Today was kinda weird for me. First, Tradestation’s quotes froze for most of the morning. Then, I found out the hard way that Scottrade’s quotes were a second or two off (by getting a fill 15 cents away from the quote I was staring at). I was gone for 3 hours like I usually am on Thursdays. And, I still managed to make 15 Trades. So, obviously there cannot be a video!

A video wouldn’t be very enlightening anyway. It was one of those, lose 10 cents, reverse and make 15 cents kinda days. I played BLUD perfectly, shorting it twice and buying it once. But, I played NIHD anti-perfectly, losing every time it convinced me to get in.

Were it not for the quoting troubles, it could have been a great day… the massive 15 cent slippage on my USU short scared me out for a 5 cent loss, and it went on to drop an easy 50 cents. Oh well, I’d rather lose because of technical difficulties than lose because my ideas sucked. I also had to take a 5 cent gain on a DRC short because I was leaving for lunch. When I got back I checked the chart, and the very next candle offered a 50 cent drop. So, I wasn’t very lucky, all things considered.

If I had a time machine, I wouldn’t change anything about my trades, but I would go back and schedule a massage for this afternoon… 15 trades leaves me exhausted and a bit tense.

It’s a choppy, rangebound day today so far (12:17 EST as I write this). I made two little scalp trades, both winners, for a total of 4.77R according to StockTickr. I still have a couple of stocks on my radar, but I think I may just call it a day. None of the other traders I talk to during the day are 2 for 2, and I know better than to press my luck. Plus, I know this sounds stupid, but I had a strong feeling last night that I was going to lose money today. So, I’ve tried to be extra cautious.

Trade 1: USU

So, despite what I just said about being extra cautious, I made a trade at 9:33 EST. Yep, just 3 minutes after the open! So, you know it had to be a scalp, and in fact I was back out in 26-seconds. I used my 30-day breakout scan to find USU pushing 24.44. The chart is uninteresting, obviously.

Trade 2: CTXS

Maybe it was more effects of that feeling that I would lose money today, but I kinda psyched myself out on the second scalp. It was on CTXS breaking 33 for the second time. It had a nice trade rate, and ate through a ton of shares at 33. I should have stayed in it for at least 10 or 15 cents gain. But, earlier it had gotten slammed back down at 33.08, and I let that scare me out for a measly 5 cent gain. It’s decent money for a little scalp, but 15 cents would have been nicer, obviously!

Though I didn’t make a point-and-figure play, I did spot the scalping opportunity on the PnF chart. I’ve drawn it in to show you what I mean:

… point and figure charts are geared toward highlighting support and resistance, which is exactly what you need to be able to find to make most “classical” trading patterns work in your favor. It seemed clear to me that pressure was building up on the 33 level, in this case.