End of Day Journal (5-1-2010)

Traded on paper this morning, came away with +$500, so decided to go live this afternoon. Happy to say things went off without a hitch application wise.

Here is how the account did (live trading):

-$20. Meh. I had been up over $700, but the chop in the last hour of the day (12:15-ish to 12:30-ish) kept stopping out the positions.

I meant to trade the top EMA(7, high) - EMA(7,Low) >= $1.50; but they were holdovers from the morning trading. I opted for the single broker license on NT, and was not able to connect TDA - even though I was only trading IB live. This put me up against the ticker limit and the historical pacing limit from IB, so I had to lose several instruments in the MA. This was somewhat annoying so I removed several instruments from the MA. I upgraded to the multi-broker lease after hours for tomorrow.

Here are the charts:

Long on a 'new-ish high' on ANR. Then I just kept following it. I got out at the top, tried to get back in, stopped, went short, stopped, and short right away again. I kept the stop tight and it clicked thru about half way thru the drop. I went short again and rode it the rest of the way down. Stopped out several times on the chop. Good order execution, but a lot of movement in the one minute range (-$21.96):

Buying the trend on AOL and stopped out. Tried to buy the new low but it failed (-$69):

Shorted the new high on CAM. Reversed, exited and back in (times two). Got the reverse at the top, exited on the tight stop, re-entered and caught the rest of the drop. Ensuing chop with a little more capture on the last two trades (+$637.95):

Bought into the trend on CNX, rode it to the top and reversed, rode it down. This one I should of kept watching, +-$0.50 moves followed (+$43.20):

New high on ESV. Barely hit the stop and I tried to re-enter, only to stop out again ($0.22 moves on the minute). Another long and stop. Caught a little bit on the last trade finally. Another one I should have been watching ($-284.63):

Tried to buy into the trend on NE only to pretty much catch the bottom. Shorted again on the dip with a stop, and reversed a couple of minutes later. Shorted at the top, out on a tight stop. When QQQQ and SPY dropped at ~12:05, everything dropped with it. The last trade was on the entry stop (-$55.71):

Shorted NOV late on the 12:05 drop, stopped out when I tightened on the big drop two bars later. Chop fest. Caught a little bit of action later, but exited early in the climb. The late long fizzled (-$144.72):

Long on the new high on SNDK and stopped out. Tried again later with another stop, and I shorted after the exit. out a little early on the spike. Tried to short again after the stall, but stopped out. Again, plenty of action to catch later, but this would have been a little sketchy (-$65.76):

Bought into the trend on VECO, only to get stopped out on the next bar - which happened to be the end of the 5 minute ($-59.99):

Interesting afternoon. I went into it pretty nervous - not wanting to get too emotional. The account was down over $200 on the first few trades, but as I mentioned earlier, it was over +$700 at one point. The last 40 minutes or so chopped away at everything.

Lessons?

ESV was the biggest loser. In retrospect I was betting against a long red on QQQQ and SPY. Probably not a good idea. The first trade stop loss execution on ESV also had $0.11 slippage which didn't help.

SNDK had quite a bit of slippage as well - but part of this may have been bid/ask spread, I can't remember. I need to remember to watch that a little better.

CAM showed a cumulative of +$1011.10 at one point. Looking at the chart I tried to short again after the big drop, that call was a little early. But it was followed by a long entry which was fighting against a market down trend. Probably 3 or 4 re-entries too many, the candles show +- $0.40 price action. If I would not have hesitated in reversing, it probably would have been all right. Another clue should have been the lack of flush ends on the HA's. I don't think I would have called the 12:23 re-entry any different.

Well - that was tough. I think over-analyzing might be a mistake. Some of the other stocks I had been trading (and quit watching) had nice movement. SNDK for example had fallen some by 12:02, but was ready for some more by 12:09 - I think it was trying to catch up? Likewise with ESV. Something to remember.

Also, hindsight says some of the entries were just not good., e.g., the 12:36 short on NE. I don't think that qualified for a high probability move.

Probably the biggest lesson, be ready for a reverse on the big move. And be ready for and try to stay out of chop after a big move.

And there always seems to be plenty of opportunity.