Apr 10

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


I rushed this trade. R 0.6 loss.
STX:
10-apr-stx.PNG


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


Apr 10

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


Not much time now, but here’s two trades I took over the last two days.

Trade 1: Nuvelo, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUVO)

nuvo-candle-last-2-days_15m-2007-04-10-130802.GIF

My timing was off, but it would have turned out okay (breakeven) if not for my position size. I placed a stop that was okay for intraday, but was way too tight for overnight, so I was good for a daytrade, but way too large for an overnight trade. You can see the aftermarket action in between the two gray lines. I went in to this knowing I might hold it overnight, and I should have placed the stop appropriately. This is a real beginner mistake, and I should have known better.

Trade Summary:

NUVO Short 58 Shares
Entry: $5.63, Stop: $5.90, Target: $4.00
R: $15.66, Exit: $6.42
P/L: -2.93R, or ($45.82)

Trade Grade:

pl6.jpg

Trade 2: Seagate Technology (NYSE: STX)

This was a base breakout that I traded off of a 5-minute chart:

stx-candle-last-day_5m-2007-04-10-122222.GIF

With my profit target from a 15 minute chart with fibs (shooting for 119%):

stx-candle-last-2-days_15m-2007-04-10-122226.GIF

And support identified on a daily chart:

stx-candle-one-year_1d-2007-04-10-122236.GIF

Those three shouldn’t go together. The 5 minute chart pattern should have given me a target. Once in, I managed the trade reasonably well, and I pulled off a breakeven trade despite this mistake. Oh, and it’s an NYSE stock, so that should have clued me in to just take the 1R and run.

Trade Summary:

STX Short 185 Shares
Entry: $21.46, Stop: $21.62, Target: $21.00
R: $29.60, Exit: $21.46
P/L: 0.00R, or $0.00

Trade Grade:

pl3.jpg

Still in a slump. :( I keep mixing up timeframes it seems, and my expectations are off. My targets are too aggressive for the timeframe I’m planning the trade in. Even though the losses are painful, losses are a part of trading even with a good system. the trouble is, I just don’t have a system, really. I’m discretionary, with a few loose setups that I prefer. So when I start losing, it’s not the system, it’s me. I need system help!!

Does anybody have a TD Ameritrade account? Have you used the new Strategy Desk backtesting tool? I can’t seem to get it to work right and could use some pointers if you have.

Stocks Mentioned In This Article
StockLinks
NUVO | |
STX | |

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


Apr 10

It was sloooow going today in the markets. At least, from my vantage point, anyway. The only thing I could find that seemed to have any force behind it was Seagate Technology (NYSE: STX). So, I traded it twice!

This is one of those rare days where I manage to trade both long and short on the same stock on the same day. Feels all “professional” :-)

The first trade was a scalp based on a deformed descending triangle formation. I played it as a scalp since it wasn’t too well-formed, and because it wasn’t near breaking its opening range low. Here’s the 15-min chart showing the shape I was watching:

Read the rest of this entry »

Stocks Mentioned In This Article
StockLinks
STX | |
Jan 24

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


I traded SeagateTechnology (NYSE:STX) today. I couldn’t find a lot of setups today. Tough to trade gap plays at times when the market gaps at the open.

24-jan-stx.PNG

Stocks Mentioned In This Article
StockLinks
STX | |

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