Two Scalps on Schlumberger Limited (NYSE: SLB)

Yawn. Man, what a lackluster trading day. As the goddess pointed out, there really wasn’t a lot going on this morning. Right now, it looks like QQQQ is going to end the day with something like 70% of its normal volume.

Anyway, the only thing I really saw worth watching was SLB, but it made a pretty sudden move all the way from 65.50 up to my intended buy point of 66. So, without any of my intraday setups to back me up, I will label this a breakout trade in stocktickr. I would normally time my entry to get in at 66.00, but since the alert surprised me, it took me a couple seconds to assess the situation and enter my order. I bought just a few shares, and got filled at 66.06. That didn’t make me happy, so I got out as soon as I saw any size on the ask. With a better fill, I’d definitely have stayed in this one until it stalled out.

Well, it was hard not to notice, a little later, that it had stalled out. On the chart, I’ve outlined a rough-looking box play that I could have put on, which would have had a (successful) target of 66.10. Since the breakout was against the overall trend, though, I decided not to take the trade. Geez, when will I learn to trust the box play? It never fails! (heh…). Anyway, I scalped it short, instead, and got less profit than the box play would have made.

As I mentioned via twitter, I’m pretty sure this is one of the only days I’ve ever been both long and short the same stock on the same day and won both times. Pretty nice, even though the total $ won isn’t anything to write home about.

Hopefully your day was swell, and tomorrow will have a few more fireworks.