There are lots of stocks in play right now because all sorts of companies are announcing their earnings. There are many locations to find the calendar of which companies are due to release earnings here is one through Yahoo Finance.   It is definitely risky holding a stock through earnings because the market does not always react rationally. When it is a winner it can tank and when it is a loser it can spike. So remember to trade the price action not what you think it is going to do.
Monday was a tough day trading for me as I broke rules and my trades suffered from it. I try not to enter a trade before 950-10 am when there tends to be a clear trend in price action. I made the mistake of entering too early and ended up down for the day. I also entered at the top of a run at 1030 which I know my past trades is not a profitable entry point for me on the longside.  By 11 am I was down more than $500.
When that happens don’t become emotional and revenge trade to try to make it back. I simply stopped. Listened in on the Trade Ideas Trading Room and stopped to watch. I was rushed in the morning on Monday not of a clear head when I sat down and my personal day affected my trading day. Trades are better without emotions. Great to celebrate afterwards, but trading without emotions as much as possible and just the numbers will give you the best profits.
I waited until my head was clear and then entered two good trades to end up down but roughly $21 instead of over $500. I did not force the trades and I was patient for good entries.
Today was an amazing day until 3pm. I jumped back into SRPT for power hour looking for an amazing finish to the day with the downtrend on price action from 230. In retrospect I was trading without my full screen from the kitchen table and I probably would have done better not just jumping in but looking at the press to see it was getting beaten down with downgrades. After I read those articles I made sure not to hold it overnight as I believe it will be a gap down scenario. Not too bad closed down .10 from my entry.
Right now there are great plays even when the SPY is downtrending. Finding your niche and being able to profit when the market is tanking is always good. I’m looking forward to learning more about options to use puts to short because the risk is limited into the contract investment instead of unlimited with shorting a stock.
My losing trades in the past two days were all about entries where my risk was not minimized. It is extremely important to understand about the risk of your entry. I got lucky on my trade after lunch with SRPT today when I jumped in over the half dollar at 18.57. It dropped back down to 18 before it went up to 18.80 again and I bailed. That was a gamble trade. RSI was high so it was showing overbought and I think I might have bought and the high of that runup. It was luck that the trade went for me.
Being continuously successful in day trading is all about a good entry. Learn what makes your entries good. When you have a good entry it is easy to be confident in the trade and not feel stressed in front of your computer. You can breath easy and when it is going in your favor surf the net some, try not to let the profit growing cause you to sell off too soon.( the emotion of profiting can take over) Two days in a row I sold SRPT way too conservatively leaving a bunch of profit on the table. I still profited but I can definitely get better in letting my winners grow.
I have moved up my goal of 100K in profits to my birthday August 15th. I would love to be able to say I made 100K before then and with my goal of $1K a day now it is possible. If I have a loss I don’t beat myself up. I analyze and learn from my errors. Those red days are becoming fewer and fewer. I’m not a computer so I know they will happen I just need to learn from them.
As always I hope these blogs are helping you learn and grow as a trader yourself. I try to post watch lists, however I find I’m actually doing better with my trading when I analyze the market in the morning. Time as a mom is always precious and if my head is not clouded with what I think will happen to a stock and trading the price I find I do much better.
Learn from your mistakes, Carpe Profit and Stay Green.
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.