Trading Recap 5/29/15

Well, that's a wrap, folks. I blew up in spectacular fashion due to my own stupid thinking. I'll be out of the game for a while probably unless either: a) there is a huge runner that I go long with 100 shares and get back to over $500 or b) somehow get money to refill since I am broke by selling a school laptop that isn't even technically mine yet. I had a lot of foolish ideas of how I would come close to that $500 mark and somehow make it from there and while it was possible, I just was somehow too stupid to do it even in this crazy market. Anyway, I'll probably take a minimum of at least a week off from trading unless some runner does appear. I have around $250 in my account now with no margin. My stupidity caused me to have my biggest loser yet because I was already in that "fuck it" mode with being so close to $500.

Anyway, here are my horrible trades for today.

White arrows are entries followed by exits.

HRTX: Didn't even know this was a crowded play but anyway I saw on twitter that the data they released was junk so I had a short bias. Also, if you look at the weekly chart it has pretty good resistance around 18. In premarket it went to 18 and came back down and opened around 17.2. I saw that the 17s were basing and when they fell and retested as resistance I thought I was good and entered a short with 17 over/under. For a little I thought I was good until it came back and popped through 17 all of a sudden and I covered. This loss combined with commissions had me at just above $500 and I thought well Monday it will either be do or die.

Until..

VBLT: I lost money going long. Yes, that's right. After all the money was made going long from 7s to 8s I monitored it to see if there would be any continuation. I saw an ABCD pattern forming and decided to go long after the C broke. I didn't think this was such an extended chart since the daily was flagging so I thought it would be ok to buy since it wouldn't stuff and we are in the market for things to run anyway. Well, I was pretty fucking close to top ticking it (top was 8.69 and entry was 8.65). It came back down immediately after I bought it but I thought it might just be setting up for a nHOD. I also thought that if this doesn't work then I'm done and under $500. Not even a breakeven would save me since there would be $10 in commissions at least. However, I didn't care to think and say "well, if I cut if off even if I am under $500 I can refill a little and get back". So I stuck with the trade as it flushed and I had my biggest unrealized loss and at that point I just said fuck it. It spiked up a few times which gave me a little hope of a rebound but it just fell and I ended up selling after my stop limit at 8.05 just didn't get hit as it flushed a bunch past that. Total loss of $255 + commissions. Very stupid.

Things to work on:

1. Get more money somehow so I can probably lose it all again.

Trading Recap 5/27/15

Today was an interesting day. My first trade made me go below $500 and I thought I was screwed and that was it but then when I was under $500 I saw that my bp was still 6:1 and not restricted. I figured that it would disallow margin by tomorrow when the equity in the account updates. That gave me until the end of the day to get back to over $500. And that is what I did by taking pretty much the exact trade again that made me lose in the first place. So including commissions I am about breakeven/slightly positive.

White arrows are entries followed by exits.

GBSN: I shorted around 10:00AM at $4.4 for what I thought was the lower highs after the 9:45-10AM spike. I knew that based on the chart history that this has a tendency to fade at least a little to a lot and so I figured there wouldn't be much risk. If I was playing normal size, that would be the case but since I went full bp I had to cover right away when it spiked. I actually shorted right before it spiked so that was probably the quickest trade ever for me. To me, it looked like a set of lower highs but I guess if you look at a 2min or more timeframe it was a flag but the 9:45 typical spike along with the chart's history and lower highs on the 1 min gave me confidence in the trade. Nevertheless, after I covered and was below $500 in account equity I knew I had to get back to above $500 before the day's end. So, like I said in the intro I took the same trad pretty much but a little later. I saw the HOD consolidation and when it broke that to the downside, I knew that chart pattern from before and that gave me confidence to go in again. I shorted around $4.4 again and unfortunately didn't hold for the entire day because I thought it could go up, but I also needed a decent win so I played it safe.

Things to work on:

1. Just be aware that anything can happen and while something may appear to be a lower high or higher low etc, it can spike or flush at any moment. 

2. Consult other timeframes for additional evidence.

Trading Recap 5/26/15

Not the way I wanted to start the weekend but I am still in the game.

White arrows are entries followed by exits.

RENN: I saw that this chart was overextended and was looking to short it. It set up similar to the way ACRX did with failed follow through momentum and then a retest of its prior support. I shorted after it retested and it looked it wash 20 cents or so. However, it ended up just being a higher low and going up, which caused me to cover my shares but I only got a partial fill and had to send in multiple orders (even one for 2 shares since I got filled up to 52 shares and only did the order for 50 shares by accident). That cost me extra commission unfortunately. My risk was to 3.80 over/under but I covered it a little early since I saw it was just a higher low instead. It ended up doing nothing the rest of the day anyway and it held those 3.75s.

Things to work on:

1. Nothing really to work on I think. If I had waited a bit I would have seen that instead of a lower high, it might have been a higher low. But that is all in hindsight since it looked like it was ready to fade off with the failed retest and over extension on the daily. One thing that did concern me though was the huge volume that came in that barely caused the stock to drop. Those are usually the LODs for a stock.

Trading Recap 5/20/15

What a day. So much opportunity that I didn't take advantage of. While I was flat for the day, I have heard of many people who blew up or took huge losses, so I guess I have that to be thankful for.

White arrows are entries followed by exits.

PBMD: I actually shorted this at 2.7 but covered for breakeven, so I guess kudos to me for not not giving up anything. I actually wanted to go long my covers but decided against it, unfortunately. My reason for the short was that it seemed to be peaking at the 2.7 level of support and I thought the backside was starting in. It flushed a bit lower and I thought I was good but then I saw it reclaimed support and just covered for breakeven. It went down a bit after covering and I thought I had just topticked the bounce but then higher low and bam, which is where I wanted to go long. Overall, while I didn't go long I am glad I stayed out of trouble on the short side, even when it was in the 5s and 6s.

MOMO: I actually wanted to get in this around 15.60 because it had reclaimed support, just like yesterday and it ripped yesterday too. I thought on the next dip I would buy even though yesterday it didn't dip and just continued to go up. Anyway, I didn't get in for the initial spike but the chart formed an ABCD so I bought the breakout but it didn't do much so I put a breakeven stop which got triggered. It ended up fading later in the day.

Things to work on:

1. Continue staying safe on these runners. Get rid of any short bias so you can go long.
2. Your trading has been improving, do not be afraid to go for the setups you think are good.

Trading Recap 5/19/15

It seems that I am attracted to these low volume stocks. While they are slow, it is good for my small account on margin. The only thing is having to wait forever for any sort of move, which I really hate. Anyway, I made a tiny gain today that was a bit bigger but my patience got the best of me.

White arrows are entries followed by exits.

NHTC: The daily chart is quite overextended and it wasn't on anyone's radar as I think most shorts gave up. I was looking for a late day fade specifically, which is what happened. I saw that based on the 5 day trend, it was acting weaker or at least different than the last few days. So I went in short on the lower high/consolidation below HOD. It was a slow mover but it flushed to 34.20s and I wanted 34 at least since the daily was so overextended. The thing is thought that the flush was on huge volume and usually that is the low for a stock for the day. I didn't want to take partial since I only had 100 shares and 50 shares isn't worth anything. So I waited around but it made higher lows which made me cautious and after getting tired of waiting for the stock to do anything I just put a stop above the resistance where I would want to cover if it reclaimed the support. It spiked and I covered for a smaller gain, which made the whole waiting useless and counter intuitive. Still though, considering the extended daily, this could have went lower and being patient would have panned out. Not a big deal though.

Things to work on:

1. Stop trying to play these low volume stocks.. maybe
2. Cover on big flushes with big volume if there is no immediate continuation downward.

Trading Recap 5/15/15

Today should have been an easy going day and a continuation to yesterday's lifeline for my account. Unfortunately, I somehow managed to lose a little on shorting VBLT... If you're asking yourself how that is possible, well stay tuned.

White arrows are entries followed by subsequent exit.

VBLT: I saw the chart history of what it did the last time this year when they released poor data and the stock went up and what happened the day after. What I saw was that there was a pop before it came down so that is what I was hoping for. At first I was disappointed because there was no pop but then the SSR got on and the stock ripped, which was great. I wanted it to get to the r/g line and get rejected, ideally. It almost got there but fell short by 10 cents. I was cautious shorting it with the SSR now on. A lower high formed, which really was my clue to get short here but I was scared with the SSR on. A subsequent flush happened and I wanted to get short for the retest on resistance which happened but I never got short though. So after it flushes for a bit, it rebounded a little to test the 5.80s and that is where I got short... after all the flushing happened already. Anyway, I got short at around 5.83 and right after I got filled it spiked on me and while I knew the real risk should be to 6 over/under I was using full BP and didn't want to get taken for a ride so I took it off at 5.9. That turned out to be a stuff and the 5.80s became resistance again so I got short again at 5.8 looking for nLODs. Just like yesterday with ACRX, there was little volume and it was a borefest. It went down to 5.64 and I could have erased my losses but I thought it could go to new lows so I stuck with it. Long story short, it came all the way back and triggered my breakeven stop.

I don't think the trades I took are a result of not wanting to miss out or because I missed out prior to. While I did miss out, I saw that it was retesting and I could scalp some with good r/r.

Things to work on:

1. I wanted to use big size which may have scared me into not shorting it where I wanted to at that lower high in the morning. Had I used normal size and added in on the retest like I wanted to, I still would have had a nice gain and it would have taken a few minutes vs. waiting for nothing on the trades I actually took. That is something I will have to work on with this small account: taking the small trade and then adding in full size for the big trade if I think the stock has enough momo to go up/down enough.

Trading Recap 5/14/15

Today I got a new lifeline on my account and made a decent gain while also killing my losing streak. I just traded one stock and while there was a lot of other stuff going on today, I thought this was the best setup at the time. I might have missed other stuff that might have netted me more money but whatever. I am just happy to get an extension from blowing up.

White arrows are entries followed by exits.

ACRX: I saw that it was gapping up in pre-market with some BS news and I had actually said screw it since it wasn't on many people's radar until I saw it mentioned again in chat and thought it might be a good play. It setup perfectly out of the gate and when it cracked for nLODs I shorted 1k shares (all my BP) at the retest of support around 3.43 and was never down on the position, I think. I thought this would fade nicely, possibly to 3, but the lowest it went was 3.23. I ended up covering at 3.3 since I tried to be patient but saw it making higher lows and I needed a win so I took my profits, which was the right thing to do, especially since it just screwed around the rest of the day. It was a slow mover since it was not on anybody's radar but it made it a great trade for me since it moved slower so I could use full size 1k shares without too much worry.

Things to work on:

1. Nothing really of note here. I played it pretty well. Just keep the green streak going.

Trading Recap 5/13/15

The account is getting close to that $500 mark but it is still possible to make a turnaround. I just keep making it harder on myself.. Today was sort of the same theme as yesterday except I cut my positions for flat when they were acting like I thought they would. I tried to get in CMCM again for the r/g but didn't get filled and of course it went a decent amount. There were some other plays that I saw but didn't get into but would have worked nicely had I tried them. Surprisingly, I am finding more long r/g plays for the morning than I thought I would. I naturally thought I was better at shorting probably because when I was in school and come back around 11AM I would find more short opportunities than r/g longs. But now that I am trading at the open, the r/g play has been more of what I have traded (or tried to trade). This might be due to the fact that now in the summer the first 90 minutes are where the money is made and shorting some of these names can get you in trouble.

White arrows are entries followed by exits.

POST: I saw the big decline today and kept an eye on it for most of the day. I started seeing some increasing volume, especially on the 5min charts, that might have signaled a bottom. After seeing that, I wanted to see higher lows, which did happen, and so I got long at 45.5 with risk to 45.3 over/under. It looked good for a bit but it never got going and I decided to cut it off for flat since I didn't see the point of it hitting my stop since I thought it shouldn't be testing 45.3 support again if it wants to go higher. This was a good choice as it continued lower for the rest of the day.

Things to work on:

1. Continue doing a good job of adhering to the "right or right out" mentality.

Trading Recal 5/12/15

Well, summer has started and not in a good way, unfortunately. I tried getting filled on a few plays I liked (CMCM, NES, OCN). One of them would have worked great, one would have got me flat, and another would gun my stop and have me sell for a decent loss. Guess which one I got filled on? But that doesn't matter though, just funny how that works. I am close to losing margin on my suretrader account. If I do, I will try borrowing money.

White arrows are entries and exit.

OCN: I saw OCN gapping up and I know this has a history of making decently sized moves. I also saw that it has a tendency to dip a little then go up, which is what happened here. There was also an ABCD pattern forming. I entered around 11.13 and my risk was to 11 over/under. I should have sold when there wasn't any follow through for close to flat but I wanted to stick with the plan and with my risk. Unfortunately, 11 cracked pretty quickly and I waited a little to see if that was just a flush and we would reclaim support since there was heavy volume. Unfortunately, it didn't and I sold out around 10.83.

Things to work on:

1. I am not sure if I did anything wrong persay. I would have still tried this trade out if I could if I didn't get filled on the other others. Maybe I could have sold earlier but that is more hindsight.

Trading Recap 5/1/15

It's been almost two weeks since I last traded. Still on a losing streak unfortunately, although if I had waited instead of stopping out on both of the trades I took, they would have worked. My account is below $700 now so it's getting almost to the point of no return since my margin goes away at $500, but I'm going to keep trying to just trade well and not think about the loss.

White arrows are entries followed by exits.

JUNO: I thought this was due for a bounce and after the morning spike it settled down. I thought that it could be forming an ABCD, and I wanted to get in so that I would have a reasonable stop (same mistake made again), so I bought what looked like C forming before an actual higher high was made like I said I should. Long story short I got stopped out two minutes later and it continued lower but then reversed and closed at the highs so my overall thesis was right, just my timing was wrong and my stop was way too small, of course.

TASR: I had a feeling this was mostly a short squeeze but I wanted to wait when support peaked because there was a lot of headlines going around. I also looked at how the stock traded in the recent past and I saw that whenever it had a run in the morning it would settle down and fade a bit until close. So with that in mind and with the fact that support finally was broken I started in with risk over/under the support of around 32.7. It looked good for a bit but eventually it reclaimed and I took it off for a small loss. It squeezed a bit higher before coming all the way back down below my initial short, so again my overall thesis was right. Just wrong timing.

Things to work on:
1. As hard as it is to not put on a trade when you are confident, don't if the actual stop isn't tight enough for my small account. The times where it would work are probably going to be overshadowed by the times it doesn't.
2. Wait for the ABCD to form with a higher higher before buying. When I make it to a bigger account I'll get "fancy" and dip buy in anticipation.