End of Day Journal (6-9-2010)

Summary:

Positive to the tune of +$1064.73:

High of +$1669 at 12:01 after the RMBS run, but then made some bad calls on TNA and APC.

Why do I make the bad calls? On TNA it looks like it is primarily a result of forcing my expectations on the market rather than remaining open to what is happening. Initially I wouldn't have called this a lack of concentration, but after additional consideration, I think it is. I simply did not remain open  to what was going on in the market, and acted on what I thought was supposed to happen. Looking at some of the series of losing entries, I think it is evident that I was fighting direction. What else can this be besides not being in and responding to the moment?

It is misleading to call the bad entries wrong entries - they just are what they are, and I did the best that I could with the information that I had. That is all that can be expected, ever. I don't think improvement will be had by painstakingly examining and re-examining the charts all evening, but rather by trying to understand what was going thru my head and how I was feeling at the time of the trade; getting in touch with this is key I believe. I remember having expectations - under the guise of being ready for anything, I had a definite reverse bias on the big movers - I need to be really ready for anything, even for the stock to continue in the current direction.

Trade well!

Details:

APC - I had a couple of good entries on this, and blew several opportunities. The 11:45 short was perfect, I came in as the market was picking up speed and APC was still undecided. But - I bailed way too early. In fact I went long - I think this was because the market was retracing after the candle change. I reversed the long, and then doubled up on the next candle. All in all, probably not a bad decision. But again, I exited much too early. Good on the long, but was not reading the market very well.  I managed to tag some profits here and there, but overall this shows not much patience. On the 12:25 I tried to go long twice after my exit (rather than let the profits come to me) and got stopped twice. If I remember correctly, the hi/lo ticker was still scrolling red, but slowing down. I finally called it right on the 12:30. And a reverse would have been too much of a good thing.
Now - the 12:50 - I went short at the top of the wick (strong market red), doubled up quickly, and saw > +40 ticks in direction; I thought I was golden, but there was too much indecision and the spread widened and I saw a 15 tick +5 slip stop. Another short with a stop, then short for a scalp (+$475.32):

CSTR - everything was good on this, just the luck of the draw (-$57.29)

EQIX  - the spread was bouncing around on this one. I bought with a limit at bid and saw +90 ticks at best. I sold at 8 ticks under stated bid when I closed... go figure...(+$251.93)

PM - I was thinking a return to trend... but why fight it? (-$39.07)

RMBS - great first run, and was looking for it to return a couple of times. Finally did late afternoon (+$629.34)

TNA - So, not sure why TNA keeps coming to my attention, but it does. This morning saw some great entries (40 tick and 62 tick profits), up until the reverse at 8:15. This wasn't too bad, but the stop on the next candle saw some slip. I had two more positive trades, but for the most part, kept calling it wrong. I finally gave up.

The fact of the matter is, I didn't let the winners run their course, and somehow anticipated a reverse in direction. I think this comes from assuming what will happen rather than letting the market speak for itself. Granted, the direction was correct on some of the short calls this morning (evidenced by the long wicks), but best to let the candle play out (-$195.50):