This month is not over yet, but I have had 3 days with more than $4k in profits. I find the importance to having successful winning trades is timing and confidence. I was off with timing today but still did incredibly. Yesterday however was not the same.
I find most of my losing trades in the morning come from opening a trade before the morning panic trades have figured out a trend. Yesterday would  have been better if I had waited to open my ACAD trade at the bottom of the morning selloff and rode the spike up to 25. Instead I was in a losing trade and didn’t give it time to work for me and locked in a loss. Patience on Entry is important.
With ARIA I found the stock on the bounce scanner with Trade Ideas and it looked like the RSI and the timing of the trade would cause it to have a pre-lunch cover as I like to call it.  I see that on Mondays many times that isn’t always true. I try to figure out the psychological state of other traders when making my decisions. I made the mistake of adding and averaging down on my entry price and the stock never bounced. Even if I had swung this trade through today it never hit my initial entry of 6.21. I ate the loss instead and moved forward today with a clear head. More than 75% of the trades found on the bounce play alert tend to be winners and this was one of the 25% losers.
With PTLA my biggest stock I’m playing this week I saw the big selloff on Thursday and knew I would put it on watch for my long plays. Sometimes I can’t get shares to short so I try to be patient for long entries. This stock has had a great deal of liquidity to get in and out of easily. I had a great long trade Monday and added again end of day looking for a gain at open today. It did climb but I thought it would stall around 19.40 so I took my profit on a pullback. I locked a good gain, but I could have been patient to let my two limit orders execute and more than double my profit. Cant be overly greedy. Taking a gain is a gain and not a loss. I sold all my long position around 19.37 and then looked to short. I did not time my entry correctly and only had a minimal profit. I had a good long entry again 19.55 and sold it when I thought it would not cross 20. It did cross 20 but happy with my gains again and I put in a limit buy order while changing our winter tires of the cars. It executed and then I added again at 19.59. Since I plan on taking Wednesday off I will set a limit that I think will likely execute.
Monday I took my profits from GIII swing trade that ended up strong on Friday and continued the momentum. I was conservative in taking my profit just below 46 since it went all the way up to 46.69 in the am upward momentum. Looking at it today I could have even held all the way up to 47. Live and learn. I have found a winning strategy for myself and will stick to it for now.
My trades for today include the P long where again I didnt wait until the reversal happened after open. I began my position too soon.
In writing these trade reviews it really helps me to see my issues. A great trade begins with a great entry, otherwise you can be fighting the action more than you anticipate. It also allows me to study the timing in the market of how other traders act. Whether it is the robot computers making trades that are timed or real people I see the trends.
I have had a bunch of fellow traders responding about how these blogs are helping. I’m so happy to hear that I can help others in starting to day trade as it is an ocean of information. Best thing I can say is take it one day at a time and try to study and gain a grasp. Once you feel you understand, paper trade until consistent.
Just like running a marathon you don’t wake up tomorrow and run it you need to train to prevent injuries and have the mental ability to finish. The same is true with trading you need to add to your knowledge each day and it will compound and become easier. The psychological aspect in the begin can be very tough especially when you feel you can’t make a winning trade. Study to ensure you don’t end up there.
I love hearing from you and how I can help. To each person that says I inspire them, you guys inspire me to write these blogs to help with your feedback. Thank you and know you can do it too. When you have a passion you make time!
I love my job now and I look forward to sitting down to trade each day. You can love you life too. Your days of your life are what you do and who you associate with in you time awake. If you aren’t happy, make steps to change that and do it today.
If you are brand new I recommend Tim Sykes How to Make Millions DVD. The proceeds go to charity so you are able to help others while educating yourself.
This blog is for information purposes I am not a registered securities broker-dealer or an investment advisor. 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.