Trades for March 27, 2015

This is what I wrote BEFORE the last 30 minutes:

Slow day today, I just took it fairly easy and made sure to stay green, this is my best week ever in my whole trading "career" and didn't want to mess it up on a Friday like I've done in the past.  Didn't see very much out there that I liked, there was some scalping opportunities on OHRP for sure, but I missed the short out of the gate and it trades pretty "thick", which I'm not as good at trading, I was looking for any huge parabolic to short on it later on, but it just slowly uptrended and then slowly downtrended.  GBSN would have been a good "short and hold" today, but it was fairly thinly traded (at least early on), I missed some fills on some entries, but the whole time I was really wanting a huge parabolic to 3.50-4 and I would have went in pretty big.  Also, I would have gladly shorted VBLT or NVGN into their spikes but there were no shares on those stocks today.

There was some good trading opportunities early premarket on OHRP today and CNAT yesterday, but I rarely trade premarket, I usually get up around 8:45 EST (6:45 my time), and am at the screen at 15-30 minutes before the open.  I would rather have more sleep than be here a few extra hours everyday, when most days, I would just be sitting there doing nothing, hoping for that occasional big mover.

This is what I'm writing now:

Blew my Friday in the last 30 minutes, trying to scalp some quick money on ALTR, a news related stock in the last 30 minutes (which is generally the worst to try to short because they usually don't pullback as much because people are getting squeezed into the close).  I was messing around with orders at that exact moment when it pulled back and missed a small profit after add, add, adding way too much, I will explain in more detail below.  I just turned a $300 dollar day into a -$1700 dollar day in the last 30 minutes on a Friday, this is my worst losing day so far this month.  Now this isn't my best trading week of my "career", but it is still my 2nd best, finished the week $4400 before commissions instead of $6400.  (my best trading week is still $5000 in the last week of October).

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.

OHRP

Big range premarket, fading from 8's down to 2.60's, I figured it was a short into the first few minutes parabolic, but it didn't go as high as I wanted to and I missed it.  I had one order waiting at 3.28, it got to 3.24, I tried to get in around 3.21 but didn't get filled and it shortly dropped to lows 3's and then 2.90's.  Went long at 2.91 for 9 cents and that was it, didn't trade it the rest of the day.

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Long

2.91

3.00

1000

$0.09

$90.00

3.09%

GBSN

Big move up from 2 dollars to to 3.36 in 10-15 minutes on some news, it's thin and low float so it can spike quickly.  I tried to short 500 shares at 3.35 and only got 200 shares filled, I was willing to scale into big size into a 3.50-4 parabolic.  I covered my 200 shares at 3.14 for 21 cents and was hoping for another leg up to 3.50-4 to short into but it peaked out at 3.20's and made a lower high and then washed out to 2.80.  I went long 500 shares at 2.84, but sold at breakeven when it wasn't bouncing. Wanted to reshort on pops later in the day in the 3.10-3.20 area, but would "just miss" fills into pushes and the whole time I was still ideally wanting 3.50-4.

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Short

3.35

3.14

200

$0.21

$42.00

6.27%

Long

2.84

2.84

500

$0.00

$0.00

0.00%

VBLT

Insane spike out of nowhere on some news, didn't chase it long, would have been scalping it short but I didn't have any shares.  I went long on the pullback at 6.06 and sold too early into the bounce at 6.17 (because I had the order in waiting for it).  

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Long

6.06

6.17

1000

$0.11

$110.00

1.82%

CNAT

Guess I should have held my long overnight from 6.65, but oh well, I never hold anything overnight, I don't like the uncertainty of it.  This was a slow and steady "uptrender" today, I started shorting around 7.49 because there was a big seller there and it was also an area of resistance yesterday.  I added 500 shares "to a winner" I was only looking for 5-15 cents on a quick washout, but I didn't like how low the volume was.  I accidentally added another 1000 shares at 7.48 (I was trying to just "sit" on the ask for a second to see if someone would hit the bid but I just got filled right away).  I didn't want to be in that big because it was too low volume and could possibly spike in one candle, so I covered around 1000 at 7.46, then covered around 500 at 7.39, and then was trying to cover the rest 7.40ish on the bid but couldn't get filled when I wanted to and ended up covering it at 7.43, the volume was just too thin and it proved to be a good cover because it slowly grinded up and broke 7.50 and went to 7.80's.  I was waiting for a parabolic to re-short but my orders were all waiting higher on some of those spikes and I never chased it down.          

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Short

7.48

7.43

2500

$0.05

$124.29

0.67%

ALTR

After a slow day, there was finally some "action", an intraday news release and volatility halt on ALTR.  I thought I would try to scalp some quick money shorting this, but only wanted to trade it small, 100-200 shares.  My first two entries were terrible around 40 (100 shares each), I added another 500 in 100 share orders from 40.74-41.29 which brought my total position to 700 shares avg 40.77 (over 2:1 limit and it's past 3:30 EST).  Everything happened so fast, but I know I had some orders already in to cover for a small profit at some point, and I was changing the prices of orders right before it pulled to 40.28.  I was trying to cover everything quickly there but I was too greedy and too slow, putting an order on the bid in the 40.30's and missing it and it spiked up $2/share in the next candle to 42.30's, and I added another 200 shares on the way up around 41.45 where I should have been "panic covering" for a $400-500 dollar loss.  I got bought in on most of my shares at 42.17 for almost a $1000 dollar loss but still had 230 shares left which would have been another $200 dollar loss just covering the rest there.  I readded another 300 at 42.39 (even though I knew I was over 2:1 limit) and it pulled back to 42.05.  I had orders in 41.50's-41.70's to cover it all on a quick 42 break, but 42.05 bidders held as support and it perked back up again.  I had more readds, and more buyin's and some covers (by me) but only covering some not all, and more readds, and eventually fighting this into the very last minute into the 44's and eventually covering my last 300 shares afterhours, adding another $800 dollars in losses from all that, instead of just covering the last 230 shares when I got bought in.  What a horrible way to ruin an amazing week, from forcing a stupid trade in the last 30 minutes on a Friday after taking it easy the entire day.    

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Short

42.14

43.35

1700

-$1.20

-$2,043.00

-2.85%

• Lessons:
• ALWAYS USE LESS SIZE on these parabolic intraday news release plays and be ESPECIALLY CAREFUL shorting when it's in the last 30 minutes, there isn't much time for it to pullback and shorts get squeezed into the close
• Do not add, add, add into so much size so uncontrollably (I started with 100 shares because I wanted to stay small on it, but then uncontrollably added to 700 shares just because my initial entry was so poor)
• MAKE SURE TO COVER ALL into that first washout/dip, ALWAYS have orders in and if you miss them, you can TAKE THE ASK (I had 50 cents profit on 700 shares for a split second but I missed it and 2 minutes later I was down $2/share)
• COVER ALL when it's holding a key whole number after pulling back (42.05 held and I was waiting for the 42 break and then it kept spiking much much further for the next 15 minutes)
• Do not go over 2:1 margin past 3:30 EST (I knew I was going over the limit but I was trying to be super quick, but I missed my covers and got buyin's, then repeatedly went over 2:1 margin trying to be quick and kept compounding the problem and lost another $800 more than I needed to) 
• Do not force stupid trades on Friday's after a great week, make smart trades and less size and take it easy (I have a habit of making stupid trades and taking big losses on Friday's, most of my big losing days the last few months have been on Friday's, especially after a having a really good week)