Tuesday, January 30, 2007

A lesson that I need to remember

There were many opportunities today. I happen to be in a few but I messed up the trades. I got into the trades but I was worried that my stops would be hit so I got out of them prematurely. Then the stocks rockets away without me. I need to stick to my stop and let the trade work instead of second guessing my entry.

Here is one of the trades . I got into AXE on the break of the 4th bar. The stock had nice spike but traded all the way back down. I saw my 45 cent profit evaporate and my winner turned into a loss. I got out on the 6th bar right near the low of the bar with a $63 loss. The stock had an awesome move and I was left out.


I had a nice gain of $650 today but it could have been much better if I stuck to my stops.
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4 comments:

LP said...

Dude...what's going on?...whatever it is hang on to it...Love these bad ass trades.

6:24 PM
Kis said...

that is a mistake I keep making over and over again too. Still, nice day, I'd love to see what other stocks you traded today. Great site.

6:45 PM
OBAT said...

Thanks for the kind words. It's earnings season right now so there are a lot of gappers to play with.

I will face my true test when earnings are over around mid Feb. to mid April. Then I will really work on analyzing daily charts and coming up with plays like Pinoy Trader and Wall St. Warrior. That would be a challenge.

2:49 AM
Anonymous said...

I'm going through a bit of the same thing. It's nice to lose less than -1R on trades that go against me, but it's come back to bite me at least 4 times this month. Dang. We'll work through it!

5:45 AM

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About Me

I have been trading for 5 years. It took close to a year before I became profitable. I find that I am improving gradually each year. My method of choice is scalping. My edge lies in tape reading NYSE stocks and staying on the side of the specialist. That is the method I learned when I started. As I build up my capital I will try new styles and trade new markets. In late 2006 my trading hit a rough patch after the introduction of the NYSE Hybrid system. For most of 2007, I have been on a search for new strategies that would help me adapt to the market.