Trading Recap 4/20/15

Lost a decent amount today when it turned out I was right all along, I just stopped out too many times before what I anticipated had happened.

White arrows are entries followed by exits.

BIOC: I thought I was shorting the backside of the move on this POS name but it still ended up ripping. I saw that the line in the sand $2.8s were now peaking which confirmed to me that the backside was underway. I shorted 2.8 with 2.8 over/under risk. As you can see from the chart below, 2.8s reclaimed and I stopped out around 2.87, which was a good idea since it continued to rip further and it set up as an abcd pattern.

VIMC: This is the stock that I was talking about in the intro. Initially, I wanted to short it but I wanted to see how it reacted in the days prior and I saw that a couple of days ago it setup almost exactly the same and it continued higher instead. After some volume came in I decided to get long 100 shares with risk on 11.9. I then saw that it was holding up in a flag formation and decided to go to 300 shares with risk on 12.1 (tight stop). Of course, I ended up getting stopped out on my shares. But then I saw it slightly breaking out of its flag and went long on the breakout only 100 shares with risk on the prior low of 12.05. Well, I got stopped out of that too and I guess it shook out the weak hands because it ripped afterwards. It is a bit frustrating to be honest because I try to limit losses to around 2% of my ever-dwindling account so that is around $20. So I bought the breakout at 12.27 and put my stop around 12.05 and it touched it and went a few cents lower and then went up the rest of the day. Of course the right stop is 12 over/under (letting it test under 12 if need be) but that can become risky for me if it just tanks and I take a much bigger loss which has happened before. There is probably nothing for me to do in this situation especially since for the second trade I took the smallest amount of shares I could take (100).

First photo is of the chart I saw a couple days ago.

Chart I traded (First two arrows are adds with the following being a stop out on all shares followed by another entry and then stop out):

Things to work on:

I am not sure if there is anything I necessarily did wrong besides stop out. Of course if I just went with my original 100 shares it  would have worked and a small gain is better than the losses I had. I just felt that 100 shares was so small and I wanted to add into what I thought would be a winning trade. I guess the takeaway is again not trying to force a trade on the stock given my small account. So, if the proper stop is 12 over/under and that means I can only take 100 shares well then I have to take 100 shares I guess.

Trading Recap 4/14/15

Another loser for me today. I may have broken my rule about not shorting front sides of moves, although I thought since it wasn't a low floater it would be ok, but I was wrong.

White arrow is entry and exit really since it was fastest stop out I think I have ever took...

WUBA: I shorted around 64 when it looked like it was making lower highs on the 1 min chart and when it also broke its uptrend from before. I thought that since it was making the first lower highs on the 1min chart for the entire day that the move had ended and I could go short. Unfortunately, I got filled right before it made a nHOD and I had to scramble to cover since I only wanted to risk to 64.50s (yes, I know that is way too tight of a stop and I broke another of my rules to not try and make the stock's action work for the small account that I have) and it just jumped to 65 so I had to cover for double of what I wanted to risk. Right before I got filled, I noticed that it had come below a slight support area and then reclaimed it and that gave me some pause to think "Do I still want to short this?" and I still thought it was a good short. Looking back, if I had used the 2min chart I would have seen just a higher low essentially and no lower highs. I will look at the 2min and above chart from now on for confirmation on what I am seeing since that would have saved me a headache. If I had used the 2min chart, if the support broke and it started peaking, that may have been the better entry due to more confirmation. Notice the difference in the formation of the 1 and 2 min candles below.

Things to work on:

1. Use other candle timeframes to confirm what you are seeing.
2. Don't make the stock fit for a small account. If the stock requires too wide of a stop and you can't play a meaningful amount of shares because of that then forget it.
3. Wait for backside of move (when support becomes resistance).

Trading Recap 4/10/2015

Unfortunately my account is below 1,000 now due to some more losses. From now on, I will just be forced to play more "vanilla" types of trades and not trades with more inherent risk. I'll show you what I mean when I contrast the two trades I took.

White arrows are entries.

WBAI: I wanted to take a contrarian trade on this by going long while everybody else is going short. I know it is a 0 revenue company and a potential fraud, but when everyone is shorting something and it just doesn't go down, it tends to be a good long. Originally I wanted to get in when it was around 16.5 before going green on Thursday but I chickened out but when I saw it go up and then dip around 3-330PM later in the day I decided to swing some long which obviously is not a great entry especially considering I only wanted to have a 20 cent stop to the afternoon lows, which didn't give it enough room if it wanted to do a weak open r/g. I sort of just had to hope that it would just go up from the open and I was trying to make the trade work when my entry just wasn't good and I should have just stayed away. Anyway, I was up a small amount by EOD Thursday but then I saw it gapping down Friday morning and wanted to get out but didn't fill on the ask. I put a stop below the afternoon lows around 15.7 and after the few minutes after the open it just tanked and I didn't fill so I was down more than I wanted to be and I waited in case it was just a washout but it wasn't and it kept going lower so I just took it off which turned a small gain into a fat loss. This sort of speculative trade is what I have to avoid doing for now if I want to save my account.

PSTR: This is the sort of trade I need to take from now. I waited until it looked like the backside of the move to get short and for a while it worked and I put a breakeven stop, but unfortunately it came all the way back to my stop turning my nice win into breakeven. I waited until 6 peaked and started in and then 5.80s were holding so I waited until that peaked to add more, which I did and I wanted to add more when 5.50s peaked for full size and hopefully ride it down to 5 or less. It got down to 5.50s but it just came right back and triggered my stop and went back to 6 and peaked and continued to head back down later in the day, which is frustrating for sure. I'm not sure whether I should have taken profits or been more patient since I know this is a POS company and it looked like the backside where I can add in as it fades lower. I do not want to just burn commission going in and out at this stage. I just want to add in and then cover all when I think the move lower is mostly over, ideally.

Things to work on:

1. Play less risky plays for now so I can build my account back up slightly.

Trading Recap 4/6/15

I started the day off pretty well with a nice win but I kept trying to short VLTC and I ended up red on the day. I will be incorporating new rules into my trading for now since I really need to preserve what is left of my account. At the end of the day though I am just glad to be learning for relatively small losses now versus when I hopefully have a bigger account.

White arrows are entries followed by exits.

CYTX: I saw this gapping up in the AM and thought that if it gave the right opportunity it could be a nice long. What interested me the most was at the open it flushed out below premarket support and then came right back and held. This is usually a good sign for longs as it shakes out the weak hands. When it started to base and go I went long at 1.42 with a stop at 1.34. Unfortunately it just made lower highs and without considering commission I would have just taken it off but I decided to keep it on and just let it stop out because I didn't want to sell and then have it rip when it still holding the support.

CMCM: My big winner for the day. I had it on watch due to the big day it had in the prior trading day. I wanted a weak open r/g. It had a perfect setup of forming a channel and once it broke the channel I bought. Unfortunately I didn't get filled on my adds on dips on the way up. I wish I held some for the rest of the day but all things considered I got the meat of the move. It was a technical move with no big picture behind it really and it spiked up pretty fast so I can't complain.

VLTC: Big loser for me and cost me all my CMCM gains. I knew this was just a SSR squeeze and thought I could nail it once lower highs set in but it didn't work out that way unfortunately. The float being traded almost 4x doesn't help either. Arrows will be in pairs so first arrow is entry followed by the exit. The first short at 3.7 I saw lower highs and was anticipating .65 to crack so I can add in and my risk was to 3.8 over/under. The next short I saw it forming a top at 4.05ish so I got short at 3.97 with risk to HOD. The last attempt I thought that was it because there were those big red candles that you only typically see when a stock's momentum is done. I shorted 4.12 with risk on 4.2 over/under and wanted to add once 3.9s peaked for a swing short.

Things to improve on:

1. For now with a small account, don't play the front side of the move. Too risky and costly having to potentially stop out many times for the eventual crack. I managed to stay safe and not stubborn on each attempt but the losses still add up.

Trading Recap 4/2/15

Another loser day although out of the two trades I took, one worked eventually but I just had too much size to give it enough wiggle room and the other was a slight winner that due to not filling and having to put in a few orders when it reversed on me turned it into a loser. I noticed that I am playing more stocks than before which is good and bad. It is good because I may be getting more comfortable trading real money vs paper trading but at the same time I think I may be just trading anything where there might not be any meat left because I was too scared to go in when the move was actually happening. A lot of the time I will try and wait for that confirmation but by then it becomes too late. It is extremely hard trying to pinch pennies on entries because I am on margin and those pennies can lead to a  much bigger loss than originally planned. If I am taking 500 shares of something and only willing to risk .05 because otherwise I would only be able to play 200 shares, for example, it doesn't become worth it because even if I win it's not a lot at all on these lower priced stocks. If I get filled .1 away from my entry then that is an extra .05 and therefore double my risk for my small account which instead of a $25 loss it's now $50 and of course plus commission.

White arrows are entries followed by exits.

CAPN: I wanted to originally short near the top but I didn't get filled plus I didn't want to "chase" a few pennies in order to get the size I wanted and respect the amount of risk I would have to take if it kept going. I missed the initial move so I tried for the base break afterwards and stopped out for a slight loss when in the end it broke the base but I just had too much size. But the answer is not to use less size when you're "big" position on a $8 stock is 300 shares. 100 shares unless you get a $1 move is nothing. I don't know if there is anything to be learned from this trade since if I had a normal size relative to my account I would have just used over/under 8 and it peaked at 8 before coming right back down to break the base for an almost .5 move.

TXMD: I wanted to short this in the morning since it was just a CNBC pump and it would have worked great. It came back later in the day and I thought about shorting it again but once I got into the trade I sort of realized that it was just for scraps since as far as I know this isn't a pump/pig company and the daily chart looks ok. I entered short on the first lower high and it came down .1 and it looked like it was going to crack to red on the day but then it just spiked on me and started grinding so I took it off. Unfortunately I didn't get filled on all my shares when it started grinding so I had to put in another order at my initial entry which cost me another $5 of commission. First entry is initial followed by an add when .43 base cracked. Last arrow is when I covered.

Things to work on:

1. If I miss something either because I was too scared to enter at the right time, don't try to force it later one for scraps. I think the GENE trade was the same thinking of oh I just have to put on 1k shares and cover for 10-20 cents and make bank on my small account.

Trading Recap 4/1/15

Well, my account is at all-time lows unfortunately but I only managed to take a small loss. I missed a huge opportunity in GBSN both long and short. I will try to adjust my strategy of using size when I am comfortable with it and if not just going back to normal size. A normal gain is better than no gain.


VLTC: I saw an abcd pattern forming and went long when C broke but cut it off after it went to .1 before coming back below my entry which I am glad I did since it tanked the rest of the day. I am not sure much is to be said about this trade other than it just didn't work. Thought it could squeeze some shorts too but it never really went going.

Things to improve on:

1. Rules for using size: Don't use it if uncomfortable -> Use normal size then add bigger into winner. -> When using size, have as close to breakeven stop as possible.