Trading Statistics For The Month Of April

Total Gross for Month of April: +$8,415.21
Total Net for Month of April: +$6,230.77
Total Fees (Gross - Net) for Month of April: $2,184.44
Total Trades for Month of April: 1,033
Total Shares Traded for Month of April: 2,087,878

Best Day for Month of April: Tue Apr 18, 2006 (+$924.11 net)
Worst Day for Month of April: Tue Apr 25, 2006 (-$338.86 net)

Number of Positive Net Days for Month of April: 13
Number of Negative Net Days for Month of April: 2
Number of Trading Days Missed for Month of April: 2 (away on vacation)
Number of Trading Days Lost Due To System Downtime: 2

Compared to Previous Month: +$1,733.67 (up 38.5% from previous month)
Compared to Same Month Last Year: No Data

Top 3 Stocks For Month of April (Net Profit):
Citigroup (C): +$2,006.55
Micron Tech (MU): +$1,570.36
AT&T (T): +$585.01

Bottom 3 Stocks for Month of April (Net Profit):
Pfizer (PFE): -$451.03
Walmart (WMT): -$236.97
Sprint-Nextel (S): -$117.20

Top 3 Most Traded Stocks for Month of April:
Citigroup (C) - Traded on 15 out of 15 trading days
Home Depot (HD) - Traded on 13 out of 15 trading days
Hewlett Packard (HPQ) - Traded on 13 out of 15 trading days

Bottom 3 Most Traded Stocks for Month of April:
(5 tied for last place - each traded on 1 out of 15 trading days)
Alcoa (AA)
Bell South (BLS)
Boston Scientific (BSX)
Maxtor Corp (MXO)
Verizon (VZ)

Total Number of Different Stocks Traded for Month of April: 21

List of Stocks Traded During the Month of April (with net profit):
Alcoa (AA): -$50.46
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): -$36.02
Bell South (BLS): +$155.24
Boston Scientific (BSX): +$46.81
Citigroup (C): +$2,006.55
General Electric (GE): +$552.26
Corning (GLW): +$349.30
Home Depot (HD): +$353.28
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$569.21
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): +$305.99
JP Morgan (JPM): +$258.00
Coca-Cola (KO): +$49.89
Motorola (MOT): +$269.17
Micron Tech (MU): +$1,570.36
Maxtor Corp (MXO): -$3.04
Pfizer (PFE): -$451.03
Sprint-Nextel (S): -$117.20
AT&T (T): +$585.01
Verizon (VZ): +$29.33
Walmart (WMT): -$236.97

Monthly Recap
I continued to learn a great deal this month and I am relatively satisfied with the results for April, considering it was a very short month.

It was an eventful April. There was a long weekend, two trading days lost due to system problems, and I missed two trading days while I was away on vacation. In effect, April had only 3 weeks worth of trading days.

Had this been a full month, I think I would have been able to reach my target of doubling what I made last month. Thus, overall I am fairly pleased.

This month also saw the return of consistency for me. On most of the days I was able to make over $400 fairly consistently. There were 2 sub-$100 days - however on those two days, our execution system went down for most of the day.

Towards the end of the month, I struggled for 2 trading days in a row as I attempted to make the transition from trading 6000 shares at a time to 8000 and 10000 shares at a time. Unfortunately the same mistakes I made in March returned, however I was quick to identify the problem and I am in the midst of creating strategies for trading these larger amounts.

There were two negative days this month - on the very first trading day of April (as I was testing some new strategies out) and on April 25th (a day when I tried to up my minimum share size to 8000 shares).

Also of note - I am finding that I am beginning to trade with a lot more emotion. There were many more instances of revenge trading this month than I really care for. I will continue to work on keeping this in check. I think the best way for me to avoid this is to pick my trades wisely and to simply avoid making bad trades (after all, bad trades put me in a bad mood, and bad moods lead to revenge trades).

I believe I have also successfully made the transition from 3000 and 4000 share trades to 5000 and 6000 share trades. I was also fairly comfortable trading 8000 shares this month as well.

Some positive things or things I've learned/re-learned this month:

• Discipline was fairly good this month. I admit there were times when I let it slip a little, but for the most part, I tried to really stick to my rules
  
• On almost all of the trading days, I was usually up $400 or $500 within the first hour of trade
• I traded fewer stocks than I did last month. In this way, I could focus more on my core stocks, and dabble here and there on stocks that are in the news. I found that this allowed me to concentrate more effectively on what was going on on these stocks. Last month, I found that I was constantly flipping from one stock to another and I never seemed to get a grip as to what was happening with each of those stocks
• I was able to make money even on days that were fairly choppy or flat. Last month, I would have either made little or would be negative on these kind of days
  
• I was willing to trade less, as long as the ratio of good trades to bad trades were up. This comes from the fact that I tried to focus more on when NOT to trade
  
• Some of my winners are getting into the $300 , $400, and $500 range. Part of it is that I am using larger share size, but some of it is also my patience in letting my winners run a little
• I was disappointed that my star stock from last month - Walmart (WMT) - was not so good from me this month. Howver, I was able to identify WMT as being a problem stock for me this month, and so I traded it a lot less
  

And some things I need to work on:

• I need to be smart enough to avoid trading stocks I am having problems with. During the entire month of April, I put Pfizer (PFE) on my "DO NOT TRADE" list, but somehow I traded it on 4 different days (and losing money on it on those days)
• I need to continue to resist the temptation to trade when I shouldn't trade - in other words, I have to continue learning when NOT to trade
• I have to keep my emotions in check - too many times I succumbed to emotional trading, which often resulted in great days becoming only good days. Upon reviewing my trading journal, I would say that emotional trade/revenge trading probably cost me over $3000 net this month
• I have to remember not to think about the money. There were many times in which I wanted to make a certain amount on a specific trade, and I held it too long and ended up with a losing trade. That kind of thinking also destroys what would otherwise would be a good day.
• I need to continue learning patience when it comes to holding winners
  

I Should Have Been Happy With $700

Gross: +$421.00
Net: +$286.52
Loss From Top: $409.58
Trades: 55
Shares Traded: 133400

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Citigroup (C): +$475.84
Micron Tech (MU): +$184.90
Home Depot (HD): +$28.22
Walmart (WMT): -$54.21
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): -$58.89
Motorola (MOT): -$289.35

Ohhhh man, what a day...I was doing just fine going into the last hour of trade. I was up $700, but I lost $400 in the last hour due to some mental lapses and poor judgement on my part.

I couldn't believe how flat the market was today. After a nice run-up in the markets in the morning, absolutely nothing (and I mean NOTHING) happened the rest of the day.

I sat there and watched and watched for something to happen - but nothing. I played the game very carefully and was very mindful of when NOT to trade. But going into the last hour, I made a fatal mistake - I started thinking about the money.

What I mean is that I saw there was an hour left to trade and in the back of my mind, I really wanted to make $1000. This is very very bad...if you find yourself thinking the same way, STOP IT! Everytime I get into this kind of mindset, I always (ALWAYS) lose money.

This is one of those subtle rules that can have a profound effect on one's thinking. Instead of thinking about the money (i.e. I'm gonna try to make $500 on this trade, or I'm gonna try to make $1000 today), focus on making good trades instead! Money will follow if you simply focus more on making good trades!

Well, that mental lapse cost me big time! I'm not too happy about the outcome. All day I was careful in picking my trades and when 3PM rolled around, I had put on very few trades (though I was up $700). Then I started thinking about the money when I realized there was only an hour left to trade.

After the first bad trade at around 3:05PM, I became frustrated and tried to make the money back quickly. Another mistake - I ended up losing even more money. Before I knew it, I was revenge trading like there was no tomorrow! I tried to keep my losses to a minimum, but a string of bad trades in a row ended up costing me over $400.

It felt like I was a sinking ship and I was flailing about, trying to get back afloat, but all the struggling ended up sinking me further down.

Anyhow, I'll be posting my month end statistics a little later on this evening...stay tuned....

Good Trades
9:43AM - Citigroup (C) was up strongly and the Futures were also up. I got long 5000 shares at $48.90. Got out as follows: 4-cent winner (2000 shares), 5-cent winner (2000 shares), 15-cent winner (1000 shares) ($330 profit before fees)

10:03AM - Walmart (WMT) hit some support while the Futures were up. Got long 5000 shares and got out as follows: 3-cent winner (3000 shares), 4-cent winner (2000 shares) ($170 profit before fees)

Bad Trades
3:29PM - Motorola (MOT) was downtrending, but the Futures were flat. I got long 5000 shares and got out as follows: 1-cent loser (2400 shares), 4-cent loser (2600 shares) ($128 loser before fees)

• This was one of a string of bad trades that were done in the last hour. This particular trade lost me the most.
  
• At that particular time, I was trading on pure emotion and had no rhyme or reason for getting into this position
• All in all, I should have been happy with the $700 I had at 3PM...
  

I'm Back On Track

Gross: +$808.50
Net: +$717.08
Loss From Top: $17.44
Trades: 54
Shares Traded: 99138

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Micron Tech (MU): +$440.71
General Electric (GE): +$88.16
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$69.99
Corning (GLW): +$51.84
Sprint-Nextel (S): +$32.29
Citigroup (C): +$30.95
Home Depot (HD): +$3.43

After reflecting what went wrong the past two trading days, I was able to trade like my old self again today.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - it is because of this blog that I am able to really focus on any problems I've been encountering and I have been able to slowly improve the way in which I trade.

By really investigating the root cause of the problem, I can focus on correcting it. I also know the importance of not laying blame. In the past, I kept blaming market choppiness for my poor results. But I realized that by giving myself that excuse, I can never improve.

Today the markets gave us a nice wild ride. The markets opened down, but after Bernanke spoke, the markets shot straight up, came back down, then continued upwards until roughly 12:30PM. The rest of the day was relatively flat.

But today, I really focussed on when NOT to trade. By picking my trades wisely, I am able limit the number of losing trades. In fact, I only had one losing trade today! I only lost $15 on that losing trade (which happened to be the last trade of the day).

However I think I traded a little too conservatively today. I cut a lot of my winners short and I also missed a few opportunities because I was waiting for some confirming evidence before getting into a position.

Nonetheless, I succeeded in stopping the bleeding from the previous two days.

Good Trades
10:11AM - Micron Tech (MU) was up as were the Futures. Went long 6000 shares and got out as follows: 1-cent winner (2000 shares), 3-cent winner (2000 shares), 4-cent winner (2000 shares) ($160 profit before fees)

10:19AM - General Electric (GE) and the Futures were up. Got long 8000 shares and got out as follows - even (2000 shares), 1-cent winner (2000 shares), 2-cent winner (2000 shares), 3-cent winner (2000 shares) ($120 profit before fees)

11:10AM - Micron Tech (MU) was up and so were the Futures. Futures ripped up. Got partially filled long on 4800 shares (out of 8000 shares). Got out as follows: 2-cent winner (200 shares), 3-cent winner (4600 shares) ($140 profit before fees)

Bad Trades
None!

The "Ball Buster"

Gross: +$279.56
Net: +$116.96
Loss From Top: $372.87
Trades: 79
Shares Traded: 184800

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
General Electric (GE): +$118.81
Coca-Cola (KO): +$115.10
Micron Tech (MU): +$64.83
AT&T (T): +$42.16
Citigroup (C): -$74.46
Sprint-Nextel (S): -$149.49

What a disappointing day today. Everything was going just fine until about 10:15AM. At that time, I was up almost $500, but then it happened - the "Ball Buster".

A "Ball Buster" is one very bad trade that basically trips you up and ruins a perfectly good day. And for me, it happened on AT&T (T). On that one particular trade, I lost $520! Once that happened, it basically set the tone for the rest of the day and I was barely able to keep myself in positive territory.

I struggled the rest of the day and traded way too much considering that the overall market did not move in any significant direction. It felt as though the "Ball Buster" left me dazed and confused and half the time I didn't even know what or why I was in a particular position.

I've been reviewing what I've been doing today and yesterday and I think I may know what's been going wrong. Here are a few things I've noticed that may have contributed to my poor performance the last two days:

• I started using 8000 shares; just like in the month of March, by moving up to a larger share size, I've been trying to get long or short 8000 shares whenever the bid or ask would let me - in other words, I was getting long/short 8000 shares because at that particular moment it was possible (and I disregarded most of my trading rules)
  
• Some stocks are simply not fit for trading 8000 shares at a time - stocks like PFE, GE, MOT, and TWX are OK for trading 8000 shares at a time, but on other stocks it might be a little too risky. Yesterday I traded Citigroup (C) with 8000 shares, which can be quite risky
  
• Knowing when to trade and when NOT to trade. I think this is probably one of the most important aspects of trading. Over the last two days, emotions got to the better of me and revenge trading got me into trades at times when I shouldn't have been trading at all

I'm going to be working on these items (again). It seems like everytime I step up with size, these problems always seem to recur. The key item will be knowing when NOT to trade. Over
the past two days, I traded way too many times when the market was flat.

I had several good trades during the day (over $100), but I'll just review those that made $200+. There was just the one very bad trade (the Ball Buster). For most of the afternoon I gained some, then lost some and basically hovered around the unchanged mark.

Good Trades
9:38AM - AT&T (T) had a strong uptrend going and the Futures were up. Size on the ask was breaking, so I tried to go long 8000 shares, but got partially filled for only 3800 shares. Got out as follows: 3-cent winner (2000 shares), 7-cent winner (500 shares), 10-cent winner (1300 shares) ($225 profit before fees).

10:30AM - AT&T (T) was uptrending, while the Futures were relatively flat. I went long 6000 shares when the Futures popped up. Got out as follows: 2-cent winner (2000 shares), 3-cent winner (2000 shares), 6-cent winner (2000 shares) ($220 profit before fees).

Bad Trades
10:14AM - AT&T (T) was uptrending, but was encountering resistance. The Futures were flat. I saw some size on the ask and for whatever reason, I decided to hit it with 8000 shares without any other consideration. Needless to say, it was a stupid move - got out as follows: 1-cent loser (2000 shares), 4-cent loser (400 shares), 8-cent loser (2000 shares), 9-cent loser (3600 shares) ($520 loser before fees).

• Again, knowing when NOT to trade was a missing element in this trade. If I had wanted to go long, I should have waited for the Futures to move to the upside before going long, since it was at a resistance level
  
• I was also over-confident when I put this trade on. I was up almost $500 and all my trades prior to this one were good trades. I just remember sitting there after I got out of the trade, staring with disbelief at what had just occurred - for the rest of the day, I felt like a zombie (like I didn't know what hit me), and traded with frustration
  

Wow - It's Been A While Since I've Seen Red...

Gross: - $121.95
Net: -$338.86
Loss From Top: $727.46
Trades: 76
Shares Traded: 220200

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
AT&T (T): +$542.85
General Electric (GE): +$256.51
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): +$130.66
Home Depot (HD): +$40.17
Walmart (WMT): -$131.07
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): -$160.04
Motorola (MOT): -$164.92
Pfizer (PFE): -$219.52
Citigroup (C): -$553.11

My goodness! Today was a very terrible trading day for me. I haven't been negative since the first trading day of April, so I am really disappointed with today's results.

Lack of focus and discipline were the root causes of today's horrible numbers. And look at that horrible "Loss From Top"! I managed to lose over $700 over the course of the afternoon!

For most of the morning, I was doing OK and I was up almost $400 by noon.

But what happened was that at around 1PM the markets tanked hard, then quickly ripped back up...and it did this three times within a short period of time (within 30 minutes).

Well guess what - I was severely beaten when this occurred - I had big positions and was shaken out for some hefty losses during this up and down period. It felt like the market was trying to shake a coconut tree to see how many coconuts would fall out. Well, looks like I was one of the unfortunate coconuts that got hurt by all that shaking.

It was at that point, I started to trade with way too much emotion (it was more like rage trading!). For the rest of the afternoon I was flinging 8000 and 10,000 share orders left, right, and centre without thinking twice about my trades.

And thus the downward spiral started and I continued to trade with rage until the end of the day. I should have known better...I should have taken a break and let myself cool off (on previous days, cooling off did wonders), but today I did not, and it cost me.

Today I had some really great winners, however they were more than offset my numerous bad trades. I lost a lot of money on Citigroup (C) today - mostly because of revenge trading. This was truly disappointing to me because this is the first trading day in April in which I lost money on Citigroup.

The lesson of the day: NEVER TRADE EMOTIONALLY!

Good Trades
11:01AM - AT&T (T) was uptrending strongly had broken resistance at $25.75. I got long 8000 shares and got out as follows: 6-cent winner (4000 shares), 7-cent winner (2000 shares), 8-cent winner (2000 shares) ($540 profit before fees)

3:22PM - General Electric (GE) looked like it caught some support, so I got long 8000 shares. Got out as follows: 1-cent winner (2000 shares), 3-cent winner (4000 shares), 4-cent winner (800 shares), 5-cent winner (1200 shares) ($232 profit before fees)

Bad Trades
10:12AM - Pfizer (PFE) was uptrending but Futures were flat. Got long 5000 shares, but Pfizer went down. Got out for a 3-cent loser ($150 loss before fees)

• I had Pfizer on my "Do Not Trade" list - why I decided to trade it today, I will never know...unfortunately, this was not the only time I traded PFE today....

10:25AM - Pfizer (PFE) was now in a downtrend as were the Futures. I got short 8000 shares, but as usual, PFE never seems to go with my trade. I got out as follows: 1-cent loser (4000 shares), 4-cent loser (4000 shares) ($200 loss before fees)

• Again - I should remind myself - DO NOT TRADE PFIZER! The Level 2 makes it soo easy to get long or short, but ultimately, it is very difficult to trade
  

12:58PM - Citigroup (C) was uptrending slightly while the Futures were chopping around. I got long 6000 shares because some support showed up on the bid. Well, like a lot of trades today, this one went against me - got out as follows: 3-cent loser (1200 shares), 4-cent loser (200 shares), 5-cent loser (1900 shares), 6-cent loser (2000 shares), 7-cent loser (700 shares) ($200 loss before fees)

• It was around this time I was starting to feel frustrated and was randomly getting into positions whenever I could...I should have slowed down to collect myself, but unfortunately this was only the start of things to come...

2:31PM - Hewlett Packard (HPQ) was uptrending strongly. I looked at the Level 2 and saw so much support to go long (there were 4 levels on the bid that had 500+ size on it!). I got long 8000 shares. HPQ then continued to run upwards! The sizes on the bids kept moving upwards and looked like I was going to capture a 10-cent move or more! Along the way up, I got some shares out, but then suddenly, all the sizes disappeared and in a blink of an eye, prices dropped more than 20-cents in just a few seconds...I had to get the rest of my shares out....Got out as follows: 8-cent winner (1500 shares), 6-cent winner (2000 shares), 7-cent loser (3000 shares), 11-cent loser (1500 shares) ($165 loser before fees).

• I shouldn't have been too greedy on this trade. At one point I was looking at a $700 winner, but I kept cancelling my orders and kept placing them higher.
• But honestly, I've never seen anything like it - bring up an intraday chart of HPQ and you'll know what I'm talking about - a huge run up, then a sudden drop

3:41PM - Motorola (MOT) was downtrending slightly, but the Futures were chopping around. I got long 8000 shares, and got out as follows: 2-cent loser (3900 shares), 3-cent loser (4100 shares) ($201 loser before fees)

• This was a pure revenge trade and a classic example of what can happen when you're trading angry
• There was no reason for me to get into the trade in the first place - all I saw was some size on the offer that could handle an 8000 share trade, so I just went long.
  

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Gross: +$559.00
Net: +$395.56
Loss From Top: $64.06
Trades: 62
Shares Traded: 156600

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Citigroup (C): +$353.65
Motorola (MOT): +$204.16
Home Depot (HD): +$71.15
JP Morgan (JPM): +$49.39
Micron Tech (MU): +$21.67
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): -$70.51
Pfizer (PFE): -$114.99
Coca-Cola (KO): -$118.96

Today I found it really tough to trade. The markets chopped around all over the place in such a narrow range and when the markets did move, there was hardly any follow-through.

So many times today I was forced out of my trade for a loser because the overall markets and most stocks just didn't really want to seem to go anywhere.

And it was because of the nature of today's markets that I missed 4 great trades because I hesistated getting into a position for fear it would chop right back.

It was also unfortunate that I was really going to practice patience in holding positions today (I was aiming to try to make 10 cents on several of my big positions), but because of the directionless nature of the markets today, I often had to take small winners or small losers.

Today I also started feeling a little more comfortable trading with 8000 shares - hopefully soon I will get really comfortable so that I can start trading 10,000 or 20,000 shares at a time.

Most of my trades today were really done out of boredom. I think if I had followed my trading strategy to the letter today, I probably would have only done a third of the trades I did today.

All in all, I was fighting hard to stay awake because nothing was happening for almost the entire day.

Good Trades
11:31AM - Motorola (MOT) was uptrending but had stalled. The Futures were also curving upwards. I got long 8000 shares and got out as follows: 1-cent winner (2000 shares), 2-cent winner (3000 shares), 3-cent winner (3000 shares) ($170 profit before fees)

3:26PM - Citigroup (C) was uptrending as were the Futures. The Futures ripped up, so I got long 6000 shares. Got out as follows: 1-cent winner (1800 shares), 2-cent winner (200 shares), 3-cent winner (2000 shares), 8-cent winner (2000 shares) ($242 profit before fees)

Bad Trades
1:05PM - Coca-Cola (KO) appeared to be ranging while the Futures were flat. Size broke on the bid and I thought KO was at resistance, so I went short 4000 shares. Just then, the Futures popped up - I figured that since it was a choppy day that the Futures would pop back down. Well it did, but KO did not - as a result I had to get out as follows: 1-cent winner (1000 shares), 4-cent loser (3000 shares) ($110 loser before fees).

• This is a prime example of what can happen if you put on a "I'm bored" trade
• One of the things I should have done with this particular trade was to reduce my share size (to perhaps 2000 shares), since it did not meet all of my trading criteria
  

The Market Is Tanking...Why Aren't You Moving!

Gross: +$762.50
Net: +$612.56
Loss From Top: 0
Trades: 59
Shares Traded: 138000

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Motorola (MOT): +$246.72
Citigroup (C): +$238.37
Micron Tech (MU): +$194.12
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): +$48.31
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): -$19.31
Home Depot (HD): -$34.57
Walmart (WMT): -$61.10

The title of this post is what I found myself saying many times today. Several times I got into a position because the markets were tanking, however certain stocks (HD, WMT, and JNJ) just refused to go down!

I kept making the same mistakes over and over again on these three stocks. I kept getting into a position that didn't move. As a result, most of the profits from the morning were slowly eaten away by these trades in which I got out for even, or out for 1-cent losers.

It was only until the last two hours of the trading day was I able to make some real money.

Today I practiced patience. There were several times today in which a big position went against me initially, but I held and ended up with a profitable trade. I also limited my losses at the same time (I know it sounds like a contradiction, but trust me - there is a difference).

Managed to keep my losing trades at bay today. In fact, I was quite surprised I was able to keep my losses to a minimum, considering some of the sizes of my positions today. As a result, I only have one bad trade to report today.

I also had the patience to hold onto positions for a little longer than usual, and it resulted in some fantastic trades.

If only I hadn't repeated the same mistakes over and over again today, I would have had a great day. I'm just glad that I didn't lose too much when I did encounter these mistakes.

Good Trades
10:10AM - Citigroup (C) had finished tanking and appeared to bottom out. Just then, the Futures ripped up. I got long 6000 shares and got out as follows: 5-cent winner (2600 shares), 6-cent winner (400 shares), 7-cent winner (3000 shares) ($364 profit before fees).

11:24AM - Motorola (MOT) was downtrending, but there was huge support at $22.30 (there was over 1000+ size on the bid). The Futures appeared to be turning around as well. I got long 8000 shares at $22.31 and got out for a 4-cent winner on all 8000 shares ($320 profit before fees).

3:32PM - Micron Tech (MU) started uptrending and the Futures also started uptrending. I got long 6000 shares. Just then, the Futures ripped up. Got out as follows: 5-cent winner (3000 shares), 7-cent winner (3000 shares) ($360 profit before fees).

Bad Trades
11:08AM - Micron Tech (MU) was uptrending as were the Futures. When there was an opportunity, I tried to get long 8000 shares. I was partially filled for 3800 shares, when all of a sudden, the Futures started tanking. I quickly cancelled the balance of my order. In the blink of an eye, I was looking at a losing trade. I got my 3800 shares out for a 4-cent loser ($152 loser before fees)

• Not much can be said about this trade. I guess you can call it bad timing. There was support behind my trade (there were at least 2 big levels on the bid behind my trade) - unfortunately the support quickly disappeared as soon as the Futures tanked
• There will be trades like this from time to time - where it looks like the perfect trade, but it goes against you. I'm just glad I didn't get filled for all 8000 shares!
  

I Got Murdered By Walmart Today!

Gross: +$753.74
Net: +$558.86
Loss From Top: $30.09
Trades: 69
Shares Traded: 200600

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Mircon Tech (MU): +$479.04
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): +$206.72
Motorola (MOT): +$175.24
Citigroup (C): +$119.95
Merck (MRK): +$109.56
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$62.48
Corning (GLW): -$46.81
Pfizer (PFE): -$49.57
JP Morgan (JPM): -$117.14
Walmart (WMT): -$380.61

What a wild day it was for me today! I was up over $300 in the first hour and a half of trade, then in a span of 30 minutes I lost close to $550, then for the rest of the day, I made it all back plus a few hundred more!

In the morning, the overall markets had a good move upwards, then a rather sloppy move downwards, followed by flat (and I mean really flat) afternoon.

During the up move by the markets in the morning, I was very upset at myself for not catching any of it. I tried to get long on several stocks using 8000 shares, but unfortunately I was too slow and I was not able to get any shares at all!

Once the up move was over, I was really steaming mad (there was money being tossed everywhere, but I couldn't take advantage of it!). At that point (while I was still pissed), I put on 4 very bad trades in a row within a span of 30 minutes, and lost close to $550!

Boy! If I was mad before, you can only guess how much madder I was after I lost all that money!

I then took a little break to cool off and managed to get my head on straight. For the rest of the afternoon, I calmly made it all back and ended up with a fairly decent day. I can only imagine how much more I would have made if I hadn't traded angrily!

But today I couldn't believe my luck on Walmart (WMT)! Every trade on WMT was a losing trade for me! I lost almost $400 on it today and had it not been for Micron Tech (MU), I don't know where I'd be!

Looking back, I should have traded smarter on WMT. I should have paid closer attention to WMT's intraday charts. It usually doesn't look as ugly as it does today - the movements on it almost felt random at times.

Micron Tech (MU) however, was a cash cow today. It's movements were fairly nice and there was lots of size in which to get long on. I only wish I had used more shares when I was trading it.

Well, there are lots of good trades and lots of bad trades today. That was because today I mainly traded with 5000 and 6000 shares. I had tried several times to use 8000 shares, but most of the time, I got partially filled or I was too slow. I'll have to limit my review to the top 3 and worst 3 trades to make this post shorter.

Also note the number of shares traded today. Over 200,000 is a new record for me. I know it's small potatoes compared to some of the other traders at my company (some trade upwards of 4 million shares!), but to me, it's a good step forward - I'm starting to use larger share sizes and I'm not afraid to use it!

Good Trades
11:37AM - Motorola (MOT) looked like it caught some support and there was some nice sizes on the bid. I got long 5000 shares and got out as follows: 2-cent winner (3000 shares), 3-cent winner (2000 shares) ($120 profit before fees).

1:24PM - Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) had just finished downtrending and looked like it caught some support. Futures popped up a but, so I got long 3000 shares. Got out as follows: 4-cent winner (1500 shares), 5-cent winner (1500 shares) ($135 profit before fees).

2:07PM - Micron Tech (MU) looked like it was stuck in a 2-cent range. When it broke upwards, I got long 6000 shares. Got out as follows: 3-cent winner (3000 shares), 4-cent winner (3000 shares) ($210 profit before fees).

Bad Trades
11:03AM - Walmart (WMT) was moving all over the place while the Futures were doing not much of anything. I saw some size on the bid break, so I went short 6000 shares. Well, WMT was acting like a drunk trying to walk a straight line, but I held my position as it swung for and against me, hoping WMT would go down further. The Futures popped up, so I had to get out for a 3-cent loser ($180 loser before fees).

• This was one of the 4 trades that lost me $550 - it was during this time I was trading with too much emotion
• IF I had my head on straight, I would have seen that WMT was too unpredictable to be traded
• It was one of those trades in which I saw something that gave me an excuse to get into a position - even though the trade did not fit all my trading criteria

11:24AM - Pfizer (PFE) had some size that broke on the bid, so I went short 6000 shares. The Futures were doing nothing. Well, like typical Pfizer, the Level 2 tricked me into getting into a position and I paid for it by taking a 2-cent loser ($120 loss before fees).

• This was another one of the 4 trades that lost me a bundle. I was still trading with emotion at the time and I was forcing myself into positions in the hopes of making some of the money I missed out on
• I should have known better - the intraday charts clearly showed PFE was uptrending at the time - why I chose to go short is a question I may never find out
• One should NEVER EVER trade solely based on what the Level 2 says on Pfizer. This is one of the reasons I try to avoid trading Pfizer - because the Level 2 makes it soo tempting to get into a position that looks really good, but will end up costing you money!

12:19PM - JP Morgan (JPM) wasn't doing too much at the time and the Futures were flat. I had just retrieved my lunch when I saw something on the Level 2 to make me go long 3000 shares on JPM. I ended up taking a 3-cent loser (1000 shares), and 4-cent loser (2000 shares) ($110 loser before fees).

• This trade was done out of haste - I didn't even have time to pull up the chart for JPM; I just sat down after getting my lunch and I saw something out of the corner of my eye on the Level 2, and I just quickly entered a position without thinking twice
  
• Once I was in the position, I knew right away it was not a good one - the main reason this trade did not work out was because I did not fully assess the situation on JPM
  

A Dull And Boring Day

Gross: +$584.00
Net: +$470.70
Loss From Top: $130.85
Trades: 44
Shares Traded: 100400

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Citigroup (C): +$255.67
Motorola (MOT): +$103.38
JP Morgan (JPM): +$68.26
Coca-Cola (KO): +$53.75
Micron Tech (MU): +$47.46
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): +$21.84
Walmart (WMT): -$79.69

What a dull and boring day it was today. For me, there was lack of opportunities and the overall markets hovered around the unchanged mark for the entire day.

Today I felt like my old self again by making around $400 within the first hour. But for the rest of the day, frustration set in as I waited and waited and waited for the markets to do something.

I took small profits here and there throughout the afternoon and I was up $600 by 3PM, but I think I got impatient and I tried to make things happen. Unfortunately that was a bad move because I ended up losing $130 on the last two trades of the day. I was just glad I limited my losses on those two trades and didn't lose a bundle on them.

Looks like I'm starting to get into a groove here and some consistency appears to be forming. My last 8 trading days have been positive. On two of the trading days, my net was less than $100 (however those two days we had system problems for most of the day), while the remaining days were all greater than $400.

Hope the markets move somewhere tomorrow!

Good Trades
9:54AM - Citigroup (C) and the Futures were up slightly. A level broke on Citi, so I got long 5000 shares. Got out as follows: 3-cent winner (1000 shares), 4-cent winner (2000 shares), 5-cent winner (1000 shares), 6-cent winner (900 shares), 11-cent winner (100 shares) ($225 profit before fees)

2:40PM - Motorola (MOT) was uptrending and the Futures were flat. Motorola broke a big resistance level, so I got long 5000 shares and got out as follows: 1-cent loser (300 shares), 1-cent winner (400 shares), 2-cent winner (2300 shares), 3-cent winner (2000 shares) ($107 profit before fees)

Bad Trades
None - however the last two trades should not have been put on. The Futures were directionless and I should have waited for a clear break in the Futures (which never came) before putting on any trade. On both trades, I lost less than $100.

Feels Sooo Good To Be Back!

Gross: +$1,073.00
Net: +$924.11
Loss From Top: 0
Trades: 73
Shares Traded: 150200

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$408.33
Citigroup (C): +$381.48
Micron Tech (MU): +$158.61
JP Morgan (JPM): +$124.55
Walmart (WMT): +$25.44
Corning (GLW): -$60.21
Home Depot (HD): -$114.10

After missing two trading days and a long weekend, I came back from my vacation wanting...no, needing to trade!

The markets were up big today. For most of the day, the overall market uptrended nicely (though some of the stocks I was watching were not uptrending as nicely). When the FOMC meeting minutes came out at 2PM, the markets went crazy (though I couldn't find anything to get long on when the markets popped up)! We ended up closing near the highs of the day.

Right from the get-go, I overtraded (I guess it was to fulfill my need to trade) and unlike the last couple of trading days, the first hour was not so profitable for me. By 11AM, I was up only $74!

At that point, I took a deep breath, organized my thinking, then made a bundle of money for the rest of the day. Today I also felt fairly comfortable trading with 5000 and 6000 shares at a time. It also helped that the market was uptrending all day.

I put on a couple of bad trades on Home Depot (HD), but I kept each of my losing trades to a minimum. I also kept my losses to a minimum on Corning (GLW), Walmart (WMT) and Micron Tech (MU). As a result, there are no bad trades for me to report today!

There were, however, a ton of good trades today. Below I will describe them very briefly and I'll skip some to try to keep this post short.

I almost cracked $1000+ net today, but if it weren't for some sloppy trades in the morning, I would have easily surpassed $1000. Also, had I not overtraded, I might have been up $300+ within the first hour of trading.

Oh well - there's always tomorrow.

Good Trades
9:51AM - Micron Tech (MU) and the Futures were uptrending. The Futures ripped up. I got long 5000 shares and got out as follows: 4-cent winner (2000 shares), 5-cent winner (2900 shares), 7-cent winner (100 shares) ($232 profit before fees)

11:16AM - Hewlett Packard (HPQ) and the Futures were uptrending. Futures popped upwards so I got long 5000 shares. Got out as follows: 2-cent winner (1000 shares), 3-cent winner (3000 shares), 4-cent winner (1000 shares) ($150 profit before fees)

11:38AM - Citigroup (C) and Futures were uptrending. Citigroup (C) broke a level of resistance so I got long 5000 shares when it broke. Got out as follows: 3-cent winner (2000 shares), 5-cent winner (3000 shares) ($210 profit before fees)

11:50AM - JP Morgan (JPM) and Futures were uptrending. Futures ripped up. Got long 5000 shares. Got out as follows: 2-cent winner (2000 shares), 4-cent winner (3000 shares) ($140 profit before fees)

2:17PM - Citigroup (C) and Futures were up. Futures ripped up. Got long 5000 shares and took profit as follows: 1-cent winner (400 shares), 2-cent winner (1600 shares), 5-cent winner (2000 shares), 6-cent winner (1000 shares) ($196 profit before fees)

3:34PM - Hewlett Packard (HPQ) and Futures were up. Got long 5000 shares. Got out as follows: 3-cent winner (4000 shares), 4-cent winner (1000 shares) ($160 profit before fees)

Bad Trades
None!

Farewell...At Least Until Next Week Tuesday

Gross: +$784.00
Net: +$700.10
Loss From Top: 0
Trades: 54
Shares Traded: 80800

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Home Depot (HD): +$291.41
Corning (GLW): +$180.79
Bell South (BLS): +$155.24
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$54.22
Walmart (WMT): +$26.35
Micron Tech (MU): +$17.27
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): +$1.09
Motorola (MOT): -$26.29

Well, I'm off and packing! I'll be going on a cruise that will leave tomorrow morning and will not return until Monday evening.

Today, there were some wild swings in the morning, followed by a flat afternoon. Like the past couple of days before, I was up quite a bit within the first hour of trading (up about $450), and took it easy for the rest of the day to protect my profits.

Nothing really special to tell you about today. Some good trades made me a bundle, and one trade that lost me a bundle. My total would have been a bit more had I been more patient with one of my trades in which I exited too early.

But other than that one trade, I tried to practice my patience in holding winners today - and it paid of handsomely today.

Well, I'm off, so until next Tuesday, happy trading!

Good Trades
9:47AM - Both Home Depot (HD) and Futures were downtrending when HD met some size on the bid. When it broke, I went short 3000 shares and got out as follows: 0-cents (100 shares), 3-cent winner (1900 shares), 4-cent winner (900 shares), 5-cent winner (100 shares) ($98 profit before fees).

9:51AM - Corning (GLW) was uptrending and the Futures started moving upwards. GLW encountered resistance at the $26.50 level (there was about 150+ size on the offer). The Futures ripped up, so I got long 4000 shares. Got out as follows: 5-cent winner (2000 shares), 6-cent winner (2000 shares) ($220 profit before fees).

10:11AM - Bell South (BLS) had just curved downwards and encountered some size on the bid at $33.05 (there was about 500+ size on the bid). Futures started tanking, so I got short 3000 shares. Got out as follows: 7-cent winner (1000 shares), 12-cent winner (1200 shares), 13-cent winner (800 shares) ($318 profit before fees).

10:30AM - Home Depot (HD) and Futures were downtrending. HD reached the $41 level. When it broke, I got short 3000 shares and got out as follows: 4-cent winner (1200 shares), 5-cent winner (800 shares), 6-cent winner (1000 shares) ($148 profit before fees).

Bad Trades
10:09AM - Bell South (BLS) was downtrending, but the Futures were uptrending slightly. There was some size on the bid (150+ size), and when it broke, I went long 3000 shares. Bad move...BLS came back down and I had to get out the entire position for a 5-cent loser ($150 loser before fees).

• I should have been smarter - I was expecting BLS to bounce after a strong downward movement. I should have waited for a rip in the Futures if I had wanted to get long.
• I also held this position longer than I should have - I could have gotten out for maybe 2 or 3 cent loser, but there was some size behind my position on the bid about 5 cents from my position - when it looked like it was going to break, I had no choice but to get out of the position
• Also, the size I used for this particular trade was too big, considering it did not fit any of my trading criteria...instead I should have used either 1000 or 2000 shares
  

Not Again!?!?!?!?!

Gross: +$104.80
Net: +$57.76
Loss From Top: $51.00
Trades: 29
Shares Traded: 40940

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Citigroup (C): +$61.22
Home Depot (HD): +$44.65
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$12.28
Walmart (WMT): -$9.93
Alcoa (AA): -$50.46

Ha! The system goes down again today and we were left with nothing to do but twiddle our thumbs for most of the day.

The execution server went down at around 10:30AM and did not come back online until roughly 3PM.

I have a feeling someone is getting in big trouble over this. This has happened at least 3 times in the last week and a half. Not only does it cost the company profits (I think there are well over 400 traders worldwide missing out on making money), but the company also has to eat all the losses that may have occurred during the downtime (and believe me, there are some really big players in our company with some really big positions).

Today there was a great move in the morning, but the rest of the day seemed to go nowhere (even though I didn't get to participate in it). Unfortunately I missed most of the big downward movement of the market because I simply couldn't find anything good to short.

After a brief pause by the market at around 10AM, it started a second leg downwards. I was able to catch a bit of that move, but I was so upset that I didn't hold onto my position. At that time, I managed to get short 5000 shares of Walmart (WMT).

For some reason, WMT looked unwilling to go down with the rest of the market, so I got out of my position. Once out of my position, WMT tanked hard and fast...I all I could do was sit and watch as it plunged 20 cents.

I then put on a bad trade on WMT and lost everything I had made. It seemed like as soon as I got out of that losing trade, the system went down.

After the system was down for about an hour and a half, many of the traders went home (as they figured it wouldn't come back online). I stuck around in the event they got the system up and running (cause I'd rather be trading than anything else!). Plus, this week is going to be an extremely short week for me, so I wanted to trade as much as I could.

Finally at roughly 3PM, they said we could trade again. I found few opportunities here and there, but I couldn't make a decent day out of it.

Good Trades
10:18AM - Walmart (WMT) and the Futures were downtrending. The Futures suddenly tanked really hard, so I got short 5000 shares when the support level of $45.50 broke. It moved down a few cents, but after a few minutes, WMT didn't seem to go anywhere, so I got out as follows: 2-cent winner (3200 shares), 3-cent winner (1500 shares), 4-cent winner (300 shares) ($121 profit before fees). After I got out, WMT lingered around for another minute or two, but then tanked really hard (rats! missed out on a great move!).

3:45PM - Both Citigroup (C) and Futures started moving back up after being stuck near the lows of the day for most of the afternoon. I got long 3000 shares when I had a chance and got out as follows: 3-cent winner (1000 shares), 4-cent winner (2000 shares) ($110 profit before fees)

Bad Trades
10:31AM - Walmart (WMT) and the Futures were still downtrending. I got short and got partially filled for 1900 shares. Unfortunately, after such an extended move downwards, both the Futures and WMT bounced back up. I got out for a 6-cent loser on the entire position ($114 loser before fees).

• I should have been more cautious when I got into this position. Both WMT and the Futures had already tanked a great deal and was due for a bounce at anytime soon. Unfortunately I got short almost near the low of the day on WMT.
• If I had wanted to go short on WMT, I should have waited for the Futures to start tanking hard again. This is because after an extended downwards movement, there is a greater chance of a bounce - and to prevent getting caught on the wrong side of a bounce, I should have waited to see if the Futures were going to tank some more.
  

Another Good Start...And Another Lousy Finish

Gross: +$524.00
Net: +$439.25
Loss From Top: $21.70
Trades: 63
Shares Traded: 70600

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$194.60
Citigroup (C): +$161.09
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): +$74.70
Walmart (WMT): +$58.90
Corning (GLW): +$16.53
Home Depot (HD): +$5.01
Advanced MicroDevices (AMD): -$71.60

It was another day with a very good start (was up over $400 within the first 30 minutes of the open), but as the day chugged along, I lost some, gained some back, and ended up not making a dime for the rest of the day.

I think I'm beginning to understand why there are some traders in our office that leave after the first 2 hours of trade. The last few trading days would have been better off for me if I had simply left after the first hour of trading...

Even though there appeared to be nice trends during the day (an uptrend from about open till noon; then a nice downtrend from noon till 2PM, the choppy from 2PM to close), I found that both up and down trends were fairly sloppy and I found it hard to find an entry position in the stocks I was watching. I just remember commenting on how ugly a lot of the stock charts looked for most of the day.

I've also noticed that I'm starting to reduce my share size when I'm trading. Most of my trades in the morning were for 3000 or 4000 shares...Hmmmmmm - don't know why that happened....I've got to step it up a bit if I want to get better, so tomorrow I'll try minimum of 4000, but will use 5000 shares as the norm.

Of course, I'll only use 5000/6000 shares for stocks like WMT, C, GE, HPQ, and any other stock that has decent size. I'll use 4000 for the thinner stocks like HD, GLW, AMD, and JNJ (though I might lose a lot with these stocks). I dunno - I'll see how I feel tomorrow.

For the rest of the week, I'm not going to post in the evening...I'm preparing for a little mini-vacation (leaving Thursday morning, returning Monday evening), so I got some packing, transportation arrangement, and documentation to gathering to do.

Hope you all understand...

Good Trades
9:53AM - Home Depot (HD) was downtrending when there was a size vs. size battle (when there's big size on the bid and big size on the ask - both had size over 100). The ask broke first, so I went long and got partially filled for 2800 shares at $41.91. I took my profit as follows: 3-cent winner (100 shares), 5-cent winner (1700 shares), 6-cent (1000 shares) ($148 profit before fees).

9:59AM - Hewlett Packard (HPQ) was uptrending as were the Futures. Another size vs. size battle occurred. The ask broke so I went long 3000 shares at $30.30. Got as out follows: 4-cent winner (1000 shares), 6-cent winner (1000 shares), 10-cent winner (1000 shares) ($200 profit before fees).

11:16AM - Citigroup (C) was uptrending and so were the Futures. Citigroup was pushing to new intraday highs and there was some big resistance at $48.08 (there was about 800+ size on the ask). Futures ripped and the level broke, so I went long 5000 shares at $48.08. Got out as follows: 2-cent winner (2000 shares), 3-cent winner (3000 shares) ($130 profit before fees).

Bad Trades
11:01AM - Home Depot (HD) was flat, but the Futures were uptrending. I had originally wanted to go short 1000 shares, but a keystroke error got me short 3000 shares. I was able to get some of it out for a profit, but then the Futures ripped and I had to get out for a loser. I got out as follows: 2-cent winner (600 shares), 1-cent winner (1400 shares), 3-cent loser (300 shares), 13-cent loser (700 shares) ($74 loser before fees).

• I could blame the keystroke error for the loss - but then I won't learn anything! I would probably have to say that I should have gotten the entire position out for a small profit when I had the chance (and I did have a chance - there was ample opportunity for me to get out at a profit)
• I cannot really blame getting into this position in the first place - I followed my rules in that if the trade does not follow all my rules, but looks like it may move, then I will use only 1000 shares - originally I put this trade on just to make 1 or 2 cents....unfortunately I got short 3000 shares instead of 1000 shares.
• I could have gotten the last 700 shares out at a much better price. When one of the levels that was supporting my trade broke, I should have known then to get the last 700 shares out...I didn't and I "hoped" - as a result I took a bigger loss than it should have been
  

12:26PM - Advanced MicroDevices (AMD) was flat and the Futures were not going anywhere. I saw something on the Level 2 on AMD and decided to get short 1000 shares. Well it was a bad move...got out the entire position for a 7-cent loser ($70 loss before fees)

• Again - these "I'm bored" kind of trades are probably gonna kill me in the end. I've got to stay focused and stick to the plan; unlike the Home Depot trade above, there was nothing to suggest I should get short on AMD
• At around this time, frustration started to set in because like the previous trading days, I was off to a quick start, but couldn't find opportunities to make money for the rest of the day and I was trying to make something happen
  

Out Of The Gates Hot...Reached The Finish Line Exhausted

Gross: +$633.04
Net: +$514.59
Loss From Top: $90.98
Trades: 71
Shares Traded: 102000

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Walmart (WMT): +$320.27
Citigroup (C): +$133.08
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$102.92
Corning (GLW): +$46.25
Home Depot (HD): +$43.42
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): +$35.58
JP Morgan (JPM): +$17.16
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): -$74.23
General Electric (GE): -$110.37

I started the day on fire! Within the first 20 minutes of the opening bell, I put on a couple of trades and just like that I was up about $400. At that point I was thinking that this was going to be a really good day.

But after the morning move, the overall market trudged along and hardly moved in either direction. I basically limped to the finish line and at the end of the day, I was totally exhausted from trying to make things happen in the afternoon.

There were some trades in the middle of the day that shouldn't have been put on. I would have had another $300 profit in my pocket if it weren't for those trades in which I was "trying to make something out of nothing" during the market lull.

Afterwards, I traded a little more carefully to protect the profits I already had. After it was clear that the rest of the day was going to be ranging and choppy, I reduced my share size and tried not to take as much risk.

Good Trades
9:40AM - Both Citigroup (C) and the Futures were uptrending. Size of 100+ began breaking on the offer, so I got long 4000 shares. Got out as follows: 2-cent winner (2000 shares), 3-cent winner (2000 shares) ($100 profit before fees).

9:43AM - Both Walmart (WMT) and the Futures started tanking. Some big size (200+ size) started making it's way down on the offer and kept pushing WMT down until it met some size (100+ size) on the bid. I went short 4000 shares and got out as follows: 4-cent winner (1000 shares), 5-cent winner (1000 shares), 6-cent winner (1000 shares), 10-cent winner (1000 shares) ($250 profit before fees).

12:45PM - Walmart (WMT) was downtrending, while the Futures were sideways and ranging. WMT reached the $46 level (I think there was about 400+ size on the bid at $46). I got short 4000 shares when the level broke and got out as follows: 2-cent winner (1000 shares), 4-cent winner (3000 shares) ($140 profit before fees).

Bad Trades
11:56AM - General Electric (GE) and the Futures were trading sideways at the time. On the level 2, it looked like a good long because there was 100+ size on the next 3 price levels on the bid. I went long 5000 shares but prices simply did not move. Then GE started falling, and I watched as the 3 levels supporting my trade melted away. I got out for a 2-cent loser when I could. ($100 loser before fees).

• This trade was one of those "I'm bored and I want to make $1000 today" type of trade. The only basis for this trade was what I saw on the level 2. In short, I basically broke almost all of my trading rules.
  
• I think I felt impatient because after the quick start near the open, there weren't many opportunities afterwards and I wanted to make something happen. Well I did make something happen alright - and it made me sick to my stomach!

Oh, by the way, I'm sorry for not posting "What I'm Watching" yesterday. I couldn't get into Blogger last night and I was too tired to try again later that evening.

You've Gotta Know When To Hold 'Em

Gross: +$581.62
Net: +$462.04
Loss From Top: $125.90
Trades: 67
Shares Traded: 108800

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Citigroup (C): +$228.69
Walmart (WMT): +$201.02
Merck (MRK): +$69.43
Boston Scientific (BSX): +$46.81
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$35.01
General Electric (GE): +$24.58
Corning (GLW): +$7.21
Micron Tech (MU): -$38.25
Home Depot (HD): -$112.55

Today all the traders had to be done by 3PM because they were going to take down the system for maintenance. I guess they're still trying to fix the problem from yesterday. And no - I checked - they are not going to give me that $800 profit from yesterday...rats!

In the morning, the markets traded in a choppy fashion, but later traded a little more smoothly. The first few trades were losers for me (kept getting chopped out of my position). But as the afternoon rolled around, I was able to make some good money here and there.

I made a fantastic trade on Citigroup (C) at around 10AM (see below). It took a whole lot of patience, but I'm glad I waited and did not panic when the trade initially went against me. This is something I'm working on...just knowing when to hold on to trades to give them a little more time for them to work out.

On this particular trade, it went against me by about 2-cents on 5000 shares and I was staring at an unrealized loss of $100 for the better part of almost 3 minutes. But I knew there was some good support for my trade and the Futures were curving back up, so I held it for a great profit.

But on the flipside, I lost a bundle on another trade on Citigroup (C) near the end of the day. The reason I lost money was because I held onto my position for too long and I didn't know when fold 'em (and get out of a losing position).

This is going to be the trick...just knowing when to hold 'em....and knowing when to fold 'em.

Now that I'm trading 5000, 6000, and 8000 shares at a time, I've really got to give these positions time and I have to be brave even if the position initially goes against me. The trick will be knowing when to get out at a loss so that I can control my losses.

This will mean that in the next little while there might be a position that will seriously go against me and I might have to take a severe loss.

From now on when I highlight the good and bad trades, I'm going to put reasons why the bad trades were bad. It's not very useful if I highlight a bad trade and not learn from it.

Good Trades
10:09AM - Citigroup (C) looked like it caught some support at the $48 and the Futures looked like it caught some support as well. There was also some good size at the $48.00 and the $48.01 level. So I went long 5000 shares at $48.03. Initially it went against me and the size at $48.01 got wiped out, but I held. Eventually I got out of my position as follows: 7-cent winner (900 shares), 8-cent winner (4100 shares) ($391 profit before fees).

12:28PM - Walmart (WMT) was downtrending when the Futures tanked. I managed to get short 3000 shares and got out as follows: 3-cent winner (2000 shares), 4-cent winner (1000 shares) ($100 profit before fees).

Bad Trades
9:37AM - Home Depot (HD) opened and immediately started going down. Futures were trading in a choppy manner. HD then paused for a bit when I noticed that the offer kept getting hit, even though there was only a size of 1 showing. I saw 5000 shares, 11000 shares, 3000 shares, and so on hitting the offer, even though it showed a size of 1. I figured someone had put some hidden size at that level so I went short 1000 shares (just to test the waters). Before I could even blink, the trade went against me 5 or 6 cents. To make matters worse, the Futures ripped up just then. Had to get out for an 11-cent loser ($110 loser before fees).

• This bad trade shouldn't have been put on. Firstly, the Futures were choppy for the first half hour of trading or so - thus it's anybody's guess where HD would have gone
• Also, I should have been smarter and noticed that HD might have had some support forming and I should have clued in on the fact that the bid also refused to budge even when big sell orders came in

2:15PM - Citigroup (C) was approached the $48 level. It had massive size showing (1000+ size) on the offer at $48. It slowly broke and the Futures were uptrending at the time. I got long 5000 shares at $48 when I thought it would break. Initially it did, but it moved up a few cents (I got some of my position out at the time), but then came back down. I tried to give it more time, hoping it would come back (by the way - "hope" is very very bad in trading), but I ended up losing more than I should have. I exited my position as follows: 2-cent winner (2000 shares), 3-cent loser (1000 shares), 4-cent loser (1000 shares), 5-cent loser (1000 shares) ($80 loser before fees).

• Before getting into this trade, I was reluctant to go long because it seemed like the size at the $48 level was very slow to break - as though the demand was not really there. As soon as I hit "Enter" to get long, I already felt uncomfortable
• Once I was long, I should have tried to exit my entire position for a 1-cent winner when the $48 level finally did break. The reason was that the Futures then started coming back down and there was no flurry of buy orders when the $48 level broke (which usually happens when significant levels break).
  

What I'm Watching For Thu Apr 6, 2006

Tomorrow, I'm watching Hewlett Packard (HPQ). It closed up and is near 52-week highs ($34.52). Hopefully it can stay above the $34 level and continue upwards. HPQ closed at $34.36.

As mentioned in a previous post, Corning (GLW) had been ranging between $27 and $28 for a while now. But today it closed firmly below $27 on some strong volume. GLW closed at $26.44.

JP Morgan (JPM) made new 52-week highs today. I'll continue to watch it to see where it goes. JPM closed at $42.54.

Lastly, a jury came out with a split decision in the Vioxx trial. MRK was down in after-hours after the news. MRK closed at $35.99.

I'm Long 5000 Shares And The System Goes Down!!!!

Gross: +$103.23 ?????
Net: +$17.55 ?????
Loss From Top: ?????
Trades: 47
Shares Traded: 85800

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
JP Morgan (JPM): +$51.76
Home Depot (HD): +$46.21
Corning (GLW): +$4.01
General Electric (GE): +$3.25
Maxtor Corp (MXO): -$3.04 (???)
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): -$17.15
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): -$67.50

I'm sorry for the messy numbers for today (with all those question marks and all). Today the system went down at about 1PM today and I was stuck in a position. They tried to work on it for a few hours, but then told everyone that they couldn't get it fixed today and as a result, I won't know if my trade on Maxtor Corp (MXO) will count or not (probably not).

In the morning I was trying out some new strategies that I thought I would give a whirl. Unfortunately it didn't work out too well and I was down about $300 in the morning.

From that point on, I focussed and switched back to my usual way of trading and I was able to get out of negative territory.

But then it happened. At 12:54PM, I saw a level break on Maxtor Corp (MXO), so I went long 5000 shares at $9.77. As soon as I got long, everything froze! We were then told both the execution system and the quote system was down.

The quotes came back online after a few minutes, but the execution system was still down and so I couldn't do anything but watch my position.

But WOW! What a roller coaster ride! I watched my position initially go against me by 3-cents ($150 loss); since I couldn't get out, I could do nothing. As the afternoon progressed, I saw my position get better and better!

By about 3:15PM, the branch manager told everyone that the system will be down for the rest of the day and that we could go home. At that point, I was looking at a $950 winner! Price on MXO was at $9.96 (a 19-cent winner on 5000 shares!).

We were then told to log out of the system and I asked the branch manager what would happen to my position. He said that they would flatten all outstanding positions and said that they probably wouldn't count the trade....

We'll see if tomorrow they have a change of heart and allow me to keep the profits off that trade.

Good Trades
10:59AM - Corning (GLW) was downtrending as were the Futures. I just went with the overall trend and shorted 1000 shares. Got out of the entire position for a 14-cent winner ($140 profit before fees).

12:54PM - Maxtor Corp (MXO) has some nice support accumulating and so when I saw an opportunity, I got long 5000 shares. At that point, the system went down. Under normal circumstances, I would have probably gotten out for maybe a 2 or 3 cent loss. But since I was stuck in that position, I could have made as much as a 19-cent winner, or a 14-cent winner according to the close. Not sure if tomorrow they'll give me that trade...

Bad Trades
10:28AM - Corning (GLW) and the Futures were downtrending. I shorted 4000 shares at $27 when the Futures tanked, but there was some stupid refilling size on an ECN that wouldn't allow the level to break. So many people hit the ECN to get short, but size still remained. Got out as follows: 3-cent loser (1000 shares), 5-cent loser (3000 shares) ($180 loser before fees).

What I'm Watching For Wed Apr 5, 2006

Citigroup (C) was up quite a bit today and cleared the $48 level on news that it's one-year ban on mergers and acquisitions has now been lifted. Now that's it's cleared the $48 level (which it has tried to test a few times in late March), let's see where it goes. Citigroup closed at $48.21.

Maxtor Corp (MXO) was down almost 5% in after-hours. This after it lowered guidance and expects to lose 39 to 40 cents a share vs. the analyst average of a loss of 18 cents a share. It stated that it's pending merger with Seagate Technology Inc (STX) had a negative impact on it's sales. On that note, Seagate Technology Inc (STX) was also down in after-hours. MXO closed at $10.08, STX closed at $27.69.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has been downtrending, however since mid-March, it has tried (but failed) to close below $33. Could this be the support AMD is looking for? We'll see in the next little while where it goes from here. AMD closed at $33.43.

The "Dead Zone"

Gross: +$519.87
Net: +$416.24
Loss From Top: $27.50
Trades: 58
Shares Traded: 80800

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Corning (GLW): +$218.47
General Electric (GE): +$171.32
Citigroup (C): +$105.91
Verizon (VZ): +$29.33
Motorola (MOT): +$20.23
Walmart (WMT): -$37.29
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): -$92.44

My definition of the "dead zone" is when the markets are trendless and choppy. Everyday there is usually a slot of time in which this occurs - usually between 11:30AM - 2:00PM.

The trick for me is to NOT trade during the "dead zone" in order for me to preserve my profits. And I did exactly that today (unlike yesterday). Almost all of my trades occurred before noon, and I only put on 2 trades during the entire afternoon.

Today's "dead zone" was fairly lengthy and consumed most of the afternoon. It started a little late today...maybe around 12:00PM and I found myself waiting and waiting and waiting...but it never seemed to get out of it.

Currently I'm trying to incorporate larger share size when trading. Thus, stocks I used to trade with 3000 or 4000 shares I now trade with 5000 shares. I will also be working on upping share sizes for the thicker stocks and I will try to first get comfortable trading 6000 shares at a time (I'll do this on stocks like GE, MU, MOT, etc).

From now on, I'm going to highlight my good and bad trades as shown below. Hopefully this will help me separate my thoughts from my trading highlights and hopefully it will make it easier for you folks to read.

Good Trades
10:19AM - Citigroup (C) was uptrending and so were the Futures. Just then, the Futures ripped up, so I got long 5000 shares. Got out of the trade as follows: 1-cent winner (2000 shares), 2-cent winner (300 shares), 5-cent winner (700 shares), 7-cent winner (2000 shares) ($201 profit before fees).

11:30AM - Corning (GLW) was downtrending and so were the Futures. Prices on GLW came down to the $27 level. When the level broke, I went short 3000 shares as got out as follows: 4-cent winner (1000 shares), 8-cent winner (1000 shares), 10-cent winner (1000 shares) ($220 profit before fees).

11:43AM - General Electric (GE) was moving up and the Futures were uptrending. GE approached resistance at $34.50. When the level broke, I went long 5000 shares and got out as follows: 3-cent winner (2000 shares), 4-cent winner (3000 shares) ($180 profit before fees).

Bad Trades
9:52AM - Walmart (WMT) had just finished tanking and the Futures were moving back up. I went long 3900 shares, and WMT initially went up, but I held a little too long and WMT dropped back down. Got out as follows: 5-cent winner (100 shares), 2-cent loser (1000 shares), 3-cent loser (2000 shares), 5-cent loser (800 shares) ($115 loser before fees).

What I'm Watching For Tue Apr 4, 2006

For the past two trading days, General Electric (GE) has tried to test the $35 level, but failed. Tomorrow I will be watching this level closely. GE closed at $34.69.

I have tried to stay away from Micron Tech (MU) for about two weeks while it tried to decide which direction it wanted to go. But today it burst up and may break out of it's trading range. We'll see if it can continue upwards tomorrow. MU closed at $15.45.

For the next little while, I will be watching Corning (GLW) closely. Since mid-March it has been ranging between $27 and $28. I'll be watching to see if either of these levels break. GLW closed at $27.53.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

Gross: +$45.30
Net: -$120.25
Loss From Top: $406.74
Trades: 73
Shares Traded: 134800

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Citigroup (C): +$88.22
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): +$77.00
JP Morgan (JPM): +$64.02
Home Depot (HD): +$40.83
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): -$64.88
Pfizer (PFE): -$66.95
Corning (GLW): -$68.85
Walmart (WMT): -$189.63


Today was a wild roller coaster ride for me. In the morning, the overall market was strong and moved upwards until about 10:30AM. From that point on until roughly 2PM, the markets were flat and as we closed the day off, the markets started falling back down again.

I usually like the first few days of a new month because I can try new trading strategies, knowing that if I mess up, I have the rest of the month to make it up. But today I got myself in a jam and I had to spend the better part of the day getting myself out of it.

Here's a quick summary of my wild day today.

The Good:
This was the 6th straight trading day in which I was up almost $300 within the first hour of the opening bell. If I keep this up, I think I should begin risking more when trading in the morning (increase my share size).

The Bad:
Between 10:30AM - 2:00PM, I put on 7 bad trades in a row and losing over $550 in the process. I shouldn't have traded during those times as none of the stocks I was watching and the overall market were not going in any direction in particular. Most of the bad trades were the result of revenge trading...At one point, I was about ready to slap Walmart (WMT) with a 20,000 share order as a punishment for making me lose money - but I caught myself and tried to cool off.

The Ugly:
From 2PM onwards, I traded very sloppily in an attempt to get out of negative territory. I was switching from one stock to the next, looking for any opportunities and even if it had a slightest chance of making me money.

The best trade happened on Walmart (WMT) at 9:39AM. At that time, both WMT and the Futures were tanking so I shorted 4000 shares and got out as follows: 4-cent winner (800 shares), 5-cent winner (3200 shares) ($192 profit).

From 10:30AM onwards, it was one bad trade after another. The three worst trades were as follows:

At 1:24PM I went long 6000 shares on Pfizer (PFE). Had to get out as follows: 2-cent loser (5000 shares), 1-cent winner (1000 shares) ($90 loss).

At 1:35PM I went short 4900 shares of Walmart (WMT). Got out as follows: 1-cent loser (1900 shares), 5-cent loser (3000 shares) ($169 loss).

Finally at 2PM, Walmart (WMT) got me again - this time I went long 4000 shares and got out for $140 loss.

Today I overtraded, traded stocks that I told myself I wouldn't trade (PFIZER!), and I literally destroyed myself by revenge trading. By the time I realized all these things, the damage was done.