-$750 on the day is not the end of the world, it's still much smaller than most of my green days lately, still a small amount compared to what I have made these last two weeks. I just need to be way smarter with with sizing in and out of trades, and I can't just "hold, hold hold" until a loser comes back to a winner all the time, today was very frustrating watching CANF for hours and hours, and missing other trading opportunities (on different stocks and also not trading the "channel range" on CANF very well), I traded it very poorly but it still could have been much worse than it was. I was way too stubborn, CANF just would not "die", it continued to hold 3.23-3.28 so many times and wouldn't break down, it was very strong today, and I should have respected it and taken the loss and then looked for better entries again higher at key areas such as HOD resistance, rather than holding onto a short when it continued to hold support at the "bottom of the channel", while it still ABOVE VWAP and basing/grinding. It's frustrating trading a thin stock with a big position size, I missed covering any at 3.19 (orders were at 3.18 and lower) and it popped right back to 3.30, then later in those two dips to 3.23-3.25, all I got filled was 1000 shares and then it popped right back up 5-10 cents (500+ difference), then I had orders ready to cover 3.23-3.26 multiple times later on, it would get to 3.28 by 3.30 and "looked weak" but still there wasn't enough people hitting the bid, I didn't want to sit on the bid at 3.28 and "prop it back up" (even if I was hiding size it would still help hold it up) and I didn't want to take the ask at 3.30 and "pop it back up" and then it "would pop right back up on air" to 3.30-3.36 and that's about a $300-500 difference each time. I was extemely stubborn because my position size was too big and I was worried about every 5 cents, and I had missed covering at 3.20-3.25 so many times and now it was 3.30-3.35 which is a big difference just because of the size. I sized in too much, too quick and also did a poor job of covering all/most into dips/basing, two things that I continue to struggle with which I need to work on going forward.
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.
HIVE
Thinly traded stock, had positive news today, ran from 5.34 up to 6.26, and I scaled in short into the parabolic, 1k at 6.15 and 1k at 6.23, and covered at 6.05 and 6 for a quick scalp. I missed the 6.60 parabolic because I left the room for a few minutes and wasn't there at that time. Type | Entry | Exit | Shares | +/- $Amt | $ PnL | % Pnl |
Short | 6.19 | 6.03 | 2000 | $0.17 | $330.00 | 2.67% |
VLTC
Big fade at the open on VLTC today, from 12.38 to 9.35 in just over an hour. I went long at 9.47 because it seemed overextended and seemed like it was holding there and would bounce a little bit, and I sold immediately on the bounce at 9.68 so I could focus on CANF.
Type | Entry | Exit | Shares | +/- $Amt | $ PnL | % Pnl |
Long | 9.47 | 9.68 | 1600 | $0.21 | $330.00 | 2.18% |
CANF
Former runner (but now a "beat chart" with a big gap down from 5's to 2's about a month ago), with a big gap up from 2.17 to 2.77 open on positive data news. This trade was somewhat similar to BIOC last week on it's up-trending day, I wanted 3+ to short initially but it didn't get there when I wanted it to (it topped at 2.97 earlier), then as soon as it broke 3 (which was basically a "breakout"), I hammered in with size too early. (as I did on BIOC last week, last week BIOC eventually came back down and I got lucky and made money overall, this one refused to "die"). I added way too much, too soon and had 7000 shares 3.12 average and it hit 3.48 and I had no room to add (I think there was a 2:1 limit on it today and I'm "supposed to" stay under 7k shares max anyways), I didn't "spread out" my entries enough, and didn't "save bullets" for higher. It pulled back to 3.19 and I had some orders waiting at 3.18-3.16 and I missed covering any, it popped back up to 3.29 and then came back down to 3.23, but it's just very thin, only 2000 shares traded at 3.24 on that candle and it popped back to 3.40's right away, then it was 3.32-3.45 for a while and I missed covering any into dips. It popped all the way to 3.54 and did a "HOD rejection" from there and faded back to 3.24 and all I got filled was 1k shares at 3.25, then readded some 3.32 and it dipped to 3.23 and all I got was 1k filled again, then readded 3.31, stopped out at 3.36 on the add, then readded 3.38 and it was hanging around 3.28-3.36 for a while, it seemed SO CLOSE to breaking down 3.28 but it kept holding and holding and it was very thin and would pop right back up (every 5-10 cents is a big difference with 6000 shares), it was still ABOVE VWAP and grinding and I knew there was no reason to still be short, but I didn't want to be the one that was "propping it up" or taking the ask and "creating the squeeze". I knew if 3.40 broke it could go much higher but I was too slow/stubborn to take the ask 3.35-3.40 and it ramped all the way up to 3.56. Thankfully/luckily it rejected HOD again, this time it could have easily went much further (3.70+) since it had consolidated for quite a long time leading up to this move. I covered 700 shares into the dip at 3.47, then readded it again at 3.51, then covered 4000/6500 from 3.42-3.36, then readded most of that again 3.39-3.42, and covered the rest 3.34-3.26, I was finally completely out of the position and I was down about $450 on the day (lost $1100 on the trade). It seemed somewhat weak and I thought it might break 3.20 and fade back to 3, and I didn't want to "regret my covers" if that happened, and I was trading emotionally trying to "make back" and go positive on the day. I hammered in with lots of "bid slams" which were complete chase entries, I had a few thousand shares 3.30ish average and instead of sizing back down at 3.25, I was adding more at 3.26 and 3.25 and ruining my average, I ended up making a very, very small amount overall on that last trade (covering the last 550 shares afterhours), but it was a very stupid and lucky trade, that perk at 15:25 (I tried to take the ask to stop out for a loss but only got a tiny bit filled) could have easily went much higher or not pulled back and I would have been down $1000+ again.
Type | Entry | Exit | Shares | +/- $Amt | $ PnL | % Pnl |
Short | 3.26 | 3.33 | 15100 | -$0.07 | -$1,105.00 | -2.25% |
Short | 3.28 | 3.26 | 9800 | $0.02 | $161.53 | 0.50% |
- Lessons:
- Do not be too quick to "hammer in" short with too much size right as it gets over a key area after consolidation, I keep getting too stubborn and thinking things like "short at 3+", which would have been good on the first attempt when it went 2.62-2.95, but after consolidation, it is not as much of a short at that level, and I have to always "save bullets" for higher when scaling into a parabolic (if I only had 2000-3000 shares 3.05-3.15, I could have added 3.30's and 3.40's to my 7000 share maximum and covered into the dip to 3.20's for profit)
- Slow grind/basing ABOVE VWAP = No reason to short/be short (I knew this, but I was in too big and was too stubborn and I was frustrated from not covering more than I did at 3.23-3.26 both times)
- Need to make sure to cover most/all when it's basing at key levels, I should have had orders in for more than I did on both the 3.23-3.26 tests, instead of being so greedy looking for the big breakdown, I missed covers and it popped right back up
- I need to COVER ALL when it's basing/grinding above VWAP, regardless of what my average is, and then look for other opportunities later, this trade could have been managed so much better if I had taken advantage of the full range, covering all 3.20's, reshorting 3.40-3.50 covering 3.20-3.30, reshorting 3.50's covering 3.30's again (it was basically trading in a 3.25-3.55 channel all day and I was stuck being stubborn the whole time and not taking advantage of the range, I could have covered and reshorted again higher so many times)
UNXL
Had negative news afterhours, I saw this around 5 and could have easily shorted it, then it was around 4.05 and there was a 10k buyer at 4.05, at one moment I had put an order in at 4.06 for 500 shares, but I thought I had canceled it when I didn't get filled. I ended up getting filled a minute later and it bounced immediately and there was a buyer at 4.20 and then 4.25, and I didn't hit it (I was trying to sell at 4.30-4.35 on the ask when the next best seller was at 4.40), it broke below 4 and I added another 500 at 3.84, it bounced back to 4 and I only put an order in for 500 at 3.98 and the other one was above 4, I got 500 sold at 3.98 for a few cents profit. It came back down and I added a bit more again and didn't get everything sold into the bounce again, then added really poorly at 3.80 (when the spread was 3.72-3.80), thinking I could "help it pop", then added a bit lower again and got some sold for breakevenish again but not all, then readded at 3.70 when I had just sold some at 3.78, I was trying to sell some again as the best ask around 3.75-3.78, but couldn't get filled, then terribly added more again at 3.70 and down she went to 3.40's and I had way too much size, 3475 shares 3.73 average. It hit as low at 3.40, then slowly bounced back up a tiny bit, and I sold 300 at 3.49, 1000 at 3.52 and the rest 3.64-3.65. It ended up fading back down to 3.40ish so I was thankful I got out where I did.
Type | Entry | Exit | Shares | +/- $Amt | $ PnL | % Pnl |
Long | 3.78 | 3.70 | 5975 | -$0.08 | -$460.75 | -2.04% |
- Lessons:
- Avoid after hours trading unless it is a GOLDEN SETUP (there were great setups on Thursday and Friday after hours on LOOK and SMYX but I didn't trade them because I was already up a lot on the day, today I was down on the day and I forced on a bad setup and made myself lose even more)
- Always use much less size after hours, anything can happen, have to be safe (I was not safe at all and this could have went to 3 and I would have given back a lot more than my whole day, by stupidly having over 3000+ shares during after hours)
- Never think, "it's down too much, it has to bounce", negative news and AH's/premarket trading can send a stock down 40%+ easily (some recent examples are CLDN, AMPE and UNXL)
- During AH trading, always put the order in for ALL, do not try to "scale out" (had I put the order in for ALL on 3 different spots, I could have had NO POSITION and been about breakeven overall, instead of missing some and trying to make the rest work)
- Do not let an "accidental trade" lead to a big loss, can always take a small loss and move on (I had 20 cents profit on an "accidental trade" and I didn't take it, then had a small loss many times but didn't take it and tried to make it work by adding more and ended up losing almost $500)
- Do not use afterhours to try to make money back after a red day, there's a much higher chance you will just lose more, considering you are trading very emotionally
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