June 12th

A number of positive distractions kept my focus away from the computer today although the full day was available to trade had I made the time. A lunch appointment, some day-job admin. responsibilities, a brief shopping trip to a local outdoor outfitter, and a slight "under-the-weather" feeling just kept me from the full focus that I had yesterday. Just the same, I took three trades in X and connected for winners on all three. I had a very nice entry short at 10:24 am at $40.34. As you see from the chart, I got out early with a paltry $60 gainer. As you also see from the chart, I marked the entry/exit diagram with the big magenta colored line which is my indicator that I missed a large percentage of gains on the trade. Boy, did I ever. The stock did not bottom out until it hit $38.80 at 2:25 pm! That's a potential gain of $1,540, more than that if I had doubled up on the trade as it sank. After returning from my lunch appt and a bit of shopping, I had a chance to short the 2:30- 2:40pm jump in X. This one also had a premature exit but I did manage to get about 11 cents of the 45 cent drop; approx. 24% of the entire move. I took about 13.5 cents out of X on my final trade; getting 42% of the 32 cents available.

In the "missed trades" department, I offer the following:

I found VMC as a big mover this morning in pre-market through the IB market scanner I use, Listed as the Top Percentage Gainer and the top Price Range stock, I decided to keep an eye on it. At 10:55 am, it peaked for the morning and I was quite tempted to take the short at that point. However, the fact that it was not tracking with the indices made me a bit uncertain... I watched and learned. It broke down very nicely with a $1.26 drop. Oh, well. I will now have a better feel for these big runners next time!

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3 for 3 winners, a 100% success rate. Gain of $671 in 2.25 hours of trading.