Just got to the market after a day job and found SKF poppin'.
Saw a consolidation area pushing but not breaking through resistance so I waited for it to get back to the top of the consolidation channel and went short, ready to reverse the trade in case it went against me by breaking out. It didn't, rather it went just as I thought it might and I picked up 16 cents. Out way too soon (see chart above illustrating my entry and exit, as well as the magenta line which is my indication of a premature exit) as the move went down to 48.67 at 12:51 pm, briefly pulled back and is still dropping now. More lost opportunity from bailing too early... but a profitable trade just the same. I'm not feeling too well so I may scrub the afternoon and head to bed. Tomorrow has a busy day job and I want to try to be up for it. SKF still dropping... wow did I leave some serious $ on the table... by my count right now, I took $45 from a trade that could have given me up to $426.
As I edit this post for spelling and syntax (I don't always bother to do this, btw!) after publishing it, that trade I was in is still testing the low of the move. Wow, what a nice entry and what a pathetic follow-through on my part. I surely need practice with my exits.
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Addendum, July 9th: I never did get back to trading. Just didn't feel up to it. Too bad, SKF was moving nicely with lots of opportunity yesterday. In any event, I just wanted to update where my one trade would have gone had I held it to its reversal of direction. It was dropping nicely after I sold it and while I was updating the blog. My short entry was at $49.34 and the bottom of the move was at $47.59, a $1.75 move. Based on the 300 shares I traded, the move would have given me up to a $525 gain. I took $45; only 8.5% of what I had available to me. Again, my trade was never in danger because the share price never approached my entry price.
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1 for 1, 100% win rate. Gain of $45 in 30 minutes of live trading. Stop engaged but not tested.
I know the feeling. Did the same today. Leaving money on the table made me want to look up this quote from Scott:
ReplyDelete"If you are grinding out pennies when you see dollars all around you, then start looking for stocks that have wider trading ranges, small spreads and good daily volume."
In my case, this is true to an extent, I need to not be afraid to enter stocks with big ranges, like ICE today. But mostly, its like this:
"If you are grinding out pennies when you see dollars all around you - put in your initial stop loss order, and then let those frickers run, dummy, instead of being so afraid to lose your $30 profits that you continue to exit way too early AND prevent hundreds of dollars from entering your account - "what if, should'a, could'a".
Ha. Well said, buddy! I've left a Porsche payment worth of $ on the table in the past few sessions...:-)
ReplyDeleteIt's a lot of thought and worry to prevent so much money from entering my account. No wonder I'm sick today. All that effort to keep money out of my account...