Today was probably one of my most frustrating days in a while. When there are technological or human errors it really frustrates me because I see the stock set up and miss the opportunity I have been patiently waiting to execute.
So Today the first human error was when I was trying to close out my short position of $COH. I was trying to be patient with the 10-1030 sell off. It wasn’t happening and I saw on the 5 min chart it began to curl up. I went in to my orders and selected what I thought was $COH, but it was a $CAH order. I wanted to cover fast so I hit market order. Well I realized after the fact that I had just sold my $CAH long swing at a twenty cent loss and I still needed to cover my $COH. I immediately went in and put in an order to buy $COH and lost an additional penny plus the twenty cent loss on $CAH.
This was the first frustrating event of the day. I cleared my head and waited for a prime entry on $SRPT. I entered down at 29.28, it pulled back down to 29 and I added to watch the reversal setup. It was beautiful it ran up to 29.70 and I was trying to put in my sell limit order. I clicked on my broker Wells Fargo and the server did not link so I had to refresh. I missed the .70 exit it was down to .50 by the time I was signed in and set my limit for .47 on the bid. Well when I hit “send order” it flipped to the ASK and quickly dropped down to .20. It was 1145 at this time and RSI was close to 30 so I knew there would be another run up. It sold off until 12 and I went to set a stop order. Well I went into a prexisting order I had for .47 and wanted to make it a stop at 29. At this point I forgot to change it from limit to stop so it executed immediately.
I was so frustrated after having a great position close to the bottom with minimal risk and upside for the day of reward. Sure enough it ran all the way up to 30.09 before a close of 30.02.
At first I was extremely frustrated and angry with myself. But I knew better than to look for something to revenge trade. I stepped away from my desk to clear my head. I know when I’m angry don’t trade as those trades don’t result in wins.
Went outside to enjoy a beautiful 65 degree sunny day and a nice walk. I was reflecting on my trades and trying to figure out my frustration. My frustration made me see that I’m actually grateful for all my other winning trades.
I was frustrated because I made silly careless errors. I just needed to pay more attention to detail. Majority of the time I don’t make these mistakes so I’m thankful for that.
I was also frustrated because both $CAH and $SRPT ran up to the target price exits and I wasn’t able to capitalize on them. Then I thought about it and it was just my error. At least I had winning stocks that I had picked and the price action did exactly what I was looking for, so it wasn’t an error in me choosing the wrong stocks.
By the time I returned home from my 20 min fresh air walk my mind was clear. I still lay down for a little rest and relaxation as the tension really isn’t beneficial during pregnancy. Around 245 I glanced at the market on my phone and ACIA. I saw the spread was 105.03 and 105.50.
I put in a limit buy for 105.5 Immediately it shot up and ran above 106. I left my limit in and sure enough 20 min later it was back at the support level. I let it run up and it hit 106.80 during power hour, but I was busy with a business meeting so I set a stop for 106.09 and limit of 106.05 it executed at 106.09 and 106.10. Locked a nice $1 a share to minimize my loss for the day.
Some days we make mistakes, but is is how me mentally let those mistakes affect us. Do we beat ourselves up or stop reflect, learn and move forward. Any time it is an individual behind the computer there is a human factor involved in the trade. We are imperfect as humans and mistakes happen. I need to slow down and double check especially when trading tickers are similar.
My swings for the night into Friday are $WTW, $STRP and $TKAI. WTW has a 62% short float and the 6 month low was set up yesterday. $STRP broke 25 today and so I went long at 24.99 and held the position with it closing just below 25. $STRP has a nice void to fill above 25 up to 30 and tomorrow Shorts will likely close out as it has been a volatile week for the stock. $TKAI had a nice run up on August 22nd up to 1.46 but it pulled back the next day. I don’t think there is a coincidence that the 22nd was a Monday and it dropped the rest of the week from there. Tomorrow with shorts closing I believe there will be a bit of a panic and my position of 1.32 is primed when the shorts close and the 8 million float runs up. If we first break 1.46 then looking for a break of resistance at 1.65 for a void to fill up to 4.
Days like today will happen for you too, but it is how you digest them and move forward that will help. My good friend Mandi has helped me to tackle my own trading demons and will be doing a youtube video for the channel about trading psychology. Since there are many new traders we will try to highlight on the new trader aspect, however we all have the same troubles. If you have any question you would like answered during our video please shoot it to me here as a comment or to carpeprofit@gmail.com. Or if you have other suggestions for the weekly video that you would like to see send them on over.
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, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook. carpeprofit@gmail.com
The tool I use for scanning and alerting is Trade Ideas who offer an always free trading room.
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.
