Trades for April 8, 2015

Awesome day, up over $1000 within the first hour, added some more later on and then didn't trade at all the last four hours.  I was taking breaks, I wasn't at the computer the whole time, and didn't see too much that looked worth trading so I didn't want to force anything and end up giving a lot of it back. Very stress free, lots of small gains adding up to a big day.

There is a planned power outage from 3:00 PM EST to 7:00 PM EST where I live so I decided to post the blog early (I finished it off from a hotspot on the laptop) and not trade the rest of the day, I could try to trade from my laptop with a hotspot from my phone, but why bother when I'm up $1900 and trading from the laptop sucks, I would rather take the rest of the day off and relax.  The charts end at 3:00 EST today, the last hour of trading is missing on them.

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.

  PSTR

I was willing to go long on an opening washout or short an opening spike, but with the overall goal of shorting on opening spike and watching this fade green to red.  I missed the opening washout to 4.45 and then it bounced to 4.96 and offered a great shorting opportunity, I got 1000 shares short at 4.78 on the way up and missed adding another 1000 in the 4.90's.  I didn't think my average was that great, so I covered into the washout at 4.67 for 11 cents, thinking I would just reshort again on the next push.  It pulled to 4.60 on that candle and I tried to got long for a scalp at 4.61, it momentarily bounced to 4.74 but then washed out to 4.45, I added more 4.48-4.27, to give me 3380 shares 4.45 average, and luckily it bounced to 4.54 and I sold it all into that for a tiny profit from a bad trade.  I was somewhat trying to reshort on the ask 4.50's but didn't get filled and wasn't trying that hard to get in, it faded nicely to low 4's.  It bounced to 4.30's but failed to go back green on the day and started rolling over again, I was going to hit 4.13 3000 share buyer (with 1000 shares), if it was getting hit, but it got taken out in one shot and then faded to 3.85.  Didn't make much on this today, but it was another great example of a junk stock that had a big move, and it's now day 2 with a gap up and push and then fade off red.  

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Short

4.78

4.67

1000

$0.11

$110.00

2.30%

Long

4.45

4.50

3380

$0.05

$169.60

1.13%

• Lessons:
• Try to be more patient when the stock is doing what you want (that morning parabolic to 4.95 was exactly what I wanted but I covered early since my first entry wasn't that good and I missed any adds)
• Do not try to scalp a long trade on a junk stock that just parabolic'd like that, my ideal trade was exactly what it did, morning spike and then fade off red on day 2 of it's run, and I tried to scalp it long after it already spiked up and shorts were hammering in and could have lost $300-500 but got lucky on the bounce
• Can reshort ALL POPS after the big spike, pullback, and bounce on Day 2 of the run, in this case, using 4.50's and VWAP as a guide looking for the fade back to red and ideally the 4 dollar washout

 AMCN

I saw this premarket but then didn't have it on of my six stocks I was watching, I ended up seeing it around 9:40 which was probably a good thing, rather than trying to short it too early on the way up.  I was really wanting to go long at 3.10 on the VWAP bounce as I expected another leg up as many of these big movers have done lately, big push, pullback to VWAP and then holds and starts the next leg up.  I had one order in at 3.10 at one point and didn't get filled, then had orders wanting around 3.08-3.06 and it didn't get there and I never chased it up, completely missing the big move even though my idea was dead on.  At least I knew not to be shorting too early on the "leg next up", I was waiting for that 3.50 "blow off", and started in at 3.59, and added more 3.61-3.69 to give me 4390 shares 3.64 average.  I covered 1k 3.53, 1k 3.54, and could have been replacing those again 3.60's but I was trying not to readd covers since that often is what gets my in trouble and leads to big losses if it keeps going.  I waited for the 3.50 break and covered the rest 3.43-3.45 for a $670 profit in one trade.  Then scaled in long looking for the bounce off VWAP and sold for a tiny profit.  I was thinking it might continue to grind and make higher lows and VWAP would now act as support, but it was still acting weak and broke back below VWAP and then slowly faded down to 3.10's.  I scaled in long again, I was trying to sell my first entry for a tiny profit but missed it, I ended up with 3700 shares 3.13 average and sold it all right away into the bounce.  Scalped it again long but only 1000 shares and it seemed like it was acting weak so I sold for 4 cents.  I missed the perfect reshorting opportunity on the VWAP (3.30 area) retest and fail and it slowly faded to 2.90's and then 2.70's in the last hour which isn't on the chart.  

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Short

4.64

4.48

4390

$0.15

$669.10

3.29%

Long	3.37	3.40	2200	$0.04	$80.00	1.08%
Long	3.13	3.19	3700	$0.06	$229.00	1.98%
Long	3.09	3.13	1000	$0.04	$40.00	1.29%

• Lessons:
• Make sure to get filled if you have conviction in a trade, a few cents won't matter in the big picture (my idea was the bounce off VWAP for the next leg up, whether my average was 3.11 or 3.08, it wouldn't matter much in the long scheme of things, I was going for the perfect bottom tick if 3.10 broke but 3.10 held and I missed the move entirely even though my idea was dead on)
• Can short on the VWAP RETEST/REBREAK on a big mover after it tries to bounce off of it and still peaks out (it bounced 3.35 to 3.45 but then was still acting weak and then retested and broke and slowly faded to 3.10's)
• Can use VWAP as a guide for a short on retests, as long as it acts as resistance (over/under that area), the stock will likely continue to fade lower throughout the day (VWAP/3.30 "stuffed" again and it faded to 2.90's within a few hours and then 2.70s later on which isn't on the chart)

 CNDO

Shorted into the parabolic for a quick scalp, 1000 shares at 4.22, I was willing to add more 4.28-4.30's but it failed at 4.25, and I covered at 4.13 into the dip for 9 cents.

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Short

4.22

4.13

1000

$0.09

$90.00

2.13%

 KONE

Very thinly traded stock, it's average volume the last 3 months is 17,000 shares, and today it traded 500k+ by the end of the day.  It gapped up from 3.12 to 4's and started uptrending to 7's, on no news that I could find, just sympathy to all the other chinese stocks that were running today and early shorts getting squeezed and fueling it higher.  I started shorting 200 shares at 7.39, and only got 100 filled at first and could have covered that around 7, but I let the rest fill and was willing to add more higher.  I scaled in 200 shares at a time 7.59-7.83 and ended up with 1000 shares 7.64 average, during some of those candles, I could have covered at least some at 7.05-7.30 on the bid at times but I wasn't quick enough to have orders in and never got filled when I was sitting on the bid with a 20 cent spread.  I added another 120 at 7.78 (was trying for 300) when it was starting to pullback some and looked like it would fade lower.  I got 400 covered at 7.41 and then could have readded 7.70ish again but I didn't want to get caught if it spiked higher again and I mess up another trade from readding (like a lot of my recent trades have been, covering some and then readding and getting in bad situations from the readds).  I covered the rest 7.26-7.35 for a decent gain but then it looked weak again so I hit the bid, 500 shares at 7.25 and covered at 7.11 when it was holding, since my entry was a chase.  Reshorted 300 on the bounce at 7.30 and covered at 7.02 (200 filled then I let the last 100 fill when it retested), once again could have been replacing on the bounce but it was too thin and didn't want to mess up a trade from readds.  Didn't trade it the rest of the day since it's so thin and 10-30 cent spread.

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Short	7.66	7.34	1120	$0.31	$352.60	4.11%
Short	7.25	7.11	500	$0.14	$70.00	1.93%
Short	7.30	7.02	300	$0.28	$84.00	3.84%

• Lessons:
• Make sure to have some orders already in for covers on thin stocks (this trade could have been much better and if I would have gotten some of my shares filled 7.05-7.30 on some of those candles and then I would have been able to reshort even more shares higher)