August 20th - Friday

I had only the last 30-40 minutes to see the markets after the day-job completed. I saw the long run-up in Meli with very little profit-taking at EOD. So, I decided to take a swing-trade short and see what happens for Monday. Work will keep me busy in the morning and I won't be able to follow the stock until the afternoon. It seems like a good spot to get a quick gain from any morning breakdown.

Adjustment

There has been an adjustment to the blog. I no longer will post the "Blogs I Follow" area for blogs which sell anything or promote with advertisements.
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I have nothing against promotion or commerce. It is just that I choose not to participate in that part of it. From the beginning, I have chosen not to run advertisements here. Removal of some of the "Blogs I Follow" that have a profit motive is a natural extension of that, despite the fact that a lot of value may be received from visiting those sites.
When I see something of value at one of the sites I've removed or from other sites I visit, I won't hesitate to repost here and explicitly credit the source.

August 19th - End of Day

I got back from my emergency call at about 3:40pm and had a chance to monitor my absentee paper-trade. Well, it got pretty ugly, with the price climbing to 36.42... but it was out of sight, out of mind! Price was dropping when I signed back on and I closed it out where I felt downward momo had ceased. It turned out to be very close to the bottom of the final move of the day. I took a loss on the trade and therefore, a loss on the day. I can't remember the last time I took a loss on the day and very rarely take a loss on a trade. And that is a big problem. It is unnatural to not take losses. Clearly some of my sim-trades are good solid trades. But many are not, with losses allowed to run then additional trades taken to average a better price... a dangerous maneuver. The fact that it works in my favor so often masks the risk of such an approach. We have had a range market recently and it is quite forgiving. This approach during a strong trend day followed by another will lead to ruination.
I need to set stops.
My goal going forward is to rack up more losses. Only this will help me advance my skills.