Monday Feb 23 trading

The BLDP swing short , massed me up when news was announced this AM .
BLDP gapped up and almost all  gains from short swing trade  2.87  were wiped out. I kept watching it for good exit which I did ok , covered it at 2.67 with  20 c gain.  Not bad and I cant say I did anything wrong, since I can not predict if a news may be announced. However that  was enough to to throw me out of focus and missed great set ups/like  HZNP long , BIOC long CLDX  long. ARIA long. Was not mentally focused on enough tickers. Did only two trades:

CRMD short
I shorted twice first time got hit with 29c loss, more then planned , so I did crappy on that THINKING my idea to drop 50 cents or a whole $1.00 must work, since it is so overextended. Nothing MUST work. No matter how overextended stock is, it can go twice or triple or more the "wrong way".
So I did not cut my loss as I normally do which is :

• either I am instantly in green or 
• if I am not in green I give it very short time to prove me wrong and if it does, I am out with the thought in mind  I CAN ALWAYS RE-ENTER, at same or even better price if squeezes higher.Which it did, and got stopped from my entry 5.13 all the way 5.42 , with 29 c loss. 

I forgot  to ASK MYSELF THE 2 QUESTIONS...  LOL I forgot ?? Who da' crack am I lying to ?!?
I did ask myself but the "something else"   made  me not execute as I suppose to.
After the loss I took another short 5.35 saying to myself:
 "I do not need to make up for the 29c loss on one trade. I can do it in few trades as long as I can stay focused and execute  few good entries on so many great set ups today".


I even tweeted it, so my friends can learn what I preach to myself

It is the most powerful rule I've heard from @modern_rock

 I covered 5.20 into the first wash , then re-entered 5.30 again .. Or I didnt ?
I WISH IF I DID THAT but I did not!!!
Hoped to have the big short trade the home run , all the opposite as I was saying to myfrign'self.
Luckily it worked out  and made 14 cents back on the second drop to 5.20.
The point here is: I'm writing my thoughts , my alter ego conning me and lying to me, my second me , my enemy withing , that tries to keep me at my corporate job by doing this dumb mistakes over and over again. But now that I write it all , and after I read it later before I go to sleep, I hope that one day I will be a perfect trader.
This is not the first time I've written this, the same mistakes, and the truth of the matter is: writing my entire trades , not only the entries and the exits , but the whole process of what I was thinking, doing, and how I was feeling, is of absolute help in my trading.
I have improved a lot , far from perfect, and more I write and more I read what I wrote,  including reading the journals of other traders like   Ed Martin's for example is the best weapon against the "force" that is there watching, and waiting for me to screw up.
It is the same thing over and over again;
The same two set ups that I trade, the same mistakes, the same charts, but different tickers,the same emotions, feelings, it is all the same and there is no reason for not becoming a perfect trader once I clearly know what the challenge is. There is no better way (for me) to identify the challenge then to constantly write about it, and read it over and over again. There is no shrink that can help you better then you can help yourself, simply by identifying the problems by yourself in anyway you can.

• For me is:  to write it and then read it.

 There is nothing and nobody that can  stop me except myself. And thanx to all the good traders there that share without expecting anything in return like @modern_rock @johnwelshtrades    that in way confirm that everything is possible if you put enough hard work in it .

CRMD  5.13 short 

CRMD stopped with 29 cent loss 5.42

CRMD second time short 5.35

CRMD took profit on second drop to 5.21

The other trade was short STXS , 2.80 , luckily I got filled on small size , was very iliquid and got out at  break even. It was just on my watch list , happen to be on my monitor, but hey it did not do what expected and got out. Not bad I am happy with it.
Now I will take a one day brake and will trade again on Wednesday/
Salute

On Watch Feb 23, Monday THRX

There are few big movers I will be watching on Monday
THRX , CRIS, CYBR  HZNP  CYBR.

THRX  May do the same as WPRT did on Feb 10. Approached to daily swing resistance 19.00 will look for gap up and short the weakness from 19.00

WPRT Daily

CRIS after a significant run up, is consolidating under 3.50 major swing high, may break above and if strong  volume it  could be a long, although short play is possible too

CRIS daily                            CRIS hourly

HZNP  broke and closed above major  18.00 Will look for weak open and low risk higher low entries on pull backs

HZNP

TXMD either weak open  for long or parabolic up move towards the 6.00 or higher to short

TXMD

CYBR will look for  gap up and parabolic up move to short the weaker tops

BLDP a wining trade update

BLDP 

I  used My Favorite Trade Set Up learned form @modern_rock to enter short BLDP
The partial left size short  will be closed if it trades above PDH (Prev Day High) on Monday. If it will continue down  I will definitely close it before they report earnings on Feb 25th  Wednesday.

Here is BLDP on day of entry short Feb 13

BLDP short entry 

Here is BLDP  on Friday Feb 20

BLDP trailing the exit on the partial small position

Note: Check out all the good news posted during these drop down days..hmmm

Salute

$SFUN losing trade recap and volume note

SFUN long trade
It seems like I always forget to mention the volume as a very important factor in trading. And I think it is so important that I assume that everybody knows. However my few friends I write this for, ( and for me personalty  to keep reading it from time to time to keep me in check) , may not put enough attention to this.
Initially SFUN broke above major short term resistance $7 ,  7.20 area on increased volume. After a better then expected earnings ( estimated 0.13 and actual 0.21 EPS) .
 I took it long 7.30 against 7.20 support at first, watched it all day tick by tick how it was trading with time and sales prints, initially trade was positive, went long 7.30 went up to 7.40 , just to see it next day on Friday dropping quickly into my risk stop level 7.20 , got stopped 7.17. Then I Re-enterd couple of times

SFUN stop loss No1 at 7.17
SFUN took long 7.09  with very tight stop the triple bottom created intra day
SFUN stopped out with 2 cents loss, not holding the triple bottom, knowing that from here may severally drop much lower , since obviously so far the 7.20 is not holding, and knowing that I can re-enter if this changes and trades upwards again. Not letting to have big loser is prime though on my mind, and writing about it just reinforces my discipline. The re-entry option is still in plan, since the main idea I am trading this stock is still valid, and the possibility for SFUN to stay above 7.00 after the higher volume break out on Wednesday Feb 17 is still intact.
SFUN re-entry long 7.11 again risk LOD
The watch list for Friday the 20th did not give me any good entries My Favorite Set Up did not occur  no entries that I would have felt comfortable with so I stayed focused on this SFUN trade. It may look like I got stubborn, but the general long swing idea is still  unchanged as long as SFUN holds 7.00. The drop towards 7.00 was  on very low volume after the break above 7.00 on higher volume. I may be totally wrong , SFUN may make new monthly low from here, so I play safe with very limited risk and size I can afford to lose. Up side may easily shot up towards $8 which makes descent risk vs reward
I can not control where the stock can go , but I can control my action upon the stock movement. This is the only one business that depends only on myself , my decisions my action, my responsibility, and there i nobody else I can blame if lose big. So lose small, stay in business rule number 1.

SFUN initial entry day loong



SFUN second day of the trade

If on Monday doesn't give any positive close, or increased volume , or it doesn't show strength I will abandon this long idea. 

I may not even trade anything else until this trade is completed , weather winner or loser. Trading is a marathon not a sprint.
Writing about a loosing trade and I handle is what mostly improved my trading. The wining trade is just a winner, no harm could be done. How I handle the losers I think is way more important.
In every trade I get in , I consider to may be a loser and I do all I can to protect my capital from losing trade.

Salute

Recap Friday Feb 20 trading $SFUN $WMT

I had SFUN swing overnight long  and WMT overnight small position  short.

WMT:

 I covered pre-market 82.70 short from avg 84.00 which is $1,30 gain on $80 stock, perr planned target since 83.00 was daily swing resistance. Happy for the good trade. I try to remember the good trades as well as the bad ones.

And there have been far less good trade set ups then the bad ones. I have just a handful of good set ups I am comfortable with, and a tons of bad ones. But when the good ones keep repeating , it feels great in sense  of accomplishment and results of hard work. 

WMT short entries and partial cover on Thursday

WMT fully covered on Friday pre-market

Observation: The move of WMT was after the earning report on Thursday pre -market. Better then expected earnings, normally would be a BUY fundamental signal. But price action indicated short term SELL. After I covered the entire position WMT went all the way up and closed 84.27, above my short entry of 84.00. Will it continue to go up from here ? Do I really care? My style is day-trade and very short term swing trades, with goal every week to be a payday if possible. Long  term investing is not for me, I don't like to have position sitting in red, and wait months to make 10% on such investment. Market is so volatile that catching the few percent gains on each trade every day adds up. For one stock to go up lets say 30% a year , that stock will make so many 10% swing moves up and down as well as  intraday moves that if reading the price action and managing the losses efficiently, the profitability can be  much higher. Of course if someone has also the time to spend watching every day full time. What I believe in is not and shall not be how other should believe. I like to share how I trade, since there are people who like this style of trading.

SFUN  was twitted real time, as I took couple of small loses, I have re-entered again at 7.11 and I keep this trade over night again.
I may update more details how and why I traded SFUN the way I did if I have time or if anybody wants to hear.

Recap Feb 19 $SFUN $WMT, and watch list for feb 20, Friday

SFUN
 Long term big picture : downtrend all the way to 5 year support level 6.00 after which short term trend is upwards with close above 7.00, holding short term support 7.20.

SFUN weekly 

 On Wednesday Feb 18 ( yesterday ) broke above 7.20 on above average volume and closed above 7.20. So 7.20 became a support and defines me the risk for long trade. The plan was to wait for pull back towards the 7.20 to get in long,

SFUN Daily

 I entered 7.30 average.

SFUN 2 day 5 min 

My risk is 7.20 so 10 cents I am willing to lose  with potential to gain 30 cents or more. The stock tried 5 or 6 times to break above 7.20 past 30 days  or so
Finally when it did it closed 2 days in a raw above 7.20, and today is having an INSIDE DAY ( powerful pattern / indicating a consolidation before potential explosive move ).
I am comfortable with the size, comfortable that I can lose 10c, Although depending on how it will open tomorrow I will tighten up the stop. I never ever widen the initial risk after I enter a trade. ONLY LOWER THE RISK, use every up move to reduce the risk.
The size is appropriate with the overnight risk I can sustain, in event of major news, a disaster, nuclear war or so ...pardon if nuclear war all I have to worry about is not to lose my sward :)). In other word, let's say the stock drops 50%, that loss shall be not more then 10% of my acct. Do I really practice that? Maybe I will when I become  Warren Buffet. Till then I understand trading is risky and yes I may lose a lot more then per plan. Over-Night exposure can make the loss lot bigger then the planned 10 cents.  But hey, its OK  with me as long as I am aware of it. During the trading session, I observed the time and sales closely. I noticed there were lot bigger size printing at the ask, spatially  after every pull back. Also I noticed when a big prints were at the bid, price was moving a tick up. I think that is absorption by somebody. I believe somebody was quietly loading up during this inside day, and I believe tomorrow or day after SFUN may pop above 7.50 , which was PDH (Previous Day High) after which will have a clear pathway to 8.00. Along the way I will lock in some gains. That's the plan if I am right. If I am wrong, I already explained at first: risk is 10 cents below 7.20, or so depends how it will trade near that area, if it does so.

WMT
Pre-market big volume today , they reported earning, or so, I did not even bother reading the news at that time, because it may just confuse my reading of the price action, which was clearly short biased. So  I looked to go short which I did in partials.

WMT short 84.00

Now that I red the ER, hmm SO GLAD I DID NOT READ IT IN THE AM   :). Earnings were better then estimated , so a normal mind would be a buyer , not seller. Lost a lot of money before in the past trading by the meaning of the news. Price action is what I go by. No other indicators !!! I want the most clear and most simple picture on the chart. Clean desk, clean chart, clean mind.

WMT daily , intra-day 1 min

Was I 100% sure this short will work out ? No way , that is never 100% possible. So what did I go by? Here is my thinking and reading the price action:
1) Huge volume pre-market, expecting a nice move during the session, for a day trade
2) 84.00 major swing low daily
3) Over under 84.00 will be the battle, will it hold will it break?
After open 3-4 min into the open , broke the LOD  so it was my short entry. I say I do not like to enter break outs, but when volume is so above average , there is a chance to truly miss the drop, so I entered small size just to be in , and get the feel for for it. I said I will add if it goes to HOD ( High Of Day) with risk HOD, on entire position.

Will add close to ( near ) high of day I meant

It went up to 84.20, then 84.30, was looking to go to HOD to add but never did.  Instead , it dropped all the way down to LOD, where made double bottom. Mistake here I'm talking in hind sight, I should have would have taken profit, but my size was so small I figured , "let it break LOD and drop more to lock it in, and then to short again on pull up at better price"

My real time thought

  After the double bottom, went up to 8.30. and made double top with previous intra-day high 8.30. The idea I had was: I will add to my short , so I can have better size , with risk above the double top, 8.30. So I added more size 84.18

Added short 84.18

WMT 1 min , adding short  84.18  avg 84.09

I decreased the original risk ( tightened the tolerance for loss), the HOD is no more my original risk level , just because the 8.30 double top was newly created resistance that allowed me to risk without sweating much.I  NEVER WIDEN THE RISK once I am in trade  ONLY TIGHTEN IT.

• The trading is game of losing. So lose less, while allowing to make more.

I know and plan that every trade will be a loser , no matter how much I wish,  I want,  I love and I expect  it to go my way. Can I live with myself if I lose X amount of dollars?  Can I be comfortable losing that much? Can I buy food tomorrow if I lose today? This sounds boring to me too, as well as to whoever reads this,  but I have lost a lot, till I learned this the hard way. I am much more comfortable shorting then longing, so I primarily focused on the SFUN trade watching every tick , every print, every Level2 market maker (MM), how are they stacked,  the size of the bids the offers, the prints. Cant help it , love doing it. When I am wrong and when I lose, it  is really frustrating, and hard to bear the fact that I spent all day watching tick by tick , analyzing every possible scenario , watching new support resistances as they are created , and at the end I am having a red day. It is a hard work, so I try to at least simplify it to the  dumbest level so I stay rested instead of exhausted.

I covered most of the WMT 83.70 and left small size over night (risk break even ), since the price action tells me this has room to go lower maybe gap down tomorrow off the gate or so.  Daily chart next support is 83.00 which is my target.  Or break even if it starts moving up.

WMT covered 2/3 size

I expected to have much bigger move down, having the volume traded way above the average, but I ll take what ever I can take. Still far from perfect trading , there were much better plays today , but I stuck to just two. Any green day is a good day.

From my watch list there were no gap up opens , none gave me My Favorite Set Up  so is the reason I traded just those two.

Tomorrow on watch for short EGRX, ARRS, NMBL, THRX, ASTI,
1) Daily overextended
2) Gap up open with possible parabolic move up out of the gate
3) If there is run into daily resistance level over / under is a plus
4) Short first weakness, tight stops unless I have plan to add and size in smaller positions
It may look like a lot of tickers, but I will eliminate those that will not open with gap up, so right out off the gate I will know what to focus on.

For long :
TRUE need a weak open pull back to 20 as near as possible then long with risk 20.00 or so
UPL need a weak open pull back to 16 as near as possible then long with risk 16.00 or so
PEIX need break above 10.00 to hold 10.00 and long with risk 10.00 or so
AMRN if holds 1.40 maybe a long, if good volume .
Usually for those it takes more time till some of them drops , pulls back to the risk defined level.
It is not big deal to observe them when they are all spread over my monitors, so I don't even need to flip any other charts. This is relaxing set up and I know exactly what to look for.

I love talking strategies , so if anyone have something to say lets talk. Any good traders out there please share your thoughts where and how I can improve. Need to quit my corporate job.
I almost quit trading myself after huge losses in the past , but traders like @Modern_rock @EpicaCapital  @InvestorsLive  @Lx21 @johnwelshtrades   @OzarkTrades  @elkwood66
 inspired me and
Thank you all.
Salute!

Recap Trades Feb 18, CLF ONCY Watch list for Feb 19 Thursday

CLF swing got out on break even. 6.90 Long , exited 6.90. It did not hold the 7.00 after it spiked up to 7.28 HOD. Do not feel comfortable holding the stock that 2 days in a row could not close above $7.00 . It may do so tomorrow but not gonna deal with it.  There are plenty of other stocks that can give me an instant green day after an entry to hold for swing. I can use the money for those. I'd rather have my money make money then sit and do nothing , let alone to be in red, specially after the fact that CLF gave me 5% return in a day that I did not take looking to have a longer term swing trade. Again the tough is: If I can make 5% in a day , every day , what else and how much more do I need? After all the risk was  10c to make 38c , 1:4 risk reward in my book is always TAKE IT ! I trade the ticker the set up , and then the fundamentals. I can find those every day , yes it takes some work, but making money requires work, and which work can give you unlimited potential by doing same amount of work? Next time : if I have in mind swing trade but it gives you substantial gain the same day or teh next day , take it, or lock in partial, at least get paid. ( How many times I said this to myself and same mistake over and over again , enough already!!!)

CLF the entry 6.90

CLF break even exit

ONCY scalp short
MY FAVORITE SET UP  works like a clockwork, do only this trades and you can make a living: overextended daily , opens with gap up  and then short the weaker tops,

ONCY short 0.80

ONCY near LOD

https://twitter.com/DaChopa/status/568081169834602496

Was prepared to cover this into the wash per plan, but I covered little too late .

ONCY  covered  by trailing the stop not bad after all

ANGI stopped out , good trade obeyed the stop 

ANGI was pre market very active , 500,000 shares vol pre -market, average daily volume was 700,000 so we knew it will be a BIG MOVER today ended up trading over 20mil shares today , but got in too late, was thinking and speculating if it will hold the 7.00 after it tested it, it did held but did not act upon the thought, because I was THINKING it may brake below 7.00 and then to short . TOO MUCH THINKING is not TOO GOOD. Look at the price action , let the price tell you what to do . It was a strong stock , retraced to 7.00, should have would have bought against the 7.00 risking  15 cents, but I didnt.
Next time THINK LESS, READ PRICE ACTION MORE !!! Who knows maybe one day I will have a perfect day.

For tomorrow will look again for overextended tickers ( notice I mention TICKERS , not COMPANIES, trading is about price action of the ticker , fundamentals are secondary and more important for long term investments

On watch ONNN SFUN ANGI EGRX NKA ANTH TTS  MNTA need a gap up open rally then short the weakness,
NETE may be a great long break out , need to hold 1.40
MASI may be a long if weak open and look for higher lows , low risk entries ,  pullbacks,
The higher lows, ar ABCD that some gurus call those , same thing just different package .
And what ever comes in as overextended big gainer form today and past few days on over 1 million daily volume for good liquidity , wait for gap up open , possible spike up out off the gate and knock em down at the first weakness. Tight stop so you don't lose, and if you don't lose then sky is the limit.
KISS Keep It Simple Stupid, make sure a 10 yr can understand your strategy and you are gonna be fine.
Salute !!!