournal.com, but just to keep my mom not worried.
August 18th, 2006 at 2:05 am
@Ted: dehtrader uses dollar amounts, and Stockcoach posts in dollars and percent, usually. NYSE Scalper always posts dollars.
So, there are a few out there that do what you want, already. I guess I could give dollars and R, though I really think the R value is more important. I find it easy to trust that a positive R gain represents money made. The only missing factor is commissions, which aren’t that important unless someone is trading really small, or trading 50 times a day.
August 18th, 2006 at 7:53 am
No way man, it’s about being a baller and making fun of poor people!
And R value isn’t that important, I don’t do this for R I do this for bling, nigga.