Trading Recap 12/31/14

Only took a couple of trades today.

Entries are white arrows.

RMTI: I saw higher lows and it was forming a nice ascending triangle near the HOD. I had it on watch from the big move yesterday. I sold some around 11:30AM at .20 and then raised my stop to breakeven. Then I sold the rest again at .20 with the break of the channel. Chart:

AAPL: Tried to play the bounce off the daily chart support but it kept going lower so I stopped out. I saw a higher low form after the initial pop and decided to go for it, but I should have waited a bit more. Stop out was at LOD. Chart:

Things to work on:
1. Stop bitching about not being able to short and find good long setups.
2. Look into options and puts for shorts that are HTB, if available.
3. Have conviction when trading.

Trading Recap 12/30/14

Quick overview of today's action:

GTI: Looked good on the daily chart and took some on a pullback after it broke out, but it just chopped around so I was flat on it.

IDRA: I bought it in the morning for a nHOD but I sold flattish on it before letting it go to my stop because it made a new nhod and pulled back didn't get going. I played for the pop but when it didn't happen, I got out.

ISIS: I shorted a channel breakdown and was up .40/share but never covered any of it and I added on a pop since it was a lower high, but it then promptly made a higher low and I stopped out of the partial after it went past the prior high that just formed and then let it go red on me. I should have covered some at least when I was up ,40 and should have gone out after it making a higher low. I retried after a descending triangle (lower highs with base) and it cracked but it came back to teh support line and held so I sized down but kept 1/2 and I let it go to nearest high and stop out after that.

NUGT: Bought the nHOD break and it went a bit but I let it come back on me a bit so I sold out some and put the rest at breakeven which stopped out of all my shares. There was a nice support trendline though and the low came right to it and rebounded and eventually making a small nHOD.

Things to work on:
1. Work on selling into lower highs on proper setups like ABCD higher lows or late day fade and just scalping/being patient for other types of trade.
2. Incorporate trendlines more for support lines for better guidance as to when to sell.

Trading Recap 12/29/14

There was a decent amount of opportunity for a holiday week but I didn't take advantage of it and was red on the day. Looked for mostly shorts since I think they are much better for lower volume days, although that is hard with TD's borrows list.

CAR: I had been eyeing this for a short towards the later part of the day and once it broke 66.83 I was thinking it changed trend so I got short with risk over/under 66.80s but covered flattish.

ISIS: I was trading this like a channel play. I shorted at resistance at 63 and was going to cover at the bottom of the channel. It made a slightly higher low and I stupidly let it come up and didn't cover at least partial to lock in gains. I came out slightly ahead on the trade but it could have been much more.

LIVE: First I tried to buy a higher high on the 1 min chart but that didn't happen and it came back down to the lows before coming back so I sold for a small loss. I then retried buying at the support and trying to sell at resistance but after I bought at $4 it came back down below the prior lows so I got stopped out, but it then proceeded to go right back up, but not by much.

MTW: In the morning it looked like an ABCD pattern so I took it on nHOD but it promptly came right back down. I killed it before it hit my stop, which was good because it helps to ingrain the mentality of right or right out. I bought it for continuation and a pop and it came right back down.

TASR: I tried shorting the upper part of the channel which proved to be resistance before and my plan was to stop out near the bottom of the channel. My risk was to r/g. This time it decided to go up on me and stop me out. One thing to note was that I tried shorting 27 over/under on the way down and I didn't get filled only to see it tank.

XONE: My plan on this was to buy higher lows and wait for the r/g. Well, I bought a partial on the first higher low on the 1m in chart but then it stopped me out by going below that low and making a nLOD before fading the rest of the day.

Things to work on:

1. Don't try to pinch pennies on entries.
2. Of course, more patience.
3. Don't think "I have to be in every trade or I am losing potential money".
4. Balance not being a scalper and not being greedy.

Watchlist for 12/29/2014

I believe there are better short setups out there than longs. However, since I am using TD's thinkorswim for paper trading and the paper trading mimics the borrows they actually have and their borrows are horrible, I can't short many stocks at all, and so I mostly look for long setups.

Longs

VJET: Looking for a weak r/g or if it goes above the prior day's high.
       If it is a weak open, I will start in partial positions with risk to 9 or LOD. Once I see higher lows, I will start to add in anticipation of r/g.
       If it gaps up, I will buy dips and look for higher lows. I will also look to see if the prior day's highs become support to buy from.

PLNR: This has gone to all-time highs so this can be a quick mover. Looking for a weak r/g or if it goes above the prior day's high.
       If it is a weak open, I will start in partial positions with risk to 8 or LOD. Once I see higher lows, I will start to add in anticipation of r/g.
       If it gaps up, I will buy dips and look for higher lows. I will also look to see if the prior day's highs become support to buy from. The 8.15 area will be interesting to see if it holds as support.

XONE: Looking for a weak r/g or if it goes above the prior day's high.
       If it is a weak open, I will start in partial positions with risk to 17.25 (from prior day's support) or LOD. Once I see higher lows, I will start to add in anticipation of r/g.
       If it gaps up, I will buy dips and look for higher lows. I will also look to see if the prior day's highs (17.75) become support to buy from.

Other longs that I have set price alerts for but won't be monitoring unless the alert triggers (trigger noted next to ticker):
INVN 16.50s
SUNE 20.20s
CAR 65.20s

Shorts

ISIS: I think we can see a push to 64 or 65 and a stall in the momentum over the last couple of trading days. I am looking to short any failed follow through momentum or any late day fade.

TASR: This can still get going with any news on body cams, but assuming no news I am looking to short lower highs with 27.15ish looking to be the resistance and will act as my line in the sand to stop out or continue shorting pops.

Trading Recap 12/26/14

Ended the day with a minor loss.

ISIS: This should have been a winner but I sold for extremely small profit.

It was a nice ABCD pattern/ascending triangle and so I took some before the break and then added after nHOD. It went up more than 60 cents but I wanted to be patient for the dollar. However, it came back down to my breakeven and I didn't want to turn a winner into a loser so I stopped out. In hindsight I should have locked in some gains and let the rest ride because eventually it did go up for the dollar gain.


GILD: Took a loss on this one. I was impatient again and took it immediately after a nHOD instead of waiting to see if it would hold. I did like the setup though.

It started to chop around and it made a nHOD before sitting right back down. I should have taken it off then since I saw it pulling back right away and the light volume in the markets today didn't help.

Things to work on:

1. Continue to be patient for entries and it is better to be a little late than be early and stop out.
2. Take profits and don't be greedy.
3. If the stock isn't going acting according to my plan, just take it off.

Intro & Recap 12/24/14

Hey,

My name is Vincent and as you can see from the title of the blog, I love both golf and trading. Like the description says, working on being patient and nailing trades the first time is key for becoming a better trader, and is something I have to work on. Every day that I get to trade, I will post a recap of the day's events for me and what I can improve on as well as a watchlist for the next day (if I can trade the next day).

Note: For now I am only paper trading since I don't have much money to trade with. I try to take it as seriously as possible and to be honest I am good at fooling myself during the actual trades. Hopefully, I can get enough money soon to actually trade with. I am learning a lot through paper trading though so I can only consider it free tuition to the market for my early mistakes.

On to today's action...

OCN: On the daily chart, there was huge volume for the prior day and it got bought back up towards the end of the day. For this morning, I looked for higher lows to start into and to wait for the r/g push.

When I saw it failing to establish a higher low, I took it off and it never did much for the rest of the day.

ISIS: My winner for the day.

I saw the flag forming and thought it had a clear r/r as seen by the two lines. I went in and sold half at around 60 and let the rest ride to 61. I was eyeing it for a short when it rejected the 61.50 level but I was looking at another play, which was a huge mistake as you'll see in a bit.. plus it gave plenty of opportunities to short into lower highs.

DGLY: Ugly triple bogey for me.

I should have been much more patient with this one because it never really triggered for what I was expecting it to do. I saw the news about shootings this AM and saw TASR was up so I thought DGLY could squeeze again. I saw the volume come in and I bought a partial quickly because I thought I would miss the move (big mistake) to nHODs. Instead, it sat right back down and didn't do much. I should have taken it off immediately after because it didn't do what I expected it to do. The correct entry, I think, should have been on nHOD as that would have lit the new highs scans and therefore given it a bigger audience. I had a hard stop limit for all my shares at that line, but when it cracked, it didn't fill me and I didn't see until it was too late and I was down much more than I anticipated even with the partial position. I waited to see if it would bounce quickly for me to sell but I saw it wasn't so I just marketed out. Funnily enough, the loss was just right above the gain from ISIS so down slight on the day.

That's it for the day. Looking to trade on Friday although right now I don't have a watchlist but I will post one if I make one.

Things to work on:
 1. Be more patient on entries and don't try to get in early, but wait for the actual trigger
 2. Use market stops or at least lower the limit for my stops to allow for slippage
 3. Get out of a trade right away if my thesis isn't correct

Lastly, I hope one day I can be a successful and consistent trader and that these posts can not only help me to look back at what I need to improve on but any new traders as well.

Merry Christmas to anyone who actually reads this.