Trading Recap 2/9/15

When I got back from class there really wasn't much to trade. However, I saw some trades that would have worked nicely had I taken them. On these certain trades, I am not sure if I didn't take them because of not wanting to take perfect setups (although they were actually decent) or if I am still scared of using real money. Some setups I may have told myself they weren't good when in fact they had low risk/reward. I think what is honestly getting to me is the fact that I have a really small account and $5 commissions eat up profits quickly as seen on my ZIOP trade Friday. Because of that I may say "oh it has to be 100% perfect for me", but no trade is ever 100% and like I referenced to in my last blog, there is no confirmation until after the fact when by that time you have missed the move. I need to just take risks especially on double top/bottom plays where the risk is small since I know if the top or bottom is broken to stop out and evaluate again. At the end of the day, even when the SPY was in a narrow range for most of the day and there didn't seem to be much going on, there were still plays that I saw and were willing to take that would have profited me nicely but I didn't take. I have seen that again and again, so no more.

Some plays that would have worked:

DO: This just had earnings and relative to its usual range on the daily, today's candle was a big fat green one. Therefore, I started to look for the short. First I saw a late day fade setup which I was going to take but chickened out which may have been a good thing because it came back to the highs. However, it formed a nice double top with nice topping action. This I could have easily taken but did not. On a couple of hundred shares this would have been a great profit and would have wiped out any losses if I did take the late day fade.

OPK: Another double top on a very extended chart with seemingly fluff news. I should have taken this and even though I might not have held it o/n it would have been a great daytrade.

QRVO: I wasn't eyeing this as much but it would have worked. A clean downtrend break along with bottoming action near IPO price. A buy on the small channel break would have been nice.

The point of this post isn't to linger over shoulda, woulda, coulda. But rather to show myself that there are opportunities everyday in the market and if I want to grow my small account I have to be willing to take risks for a potentially bigger reward.

Things to work on:

1.Take the ultra-low setups like tops/bottoms where you know you are wrong quickly and can get out.
2. Stop being a bitch.