I looked over all my trades for the month yesterday, and some of the things I needed to work on were:
- Controlling my overall position sizes and being careful not to add, add, add uncontrollably, have to try to make "smart" adds and keeping my overall size under control
- Making sure to exit the entire position (especially if I tried to but got partial fills) and not trying to "make a trade work" with more adds and re-adds in places where I wouldn't normally trade that stock
- Not being too greedy on sells/covers, if I have an order in at a certain spot for a reason, I need to let it fill, and not worry if I goes a bit higher/lower afterwards (there were many times that my trades were screwed up from being too greedy and CHANGING orders higher/lower and missing them)
I failed at all of those things on this whole GENE trade, my position sizes were too big, I didn't cover 1000 shares and then tried to make it work with more adds and readds, got some partial fills and didn't get everything covered into dips and kept trying to make the trade work and ended up fighting with it most of the day.
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.
CANF
Saw this premarket and could have easily shorted it above 4 but didn't know why it was tanking. Tried to catch a falling knife and sold for a 2 cent loss on the bounce and didn't trade it at all after that, could have been a lot worse if it didn't bounce at all and just tanked to low 2's before the market even opened.
| Type | Entry | Exit | Shares | +/- $Amt | $ PnL | % Pnl |
| Long | 3.25 | 3.23 | 500 | -$0.02 | -$10.00 | -0.62% |
- Lessons:
- Don't try to catch a falling knife or short a random spike in PREMARKET without first knowing WHY it did that
ZIOP
Big gap up on some news, a small spike in the first minute and then straight down, almost gave back the entire $2 gap up. Scaled in long when I thought it would bounce some, I started in too soon but ended up with 1390 shares 12.33ish avg and it hit 12.46 and I sold only HALF at 12.43, it tanked to 12.12 and then bounced to 12.40ish again and I sold the rest there. If I only had 1000 shares I would have sold all in one order but because I had 1390 I decided to scale out half and half, it would have been a MUCH better trade had I put the order in for ALL and then re-bought lower on another washout. Tried to buy it again later and got a 169 share partial fill and sold for a tiny profit.
| Type | Entry | Exit | Shares | +/- $Amt | $ PnL | % Pnl |
| Long | 12.33 | 12.41 | 1390 | $0.08 | $115.40 | 0.67% |
| Long | 11.96 | 12.10 | 169 | $0.14 | $23.66 | 1.17% |
- Lessons:
- When scalping washouts long, make sure to SELL ALL into the bounce (put order for all and don't be afraid to hit the bid if you miss it)
- Pattern to short = big gap up, one minute push to previous premarket highs and then straight fade from there for at least the first 15-30 minutes on profit taking (similar chart to IMGN on March 23rd)
GMAN
I've been watching this "grind all day" many times and I know that the daily chart is somewhat overextended, and I have just been watching for a huge parabolic to short into. I shorted this a bit too early and it wasn't pulling back much. I had covered into dips twice for breakevenish but only HALF of my position. Finally covered it all with a bunch of partial fills for a total loss of $20. It was just too thin and just ended up grinding up all day anyways.
| Type | Entry | Exit | Shares | +/- $Amt | $ PnL | % Pnl |
| Short | 7.26 | 7.27 | 1900 | -$0.01 | -$20.89 | -0.15% |
GENE
Got 10 shares filled into that first push and it pulled back 8 cents, then added another 1000 perfectly at 4.54 into the next push, but missed covering around 4.40, it popped up again and I readded 1000 ("to a winner") at 4.47 but then only covered 1000 at 4.39. Readded more "to a winner" in terrible spots (4.45 and 4.49), and then one at 4.57. Now I had 4000 shares 4.50ish average and it pulled to 4.48 and I didn't cover any, it went to 4.65ish and then came back down to 4.50 and I didn't cover ANY for breakeven. I tried to readd at 4.57 and got 1 share filled (so that will cost $25 if more doesn't fill), then I let the rest fill and then added another 900 at 4.62. New average 4.54, 5800 shares and it hung around 4.62-4.72 for a bit and then finally started coming down. It came down to 4.48 and I covered 3000 shares into that, readded 1000 on the pop and then covered everything at 4.43-4.48, except for 1000 shares. At this point my $500+ unrealized loss was now a $500 dollar gain, but I was too greedy on that last 1000 shares and tried to make it work. It went below VWAP but then perked back up again, I readded another 1000 on the bounce and missed covering when it HELD VWAP and made a higher low. I tried to take the ask at 4.48 and only got 300 shares filled (so frustrating). Readded more on that spike but then only got 1000 shares filled on the dip, and then another mega pop right after it looked like it was going to break 4.50. Readded a ton into that again, my avg was around 4.60 around 6000 shares, and it touched previous HOD again at 4.72 and then came back down to 4.58 but I only got 2000 shares covered. Readded another 1000 on the pop and then was trying to cover at 4.62 and only got 200 filled then tried to take the ask at 4.63 and got 300 filled and I helped create the pop back up. There was still a big seller at 4.72 and I was hoping for one last fail, but it's more likely to break the more times it retests and the more times it pulls back and holds higher lows. I was in too big already and too stubborn to stop out at 4.72 (4000-5000 shares 4.62ish avg), so taking the loss there would have been around $500 (which I should have just taken). Added more higher and never got any filled into dips. Was down $1500 unrealized at the top, thankfully it pulled back to 4.80's and I covered about half (that's all that I got filled), readded more on the bounce, covered 1000, readdded again and finally covered it all 4.70-4.77 (from 4.76 average at that time with already taking losses on it). Just a terrible trade all around, it all started from trying to "add to a winner" in the morning in terrible spots on the FRONTSIDE when I was already in big size, instead of just taking my quick 10 cent scalp. Then being too stubborn and greedy to COVER ALL, I had breakeven/profit like 5 times from a bad overall average and never COVERED ALL and kept trying to make the trade work with adding more in spots where I would have never normally shorted. That VWAP break and then RECLAIM and then HIGHER LOWS was a key indicator in this trade that it was now UPTRENDING again and there was no reason to be short anymore.
| Type | Entry | Exit | Shares | +/- $Amt | $ PnL | % Pnl |
| Short | 4.64 | 4.63 | 20710 | $0.01 | $151.19 | 0.16% |
- Lessons:
- Shorting parabolic's on the frontside = quick scalps, covering into dips, don't stick around and try to add to a winner when it's still above VWAP and still spiking higher.
- When originally down on a trade and it comes back to breakeven, need to make sure to SIZE DOWN or COVER ALL and then look for re-entries later on
- VWAP can act as a support area, be aware of VWAP break and then RECLAIM, it will likely go higher and continue to make higher lows after reclaiming back above VWAP
- There is no reason to be short when it's just low volume grinding and ABOVE VWAP, and definitely no reason to still have 3000 shares (it can easily spike 5-10 cents in one candle), need to be sizing back down and not worried about every penny (I covered 1000 shares around 4.51 and was ready to cover the rest 4.45-4.50 but then a big bidder propped it back up at 4.55 and then it continued spiking from there) (To go with the next lesson, I could have EASILY covered all at 4.56-4.57 by TAKING THE ASK for a tiny loss)
- Need to be willing to take the ask more often and quicker, don't not worry about the small extra fee, I end up missing orders and losing a lot more trying to make the trade work
Great post, quick question regarding your adds and readds on GENE. I was going over my own trades and watched Nate's Textbook trader again and noticed that he says to add on winners that have cracked a magnet or key level of support which is now acting as resistance in the direction of the intraday trend. Just thought I'd share b/c I tend to scalp like you until I realized that I was trying to scalp against the intra-day trend, which makes it hard to get a good sized profit. I'm going to try and incorporate adding to a winner that has cracked a key area and add into the pops for a short until the stock starts to make HL's and HH's.
ReplyDeleteJust a comment I thought I'd share, keep up the blogging I read your posts every night.
ya, well 5.50 was a pretty key area throughout the day, it starting fading some and went to 4.42 or so, but then bounced back up to 4.50, came back down and held a HIGHER LOW and then reclaimed back above 5.50 support and continued to trend higher and make HIGHER LOWS, like I said I should been done with the trade then, I kept trying to make it work and almost covered it all into dips but would just miss it and then it would keep going higher again. Thanks for the positive feedback on the blog. Feel free to email me at JGram135@hotmail.com with any other questions, it's easier to chat back and forth on there than on the blog.
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