My Trades for Today (and Zoomie is my hero)

This post was contributed by a guest author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Richard or MovetheMarkets.com

I scalped my brains out this morning, and basically ran through over -3R in losses. I was off in my timing, and was holding too long and with positions that were too large / stops that were too tight for the volatility. Just trading poorly.

I tried to refocus myself, and looked for setups on higher timeframes than 1 minute. Zoomie called out a setup in ORA on Wallstreak. It had been basing for over a year, and had a breakout yesterday and a big gap up today. It was a Trader-X style setup. Zoomie traded it on the 30 minute chart, and I traded it on the 1 minute chart.

I wanted to play a breakout of $47 with a tight stop so that the payoff would be big if it moved. My first entry was too early as it turns out, and I punched out to avoid hitting the stop (which was too wide anyway). Strike 1.

Trade Summary:

ORA Long
Entry: $46.98, Stop: $46.60, Target: $0.00
Exit: $46.78, P/L: -0.54R

Trade Grade:

Next, I watched the setup to see what it would do. ORA made a higher low inside the base, so I entered pre-emptively inside the base to give myself some cushion, like I did yesterday with CFC, though my stop was still too wide. In the end, it moved to just above $47, but no volume really came in, so I bailed when price retraced back below $47. Not a loss, so foul tip.

Trade Summary:

ORA Long
Entry: $46.90, Stop: $46.60, Target: $47.60
Exit: $46.97, P/L: 0.19R

Trade Grade:

Just like with CFC, the third time was the charm for me! Volume dried up at $47 and the 15 minute timeframe was finally aligned with the 1 minute, guiding me to go long. I entered early, with a tighter stop this time. About 20 seconds later, ORA popped about $0.30 immediately and ran up about a dollar in 2 minutes! It was unreal, and Zoomie called it in plenty of time for anyone on Wallstreak to get in. I took a partial at the 119% fib, and then closed out the rest when I had to leave the computer. I thought that I would miss the 138% extension if I was away, which was my target just above $49. During that time I was away, ORA made it within a few cents of that level. Amazing.

Trade Summary:

ORA Long
Entry: $47.00, Stop: $46.70, Target: $49.23
Exit: $48.47, P/L: 4.32R

Trade Grade:

Net PnL Today: +1.05R (even after all my screwups this morning)
Prop Trading Return on Equity from 7/25 to 8/8: +11.7%

If I can keep from throwing money at bad trades, then my PnL should really take off. Trade well and the money will follow.

This post was contributed by a guest author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Richard or MovetheMarkets.com