In trading there are imperfect days
Some of the most difficult days in trading are the imperfect ones where your trading decisions for that day are wrong.
This morning I sat down late at my desk because my daughter was being a rascal at school. I am usually at my desk by 9:15-917 but today it was 9:22 and I was opening up my software. I opened it up and it began working and then nothing. The internet shut down on me and it took me a couple minutes to figure it out.
I immediately went and rebooted the router and the modem. I was then able to open up my software after market open and I was able to see that my two stocks I was long overnight were gapping up. I felt unprepared for the day, out of control because I couldn’t set orders to protect the profits. If all was working at open I could have locked my $1k profits in the first 5 minutes of open. I should have sold immediately once I had the internet up instead of getting caught up in my head with emotions.
You can ask my husband I was pissed yelling at the computer. I am usually pretty good about not being frustrated when the internet goes down because I have set up an exit plan already. For some reason this morning that was not the case. I then got held up in the emotions and just watched the market so as to not make a revenge trade or irrational trade based on emotion.
I watched both REN and ACIA follow the way of the SPY. They both went down and I was stuck in the emotions and did not protect myself. My day was thrown off by emotions. By the time that I had calmed down to act rationally it was now 11 in the morning knowing the trend of the reversal throughout the day I did not panic sell at the lowest point. I watched them and waited to minimize my losses.
I was patient with ACIA and locked a nice little profit with a swing entry of 91.93 and an exit at 92.47.
I sat and watched the market today not trying to revenge trade. I was waiting for perfect setups. I saw PTCT down 50% in 2 days and the volume was slowing and the time of day was right so I bought a small position at 7.22. I proceeded to drop down to 6.90 and bounce. up to 7.60. When I saw the resistance at 7.40 I sold as it could have easily fallen back down.
I felt more confident with my trades and then saw BANC on my RSI scanner at the low extreme. I saw it drop from 16 to 15 and watched further and opened a small position at 14.08. It was testing 14 and forming a 5 min green candle so I added some at 14 when it went down and bounced. Then it dropped further to 13.15 and I added some at 13.25 when it bounced and looked like it was reversing. My average was 13.75. My error with BANC was trying to anticipate the reversal instead of letting it show itself to me.
The emotions of the day got to me and I should have stayed out of this trade. It was a revenge style trade and not cutting the loss early. In the future when I’m that frustrated it is a sign to step away and go enjoy the day. The internet is something I cannot control, but my reaction to the situation is controllable.
My frustration came from wanting to be able to provide the daily profits to my family to support them. In the future I will remind myself the internet is out of control and I will walk away. Exit the trades and a turn the page until the next day.
As I always say each bad trade provides a learning experience. We have to look at why we execute a losing trade the way that we did and what we can do better in the future. I admit my errors and strive to improve on them. Losses are never easy and when you examine them you can see what caused your decisions at that time.
To become a better more profitable trader make sure to examine your wins and your losses. Each one will provide insight into what you can do to improve your trades. All trades come with risk and reward and the goal is to stop the risk from becoming too large.
BANC will be on watch for tomorrow with the speculative Seeking Alpha fraud article written by an author that is Short.
I love hearing feedback from you. It makes my trading more personal and I like to hear how I can help you. If you have questions or comments you can contact me here or on Profitly, Twitter (@jane_yul), Instagram (missairplanejane), LinkedIn and Facebook (@sugarairplanejane). carpeprofit@gmail.com or YouTube
Working on my book to be released this spring of 2017 available on Amazon and major retailers. Sign up here list for updates about when and where to preorder.
The tool I use for scanning and alerting is Trade Ideas who offer an always free trading room. Full Access Test Drive for $8.88 April 10-17th
Also testing out Stocks To Trade that has a 1 week $1 trial
For my charting and level 2 I use Equityfeed.
This blog is for information purposes I am not a registered securities broker-dealer or an investment adviser. The information here is not intended as securities brokerage, investment or as an offer or solicitation of an offer to sell or buy, or as an endorsement, recommendation or sponsorship of any company, security or fund.
