April 21st

Trading distractions... they come in many forms. For some, it is CNBC, or the radio, or children, or pets. Today, it was the phone call from a day-job customer. After making my first paper-trade entry, I received a call from a customer who kept me on the line interminably, it seemed. In a flash, while distracted, I was down 80 cents per share! So, I covered the position for a large loss of $1.10 per share. Just what I had been desperately trying to avoid! Damn it... but the day-job pays the bills and trading pays nothing, for now. So allowances must be made. After that, I was looking for a recovery. I am trying hard to follow the momentum model set by Scott Farnham so rather than playing for a reversal and blindly holding it trusting that I was right, (as I have been doing mostly over the past two months) I played along with the momentum for two wins of 56 and 20 cents. I was looking for opportunities to reverese direction with the market and ride the momo as long as I dared. I took a couple mental-stop losses of 22 cents and 38 cents per share but was looking for the longer term play to make up for the damage. That opportunity presented itself and I shorted it, riding the SKF down to a point where I felt comfortable doubling up on my winning position as it was moving. It felt really good to play a position the "right" way, the way I envision it should be. And the gains really pile on when you double up... I sold the position with a nice gain of $1.87 cents per share, missing another $7.90 per share (3.95 x 2) of the primary move down. But, I had to get out and prep for a day-job appt at noon, so I took a gain on my final trade of the day at 10:59 am and ran with it. What a great feeling to be in on a good trade... I want that feeling again and again...

5 for 8 winners giving me a 62.5% win rate. Gain of $1.05 cents per share.

April 20th

After a morning of community volunteer work, I hit the markets around 1:30pm. My first trade was at 1:48 and it was a rocky start. I had losers in 7 of the first 9 trades. The good part is that the losses were mostly small as I was trying to carry forward from last Thursdays effort to "get out quickly" if I felt uneasy about the trade; only three of the nine losses were greater thatn 10 cents per share and only one exceeded 20 cents. After getting a feel for the markets, I hit a stride and went 21 for 27, a 78% win rate on the remaining trades of the day. I had a quick trigger finger on the exit button and perhaps too quick to pull that trigger. But, I was determined to keep ALL losses under 40 cents per share. All but three were under 20 cents per share. I hope to improve on that but I feel that to do so would send my trade count soaring.

I took double positions in two of the trades and both were good set-ups and the add-on to the original position was better or very close to the original buy price. No averaging way down for this guy anymore. If Scott at Fear & Greed calls it foolish for day-traders to average a loser, I'll take his word for it! I was scared out unnecessarily from some great moves. Still, I like the new idea of setting these mental stops and making quick exits. Commissions will go up, but losses will be mitigated. I simply (ha) have to manage my winners better by having faith in their continuation. Average loss = 12.5 cents per share, average win = 15 cents per share.

21 for 36 winning trades, a 58% win rate. Gain of $1.26 per share.

April 17th - No Trades

What a strange day this was. I was watching the market early but didn't see anything which I wanted to jump into. I had a service person show up at my house and spent time with him. Afterward, a billing dispute with a day-job customer took two hours of my day; research and phone time. Have I mentioned lately how much I hate my day-job? Anyway, I came back to the computer, placed a trade, and nothing happened... I got the blue box on the IB order line which states the trade is held and awaiting confirmation. This continued and after four tries, I called customer service. It appears that the Simulated Trading platform is "down" and will likely not be up until tomorrow. So, no trades today. I'm watching the mkts and drawing lines on the charts for my trades but it just isn't as satisfying.