End of Day Journal (5-18-2010)

Summary:

Good entry. Good entry. Good entry, good entry, good entry.

That needs to be my mantra. I am almost convinced to the point of completely passing on a position if I don't get a great entry. I should qualify this - good entry in terms of price point. No chasing. No 'It's ok to be a little late' entries. Almost convinced, not quite. Definitely worthy of some heavy consideration.

I finished today at +$587.58. I was pretty irked at some of my trades, some of them unrealized at +30 ticks and then coming back and stopping. Hard for me to find the balance between waiting for the trend to play out and taking the profits. Bound to get better at it, but it was frustrating today, even without looking at the PnL. And speaking of the PnL, I didn't do so well at not looking at it today. I checked twice, once after I switched charts back to 5 minute candles and then 10 minutes before closing. I just don't want to go there. Period.

This morning I had some good trades, and some perfectly moronic trades. I was using the HA for trades and stops, and towards the end of the morning I figured out this system was just not working out that well, in terms of position entry and stop setting, so I switched back to 5 minute candles for the afternoon. The HA hides the real price - which is key for good entry I am finding out. And good entries lead to tighter stops. The jury is still out with respect to using the HA for trend identification though - so easy to see. I may keep an extra chart up for a quick visual.

This afternoon started off with some more completely moronic trades. I found myself watching TNA bounce around and thought it would make for some quick scalping. So I set the ATM strategy to 'Choppy Day' (15 tick target, 10 stop). Then I just jumped in. Heh - things didn't go so well. I managed to salvage the rest of the afternoon.

Traded even fewer stocks then yesterday, not sure about the trade count, probably about the same.

Low point on the profit side of things was -$266.82 (reached on like the 3rd trade of the morning) and max profit during the day was +$829.73; both without commissions. Commissions for the day come out to be $115.15.

Details:

I am going to post 5 minute charts again. The morning was based on the 3 minute HA, which, as you will see, as no basis on the minute candle reality.

Went long on AKAM, which was coming off of 15 minute candle (2:02). The stop looks generous when compared to the previous candle, but it was set to 10 ticks. After I stopped, I reversed (2:05) and then exited after it appeared to hesitate (1:22). How did I manage to get out right before the quick drop? (+$7.40) (2/2 good entries):

Shorted APOL  on the new low, a little early in the day, but the market looked good (1:23) (bad entry). First trade of the day and I forgot to change the trade size, so only 100 shares. For a big stop loss. Later shorted again (0:19), doubled (1:48) and exited as it re-traced (1:06). Shorted on the next candle (3:41) with a poor exit (should of probably exited on the previous re-trace just to be safe) (2:20). Went long 30 seconds later (2:51) and got stopped out on the next candle. Shorted after another 30 seconds (3:11) and got stopped out on the next. (And this time I didn't reverse - until too late). Long (0:34) and stopped out next candle over, with a short some 17 seconds later. This time I got it right for part of the ride. After I exited I went long, and for some reason I doubled on the next candle I went long on the next candle ( 0:58) - perhaps market sentiment? Closed on the dojis. In the afternoon I had a great entry on a short (2:06) with a bummer of an exit, but hey -  it was profitable. (+$744.74) (7/8 good entries, 9/10 total):

DNDN set the TDA alert off and I leapt in as soon as I could. For some reason I went bid side and ended up chasing the price up (2:52, 4:12 - should not have chased, poor entry). Still saw a little bit of unrealized, but no good place to put the stop and got hit very hard. I tried to go long later (3:02). The stop was at 10 ticks. Later shorted as it hit another low (1:03). This stop was just above the previous low - but it went nuts 53 seconds after I bought and blew it out for a 20 tick loss. The spread may have been pretty wide on this (-$300.19) (2/3 good entries, 11/13 total):

Shorted MTB, new low and strong market sentiment (4:15). Poor price point on the entry, hence a large stop (-$106.65) (0/1 good entries, 11/14 total):

The HA really hurt on TNA this morning, loose stops, and lots of them. The first seven trades are all in the wrong direction. Towards the end of the morning I got one long in coming off of the last stopped short (1:29), but with a nervous exit. Then this afternoon, I really hurt the account profit with my doonboggle of a scalping attempt (10:05 to 10:15). I think I had one profitable trade out of 4. At 11:05 I went long with a poor price point and got stopped (and the stop was plenty generous at 15 ticks). Missed that small run up completely. But then I started nailing it. Shorted the doji (2:16) with a discretionary (but no reverse). Shorted off of the long candle and the spike in volume on the Q's (0:11) with a discretionary exit. Reversed on the next candle after the indecision candle, but I was nervous on the long side and exited too quickly. Shorted after the top (0:23) which got stopped out on a generous stop. Went long again after it bounced up (1:27), and stopped again. Then shorted (2:50). All those trades in the same candle. Closed as it retraced and turned green (+$299.91) (7/21 good entries, 18/35 total):

New high on VXX - wishful thinking (-$57.64) (0/1 good entries, 18/36 total):

The afternoon - after the scalping episode, was a saner place. TNA just felt right this afternoon, it was in almost complete sync with the markets - I was watching the Q's and SPY more than I was watching TNA. Nailing the entires, and watching the price pull away with a tight stop is the way it should be - that was momentum. All the morning's TNA entries felt like they were in the middle of no where - no support for the entry, and on the wrong side of the momentum. Tossed around like some play thing lol. Watching and concentrating on a stock is key - I think the afternoon showed some progress.

A decent day - actually, a down right, freakin' awesome day! Still so much to learn, but progress!