July 7th

Not a bad day in trading the SKF and OIH although it was a day where I went 4 for 7 and lost money in SKF but went 4 for 5 in OIH and made a profit. I try to be an optimist so I look at my trades in SKF as acceptable even with a loss because I had the best entry of the day in it at 1:31 pm. A long trade at $44.67, I ended up selling it Much, Much too soon. I got in to the markets around 1:00pm and tracked it on the last part of that leg down which started at 12:40pm. After a stupid play where I did average down a bit on my first two trades, I got out of it with an $18 loss while flogging myself the whole way! I was feeling the shift in momentum and bought long at the aforementioned $44.67, only 10 cents off the the lowest point from 10:00 am through the day's end. As I mentioned earlier, it was my best entry of the day... but wasted when I wasn't willing to let it go to the stop. I bailed with a tiny gain of $12. In the next candle, it did drop to 4 cents below my buy price but did not touch my stop. had I held the trade with discipline (until stop-out), I would have been in on the run which topped out at $46.26 at close; a rise of $1.59 per share from my cost basis; gain of up to $477. Would I realistically have held until EOD if I were a good trader? Not very likely. A good trader would have sold the retracement starting at 3:05 pm then played the last leg up seperately. Still, I like the fact that I had a line on one of the best moves of the day after a terrific entry. These are encouraging signs, in my opinion. I simply have to trust my gut... AND, develop an exit plan that follows the model of trading which I have chosen. Namely, one which fits momentum changes.

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In OIH, it was more of the same. My first three trades were decent entries but exits too early with small profit. The fourth trade was a stop out (10 cent stop that went a bit over). The fifth trade was a good entry and a good exit, given the momentum at EOD. I was playing long when the sentiment was short so I was happy to get that last gain.

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8 for 12 winners, a 67 % win rate. Gain of $111 in 3 hours of live trading. Added to one loser on the first trade of the day but held stops afterward.