MON: I saw it had news that it was advancing talks for a takeover with Bayer. It seemed like rehashed news to me and that the gap wasn't worth it and that buyers would sell after no followthrough. I thought about getting in before it broke below the premarket support but decided to wait because I wasn't very, very confident on this trade but I was confident enough that I had it on top watch. After it broke below support I went in small and then added on continuation because I really did like the setup. It did flush a bit lower but then held up a little. At this point I figured it could come back and go higher and I wasn't sure so I did downsize and take half of the position off for small profits. After it seemed like it was holding up I took off the rest since I wanted to lock in. It did go back a bit and if I was in I might have downsized at the highs. I decided to reshort 1/4 size at the retest and I wish I had my 1/2 size for the real wash but so be it. I covered when the whole number was holding for a nice gain. The rest of the time was just reshorts based on level 2 which didn't work but I was testing to see if it worked - basically the bid was absorbing so I tried shorting when it stopped and the bid went slightly below. I ended up covering at the highs due to panic (as usual) but later on I reshorted because it had a good pattern and it worked although it was on smaller size due to reduced confidence in the trade but profits are profits. Overall I traded it well. One thing to discuss is the covering of the first trade before it retested and ultimately went lower. On one hand I overall didn't have the biggest confidence in the trade since I just had a hunch (that ended up working well) so there was that reason for covering when I did. On the other hand it never invalidated my stop of .50 o/u. I will have to think about this but it also depends on how confident I am in the setup as well. I definitely would not have covered if I was a lot more confident.
BBY: I had this on watch due to strong earnings/guidance/high short interest. I thought it would have to funnel out any profit takers and reclaim/higher lows for me to long off of. It did exactly that and after having a false breakdown it reclaimed and had higher lows. I longed a small position and then added when it held a higher level. I did try to add more but pussied out/didn't get filled. I did end up selling too soon and it did hold a nice trend. My plan for selling was to wait until it sped up past the trend line or until it broke it. It started speeding up a little and I just decided to get out - right before the huge push and real speedup happened. Next time I'll know to wait though. I thought about going long for the breakout since it was holding up towards the close but decided to just wait until it potentially broke the resistance since I didn't want to get stuck in the chop.
Things to keep in mind:
1. Wait for the setup and don't trade right at the open unless you are very certain of it.
2. Trade different sizes for stocks you are more confident about.
3. Remember to truly respect your stops and don't half ass it like "oh it went higher I'll get out". Really think about it.
4. On great looking stocks like BBY don't be afraid to add in more.
5. Don't panic and stop out at top or bottom like usual. Never yet has the "what if?" scenario you envision in your head come true.
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