Trades for May 7, 2015

Small green day, but frustrating again, I left 5-10k "on the table" on GEVO with the perfect entry and no reason to sell, then missed all my entries on dips at 4.18, 4.48, and 4.57 and didn't chase the 4.80 "breakout" and it goes up almost a dollar, then missed 5.30's and it goes to 6+ from there as well.  I need to learn to be patient on a long position on the "big runner", it's hard to know what's going to be the "big runner", but basically only sell when YOU HAVE A REASON TO (sell into parabolics and rebuy lower or once it makes a "lower low", this was a perfect uptrend with constant higher lows and previous resistance areas becoming support).

It's also annoying missing some opportunities and being forced to only go long because there are no shares available to short, like today I had no shares of PTBI (had them yesterday), GEVO, CERE, VLTC (had them yesterday), ICLD, and others.  It was probably good that there were no GEVO shares but still would have nice to be able to go "both ways" potentially, but PTBI could have nailed, VLTC could have nailed, ICLD could have nailed, CERE could have maybe nailed (it probably went further than some people expected but then pulled back a dollar off the highs).

I'm not going to explain as much on the trades anymore, just look at text below it to see the trades, usually if it's a very small number of shares it was a partial fill and I just "ditched it" for a small profit/loss.  I had lots of small scalps (in terms of cents) today on GEVO because most of them were either a "washout scalp" or a "chase" so I sold very quickly, my only "really good entry" for the "bigger picture move" was at 3.78 and I sold for 10 cents for no reason and watched it go up another 2 dollars.

Not really the best trading today either, I didn't make very much for the amount of size that I sometimes had/amount of shares traded, but had I held my PERFECT ENTRY on GEVO I could have been up huge like I already mentioned.  I still don't really know what's the "best way" to trade, I don't really like how I've been trading lately, I want to get better at holding for "bigger picture" moves, rather than just scalping in and out in and few minutes for very tiny profits.

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.

PTBI

Day 3 of this big run, it gapped up from 8.60 to 10.27 open with no news, washed out at open and spiked back up again, I unfortunately missed that "washout long", I had an order waiting at 9.82 and it held at 9.88 and bounced back to 10.50. it still felt "weaker" today and it couldn't get back above VWAP, but I didn't have shares to short.  I scalped it long a few times into washouts and missed one of my entries at 9.42 (hit 9.44), and also got some partial fills on them.  It "hung around" 8.70-9.30 most of the day, then broke under the lows in the last 2 hours and faded down to 7.85, I bought 1k at 7.85 (the bottom was 7.85) for a scalp and sold for 22 cents on the bounce.  Then went long again with 3k shares at 7.50 (scaled in) and it bounced to 7.57 but I didn't sell any, I was greedy and thought it might have a quick "SSR pop" back to 7.60's.  Then I added lower, and luckily sold most for breakevenish, then readded some at 7.32 and sold for a small profit.  This was a bad trade and I could have easily given back most of my day.  It closed at 7.30ish but is now gapping down to 6.90-7.10 range.  

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Long	9.78	9.92	1000	$0.14	$140.00	1.43%
Long	9.17	9.31	500	$0.14	$70.00	1.53%
Long	8.94	9.14	100	$0.20	$20.00	2.24%
Long	7.85	8.07	1000	$0.22	$220.00	2.80%
Long	7.45	7.48	5700	$0.03	$196.00	0.46%

GEVO

Today's "low float runner", 5.5mil shares float, big gap up from 2.45 previous day close to 4.30 premarket on positive news, there are no shares to short, so I can only play the long side on it today. It faded to 3.60 open and washed out to 3.30, then bounced back to 3.65, and "hung around" 3.30-3.40 for about 5 minutes, then broke back above VWAP at 3.45 and made it's way to 4.05, I didn't chase that move and I waited for a dip to go long, and bought 2k shares at 3.76 and added 2k shares "to a winner", taking the ask at 3.80 (using VWAP 3.71 as a guide), then I sold it all for 10 cents for absolutely no reason and watched it go to 4.30's right away.  It pulled back to 4.15 and there was a 40k seller on the ask at 4.18, and I was going to "take it" with 4k shares if it was getting "hit", but as I was changing my position size from 2k to 4k, it got taken out, then I didn't take it at 4.20 or higher.  It went to 4.80 in the next 10 minutes, then pulled back to 4.48, and I was trying to go long at the very bottom of that at 4.48 but didn't get filled, then it went higher again, and pulled back to 4.57 and I was trying to go long again at the very bottom of that and missed it again, then didn't chase the 4.80 "breakout" and it went up to 5.70 from there, I tried to go long on some of those dips in the 5.25-5.30 area but didn't get filled/would be waiting "too low", I was going for the "dead bottom" prints again and I missed everything and it went up to 6+.  Pretty frustrating, I sold my first entry for 10 cents for no reason and missed a 1-2 dollar move on 4k shares = 4-8k, and also missed all my re-entries because I was going for the "dead bottom" of the washouts/dips, I should have just made sure to get in, 2-5 cents difference won't mean much in the "big scheme" of things on such a "big runner".  I scalped it some throughout the rest of the day, mostly a washout scalp or a "chase on the ask", I couldn't hold anything for very long because it was either a "scalp" or a "chase".  I wanted to go long with 3k shares at 3.78 at 14:53, I put the order in for 3k shares when it was 3.77 by 3.78, and only got 550/3000 filled, then an 80k seller showed up on the ask and I decided to cancel it and either try to get a better entry lower, or take out the ask only if it was getting hit.  It came down to 4.74 and I was trying to add more around there but didn't get filled, I was still planning on taking the ask at 4.80 if it was getting hit, but it popped to 4.89 in one candle, I only had 550 shares so I just decided to sell it for 10 cents.  There was another big seller at 4.85 and I was going to take it but I was too slow and then it uptrended from there.  Then was busy with PTBI and missed other entries in the last hour or so.  It closed around 5.50 then slowly went to 5.70 or so in about an hour, then "sped up" from there and parabolic'd to 6.70, pulled back to 6.10ish, and is now back to 6.40ish, such a crazy market we're in, should have some good range/opportunity again tomorrow.  I'm keep talking about "taking the ask" on a big seller, I'm not sure if it's the best, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, it's better to get a good entry on the bid but sometimes when a big seller is taken out, the stock will have a quick 5-10 cent pop and then decide where it wants to go from there.

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Long	3.78	3.88	4000	$0.10	$390.00	2.58%
Long	5.24	5.34	2000	$0.10	$207.00	1.98%
Long	5.86	5.91	4000	$0.05	$203.50	0.87%
Long	5.45	5.45	5500	-$0.00	-$5.00	-0.02%
Long	5.20	5.25	2000	$0.05	$100.00	0.96%
Long	4.78	4.88	550	$0.10	$55.00	2.09%

• Lessons:
• Be patient on a long position on a "big runner", only sell when YOU HAVE A REASON TO, try to get better at "letting these work" and holding onto a winner for a few hours
• Can always buy a "bigger runner" when it's holding higher lows ABOVE VWAP, with risk under the base/previous low, then be patient with it, sell into parabolic's or when it makes a "lower low" (4.15 base, 4.50 base, 5.30 base, 4.90 base/double bottom/higher lows than 4.75)

VLTC

VLTC parabolic'd from 9.80 to 10.80 in about 5 minutes, on some random news (BS sort of), I wanted to short it but didn't have shares (I had them yesterday) and then went long for a scalp, had 10-12 cents on 2k shares and missed it, then it slammed down, and I added once more, then only got 1/3 of it sold into the bounce, then readded that sell, and it washed out lower again and had very little volume and I gave back my $800 profits on the day that I had at the time.

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Long

10.29

10.10

4000

-$0.20

-$780.20

-1.90%

• Lessons:
• Big very careful going long after a big parabolic on a "junk stock" that has been trading with low volume and "choppy", if there is no follow through momentum/volume, it'll usually just go right back down once no one cares about it

Trades for May 6, 2015

Sorry, lots of "rambling on" in the text today, I'm just very frustrated with PTBI and how I traded it today, there is SO MUCH OPPORTUNITY on a stock that has that much range and that much volume, and I was on the wrong side of it almost the whole day.  Also sorry the last two posts have been so late in the day, there wasn't much "lull" time or I was still in positions, so I didn't get anything done on it during the day, and I also spent more time in total on these ones.

I still want to keep doing the blog daily, as it did help me find consistency for the last two months, but this has been a pretty devastating "two day setback" for me, and I'm completely ashamed of my trading the last two days.  I hope that everyone appreciates the transparency, it's a lot harder to post when you are losing a lot like I did the last two days, but these big losing days are even more important to reflect on and learn from, to improve on my trading in the future.  I may take a break from posting on the blog at some point but I will likely keep doing it for now at least, maybe I will just "trim it down" and not write as much (considering how long it took me to do these last two posts).

Well, I thought I could brush off yesterday like it never happened and bounce back today, guess not, I traded the most emotionally today than I ever have.  Probably one of my worst trading days ever in terms of the actual trades, not the PnL.  I probably "deserved" to be down this much after "surviving" -4k unrealized twice and still being up 1k on the day.  Nothing was working at all, I was on the wrong side of PTBI pretty much the whole day, I would be getting smoked short when I should have been long, then getting smoked long when I should have been short (and had just covered my short for a 1k loss a minute before that).  It finally "tanked" the one time I decided that I needed to just take this loss and possibly switch long instead (which I should have done on the first two trades but didn't).  Then I got liquidated at the lows on my long to be down 5.3k on the day, and then there was intraday news released and it bounced back up $1-1.50 from there (the "liquidation" cost me about 5k, but it was still my fault from being in that big and not selling earlier but still very frustrating), I would have been up 5k on the day if I held my short but instead I covered for a loss and "flipped long" and ended up down 5k instead. (10k PnL swing from covering that short and then going long)  

I wanted to just FOLLOW THE TREND TODAY on PTBI, I wanted to have no "set bias" long or short and just trade re-actively to it.  This plan got ruined by me waking up at 7:45 EST instead of 8:45 EST and getting up because I saw PTBI was at 8+, then missing the good long entries from 7.80-8.20 (missed a fill at 7.86 at 8:06) then starting into a short trade on it premarket.  I had profit about 5 different times (in different washouts with covering some and readding),  then it "broke out" from there and I was "stuck" short and had missed the big long opportunity.  I was too greedy in each washout, looking for the "homerun" after yesterday's big loss and was still "short biased" just because I was still short and trying to go for the "big washout/fade" under the lows so I could "make back" a lot of yesterday's loss.

Such a frustrating day, my friend Alex (AT09_Trader), also lost around 11k yesterday because of PTBI and today he was "long biased" and long from 7.80's premarket and other exits and re-entries from there and ended up making 11k on it going long (and another 3k going short later on) with only having about 4k shares at the most.  I wished I had "followed him" or at least stayed away from the short side until it started getting really "nuts" like 10.50-11.  I had missed my long entry that I was trying for at 7.86 and then later at 8.20 and I didn't want to "chase it" at 8.50-8.70, and decided to short it instead, it pulled back 30 cents and I covered half, and I missed the other fill by 2 cents, that messed up everything, I almost covered it for breakeven/small profit about 10 times, but I either just missed the fill or moved my order lower being greedy.  Then "tried to make it work" the rest of premarket and the whole first 20 minutes and that messed up my whole mindset for the day, from the all the missed opportunity and then having more of a "short bias" on it.
  
That premarket trade messed up everything, it "made me" hold onto stubborn shorts and then "made me" more "short biased" on it.  I missed lots of opportunity (going long and/or short, and taking more advantage of the FULL RANGE) because I held onto two very stubborn shorts for over a dollar/share each, then somehow had managed to "survive" -3-4k twice and ended up +1000 realized on the day even though I traded it terribly.  Then I shorted 20 cents off the lows and didn't cover when it held, I knew it was a "crowded short" with lx21 and CraigTrader tweets and Tim Sykes short alert, and I didn't cover for 10-20 cents or breakeven, and let it go 70 cents against me, then covered emotionally for about a 1k loss, then went long right after covering, thinking that's what I should be doing/emotionally trying to make something work, and lost another 6k, so insanely frustrating, had I just held my short I would have been up about 5k, instead I was down 5k.    

Both yesterday and today, I probably should have stopped for the day, but I kept trading the last few hours and made back about 2k each day, I just gotta do that without being down so freaking much first.  I "overtraded" it the rest of the day and managed to make back 2.3k with lots of small scalps which is what I'm better at.  I was going for the "homerun" on my shorts looking for a breakdown under the lows in the morning with my 9.30ish average short, and looking for a fade back to 9-9.50 on my second short once it broke back below VWAP to 9.60ish, even though my entry wasn't very good and it just came back to 5-10 cents profit after being down 60.

Today my trading was absolutely terrible, I need to have more of a plan and be more decisive whether I should be long or short, and whether I'm going for the "big picture trade" or just a scalp, not flipping back and forth long and short all the time and holding/adding on a trade for a 50+ cent unrealized loss.  I don't have to "win" every trade, I have to have more of a plan, and where I want to stop out/risk to and then respect it, rather than just randomly buying and shorting, then adding/holding if I'm wrong.  I held through a 1-1.50/share unrealized loss twice today (and held for basically a dollar/share REALIZED loss from getting liquidated), I need to develop that much patience for winning trades and much less patience for losing trades.

I would say the only two "good" trades I made today, was my TLOG "top tick" short at 11:42 at 3.07ish and my PTBI "top tick" short at 13:52 at 9.92.  Only problem is, those were both with insanely small size compared to all my other trades and I exited somewhat early in the "big scheme of things".        

New day tomorrow, PTBI should have good action again and I want to be on the RIGHT SIDE OF IT this time, "grind back" SLOW AND STEADY, focus on DAILY CONSISTENCY and BEING GREEN EVERYDAY and regain confidence again.  Today I was trying to "make back" as much as possible as quick as possible and 1k wasn't good enough, I ended up turning it into -3k.  

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.

PTBI

This had the big run yesterday from 4.40's (from 2.90 previous close) to 7.70's and faded into the close yesterday and closed around 6, then gapped up to 6.20-6.40 afterhours, then had a "well timed" positive "press release"/news today that helped continue the gap up, from 6's to 8+ before 8 AM.  Like I already explained above, I wanted to go LONG premarket but I missed the good entry at 8.20, so decided to short instead, at around 8.76 with 1500 shares, it dipped to 8.45 and I covered half at 8.59 and had the order for the rest at 8.43 and missed it by 2 cents.  Then a whole mess of readds and partial covers, I had 2k shares short into the open with a 8.95 average (which is a rule that I never want to have any position into the open, I just want to be able to react with no position), it pulled back to 8.70 and I covered 1k at 8.71, I should have covered it all there and even went long, but that's all I put in and I missed covering the rest.  It spiked back up a dollar from there, then was trading around 9.70-8.80 for about 20 minutes and had readded into that spike and got some filled into the washout for profit but missed 1000 shares, and then was readding on the bounce again and then only got 500 filled.  I ended up being "stuck" short with 2700 shares 9.30's average and it spiked from 9.15 to 9.87 (past the 9.70 previous highs) in one candle, then all the way up to 10.77 from there (up 1k realized with -4k unrealized), I added 200 shares at 10.04 too early on the way up, which didn't really change much of anything, I should have just taken the loss at 9.40-10 and reshorted it higher.  10.75ish "topping out" was the place to be selling/shorting after such a huge move up, it washed out to 9.75 over the next few minutes and I covered 900 at 9.77, then readded 800 at 10.04, it washed out to 9.25 and I covered it all there at 9.50-9.36 to be still around 1k on the day realized with no positions.  Then I went long, with 1k at 9.31, and tried to add 1k at 9.26 but didn't get filled, it just pulled back from 10.75 to 9.30 in 15 minutes, I should have been "loading up" long and being patient with it, but I missed that second order and sold my 1k at 9.40 for some reason, I guess I still had such a "short bias" on this stock today.  Then shorted way too early, had 2k at 9.63 and it pulled to 9.52, then spiked up again and I added 800 more to have 2800 shares 9.65 average somewhat using VWAP as a guide (9.78), but I HAVE TO NOT TAKE THESE SHORT TRADES SO CLOSE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE RANGE, this stock just went from 10.80 to 9.30 in 15 minutes and it was now bouncing and I was shorting 30 cents off that bounce, like WHAT AM I DOING? It went to 10.30's and I could have made a dollar a share on my long from 9.31 and was now down $1500+ on my short, it came back to 9.60 and I still didn't cover and then it bounced right back up and held "over/under" VWAP and squeezed to 10.20 again, then back to 9.70's again and held "over/under" VWAP again and I didn't take a small loss on it and/or go long.  Next leg up to 10.45, back to 10.10, then straight up to 11+, "topped out" and faded from there, that's where I should have been selling if long/shorting if no position, INTO BIG PARABOLIC MOVES NEAR THE TOP OF THE RANGE, not a small bounce after a huge fade near the bottom of the range like I did.  I covered most of it 10.26-10.36 (everything but 600 shares filled), then readded 1600 at 10.59, and it tanked from 10.80ish to 9.70ish in less than 5 minutes, and I covered at 9.85 and 9.71, which made the whole trade about -$200 which could have been -4k around 11.  I tried to go long and only got 200/1000 shares filled and made 29 cents, then chased a long and sold for 12 cents.  I was looking for a 10+ pop to short around 12:03 but it failed there at 9.90ish, then I shorted MIDRANGE/LOWER END OF RANGE not wanting to miss "the move", with 2k shares at 9.72, looking for the "big washout" under the lows, but I knew my entry was a chase and I was going to cover if it held.  It went to 9.55 and HELD that area as support again and perked back up again, I missed covering, then I added another 800 at 9.80 and could have covered 9.70-9.80 for a few minutes for breakevenish but didn't and it popped back up from 9.70 to 10.09 in one candle, then was "absorbing" a lot around 10 and I still didn't cover and it went as high as 10.45.  It "stuffed" in that area and this was the "big pop" to be shorting on the "bigger picture trend".  Because of my crappy average/entry and poor management of this trade, I still wasn't thinking very clearly and trading very emotionally, and I covered some 800 10.18, 1k 10.06, 1k 10.02, to be all out taking about a 1k loss (was up 1.5k now only up 500), then decided to go long and scaled in with full size with bad entries, and had 5400 shares 9.83 average, it "stalled" at 9.70-9.79 for a minute or so and I could have taken a $300-500 dollar loss and/or flipped short again, but I was super emotional and so frustrated, I just took a 1k loss on my short and now it's back to profit and now I'm long and down another 500.  It tanked to 9.15 in two candles, then bounced to 9.30-9.45 area, I was looking/hoping for a bounce to 9.50+ to take less of a loss there, but 9.40 PREVIOUS SUPPORT BECAME RESISTANCE and it tanked down to 8.80's, it bounced to 9.20 and I sold 1k at 9.17 (should have sold ALL either there or way earlier), I readded 800 at 8.80 and it bounced to 9.14, I was wanting to sell into that bounce but I had moved some orders too high (too greedy) and missed it.  It tanked below 8.80 and I missed "panic selling" at 8.80, I got liquidated on about half (2700) at 8.63, it went to 8.31, then bounced back to 8.81 from there, I was trying to sell some at 8.80ish but I missed it, then I got liquidated on another 1.1k at 8.55 right at the very bottom of the dip (bottom was 8.53), I only had 1400 shares left and I sold it at 8.88, I then couldn't trade for a while again.  There was some news on a $10M "private placement" and it spiked all the way up to 9.77 in three minutes (super frustrating, that's a 5k+ difference if I wasn't liquidated near the lows, but without that "well timed news" this could have easily kept fading lower).  I ended going from +1.5k realized to +500 realized (from the short) and then from +500 realized to -$5.3k realized (from the long), and had I just held my short this time (like I did the other two times), I would have been up around 5k on the day instead of down 5k, so frustrating, a 10k difference just like that.  I scalped it the rest of the day and recovered about 2.3k, I was still trading emotionally, but at least the trades managed to work out okay (not going to explain all the trades, just look at the chart and the text below to see them, I sorted them chronologically, hopefully it makes sense).      

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Short

9.82

9.70

7800

$0.12

$948.11

1.24%

Long

9.31

9.40

1000

$0.09

$90.00

0.97%

Short

9.99

10.05

4400

-$0.05

-$226.00

-0.51%

Long	9.42	9.71	200	$0.29	$58.00	3.08%
Long	9.69	9.81	800	$0.12	$96.00	1.24%

Short

9.74

10.08

2800

-$0.34

-$952.00

-3.49%

Long

9.70

8.78

6200

-$0.92

-$5,678.09

-9.44%

Short	9.92	9.38	650	$0.54	$351.00	5.44%
Short	9.17	8.96	2400	$0.21	$506.00	2.30%

Long

8.69

8.78

5000

$0.09

$437.00

1.01%

Short	8.69	8.55	1425	$0.14	$199.50	1.61%
Short	8.80	8.62	1000	$0.18	$180.00	2.05%
Short	8.90	8.78	2700	$0.12	$323.00	1.34%

• Lessons:
• NEVER BE TOO BIASED, ALWAYS TRY TO FOLLOW THE "BIG PICTURE TREND"
• Higher lows off of "LOD area" and VWAP reclaims are key things to be looking for to determine whether the stock is going to "fade the rest of the day" or "bounce back to the highs" and continue spiking
• There are lots of "emotional candles" in the first 20 minutes, SHOULD PUT ORDER IN TO EXIT ENTIRE POSITION, usually it "snaps right back" after a washout (had I exited my ENTIRE POSITION in one order, instead of "scaling out" into any of those five dips where I covered, I would have had no position and then maybe have gone long on the opening washout or when it was still making "higher lows")
• Be MORE SHORT BIASED NEAR THE TOP of the "CHANNEL RANGE" and more LONG BIASED NEAR THE BOTTOM (there was ABSOLUTELY ZERO REASON TO SHORT at 9.65 when the it had just came from 10.75 in 15 minutes and was now bouncing from there, and there was also not much reason to short at 9.70's when the "base" was at 9.55, NEED TO WAIT FOR A BIGGER POP to short into, like it did at 10.10-10.40, try to stay away from the "slow grind")
• When a stock is holding VWAP "over/under" and holding HIGHER LOWS, IT WILL LIKELY HEAD HIGHER and have another "LEG UP" (VWAP was at 9.25ish in the first 15 minutes and it held higher lows 8.70, 8.80, 8.95, then "squeezed", VWAP was 9.80ish later on and it held higher lows around that area, 9.25, 9.58, 9.70ish then "squeezed") (draw a line across the "bottoms" and it basically held a "big picture" uptrend until that washout at 11:20)
• Pay attention to the "big picture trend", draw trend lines across the bottoms/tops, it held a perfect "big picture uptrend" from 9:30 to 11:20, and then a perfect"big picture downtrend" from 11:20 until the close (use it as a guide for entries long or short, these were where the BEST entries were today for HUGE 50 cents - 2 dollar moves)
• Making sure to exit the entire position when my thesis for the trade no longer exists (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, CHANGE THE ORDER AND MAKE SURE TO GET OUT (everything started from missing my order by 2 cents premarket and not taking it off for a breakevenish and "tried to make it work" then was "stuck short" and more short biased after the open)

TLOG

This was halted today on "news pending" which was "temporarily halt of Chronic Hepatitis B Trials".  I wasn't watching it until later, I'm not exactly sure what it did on those candles, it looks like it opened at 1.50 from 3.75 then hit 3.60, then was 1.45 to 1.65 on the next candle and then was volatility halted (which doesn't really make sense, maybe the first candle was just a from a "misprint").  It reopened around 2, then traded from 2.20 back down to 1.80, then "SSR squeezed" all the way back up to 3.09 and I nailed the short there with 1k at 3.07 and 743/1000 at 3.08.  I covered it quickly at 2.86 and 2.75 to focus on PTBI again but it faded nicely back to VWAP area at 2.30ish, but it is a fairly thinly traded stock so I just took the quick profits. 

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Short

3.07

2.80

1743

$0.28

$483.46

9.02%

Trades for May 5, 2015

Well that's how you get smoked, this is my new biggest loss (not a "personal trading record" I wanted to be "breaking"), my biggest losing day before this was around 6k, I just doubled it.  I've been "hot" lately, made 12k in March, 19k in April, 2.5k yesterday "with ease", up 2k in 20 minutes today "with ease".  Account was at all time highs, confidence at all time highs, and I fked it all up from one trade, sizing in way too big and looking for the "homerun", then being insanely stubborn and not following anything that I've posted recently on these "big runners" such as buying when it's basing ABOVE VWAP and there's no reason to be short, etc.

I'm glad to see that a few people that follow my blog made a bunch on it going long from 4-5's to 6-7's.  I'm just super frustrated that I wasn't there with them and I was on the opposite side of it and losing huge.  It's annoying just how "easy" to go long on these "big runners" and make a lot even if you have very little experience.  Someone I talked to today, made 8k on a 5k account in his first week of trading.  He talks to me sometimes and said he has learned a lot from my blog, I am somewhat happy for him and somewhat frustrated that a new trader can just come in and double his account on his second day of trading with no experience, that's just how "easy" it can be in this market.  Just buy 5k shares at 5 dollars, don't watch every single tick, and hold until 7's, new traders and "chasers" bank, and anyone shorting loses (even if they are very experienced).  This market is just insane and you've always got to respect the trend (using VWAP as a guide for that) and also paying attention to "float rotation".  I have to be much more careful/avoid shorting on "DAY ONE", have to ALWAYS RESPECT VWAP AND THE OVERALL TREND, these are the stocks that can "take you out of the game" if you aren't careful.

I need to develop better habits, I want to be able to trade with an even bigger account eventually and I will want to have Centerpoint eventually.  It seems like it would be very easy to just turn a "daytrade" into a "swing trade" with Centerpoint and it wouldn't be very hard to blow up a 30k account.  For example, you short at 4.60, like I did, maybe not max size, add at 5, add at 5.50, add at 6, that's now about all you could add, thinking it's going to come down eventually, even if it takes a few days, then it goes to 7, 7.50, 7.70 and you could easily get bought in (especially if on margin) before it eventually fades back down in the next few days, you would eventually be "right" but you would get blown up before that happens, especially if it's a "multiday runner" like VLTC, GENE, LAKE, DGLY, etc.  My buyin at 5.68 for -13.5k (would have been -9.5k at 5.45 where they initially tried to) really sucked but imagine if I I didn't get bought in (if I had a much bigger account) and was able to to hold until 7-7.70 and got bought in there instead, I could have lost an additional 20-30k.

Suretrader had no shares of ICLD yesterday, and it was an "easy" long of dips during the afternoon and lots of shorts lost on it, today PTBI was also an "easy" long off dips once it broke VWAP (4.60) at 10:50 or once it broke 4.80 and kept consolidating and basing higher and higher.  Unfortunately, there were shares of PTBI to short today, and I was already sized in insanely huge and was extremely stubborn, not wanting to give back more than my 3.5k realized profits I already had, and ended up giving back about 17k, going from +3.5k to -13.5k.

This is exactly why I've been wiring out and keeping 4:1 limits on my account, to prevent such a huge loss like this, the problem is, I had a wire out request that hadn't gone through yet, and I also made another 2.5k yesterday, so I still had TONS of BP and I used almost all of it even though I knew it was way too much.  That wire out has now been canceled before it went through, and I actually wired back in some, which I wanted to never have to do again, but I have wired out a lot recently so it's not the "end of the world", it's just frustrating to be going "backwards" and having a major setback like this.

I did the EXACT same thing twice, a 500/1000 partial fill (also happened to be at the exact same price, 4.42) when covering the LAST 1000 shares from a PROFITABLE SHORT, then I was READDING ON VWAP REJECT (4.55-4.60 area), it pulled back 5-10 cents, I didn't cover any, it perked back up again and BROKE VWAP (a good place to be stopping out/covering the rest), and I readded a lot more right above it, I got lucky the first time but the second time, it never "looked back" and I got smoked.

Because I still had 500 shares twice, the whole thing is considered "one trade".  It was hard to figure out the exact number of shares and exact average with partial fills and so many different orders, I did my best estimation on the number of shares and the average, but the dollar amount on the entire trade is correct.

I talk about the dollar amounts a lot in the blog, but when I'm actually trading, I'm not really focused on it, I have the "realized/unrealized" part removed from my position box and I have the "realized/unrealized" part hidden on the other other display bar.  I do occasionally glance at the "realized part" throughout the day when I'm not in any trades, or sometimes I pull it up when I'm "fighting a stock" like I was today and I kept watching it then, and it was changing 1.6k every 10 cents because I had way too much size.

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.

PTBI

Big gap up from 2.86 to 4.50 open from "Soros" investment/stake/news afterhours yesterday.  Super low float, 2.7m shares according to Yahoo Finance, and it traded 1-1.5m premarket and around 10m within the first hour (already about 4x "float rotation").  It spiked from 4.50 to 4.80 at the open and I shorted 1.5k shares at 4.73 and it came back to 4.53, I wished I did more size and I might have covered there for a scalp, I was trying to go for a "bigger move" and I wanted more size.  It came back up and I tried to add another 1500 at 4.66 and I got only 300 filled.  I tried to cover it all at 4.43 (and could just replace it again higher) and got 300 filled.  It popped right back up and I was adding 4.55-4.66, lowering my avg to about 4.63 and about 4500 shares, I got 1k covered at 4.47, and it popped right back up again and I added another 3k from 4.66-4.69, now about 6500 short 4.65 avg.  It washed out from there and I covered everything but 1k from 4.40-4.33 (covered 1.5k "bottomticked" at 4.33), I tried to "ditch" the last 1k on the ask at 4.42 and got 500/1000 filled.  I had "nailed it" pretty good with only having 6.5k shares at the max, I was up 2k realized in 20 minutes but I still had 500 shares left and instead of just canceling the order and getting out I "tried to make it work".  It popped back to 4.52 and I readded 2k at 4.51, it came back to 4.42 and filled the rest of my 500 but I still had 2k shares now.  It came back to 4.52 and was now breaking through VWAP (which was at 4.55), and I was adding insane size (over 10k shares) from 4.53-4.63, this part of the trade was a complete "mental lapse" by me, not exactly sure what caused it, greed? overconfidence? wanting the "homerun"?.  I don't remember the exact amount but I had around 14k shares 4.56 average, and it was "hanging around 4.54-4.65 and I was hoping for a snap back below VWAP and fade back to the lows (and hopefully lower) and I would be scaling out along the way for a pretty big profit mostly because of the size.  It popped to 4.80ish and I was already in huge size with pretty much no room to add, I added 500 more at 4.78 which didn't really do much.  It eventually faded back down to 4.50ish and I covered some from 4.56-4.47, then readded about 3k at 4.55 using VWAP REJECT as a guide on the bounce.  It faded back to the lows, hitting as low as 4.37 (previous low was 4.33), and I was covering everything into that, 1k at 4.48 and the rest from 4.38-4.43, and I had covered everything but 1000 shares again.  I was now up $3500 realized (pretty much my best day ever, best is 3.6k) with just 1000 shares left.  I tried to TAKE THE ASK at 4.42 on the last 1k and I got a 500/1000 share partial fill AGAIN.  I readded about 6k shares 4.55ish using VWAP reject as a guide again (I added about 2k then I was adding another 4k trying to "help it slam back down" and it did but only to 4.48 and I missed covering any), I was really hoping back a fade back to the lows and then potentially lower.  It came down to 4.48 and my order was at 4.47 to cover 1k, I missed covering any.  It had now held a HIGHER LOW at 4.48 and was retesting VWAP at 4.60.  I then did the EXACT SAME thing as the first time, and I added a lot more from 4.60-4.65 JUST ABOVE VWAP when I should have been stopping on for a 5 cent loss on 6k shares (only 300 bucks) when it was reclaiming VWAP.  I added a bit more from 4.71-4.84 and soon found myself with almost 16k shares short 4.63 average, and it had now went to 4.95 (which was a "breakout" past the previous HOD at 4.87).  It consolidated 4.80-5 for about 15 minutes, I knew there was no reason to be short, but I was just hoping to get lucky again and get a 4.80 break, back down to 4.60-4.70 so I would maybe give back only some of my 3.5k realized instead of all of it.  It "broke out" past 5 to 5.25, then pulled back to 5.05, and I still didn't cover any yet, I was looking for 4.85-4.95 to cover some and I thought that might have been "the top".  It ramped back to 5.30 in a few candles (down 10.5k unrealized, up 3.5k realized = -7k on day), then slowly faded to 4.93 (down 5.5k unrealized up 3.5k realized = -2k on day), I wanted to cover some at 4.93 but I missed my fills, and Derrick went long at 4.94 and helped "keep it up".  It went back to 5.17ish, then faded back to 5 and held a HIGHER LOW (than 4.93), I wanted the 5 break very badly, and it could have easily faded much lower, but it held and I missed covering any.  I could easily taken the ask at 5.05-5.10 on all and been down 3-4k on the day, but I didn't, and it went straight up from 5.10 to 5.30 in one candle on the "bull flag breakout" (draw a line across the tops), which is a $3000 dollar difference and I was back to -10k unrealized or so and now it was breaking out past 5.30 previous HOD.  It was slowly uptrending from there, trading around 5.30-5.50, Suretrader tried to buy me in on most of it at 5.45 but I canceled it (400 filled), then I was trying to cover some at 5.38-5.40 on the bid but didn't get filled, it popped past 5.50 and they tried to buy me in again at 5.57 and I canceled it again (500 filled), I got "kicked out of my account" and I was bought in on all but 1600 shares at about 5.68, down about 11-11.5k realized with another 1500-2000 unrealized (basically +3.5k to -13k).  So insane, it was -2k on day at 4.95, -4k on day at 5.05-5.10, -7k on day at 5.30, -9.5k on day at 5.45 (which I would have been filled at if I didn't cancel their buyin attempt), then ended up being -13.5k getting bought in on most at 5.68 (me canceling their order cost me an extra 4k).  It consoldated at a higher level again, 5.65-5.85, and I still didn't cover the last 1600 shares and I let them "ride" all the way up to 6, and got bought in on 1200 at 6.03 and then covered the last 400 at 5.87 on the dip, no positions now down 13.5k.  I couldn't trade anymore because there was a limit on my account if I was down more than $5000 and I had also lost most of my account.  I watched for a bit and took a break for a bit, then I wired in a bit more and made it so that I could trade again, and I emotionally traded it but ended up making back about 2k on it.  I was expecting a 50 cent - a dollar wash at some point before the close, I nailed the top at 7.38 but only 1000 shares, and it pulled to 7.12, I was greedy and looking for the "huge wash" below 7, so I didn't cover at 7.12-7.20 for 30 cents, it held and starting grinding back up again and instead of taking 10-20 cents profit, I was adding more from 7.27-7.43 and I was now in 4k shares 7.35 average, it broke past 7.40 and went to 7.75.  I didn't manage this trade very well, I was still expecting a huge washout before the close, but I had added too much in one spot and didn't have any more room to add (also I could have gotten bought in again and lost 1-2k before the washout even though my idea was right).  It washed out from 7.68 to 7.17 in three candles, my first order was at 7.16 to cover some.  It "hung around" 7.20-7.30 for a minute, then washed out to 6.60 in two candles.  I was having issues with my orders "freezing" and nothing was going through, I had an order in at 7.06 and 6.91 and then weren't filled yet even though it was trading much lower, I was trying to cover it all and was trying to figure it all out, it was still showing I was short my full size when it was at 6.60-6.70 but I had a bunch of orders that were "frozen".  It eventually "loaded" and I was now long 1035 shares 6.69 average, I was trying to sell at 6.70-6.80 but the orders still wouldn't "go through" right away, I was trying to get it to work on different devices and was trying to talk to Suretrader to get it to work.  I still had some "frozen" orders but I ended up using INETL route to sell it at 6.63 for a small loss, I had wished I had also shorted but everything was still "messed up" and I still had "frozen" orders that could have randomly given me a position.  It washed out to 5.80's, I missed about a dollar on my short but everything was still messed up with the "frozen orders" around that time and I was just trying to figure it all out.  It held VWAP (5.85) and bounced back up to 6.30's from there, then faded back to the 5.90 by the close, but is now gapping up, trading between 6.15-6.45.

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Short	4.60	4.94	40800	-$0.33	-$13,567.88	-7.22%
Short	7.35	6.83	4165	$0.52	$2,164.55	7.07%

Long

6.69

6.63

1035

-$0.06

-$65.15

-0.94%

• Lessons:
• Can always buy a "bigger runner" when it's holding higher lows ABOVE VWAP, with risk under the base/previous low, then be patient with it, sell into parabolic's or when it makes a "lower low" (4.80 base, 4.95-5.05 base/higher lows, 5.70 base, 6.40 base, 6.70 base, etc.)
• Higher lows off of "LOD area" and VWAP reclaims are key things to be looking for to determine whether the stock is going to "fade the rest of the day" or "bounce back to the highs"
• Be careful using VWAP rejects for a short on very quick moving, high volume stocks, it will often only WORK ONCE, if it pulls back 5-10 cents and holds another higher low and retests VWAP, it will likely break, I NEED TO "PANIC OUT" on the ask if short on the SECOND TEST on a "quick moving stock", it will often spike 5-15 cents past it very quickly (I did this twice, it pulled back 5-10 cents, but then held and instead of stopping out on the retest, I kept adding more right above it)
• From "Nikko", pay EXTRA ATTENTION to VWAP around 11-11:30 AM, if you feel stubborn/upside down and the stock is ABOVE VWAP around this time and/or breaking out to new highs, YOU SHOULD NOT BE SHORT, don't be afraid to take the loss into the "offers", there's a very good chance it will continue going much higher throughout the day 
• From "Michael Shadkin", past 11 AM top 25% of range, likely continues higher (be more long biased), past 11 AM bottom 25% of range, likely continues lower (be more short biased) (this isn't an "exact science" and I haven't paid very much attention to it, but I would like to pay more attention to it in the future to see if it "works", it definitely "worked" on PTBI and ICLD today)
• From "JohnWelshTrades", try to buy/short at the day's lows/highs for the best entries, I would say this only applies when the stock is trading within a "channel range", which often happens for the first few hours like PTBI today, 4.35-4.85 range (my first short was from near the top of the range and covered at the bottom of the range, my second short was in the middle of the range and luckily covered at the bottom of the range, my last short was in the middle of the range again and the stock broke out of it's channel around 11 AM and I was very stubborn with it because I was already sized in way too big)
• Going along with that last point, TRY TO AVOID ENTERING NEW TRADES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE "CHANNEL RANGE", or at least make sure to use less size since those are not "ideal" entries and still RESPECT HIGHER LOWS AND VWAP 
• I need to control my overall position sizes and be careful not to add, add, add uncontrollably, have to try to make "smart" adds and keeping my overall position size under control, and knowing when to be sizing back down if I'm in too big or if it's not doing what I thought (I did the exact same thing twice, adding a lot all in one area up to 15k shares size which was way too much)
• Making sure to exit the entire position when my thesis for the trade no longer exists (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, CHANGE THE ORDER AND MAKE SURE TO GET OUT (I got 500/1000 share fills twice and then I was readding where I would have probably had not been shorting yet if I had no position, which lead to a terrible average "lucky trade" and a terrible average "got smoked" trade)
• Always pay attention to "float rotation" and be more careful/avoid shorting if the float keeps "rotating" and there's tons of volume (some sources show the float as 2.7m, others 6m, others 20m, either way, it was still "rotating" and there was a ton of volume with about 10m in the first hour and then 62m by the end of the day)
• Slow grind ABOVE VWAP = NO REASON TO BE SHORT (I've said this so many times, and I knew this, but I was just insanely stubborn because my size was so huge, every 10 cents = 1.6k, I didn't cover 4.80's, then I missed covering when it came back to 4.95-5.10 and it went to 5.30 again in one candle which was a HUGE difference and I was frustrated that it could have just been -2k on the day and now it was -7k again, then I let it turn into -13k)
• Always be careful shorting "Day 1" runners, they can go much further than you think
• Never be too biased, just because a stock is "up a lot" and you have shares to short, doesn't mean you should (I made money ONLY GOING LONG on ICLD and VLTC in the last week on their "above VWAP" uptrends because I didn't have shares to short, if I didn't have shares to short of PTBI today, I would have been doing the same and probably made a ton, but I was already short with huge size and extremely stubborn)

   

Trades for May 4, 2015

Nice day to start the week, up $2100 within the first 2 hours is awesome, and then adding a little bit more afterhours.  I could have made a lot more if some of the stocks got to where I was wanting, but I was trying to wait for the "perfect entries" and didn't get in when the stock started to "top out" or "hold support" before it got where I wanted.  For example, on the second run-up on CYTR, I wanted 5.08-5.20 to short and didn't get in when 5 was topping and it faded to 4.60's then eventually 4.30's, ISNS, I wanted 3.39-3.50 to short, and didn't get in when 3.25-3.33 was topping and it faded to 2.95-3.10, and ICLD, I wanted 2.90's for a long, and didn't get in when 3.01 held or when 3.10 reclaimed or when it kept holding "higher lows" and it went up to 4.18 eventually (I was also waiting for a dip to 3.60's and it kept holding at 3.75 and I didn't take it, I could have scalped it for 10-30 cents so many times but I kept looking for a bigger dip that never came).  Lately, I've been trying to be fairly selective with my entries and if I don't get them, then I usually don't take the trade.  Sure, I miss some potential profits, but it's literally impossible to give back your "early morning profits" if you don't take another trade, I'm still trying to "find the balance" between "patience" and "overtrading" as I talk about in the next paragraph below.  A big issue that I've struggled with in the past, is "overtrading" during the middle of the day and giving back everything I made in the first 1-2 hours, I've been a lot better at controlling this over the past two months, but sometimes the "fear of missing out" still "gets me" and I force a trade with a bad entry and/or too much size.

It's a constant "battle" to try to "perfect balance" between being patient for entries and actually pulling the trigger on decent setups.  All three of my trades that I missed, I had a good idea for the trade and I thought they would probably "work out" from there, but I just didn't take the entries because they didn't quite get to where I wanted for the ideal entries.  One way to "find the balance" for this "problem" is with position sizing, you can take a small position where you think it might "top out" or "hold support", and then you still have room to add if it still gets to your ideal entry points.  I want to try to work on this in the future, if I did this on some of the trades that I was looking for today, I could have made a lot more.   Still, can't complain about 2.5k in a day, it just could have been a lot more if I took even very small size (1-2k shares) on the trades I was looking for (CYTR 5 fail, ISNS 3.30 fail, ICLD 3 hold, other dips on ICLD that weren't "big enough" for me and it still kept going), even though they didn't quite get where I wanted for ideal entries.

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.

ICLD

Big move on Friday on big volume on some positive news, from 1.60 to 2.70 (closing at the highs), and gapped up to 3.20 with another PR out this morning.  Spiked to 3.44 at open, came back to 3.15 and held for 1-2 minutes then ramped up to 3.50's, I completely missed this move and would have gladly been shorting 3.50ish if I had shares to short (I had them on Friday but there were none today).  It pulled from 3.50 to 3.22 in one candle and I scaled in with 5000 shares (some orders were 2k shares today not 1k), 3.25 average, it bounced to 3.32 and I got about 3k/5k sold and missed fills on 2k shares and didn't want to take breakeven even though I thought it would go lower.  It washed out to 3.11 in a few candles and I was adding into that to give me around 10k shares 3.16 average.  It bounced to 3.22 and I sold about 8/10k from 3.17-3.21 (missed selling about 2k again).  It washed out to 3.04 and I added another 6k or so into that to give me about 8k 3.08 average and I sold it all 3.10-3.17 for a tiny profit.  An okay trade overall, I got the bottoms of each dip pretty well, I just didn't sell ALL into the bounce and had about 2k shares left that "dragged me down" each time, this trade would have been much better making sure to SELL ALL into the bounce (even if I have to take breakeven on the last part).  I was then looking for a dip to 2.90's to go long when it was testing 3 but it held at 3.01 and I never got in, then didn't get in on the HIGHER LOW at 3.05, or the other dips around 3.10-3.15 and eventually it broke 3.30 (which was a key area of resistance 3-5 times) convincingly and then consolidated between 3.40-3.55 for a while before breaking out convincingly past 3.55 (which was also a key area of resistance 3-5 times).  Off she went to 3.90 and then consolidated from 3.75-3.90 for a while, then 3.80-4 for a while and eventually broke 4 convincingly (after multiple attempts again) and went as high as 4.30.  Such a big missed opportunity on this stock today, I could have been patient with a long from 3.10, 3.20, 3.30, 3.40, 3.50, etc. or been scalping 5-20 cents with 2-10k shares many times.  I had missed the move from 3.40's to 3.80's which I thought was probably coming but I just never took because I am not very good at buying when a stock is just "grinding/basing" and I can't chase HOD breakouts either, so I completely miss huge moves like this.  When it was "hanging around" 3.75-3.90, I was looking for a "real" washout/dip, either 20+ cents in a few candles for a scalp or a dip to 3.60's for a grind back to 3.80's and possibly testing the highs again, this dip never came and it bounced 5-15 cents off 3.75 and 3.80 many times and I was still waiting for lower and never took a trade on it.  So frustrating watching such a huge move and completely missing it, and also I was long 8k shares at 3.08 average but you can't really say "shoulda woulda coulda" from that because my sells were decent AT THE TIME (from 3.10-3.17), and it went back to 3.01, I just never got back in because I was wanting 2.90's to re-enter.  

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Long

3.14

3.19

19199

$0.05

$867.89

1.44%

• Lessons:
• When scalping washouts (especially below VWAP), make sure to SELL ALL into the bounce, can always hit the bid if it's "stalling" and you didn't get it all sold or got some partial fills, there is a good chance it will washout lower especially if below VWAP (it's much better to just "ditch" the rest for a breakevenish then look for re-entries again into another washout, I had decent entries in each washout but I missed selling 2k shares into each bounce and that "dragged down" my overall average on the whole trade)
• Whole and half dollar marks often act as key "over/under" areas of support or resistance to use as a guide for an entry (3 dollar support, 3.50 "resistance/breakout" 4 "resistance/breakout")
• Can always buy a "bigger runner" when it's holding higher lows ABOVE VWAP, with risk under the base/previous low, then be patient with it, sell into parabolic's or when it makes a "lower low" (3.40 base, 3.75 base, 3.80-3.90 base)
• Key resistance areas have EXTREMELY POWERFUL moves once CONVINCINGLY broken, SHOULD ALREADY BE LONG on dip/base ANTICIPATING this move, it's not good to chase "the breakout" because you never know which one is going to be "the one", and it could "stuff" and slam back down on the "breakout", it often takes 3-5 attempts but the more time it consolidates and the more times it retests, the more likely it will break (3.30 break went to 3.50ish, 3.55 break went to 3.90ish, 4 break went to 4.30) 
• Always pay attention to "float rotation" and be MORE LONG BIASED if the float keeps "rotating" and there's tons of volume (this traded about 10-11mil shares in the first hour and the float is 14mil, there was definitely lots of interest on this stock today)

CYTR

Gap up from 3.70 to 4.20 open on positive biotech data results, it "hung around" 4.10-4.30 for about 15 minutes then broke above VWAP (at 4.19 at 9:47), then a "slow and steady" grind ABOVE VWAP all the way to 4.80's, I didn't go long on dips but I knew there wasn't any reason to short it (SSR is also on).  It did somewhat of a "parabolic move" from 4.66 to 4.84 in 2-3 minutes.  I started shorting there with 2k shares 4.84 average, it held 4.82 and I knew it was probably going higher but I didn't want to cover for 1-2 cents and I was okay with adding more higher and going up to 5-10k shares potentially, somewhat using the whole number, 5 as a guide.  It popped to 4.95 and I added another 4k shares into that to give me 6k shares 4.88 average.  It washed out to 4.80 a few minutes later, and I was looking to cover some on a dip to 4.75ish.  It dipped to 4.75 and I got 2700/6000 filled (I was trying to cover around 3-4k so I missed some), it "SSR popped" to 4.84 and I readded at 4.84 and got 800/1000 filled.  I now had 4.1k shares 4.87 avg and I was looking for the 4.80 break and then ideally 4.75 break.  It came about 15 minutes later and I covered everything 4.68-4.70 because it seemed to be holding that area and I wanted to stay away from the "grind" since it was still above VWAP and could likely uptrend again.  My covers were perfect, basically dead bottom before it went to 4.90's and eventually touched 5.  I was looking for a 5+ parabolic to 5.08-5.20 to reshort but it was being "rejected by 5" and it looked "toppy" but I didn't take any trade on it because it didn't quite get where I wanted and it faded to 4.60's, then eventually about 4.40, a big missed opportunity because I didn't take any position (not even a small one).   

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Short

4.87

4.72

6800

$0.15

$1,048.00

3.16%

• Lessons:
• Don't be "afraid" to take a small starter short position if it looks like it's "topping out" and "rejecting HOD"/whole number (I was wanting 5+ to short but it topped at 5 and I missed a 30-60 cent fade)

CLNE

Nate has been short biased on this name the last few days (fairly overextended chart), today was finally the "payday" for him and he nailed it (I haven't had shares to short the last few days).  This "hung around" 10.10-10.50 for about an hour (previous day close was 10.27), then broke 10.10 and accelerated down to 9.50's and then eventually 9.16.  I was scaling in long into that second washout, 1k at 9.36 and 1k at 9.22 and it hit as low at 9.16 (and SSR also came on), there was a ton of volume (biggest volume bar by far on the day), and I didn't have the best entry as I didn't quite expect that much of a washout and I thought there might be some bad news, so I just quickly sold at 9.37 and 9.42 for a quick scalp and it "SSR popped" to 9.64 but you only would have gotten filled there if you had the order in.  It faded back to 9.16 and HELD a DOUBLE BOTTOM and made it's way back up to 9.75, this would have been a good place to get back in around 9.20 or so with risk to 9.15. 

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Long

9.29

9.40

2000

$0.11

$210.00

1.13%

PBTI

Big AH's mover on potential "Soros" stake (similar move to VLTC on "Ichan stake").  It's very thin, it only traded about 40k shares or so on the day and now has traded about 360k.  This went from 2.90's up to 4.50's, just insane, I could have easily bought at 3.20-3.60 but I didn't, at least I wasn't shorting though.  4.60 is resistance on the daily chart and I was shorting around there because this move was pretty ridiculous, I was just looking for a scalp and only small size.  I got 200/500 at 4.36 and it pulled back to 4.06, I missed covering there, then it went to 4.58 and I added 500 at 4.47 and 600/1000 at 4.58, to have 1300 shares 4.50 average, it pulled back to 4.25 right away with 4.25 seller on the ask but I was too slow to take it.  Then there was a seller at 4.29 and I took 600/1300 there.  It popped to 4.50 again momentarily and I readded 600 at 4.40, then immediately covered 600 at 4.25 (when there was a seller on the ask there again).  I had 700 left and I was looking to cover 3.92-4.02 but it seemed to be holding 4.10-4.15, so I covered the rest at 4.16 just to play it safe (and the spread was now 4.16 by 4.30 when I covered).  It went to about 3.98 then bounced back to 4.15, but I had already covered and I was done with it, it has now been trading around 3.90-4.10 (so far) in after hours.  I rarely trade afterhours, but I have seen big missed opportunity occasionally on things like LOOK, up to 2.70's then back to 1.80-2 and SYMX 2.80 then back to 1.80-2, I watched both of these crazy moves afterhours and never traded them, so I thought I'd try this ridiculous move today, the size was relatively small, I could have went much bigger if needed and I took quick profits, not waiting around to see if it goes to 3.70 or something, anything could happen.     

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Short

4.47

4.23

1900

$0.24

$459.00

5.40%

Trades for May 1, 2015

I didn't trade very well today, but at least it's a green day to finish off the week (and start the month).  It could have been better (missing the VLTC opening trade and leaving 2-3k "on the table" on TROV) and could have been worse (I was down 3k unrealized on VLTC at one point and could have lost a lot more on my last trade).  I missed the HUGE long opportunity on VLTC in the first 15 minutes, I knew that 11.65 was a very key area from yesterday (previous HOD yesterday), and I should have been buying around that area when it was holding (and/or scalping the candles I could have made 10-40 cents 3-5 times on it if I pulled the trigger on some entries).  I was waiting "too low" in the 11.50's and the 11.40's on two of those washouts, and it held at 11.65 and 11.60 and I missed them.  I just about chased it on the "12 break" (which was also VWAP) on the ask, but I was too slow and it was 12.20's right away and hit 12.50 on that candle.  A big missed opportunity from waiting too low for the perfect entry, and then I tried to scalp it quickly on the washout, I knew it was probably going much lower since it was under VWAP and this is just a 1-2 day bounce on this "junk stock" in the "big scheme" of things, but it was just for a scalp (I can still only go long because I don't have shares).  I turned a $500-750 trade into a $3000 unrealized loss because of getting a partial fill and being too slow/greedy to just hit the bid when it was "stalling", then being too greedy to take it off for breakeven when I had missed the bounce, and then readding more in not the best places.

I'm mostly frustrated with the missed long opportunity on VLTC from 11.50-12 up to 12.50-12.95, that was the type of move I was looking for but I completely missed it because my orders were "too low".  I'm also frustrated with my poor management of my VLTC trade, I knew it was "stalling" and I didn't hit the bid to sell the rest, then I knew it looked weak and would probably washout again but I didn't sell for breakeven/small loss because I was too greedy after missing about $500 if I had sold into that push.  I got lucky that it came all the way back to 11.60-11.70, it could have easily went lower on the "11 dollar wash" or it could have easily "rolled back over" from 11.50-11.60 back down to 11 and I had missed selling any around 11.50-11.60.

Later, I forced two trades on VLTC when it was UNDER VWAP and just grinding/choppy action, the first one was somewhat decent and it worked out well, I sort of "held it up" and helped it squeeze "R/G" and I made $500, then the next one, I was went long and had a small profit but didn't sell all, then I was "trying to hold it up again" after it already failed at holding above "R/G" and it wasn't working very well and I got partial fills on some of my exits and never got it all sold, then I was readding again lower still "trying to keep it up" by taking the ask at times and hoping to sell into a small push.  It washed out lower, and I already had almost 5000 shares with a bad average (around 10.59), then I missed selling into bounces and got some partial fills on some of my exits and ended up selling some at 10.31, some at 10.28, and luckily, I sold my last 2000 shares 10.50's during afterhours.  I turned my $1300 into $500 by forcing that second trade on it after it already FAILED at holding green on the day.

Thankfully, I still finished +$500 today, it could have been much worse, I could have lost 3k on my first VLTC trade and I could have lost a lot more on my last trade if this tanked 50+ cents in the last 15 minutes (like it did yesterday) and I was stupidly in with 4000-5000 shares when there was no reason to be long (lower highs, way under VWAP, red on the day = ZERO REASON TO BE LONG).

The total for the week is about $6600 before commissions, completing another awesome week, I just "strung together" my three best weeks of trading of all time.

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.

VLTC

I already explained some of what happened on this stock in the text above, but I am repeating some of it again here, basically, I missed all my entries in the first 15 minutes and there were probably about 3-5 times where I could have scalped 10-40 cents on some of those first candles, I was just waiting "too low" on some of my orders or I wouldn't "pull the trigger" because everything was moving too fast and I was too slow today.  The "big move" that I missed, was from when it held 11.60-12 for a few minutes (11.65 was HOD yesterday which as a key area) and then broke through the 12 dollar whole number and VWAP up to 12.50 in one candle and then up to 12.95.  I missed the good entry around 12 and I didn't chase it up into that move.  It came back to 11.82 and I scaled in with 2k shares 11.88 avg and it bounced to 12.08 on the next candle, I originally had an order at 12.08 but then I changed it to 12.12 (too greedy), then when I was trying to sell some around 12.05, I couldn't get filled and it went back to 11.85 again, I added 1k at 11.94 ("chasing it on the ask" thinking it would do a quick pop over 12).  I had 3k shares 11.90 average and it popped to 12.15, I had an order waiting for 1k at 12.13 and 1k at 12.17, I got 1k sold at 12.13 and tried to sell another 1k at 12.14 as the "best ask" and only got 100/1000 sold.  I was too greedy/slow to just sell it all at 12.10, and it went back below 12 right away, and I didn't want to stop out around 11.80-12 for breakevenish after missing about $500 that I would have been.  It washed out to 11.21 in one candle and I added terribly into that at 11.72 and 11.41, I had 3900 shares 11.73 avg and it bounced to 11.60 and I missed selling any, it faded lower and washed out to 10.95, I added only 300 shares (just about all that I could) at 11.08, which changed my average to about 11.68.  Luckily, it bounced all the way back to 11.60-11.70 and I sold it all there for about a $200 dollar loss on that part (after realizing about $250 on the first sell).  I didn't take any trades on it for a while since it was just slowly grinding BELOW VWAP so there's a much higher chance it's still going lower, yesterday it was grinding but ABOVE VWAP, where there was a higher chance it will still go higher.  I almost went long around 10 when there was a hidden buyer absorbing a lot of size (probably mostly DerrickJL covering haha), I was wanting it to break and I would get a better entry around 9.80's, it bounced from there and hung around 10.30-10.60 for a while.  It looked like it was still "holding" pretty well and could possibly squeeze "R/G" and I tried a different type of trade than I would normally do.  There was about 3-4k shares on the ask at 10.45 and the spread was 10.42-10.45 (and it had been trending well between 10.35-10.60), I had my "finger on the trigger" for 2k shares to take the ask at 10.45, someone took some, so then I pushed my order and got 1550 shares filled.  I then added 1k more on the ask at 10.50, and then tried to add 1k more at 10.49 and got 200/1k filled.  It still seemed somewhat "weak" and there wasn't much volume yet and I still wasn't that sure about this trade (it is not the type of trade I would normally do), so I sold 750 as the "best ask" at 10.54, a little bit more volume came in and I sold another 1k at 10.63, it seemed stronger now and had some volume so I was still expecting a pop to 10.70's and it ended up going to 10.89 and I sold my last 1k at 10.78 for a decent trade of about $500.  It failed at holding green and washed out again, I got the exact bottom of the candle at 10.57 but only with 500/1000 shares, I could have sold for about 10 cents but I missed it, then tried to add some more and got partial fills, I had a small profit into the bounce but only got about 700/1300 shares sold, then I added more again and didn't get it all sold, then added more again when it still seemed weak and was looking like it could washout below 10.50, I had about 4700 shares 10.58 avg (from so many stupid adds around my avg "trying to hold it up" when I should have just been selling my 1-2k shares for breakeven).  It washed out below 10.50 and traded between 10.35 and 10.55 for a bit, but I missed selling any into that 10.55 bounce by being too greedy, having my orders 10.57 and higher and not hitting the bid when it was "stalling".  Then, I was trying to sell around 10.45-10.47 and I got about 250 shares sold with stupid partial fills.  I ended up selling 100 at 10.36 (partial fill again) some at 10.31 (about 800) and getting liquidated on some at 10.28 (about 1500) and I still had 2000 shares into afterhours and I luckily sold 1k at 10.51 and 1k at 10.54 for a tiny loss on that part of it.

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Long	11.73	11.73	5300	$0.01	$34.00	0.05%
Long	10.47	10.66	2750	$0.19	$527.00	1.83%
Long	10.58	10.47	7537	-$0.11	-$797.41	-1.00%

• Lessons:
• When scalping washouts (especially below VWAP), make sure to SELL ALL into the bounce, as that's all you were looking for, just a small scalp, can always hit the bid if it's "stalling" and you didn't get it all sold or got some partial fills, even if I missed the "perfect top" of the bounce, I still need to take a small gain or breakeven rather than staying in, there is a good chance it will washout lower especially if below VWAP
• A "R/G" squeeze on a down-trending chart will usually only work once, if it goes back red, there's not much chance it will do another "R/G" squeeze again, that was "the move" and it failed to hold, there is no reason to be going long again after a failed "R/G push"
• Do not add to "too much size" for midday grind/lull trading, one candle can change everything and there's no reason to be in that big when it's just "hanging around"
• Do not add to "too much size" just because you are "trying to make it seem weak or seem strong" when are are already in the size that you wanted to be
• Lower highs, way under VWAP, red on the day = ZERO REASON TO BE LONG, only small SCALPS on quick washouts, there's no reason to be long when it's just "hanging around"
• Be careful/avoid being long on a down-trending chart in the last 30 minutes (I got lucky that I only lost $800 on the last trade, this could have easily washed out 30-50+ cents and I would have lost a few thousand)

TROV

Very thinly traded stock with about a 10 cent spread, and it had only traded about 300k shares on the day leading up to this (then it traded about 100k per candle into the spike).  There was a ridiculous $80 price target that came out (and was alerted in chat), and it spiked from 8.27 to 8.69 in one candle.  I was just looking to scalp the parabolic, I shorted 1k at 8.69 and it pulled back to 8.52-8.55 during that candle but it was too quick and I didn't cover, then I added 1k at 8.75 and still could have covered 8.60's if I was quick enough.  Then it went all the way to 9.09, and I added 3k into that from 8.88-9 to give me 5k shares, 8.85 average.  It pulled back to 8.80 and I didn't cover any yet, I was looking 8.70's to cover some, it still seemed "weak" and I thought it go lower, so I was patient for a minute or two, looking for that "8.80 break".  It broke and I covered 3k right away, 1k 8.76, 1k 8.68, 1k 8.63, then because it is a fairly "thinly traded stock", I decided to just cover then rest thinking that it might perk back up again and I could reshort again higher with a completely new trade.  I covered 1200 more 8.66ish (got 800/1k on one order), then took the ask at 8.73 on the last 800 when it looked like it might be "perking", it came back down and hit 8.56 on that candle.  I never got back in and it ended up breaking below VWAP (8.55ish) and fading down to 8.20ish.

Type

Entry

Exit

Shares

+/- $Amt

$ PnL

% Pnl

Short

8.85

8.71

5000

$0.15

$744.00

1.68%

• Lessons:
• Try to be more patient with 1/4 or 1/2 of the position if it's still "working in your favor", try to exit only when you actually have a reason to (this was still acting weak around VWAP "over/under" and making lower highs but I covered it all just because it's somewhat "thinly traded", and it ended up fading another 30-60 cents)