Summary:
First thing I did was reset the PC's clock.
On a side note, looking at yesterday's charts this morning, they match the ones Fozz put up. Not sure why this is, but it might be because IB's data is not time stamped, relying on NT (which relies on the PC's clock) to assign a time stamp as they are sent. I use TDA for historical, and it may be that yesterday's charts were plotted using IB's data yesterday (real time), and TDA's this morning (historical). Maybe.
Here is the day's summary:
A good day today. Things felt different. Maybe it takes a big loss to knock some sense into me, but whatever it was I traded well today, only a few mistakes. The account shows a profit of +$990.20, meaning $130.93 in commissions (about $0.0039 per share). A lot of stocks today.
Nearly all my trades today were on the change in the 5 minute candle, most just before. This means I was watching the stock and expecting a candle pattern to form. If it did I entered. If it did not I passed. A few trades I came in late - e.g., if the current bid/ask were still good for entry, or right where it would have been if I had traded at the candle change. No chasing (well I did once or twice on a partial fill order). This meant great stop loss control, often less than a dime. As I come in on a 50 tick stop loss automatically, and then have to move it manually, there were a few positions in which I did not get the stop placed in a timely manner and got burned. But the manual move also helped a couple of times: the candle change wasn't completely 'clean' and there would occasionally be a sharp spike with an immediate retreat. This would often happen as I was bringing the stop tighter and I ended up just following the retreat in. Worked pretty well.
A small difference in approach today as well. I color coded the bar ratio indicator to highlight strong bars. As the 5 minute timer wound down, I would check out the biggest movers during the period and try to figure out if they were worth trading. After the candle change I would check the stocks listed with dojis for a 'late' entry opportunity, dependent upon the price in relation to the last candle.
I had some poor exits today no doubt. I was set on the APOL trend, but closed because it was break time. Also had at least one 70 tick and two 30 tick unrealized profits in TNA that I didn't cash in on. Hard to know when it is going to keep going and when it will stop.
I think I held two positions simultaneously for a brief time today, for the most part I stuck with one.
Details:
Shorted ANF after the long candle (0:01) (1/1), and doubled up half way thru (1:31). I accidentaly sold 100 shares at the start of the next candle (0:07), and exited completely further down (3:45). Later entered on a small hammer (it was small when I went market) (0:04) (2/2) and only got the partial fill - so chased it a little. Stopped out. Plenty of action on this stock, probably should not have taken a break today, looks like some easy pickings (+$282.47):
Tried to short ANR after the long green (3/3) (4:59) and stopped out after going positive (about 12 ticks worth). Later entered late after the long wick-ed bump against the top. The price point happened to be right where I wanted it, so I shorted (4:03) (4/4). Exit left some to be desired, but did all right. I tried to go long on the next change (0:02) and got stopped. (+$115.97):
Shorted APA after the indecision candle (4:59) (5/5). Stopped out after it went down and came back. Plenty of moves on this stock (-$37.71):
Shorted APOL - late short, without a good price point (2:27) (5/6). Stopped out. Another short on the price point after the doji (0:47) (6/7). This was a discretionary exit because it was breaktime - much to my dismay when I came back. Shorted on the price point again this afternoon (0:30) (7/8) with a last minute of the day exit (+$310.82):
Shorted ATI - horrible entry, not on the price point and not on the change, I was too eager to get some of the action (3:05) (7/9). I had some direction, but tightened the stop as it retraced and I realized the bad choice of entry (-$34.59):
Shorted BIDU after the doji and on the price point (0:25) (8/10). Stopped (-$34.16):
Shorted BXP on the candle change (4:56) (9/11). Stopped out. I should of kept watching the action (-$28.13):
Shorted CMI on the price point and after the doji (0:18) (10/12). Stopped. Again - awesome action here, but not sure that I would of traded the pattern (-$57.22):
Long on DE (0:02) (11/13) Stopped (-$31.99):
Long on NBL on the price point (0:41) (12/14) exited and reversed on the next candle change (13/15). Had some direction, but then retraced and stopped (+$116.21):
Short on OXY. On the candle change, I thought it looked like a good candidate... was I ever wrong (0:01) (14/16). Some slip on the stop - and didn't have the best placement (-$85.47):
Long on TNA with a spooked exit (0:00) (15/17). Tried to short on the next candle, late in coming in (15/18) and stopped. Later did the five minute thing - 12 times. Hit and miss, sometimes I did not enter on the candle change - primarily on the ones where the stop got away, I re-entered. Definitely no good. I wish I would of tried one more time - what a ride! (23/30) (+$351.68):
I shorted on V's long candle and it stopped out 7 seconds later (0:02) (24/31). I went long 15 seconds later - not sure why but I got lucky (0:24) (24/32) (+$84.96):
Late long on VXX (1:33) (24/33). With the bad entry I was hesitant to hold so I sold on a scalp. Notice the good entry point: clear run all the way up (+$37.37):
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