Trades for March 26, 2015

Another amazing day, continuing this awesome week and month so far.  I traded not that much and fairly small for the first few hours, then "attacked" CNAT with some size when it starting spiking out of nowhere from 6.90's to 7.30's, shorting into pops, covering into dips and added another $1100 in profits on the day.  Could have made a bit more, but whenever I size into a trade, I usually like to size back down right away if it goes quickly in my favor.

FOR NEW READERS ONLY: If I am scaling in and out of a position, that is considered one trade until I am completely out of the position and then it becomes a new trade, that's why some trades have a lot of shares, even if I never had that much at once, if I cover half and then re-add my cover, it's still considered one trade until I am completely out.  The entry is the average of the entries and the exit is the average of all the exits.  The entries/exits are rounded to 2 decimal places, but the exact number is calculated for the PnL, so that's why the dollar amount may look different than what you see. (it may be 7.165 instead of 7.17, etc).  Also, you can click on the charts if you want to make them bigger to be able to better see the entries/exits.

CNAT

This did a similar pattern that RADA did earlier this week, gap up (this was a way bigger gap up than RADA but still both a gap up), pulled the first minute candle and spiked back up a lot on the second minute candle and then washed out from there.  It was 8.40ish and I put an order for 1000 shares at 8.54, but then I remembered how I missed RADA and wanted to just make sure to get in so I got in at 8.43, only 1000 shares as I was still leaving room to add more higher if needed.  It pulled back some and I thought it might have some more "emotional candles" and bounce back a bit, so I covered at 8.15, wanting to reshort again 8.20-8.40, and it dropped to 7.93 on that same candle.  Scalped it long a little bit but was too greedy on my first entry, I had an order at 8.04 but then I changed to 8.09 and missed it.  I added a bit lower and sold for a small profit on the bounce to 8, but didn't get the reshort around 8, because I was still focused on exiting my long position and didn't "flip short" in one order.  Didn't re-short it at all, it went from 7.70's to 7.40's bounced to 7.70's again and faded more again, I was looking for a bigger bounce to VWAP or so, but it wasn't strong enough and kept topping out and making lower highs.  It hit 7.30 and then bounced to to 7.60's but then peaked out again and then washed out lower, bounced and made another lower high and started drifting towards 7.30, I tried to hit the bid at 7.30 but I had too many other random orders in, so I didn't have enough BP, and it faded to 6.80's.  Scalped it long for 12 cents when it looked like it was holding and also there's some support 6.80ish on the daily chart.  Then it spiked out of nowhere from 6.90's to 7.30's and I scaled in short 3000 shares 7.28ish avg, got 2/3's covered into the dip for about 10 cents, then reshorted another 1000 on the bounce and covered the whole 2000 into the dip for around 15 cents on those.  Then reshorted the next pop again and covered too soon, I was taking off some risk just in case it went higher.  Then hit the bid at 7.20 on weakness when it looked like it was getting taken out (there was only 1000 shares left and I hit it and then it changed to a 12000 share buyer which held it up).  Added more on pops, ended up with 2360 shares 7.29 avg and it hit 7.24 (I had an order at 7.24 and I moved it to 7.22 and missed it), it did one last pop to 7.40 and I added another 1000 at 7.38, now I had 3360 shares 7.32 avg, I covered pretty early on the way down (1k 7.28, 1k 7.24, the rest 7.18ish) but I just didn't want to miss covering again in case it held 7.25 and perked back up again.  I was still quite short biased on the stock, and didn't see why people were buying it, I still expected it to "stuff" people in this area and fade lower but I missed some more orders and never chased it down.  It dropped to 6.95 and then bounced all the way back to 7.20, I scaled in short into the bounce, but I didn't realize there was any news (I guess there was a $9 price target that just came out by some analyst), so I just covered everything for tiny profits and left it alone.  It failed at 7.20's again and slowly starting rolling over in the last 30 minutes, then it broke 7 and accelerated to 6.65 in about 5 minutes, I scalped it long for 7 cents but that was it.  Big missed opportunity on that last trade, all because of that price target that came out and got me "spooked out of the trade".  Can't complain too much though, still an amazing day and I made tons of profits on this stock.

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Short	8.43	8.15	1000	$0.28	$280.00	3.32%
Short	7.29	7.17	4000	$0.12	$490.00	1.68%
Short	7.39	7.32	2000	$0.07	$140.00	0.95%
Short	7.32	7.23	3360	$0.09	$296.00	1.20%
Short	7.15	7.13	3000	$0.03	$83.82	0.38%

Long	7.88	7.98	2000	$0.10	$200.00	1.27%
Long	7.47	7.51	1000	$0.04	$40.00	0.54%
Long	6.86	6.98	1000	$0.12	$120.00	1.75%

Long

6.66

6.73

1000

$0.07

$70.00

1.05%

• Lessons:
• Lately, really big gap up's often have a small push and then lots of fading and profit taking for the first 15-30 minutes (MELA, NVGN, IMGN some recent examples of this), before bouncing some and then picking a trend from there  (be short biased and be patient with a winner, can take profits into big washouts and always be replacing shares into pops, until it starts to make higher lows or make a significant bounce)
• Never be too greedy when scalping washouts and dips, NEVER cancel an order that you already had in to move it HIGHER (this happens all the time, where I have an order in to sell but then I get too greedy and change it higher and then miss it entirely)
• Also is the same for covering, when in bigger than normal size, and have an order in to cover at a specific spot to size back down, don't be too greedy and move it lower, let it fill and then you can be more patient with the remaining position, don't worry about covering too soon
• Can always be shorting pops when it's holding under VWAP and continuing to make lower highs
• Never hit the bid on weakness on a "support breakdown" when it's still in somewhat of an uptrend (I hit the bid at 7.20 and it held and then perked back up another 15 cents right away which messed up my overall average on the trade)
• Don't worry too much about the news on a stock, it all depends on how the stock is REACTING to the news (if there is positive news out and the stock is still acting weak and continuing to downtrend, that's even more reason to short as all those people that just bought will panic when it starts to breakdown)
• "Late day fades" can be very powerful in the last 30 minutes, try to hold at least a small portion of your short position "just in case" of a huge washout like this

ORMP

I had this on watch, but didn't realize how thin it was trading at the time (only 100k volume had traded so far), I shorted into the parabolic with not the best entry (6.675 average), and it hit 6.84, I tried to cover at 6.57 for 10 cents and only got 60 shares filled.  It perked back up again, but thankfully, it came back down and I let the rest fill, I didn't get too greedy because it was WAY too thin.  Later, I "topticked" my short 600 shares at 7.36ish (filled 200 at 7.36 and 400 at 7.35), and covered way too early at 7.14 because I had already the order in (because it's so thinly traded) and it hit 6.91 on that candle.  Didn't touch it the rest of the day, it was too choppy and too thin to trade.

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Short	6.68	6.57	1000	$0.11	$105.00	1.57%
Short	7.35	7.14	600	$0.21	$128.00	2.90%