May 8th

Between day-jobs and some other duties, I was able to sneak in to trade a bit from the open to about 10:45am.

Five trades, four in SKF and one in GS. Modest gains as has been my plan of late. Take my profits and preserve my win rate. Although, my long entry on SKF at 9:47 was a great entry at the beginning of the reversal off the morning move and one I could have stayed with for a terrific gain! But, I sold it out. Clearly, I still need work on my exits. I sold it for a $.13 cent per share gain but the whole move was about $1.61 per share. I got only 8% of it after getting in long within 44 cents of the very bottom.

But, I am grateful for a gain on that trade and for the day.

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4 for 5 today; an 80% win rate. Gain of 43 cents per share.

Look-Back: My first blog post Feb 3rd, 2009

I was looking back at the start of my blog and decided to re-print the original post from Feb 3rd:
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What this is about...
This is my first post on the first blog I've ever done, on a topic that I don't always seem to know well, surrounded in the financial blogosphere by blogs of great distinction. I guess you could say this is an inauspicious, humble, but hopeful beginning!I have loved the idea of money as far back as I can remember. My father owned a few stocks and I still remember my fascination with the annual reports he would get in the mail. I still recall his discussions with me of how he should have bought Chrysler stock back when the first "auto bailout" occurred. I chose Economics, the dismal science, as a major in college. I pursued the job of treasurer when I could; the alumni board for my college fraternity for 3 1/2 years, two years for a local trade-association with whom I aspired to do business. I do my own book keeping and taxes for my business of nearly 19 years. Economy, money, investing: they have been a large part of my world since I was a child. Trading is just the next logical step for me.The purpose of doing the blog is mostly to hold myself accountable for the work I put into trading. That if everyone can see on the screen my losses and wins, perhaps it will incite me to bull ahead... to continue to improve and to progress toward my ultimate goal: To earn my living as a self-employed stock trader.To say that this is my ultimate goal somehow seems an understatement! I want it so badly that I can feel it in my every movement. I trade stocks in my sleep and I see big-volume momentum plays where others see the common sights of daily life. Stock trading is woven into everything I do and I love it.Secondly, the reason for blogging is to keep a written record of my trading activities and the thoughts that accompany them. It is common for traders to keep a trading journal. Record keeping and admin. duties are not my strong suit and this blog, if I can keep at it, will allow me to perform this function.I am a devotee of short-term momentum-driven day trading. I have been studying the "Momo Method" since the summer of 2008 through various blogs and chat rooms. I like the fact that there is no overnight risk. I like the fact that it is fast and edgy. I like the fact that it can be done from virtually anywhere. And, I like the fact that if it can be learned, it is a skill which can provide a nice living with very little overhead, well into old age.In the interest of disclosure, I started with $35,000 in an IB trading account in Mid-October. I currently have $33,800. I also have an active paper-trading account with IB and that's where I spend 90% of my time. Admittedly, I am still trying to master parts of the platform, which should not be done with real dollars, in my opinion. I have been a little fickle in my trading approach, trying to discover a style which will work for the long-term. I began watching Cramer on CNBC a couple years ago, delved into swing-trading in March of 2008 by visiting Day-Trader Rock Star's blog before it went pay, and listening to his live radio web-cast (still do, from time-to-time). After becoming disillusioned by long-biased trading, I found Green on the Screen and immediately liked what was there. GOTS morphed into Dark Side Trading and when its founders recently went pay, I expanded my exposure to the Momo method by finding Fear & Greed Day Trader thanks to James (aka Yngvai), at his blog home: welcometothegutter.blogspot.comI highly recommend his site and occasionally weight it down with posts of my own!If you are reading this, thank you for checking it out. As I mentioned earlier, it is a humble beginning. I don't expect to have many visitors and certainly don't foresee repeat visitors! It is my hope that as I progress as a trader, the content will improve and perhaps be of interest even to experienced market folks. Until then, you can expect mostly personal reflections of trading, discussion of other blogs, of the economy, politics, and finance rather than stunning technical analysis and savvy trading ideas!Once I learn how to manage the site better, I hope to include charts.Once again, thanks for taking a look... drop by again!
Posted by bluecollartrader at 7:30 PM 0 comments

May 7th - No Trades

Busy with the Day-Job all day.