Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Daily Summary

16400 shares
-343

The day played out just like yesterday. I was up a little over $140 in my first two trades and quickly lost all my gains. The market was just chopping around from 9:30-12pm. At noon, I took an hour break to refresh when I was down $80. My confidence was low and I could not get a feel for the direction. I should have stopped trading and shut down for the day.

I traded again after my break and traded like crap. Every trade I took went against me. I would buy near highs and short near lows. My instincts told me to shut down, but I ignored it. The urge to make my money back was stronger. I tried to play a bounce in TEX and the thing cut right through and I ended up losing 45 cents. I got pretty ticked off. I was thinking of taking some 1000 share positions for 10-30 cent so I can make a come back quickly. I took some gambles with 200-300 shares on MON and MOS, and those trades hardly ever work so I got deeper in red.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a hell out there...
In Feb I had 7 down days (which is 2 more then what I've had in all of January). All of them but 2, I was up initially and should have just stopped at least at b/e before I turned red. But this urge, this cursed inner urge to make it back...

Kis said...

hi OBAT, I agree with stockhunter. Feb was pretty bad for me too. I've had 3 up days so far this month. I think the market has slowed down dramatically from the last few months, we have to adjust accordingly. funny thing was I decided to up my shares at the begging of the months so it just compounded my losses. I think we need to cut back on size until volatility picks up again

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.