It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The Worst Of Times...

Gross: +$563.65
Net: +$447.26
Loss From Top: 0
Trades: 72
Shares Traded: 107800

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
JP Morgan (JPM): +$266.17
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$259.05
Home Depot (HD): +$73.46
Citigroup (C): +$60.20
Micron Tech (MU): +$19.95
Walmart (WMT): +$2.70
Merck (MRK): -$55.95
Bank of America (BAC): -$178.34

May has finally come to a close. The title of this post accurately reflects how this month has been. There were some highs ($1000+ day) and quite a few lows (3 big $400+ negative days, finding out my trading strategy doesn't work in volatile markets).

I am fairly disappointed in how this month went. This was one of the longer trading months of the year (22 trading days) and by the looks of the numbers so far, I wasn't able to make more than I did last month. I was also shutdown twice this month - something that I haven't done in a very long time.

Personally, I felt the markets were difficult to trade this month. No matter how good a trade looked and if everything about the trade looked perfect, the volatility quickly turned the perfect trade into a big losing trade.

Oh well. It's time for me to lick my wounds and prepare for the upcoming month. When I've got time this weekend, I'll post my trading stats for the entire month of May.

Today I saw the return of volatility again. And when the FOMC meeting minutes were released at 2PM, volatility went through the roof!

All day, I was battling back and forth between negative and positive. Just when I thought the markets were becoming free of volatility, I found myself getting into positions that quickly reversed and went against me.

I had to quickly re-adjust how I trade so that I get in and out of my positions quickly. It wasn't until near the end of the day was I able to pull through and put together a somewhat respectable day.

Since we were caught in a volatility storm today, I only had one good trade (the very last trade of the day) and I had several bad trades.

I just checked - it looks like June is also going to be a long month with 22 trading days! My goal next month will be to trade smarter, recognize volatility and adjust, and begin tweaking my trading strategy to be more consistent. I also hope to see a few more $1000+ days next month and my overall goal will be to at least try to break $10,000 for the entire month.

Let's see what June brings shall we?

Good Trades
3:40PM - JP Morgan (JPM) was slightly trending upwards while the Futures were still very volatile. Just then, the Futures ripped up hard, so I got long 5000 shares. I tried to hold on to the position as long as I could, but when it was clear JPM was coming back down, I started getting my entire position out. I got out as follows: 1-cent winner (200 shares), 4-cent winner (1000 shares), 6-cent winner (3800 shares), 9-cent winner (1000 shares) ($360 profit before fees).

Bad Trades
10:15AM - JP Morgan (JPM) was moving sideways while the Futures were uptrending. The Futures popped up, so I got long 4000 shares. The Futures immediately started tanking once I got into the position, so I got out as follows: 2-cent loser (1000 shares), 4-cent loser (2500 shares), 5-cent loser (500 shares) ($145 loser before fees).

• Firstly, I knew I shouldn't have gotten into a position on JPM because it was moving sideways the whole time that the Futures were uptrending
• This was an example of the volatility we encountered today - at one point, there was just enough time for me to exit the entire position for a 1-cent loser, but because the Futures were so volatile, I thought the Futures were going back up...unfortunately I was wrong

1:35PM - Bank of America (BAC) was uptrending and so were the Futures. I saw a size-vs-size battle occur and I went long 4000 shares when I saw the offer break. It initially moved 1 or 2 cents for me, but the Futures suddenly started tanking and I was forced to get my entire position out for a 4-cent loser ($160 loser before fees).

• Normally, these are the type of trades I love: a size-vs-size battle (where there is big size on the top bid and big size on the top offer). Not only is there enough size to put on a big position, but you have some support behind your trade. Unfortunately the Futures moved against me...
• On volatile days like this, I find that stocks are quick to react with the Futures...even if the Futures only move a little, stocks quickly move with the Futures for a few cents - in this case, I was lucky to get out for a 4-cent loser, as both the Futures and BAC continued to tank
  

Is Trading Similar To Fighting?

Gross: +$686.00
Net: +$607.70
Loss From Top: 0
Trades: 43
Shares Traded: 68000

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Walmart (WMT): +$327.42
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$135.46
Bank of America (BAC): +$74.29
Corning (GLW): +$72.27
Home Depot (HD): -$1.74

Over the weekend, I was flipping TV channels when I came across "Top 50 Knockouts" from some sort of Ultimate Fighting sport. If you don't know, Ultimate Fighting Championship essentially pits two martial artists in a caged hexagonal ring. The loser is either knocked out cold, submits (via choke hold or any kind of hold designed to try to break arms or legs), or is beaten soo badly the referee has to stop the fight (I know, sounds kind of gruesome, but bear with me).

After watching the first few knockouts, I started to recognize a familiar pattern.

Almost every knockout involved an aggressive fighter and a defensive fighter. The aggressive fighter would be the one who flails about, aggressively throwing punches left, right, and centre, and would try to chase down the defensive fighter.

The defensive fighter on the other hand, would simply duck, bob, block or move out of the way of incoming blows. The defensive fighter would wait for the perfect opportunity to land a few hard hits.

Can you guess which one usually ended up knocking out the other?

A lot people would say the aggressive one would probably knock out the defensive one. But about 75% - 80% of the time, it was the defensive one that knocked out the aggressive one!

Why?

The aggressive one is so busy trying to throw and land hard hitting blows that it leaves them exposed. The defensive fighter on the other hand, waits for their opponent to act first and hits them hard whenever the perfect opportunity arises.

Think about what you see in the movies...all those bar fights, Jackie Chan, and Bruce Lee movies. Yes - I know, it's all scripted but I believe there's an element of truth to them. The one who throws the first punch or the first blow (the aggressive one) is usually the one that ends up on the floor unconscious.

How does this relate to trading? If you are an aggressive trader, you'll probably always want to be in a position - putting on many trades (like throwing lots of punches). Since an aggressive trader is almost always in a position, they are always exposed to potentially take a hard hit (Futures move against them, big buy/sell order that goes against their position).

If you are a defensive trader, you wait for opportunities and when things are just right, you go in for the kill. Being patient is probably one of the hardest things to enforce, but can be very rewarding.

I'm not saying that aggressive traders cannot make money (in fact, many aggressive traders do make lots of money). While I was watching the 50 top knockouts, there were a few aggressive fighters who knocked the other out - BUT being consistent and having the probabilities work for you is what I'd rather have on my side.

As a trader, you need a balance of both - you need to be aggressive at times, but at the same time, you need to be defensive to prevent losing a lot of money.

Today, I followed my trading rules to the letter and I chose my battles wisely. You can see that the number of trades today is about half what I've been trading the last week or so.

And because I was defensive today, I waited for the markets to give me the opportunity to put on a high probability trade (the knockout). In fact, I only had one losing trade today. I kept my share sizes small today because I'm still a little weary of the volatility. But it looks as though the markets are calming down (in terms of volatility) and I may begin trading my normal share sizes tomorrow.

A couple of days after I had watched the top 50 knockouts, I happened to catch an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight. Again, there was an aggressive fighter and a defensive fighter.

Right from the start, the aggressive one came charging towards the other, throwing a flurry of punches (most of which missed). The defensive fighter bobbed from side to side, avoiding the incoming onslaught. The defensive fighter threw a few punches here and there, just to keep the aggressive one honest.

The defensive fighter managed to back away from the action when the aggressive fighter began another onslaught of wild punches. Then it happened. BAM! The defensive one threw a hard punch right to the jaw of the other, knocking the aggressive fighter out cold.

The whole match lasted less than 20 seconds.

What kind of trader/fighter are you?

Good Trades
9:45AM - Walmart (WMT) started turning downwards and the Futures were trending down. Support on WMT broke, so I got short 4000 shares. The Futures tanked shortly afterwards so I got out of my position as follows: 2-cent winner (800 shares), 5-cent winner (500 shares), 6-cent winner (700 shares), 8-cent winner (1000 shares), 15-cent winner (1000 shares) ($313 profit before fees).

Bad Trades
None

Happy (American) Long Weekend! (Fri May 26 Results)

Gross: +$454.20
Net: +$345.77
Loss From Top: $56.11
Trades: 64
Shares Traded: 107420

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Bank of America (BAC): +$364.61
Micron Tech (MU): +$86.48
Walmart (WMT): +$85.27
Boston Scientific (BSX): +$34.04
Home Depot (HD): -$21.74
Citigroup (C): -$33.38
General Electric (GE): -$45.34
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): -$123.56

Happy Memorial Day long weekend to all my American viewers out there! This weekend I'm enjoying the excellent weather and trying to do as much outdoors as I can.

No trading today (Monday) because of the long weekend. And perhaps it's good that I didn't have to get into work today - the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) has gone on strike! No transportation (trains, buses, streetcars) for all of Toronto! This was all of a sudden with the unions taking drastic action. I wonder how long they'll strike. If it continues till tomorrow, I'm not sure how I'm getting into work - I do have a car, but I can't imagine the traffic and the parking...we'll just have to see.

I used to work for the TTC for three years as a Systems Analyst (programming, developed and managed TTC's tracking and monitoring system), and the sense I got while working there was that the unions had a little too much power. Not only that, the majority of them (I hate to say this) were rather lazy. I'm glad that when I was working there, I was not part of the union (though many times the union interfered with our work by blocking us from entering buildings and verbally abusing the Management & Professional employees during strikes/disputes). As soon as any of the union leaders has any bone to pick with management, they would ask the rest of the unions to jump and unions would ask "How high?".

Sorry for being so caught up in this. It's just that when I was working there, the TTC had so much bitter politics going around (not only between unions and management, but between the various departments and even within departments and specific groups themselves) - I sometimes wonder how they get any work done.

Anyways, let's get to business.

On Friday, I found that there weren't as many opporunities as there have been for the last little while - probably due to the coming long weekend. There was some action in the morning, but the rest of the afternoon didn't amount to much.

Because the volatility seems to be decreasing lately, on Friday I started using bigger share sizes. In the morning (fearing volatility), I was getting in and out of positions fairly quickly and missed some great trades because I got out too early. In the afternoon, I couldn't catch any significant moves (markets were at a standstill), so I decided to take off a little early for the weekend.

Good Trades
11:24AM - Bank of America (BAC) was uptrending as were the Futures. A significant resistance level broke so I got long 6000 shares. There was a flurry of buying once the level broke, but I quickly got my entire position out for a 4-cent winner ($240 profit before fees).

Bad Trades
10:53AM - Hewlett Packard (HPQ) was steeply downtrending and the Futures had just tanked. I don't know why, but I thought I could catch the bottom or perhaps catch a bounce, so I went long 3000 shares. Well everything tanked again, so I got out as follows: 1-cent loser (300 shares), 3-cent loser (1000 shares), 4-cent loser (1700 shares) ($101 loser before fees)

• Why do I always try to catch a bounce or the bottom? My trading rules strictly forbid me from doing this, but yet I still try to catch a falling knife.
• I think from now on, I will never attempt to catch the bottom or try to catch a bounce - from what I can see, I'm only successful in catching a bounce maybe 25% of the time...the odds of which are not good enough for me

Anticipate More, React Less

Gross: +$646.40
Net: +$503.92
Loss From Top: 0
Trades: 85
Shares Traded: 127040

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Bank of America (BAC): +$307.23
Corning (GLW): +$162.23
Boston Scientific (BSX): +$109.00
Walmart (WMT): +$72.92
Home Depot (HD): +$15.07
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): -$24.38
JP Morgan (JPM): -$138.15

My current trading strategy is more of a reactionary strategy. What I mean by that is my trading strategy involves spotting a potential trade, watching it, then waiting for the Futures to make a move. In other words, I react off the movements of the Futures.

What I've found lately (because of the volatility) is that by the time I react to the Futures movements and get into a position, the Futures reverse and I end up with a losing trade.

Today I played around with anticipating rather than reacting. I tried getting into a position first in anticipation of a Futures move. It worked with limited success, but I believe that further down the road, my trading strategy should include more anticipation and less on reaction.

The markets calmed down a bit in terms of volatility. There was still some, but I was cautious in my trading today. I reduced my share size (the biggest positions today were for 4000 shares) and I took my profits when they presented themselves. I still got caught a few times where I got part of my position out for a profit before it reversed and I had to get the remainder out for a loser.

And yes, today will filled with long stretched out periods in which the Futures were doing nothing and I had to sit and wait for it to do something. But I think this kept me out of trouble by forcing me to the sidelines and not taking risky positions.

There were no big losing trades today. Since I reduced my share size, I was able to get my entire position out before it got any worse (unlike the last little while where I had to chase the stock to get out of my position).

Good Trades
11:59AM - Bank of America (BAC) was uptrending as were the Futures. BAC reached the $49 level. When it broke, I went long 4000 shares. Prices popped upwards and I got my entire position out for a 5-cent winner ($200 profit before fees).

Bad Trades
None

This Volatility Is Killing Me!

Gross: +$147.62
Net: -$30.82
Loss From Top: $187.26
Trades: 101
Shares Traded: 172000

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Citigroup (C): +$275.57
Merck (MRK): +$84.97
Coca-Cola (KO): +$42.92
Corning (GLW): +$36.63
Bell South (BLS): +$28.94
Boston Scientific (BSX): +$16.46
Home Depot (HD): -$31.55
Bank of America (BAC): -$100.76
General Electric (GE): -$104.66
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): -$279.36

How opinions change so quickly! Last month I kept writing in my blog that I was getting tired of the "flatness" of the market and that I hoped that the market would move somewhere soon. Well here we are with at least two weeks of volatile trading....and now I'm complaining about too much volatility!

At least when the markets were flat, I could easily make money. There were limited moves last month, but when the overall markets did move, at least I was able to take advantage of it. But now it seems more of a challenge. Now, every time I get into a position, it quickly reverses. If I hold on to the loser, sometimes it may come back for a profit...but sometimes I end up getting out for a severe loser.

Obviously I spent a lot of time developing my trading strategy for a normal or flat market. It is clear now that it was not built for volatile markets such as these.

I think what I'll have to do during these volatile times is the following:

• I'll reduce my share size to about half of what I'm used to. What appears to be happening right now is that when I'm in a big position, I'm able to get some of it out for a profit, but I end up having to get the other half out for a loser (because of the volatility, I initially see a profit, but I'm not able to get the entire position out before it reverses)
• I'll have to get in and out of my positions quickly. If I see a profit, I'll get my entire position out (at the risk of missing out of a bigger move). Today I was frustrated because I had 3000 share positions and I was able to get the first 2000 shares out for a profit, but I would end up getting the last 1000 shares out for a severe loser (10+ cent losers)

Everybody's trading strategy is different. I know there are some traders that are loving the current way the markets are moving. But these are the same traders that have trouble making money when the markets are flat. It's give and take.

I guess I have to develop strategies for the various types of markets. That way, I can adjust and adapt.

Today I traded a lot. Again, because the overall market was volatile, there were lots of big up and down moves. I found myself constantly getting out of a position and quickly getting into another position to try to take advantage of the markets movements.

Unfortunately, there were no good trades today ($200+ profit trades)! Because the markets were so volatile, I wasn't able to capture many big moves on stocks before they reversed. Another thing that kept happening was that I would get most of my position out for a good profit, but the market would reverse so quickly, the remainder of my position was exited for a severe loss, thus offsetting most of the gains.

Good Trades
Disappointingly...none

Bad Trades
10:08AM - Bank of America (BAC) was moving upwards and so were the Futures. The Futures moved upwards strongly so I got partially filled long 4300 shares. BAC initially moved upwards about 2-cents, but then the Futures tanked back down hard. I tried to get out as soon as I could, but ended up taking a severe loss. Got out as follows: 4-cent loser (2500 shares), 8-cent loser (1800 shares) ($244 loser before fees)

• Well what can I say? The set-up was good, the charts looked good, and the Futures moved in a fashion that would make this a doable trade
• I could have waited for this position to come back to try to get out at even...but I would have had to stare at a 10+cent loser for a few minutes (which is not what I'm prepared to do)
  

11:58AM - Hewlett Packard (HPQ) was uptrending nicely as were the Futures. Some resistance broke when the Futures popped up quickly so I got long 5000 shares. As soon as the Futures popped up, it started tanking hard. Again, I tried to get out of my position as soon as possible, but ended up getting out as follows: 2-cent loser (2000 shares), 3-cent loser (1100 shares), 4-cent loser (600 shares), 7-cent loser (1300 shares) ($188 loser before fees)

• Again, another nice setup and the charts on both the Futures and HPQ were looking really good and resistance broke nice enough...only the Futures quickly reversed
• This was another trade in which I followed my strategy to the letter...but in this kind of market, it didn't work
  

2:18PM - Citigroup (C) was uptrending slightly and the Futures were moving up. Some big resistance broke and the Futures started moving up. I got long 5000 shares. As soon as I saw some profit, I quickly tried to get my entire position out. I was only able to get some of it out for a profit, while the remainder of my position was exited for a severe loss. I got out as follows: 3-cent winner (1000 shares), 1-cent winner (1100 shares), 5-cent loser (2900 shares) ($104 loser before fees)

• This supports my case for trading smaller sizes when the markets trade with such volatility
• This position (along with most of my other positions during the day) was too big to get out for a profit before the position reversed
  

The Long And Winding Road

Gross: +$471.98
Net: +$345.96
Loss From Top: $57.42
Trades: 75
Shares Traded: 125022

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Tyco (TYC): +$216.94
Citigroup (C): +$118.83
General Electric (GE): +$76.09
Walmart (WMT): +$61.05
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$59.80
Disney (DIS): +$15.45
Merck (MRK): +$8.07
Home Depot (HD): +$2.84
Coca-Cola (KO): -$1.11
Boston Scientific (BSX): -$40.28
Micron Tech (MU): -$76.10
Bank of America (BAC): -$95.34

Last week Friday (the 19th) was officially the worst trading day of my career. I lost $781 on that day and I felt too depressed to review my day.

Over the weekend, we installed hardwood floors and on Sunday evening, I had a little too much to drink. Needless to say, I could hardly wake up on Monday morning and every muscle in my body ached. I missed the trading day yesterday, but still managed to enjoy the Canadian holiday (we Canadians celebrated the Victoria Day long weekend).

Now, lets get back to business...

So far, this month has been a total disappointment. Even though I had some major breakthroughs this month, it feels as though I have taken one step forward, and 5 steps back. As my sights were being set higher and higher, the more I struggled.

After the $1000 Friday, I began struggling to make over $500 a day, then I struggled to make even $300 a day. Now it seems like I'm struggling to stay positive on the day.

One thing I have noticed though...ever since the major indices made multi-year highs, it feels as though the markets are really "pushing and shoving". Today I felt there was a lot of that going on...I feel as though we've reached a point where the bears and bulls are now pushing back and forth - perhaps it's a sign that a major move is coming.

Every strong move to the downside intraday seems to be followed by a strong move to the upside (and vice versa) and I kept seeing this time and time again for the last week or so. This kind of action really kills my trading strategy, which is why I have been struggling of late: there is no followthrough on most of the moves.

But I take all of this disappointment as just being part of the path that gets me to my ultimate goal. I've come a long way and I've still got a long way to go. In other words, I know where I want to go, but the path to get there may seem like a long and winding road.

Sometimes the road seems like it's taking me further away from my goal, but as long as I stay determined and learn as much as I can, I may find myself at my destination sooner rather than later.

All successful people (Donald Trump, Bill Gates) have all had to go through tough patches in life - but they never gave up - and neither shall I (sorry for all this mumbo jumbo...I'm just trying to keep myself motivated).

My ultimate goal is to make over $1000 a day. Once I get there, I can then begin planning what the next steps would be. It sometimes feels as though I'm almost there, but as soon as I get that feeling, I hit a rough patch and it feels as though I'll never get there...

We shall see...

Good Trades
2:41PM - Tyco (TYC) was downtrending as were the Futures. Tyco reached support at the $27.00 level. Since Tyco adheres to the uptick rule, as soon as the $27 broke, I put out an order to go short and waited to get filled. I got filled short for 3000 shares. Tyco continued downwards and I got out as follows: 7-cent winner (2000 shares), 8-cent winner (1000 shares) ($220 profit before fees).

Bad Trades
2:34PM - Bank of America (BAC) was slightly uptrending while the Futures were not doing anything. The Futures moved up strongly so I went long 5000 shares. Just like it has been the last week or so, as soon as the Futures popped up, it was followed by a strong move down. I had to get out as follows: 1-cent loser (1000 shares), 2-cent loser (1800 shares), 3-cent loser (1500 shares), 4-cent loser (600 shares), 6-cent loser (100 shares) ($121 loser before fees)

• Just like it has been the last little while, I followed most of my rules when getting into this trade
• I waited for the Futures to break a significant level to the upside, unfortunately I got shaken out of my position
  

3:02PM - Micron Tech (MU) was downtrending steeply and the Futures were also downtrending. Micron Tech appeared to have reached support because there were two price levels with big size on the bid, so I waited for the Futures to tank. It did, so I went long anticipating that the Futures and MU would immediately bounce back up (since the Futures were doing this all day). I got partially filled long for 3200 shares. Of course, the only time I try to capitalize on the "push and pull" of the markets, it doesn't happen. I got out as follows: 1-cent winner (1000 shares), 5-cent loser (2200 shares) ($100 loser before fees).

• I was getting sick and tired of getting into a position, only to be forced out because of a move in the opposite direction. I tried to play the other side of the ball on this trade by waiting for a tank, then go long...but it didn't work
• This trade went against just about every trading rule I have, but because of the nature of the markets, I just gave it a try
• At least I didn't go all out and maximize my share size. I had only tried to get 4000 shares.
  

A Half Day - Unfortunately I Missed The Most Important Half

Gross: +$440.20
Net: +$360.48
Loss From Top: $4.94
Trades: 40
Shares Traded: 77200

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$247.04
Motorola (MOT): +$67.76
Bank of America (BAC): +$64.29
Disney (DIS): +$22.65
Merck (MRK): -$3.87
General Electric (GE): -$37.40

Today I only traded until lunch, but from the looks of things, it looks like I missed a great move to the downside during the last hour of trade!

This morning, I tried to keep things simple and I was quite annoyed that I didn't put on my first trade until 10AM. Once I got things going, I felt a little more comfortable and I tried to forget about making any kind of monetary target.

Thinking this way did wonders as I was more aware of what I was doing and I didn't feel as much pressure to make something happen.

After lunch, I had to go to the bank to try to straighten some things out before they closed as 3PM.

Let's see what happens tomorrow.

Good Trades
10:12AM - Hewlett Packard (HPQ) was uptrending while the Futures were flat. The Futures popped up so I got partially filled 5600 shares long and got out as follows: 3-cent winner (300 shares), 5-cent winner (2000 shares), 6-cent winner (3300 shares) ($307 profit before fees)

Bad Trades
None

The Slump Continues On A Day That Was Throwing Away Free Money

Gross: +$401.00
Net: +$250.01
Loss From Top: $82.74
Trades: 76
Shares Traded: 150400

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$216.40
Walmart (WMT): +$158.20
General Motors (GM): +$136.51
General Electric (GE): +$85.64
Home Depot (HD): +$23.59
Motorola (MOT): +$9.16
Coca-Cola (KO): +$7.60
Bank of America (BAC): -$19.96
Micron Tech (MU): -$20.13
Pfizer (PFE): -$81.89
Disney (DIS): -$87.04
Merck (MRK): -$178.06

Another day, another disappointing finish. Today Wall Street turned blood red as all the major indices were down big-time. It should have been a day when lots of money should have been made...unfortunately I wasn't able to make much.

I've been reviewing what's been going wrong and still more things seem to turn up. I noticed that today I got into positions and held them - hoping for a good run and to take some big profits. However, these positions initially went for me, but then slowly gave way and I had to get them out for losers.

In other words, I was expecting a home run on every trade. Instead of taking my profits when they were available, I was opting to wait in hopes of even more profits (that's my good friend greed rearing his ugly head). But more often than not, prices would eventually go against me, and I would have to get out at a loss.

So in summary, this is what I gather has gone wrong the last three trading days:

• Friday's $1000 had me thinking that I needed big positions and I needed big home run winners on every trade. Since all my trades on that Friday did end up as home runs, I was left thinking they were a lot easier to come by
• I began upping my share size and I began ignoring some of my trading rules. As long as a stock allowed me to get into a large position, I would take it without analyzing the trade
• I also began holding trades a lot longer than I should have. I should have taken profits when they presented themselves instead of holding positions until they became losers
• I totally lost focus on when NOT to trade (again, I always say this is one of the more important aspects of trading) - whenever it was possible, I was always getting into positions. You can see from the last 3 trading days, the number of trades are unusually high

Some of the above points are not new. I always seem to come across them whenever I change something about my trading strategy - usually when I increase my share size. I'm glad I can now identify them a lot quicker than in the past....I guess the rest is up to me to try to fix these things.

One thing that I did notice today was the lack of follow-through on most of the moves. Whenever the Futures tanked, it would quickly bounce back up. As a result, most stocks would initially fall, then bounce back up as well (usually a little higher than where it started off). I kept getting caught this way and I was bounced out of many of my positions.

Today I also had problems finding stocks to short. Everytime the Futures started tanking hard, I was struggling to find a good position to get into and as a result, I kept missing opportunities.

I think it's best if I simply forget Friday ever happened...at least it will relieve some pressure on myself to repeat that performance.

Tomorrow I'll only trade in the morning as I have to get some paperwork straightened out by the bank.

Good Trades
9:35AM - General Electric (GE) initially started uptrending. Some size was breaking on the ask, so I got partially filled long for 5900 shares. I got out as follows: 2-cent winner (1200 shares), 3-cent winner (1000 shares), 4-cent winner (1700 shares), 5-cent winner (2000 shares) ($222 profit before fees).

Bad Trades
9:55AM - General Electric (GE) was still uptrending and the Futures looked like they were starting to uptrend. I got long 8000 shares. It was at that time the markets decided to puke and it never looked back. I got out the entire position for a 2-cent loser ($160 loser before fees)

• This was one of those rushed trades and I had dollar signs in my eyes. I should have been wary of the Futures (as they were already down quite a bit) and if I had wanted to get long, I should have waited for the Futures to rip
  
• Not much else to say about this trade - the charts looked good (nice solid uptrend), it's just the overall markets had another idea in mind

10:26AM - Merck (MRK) was uptrending amid the chaotic downtrend of the Futures. There was a size-vs-size battle (where big size appears on the bid and ask). The ask broke so I got long 4000 shares. I was expecting some kind of bounce from the Futures, but I never got it...instead it continued puking downwards. I was forced out of my position and got out as follows: 1-cent winner (1000 shares), 6-cent loser (3000 shares) ($170 loser before fees)

• This trade broke one of my rules: even if the stock as a clear trend going, do not trade it if it is not trending in the same direction as the Futures
  

Running Around Like A Chicken With It's Head Cut Off

Gross: +$347.08
Net: +$99.83
Loss From Top: $53.95
Trades: 96
Shares Traded: 243154

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$211.29
Walmart (WMT): +$104.58
Micron Tech (MU): +$59.49
Citigroup (C): +$40.23
Bank of America (BAC): +$36.83
Home Depot (HD): +$8.58
Corning (GLW): -$24.15
Pfizer (PFE): -$60.82
Disney (DIS): -$74.31
General Electric (GE): -$201.91

Wooooo weee! Would you look at the number of trades and the number of shares traded! All day today, I felt like I was churning and going nowhere fast. For most of the day I was in negative territory and it was only in the last 30 minutes of the trading day was I able pull myself into positive territory.

I think after my $1000 day on Friday, I might be trying a little too hard. Remember, trading involves balancing many aspects and if you focus too much on one of them, you will probably find yourself suffering.

I have a feeling that this is what has happened: after making $1000 last Friday, I was really trying hard to have a repeat performance. I got myself in large positions with the hopes of holding winners as long as I could. However I should have also kept a close eye on when NOT to trade.

I ended up getting into big positions when the overall markets were not moving. From my trading journal, I can see that today about 60% of my trades were losers. And I can tell you that more than half of the trades I put on today should not have happened at all (the overall markets were flat or the stock itself was not trending).

Again, this is all part of modifying my trading strategy to see if I can make $1000 consistently. However I must stop thinking about the money and start thinking about making good trades. Friday's success might have been bad in that I had little time to figure things out and may have led to some overconfidence on my part. As a result, the last two trading days have suffered.

I'll see if I can pull my act together tomorrow.

Good Trades
3:35PM - Hewlett Packard (HPQ) had just started uptrending and there was several levels of size on the bid. I got long 6000 shares when some resistance broke and got out as follows: 3-cent winner (500 shares), 4-cent winner (5500 shares) ($235 profit before fees)

Bad Trades
12:04PM - General Electric (GE) was flat as were the Futures. There was big size on both the bid and ask (both had about 700 size), and when I thought the ask was going to break, I got long 10,000 shares. Well GE didn't move at all and I held that position for a long time. Eventually, both the Futures and GE started to go down, so I got everything out for a 1-cent loser. ($100 loser before fees).

• This was a futile attempt make $1000 on one trade.
  
• Never ever get into a position on GE during lunch hour even if you think a level is going to break
• Several reasons why this trade should not have been put on: it was lunch hour; GE was completely flat at the time; the Futures were flat; if I wanted to get into a position, it should have been with smaller size

12:26PM - Pfizer (PFE) was downtrending while the Futures weren't doing much of anything. I saw some size break on the bid so I got short 8000 shares. Like typical Pfizer, the Level 2 tricked me and I got out as follows: 1-cent winner (400 shares), 2-cent loser (5300 shares), 3-cent loser (2300 shares) ($179 loser before fees).

• Ha! I keep getting tricked by my good friend Pfizer! The charts on PFE looked good at the time and when size broke, I really thought it was a good trade to get into
• As it turned out, some big player kept pushing prices upwards and unfortunately I was in his/her way - I got pushed out of my position
• This was another trade in which I was thinking about the money and not about the trade
  

Where Am I? Why Am I In This Trade?

Gross: +$407.22
Net: +$230.70
Loss From Top: $205.98
Trades: 81
Shares Traded: 163798

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Bank of America (BAC): +$210.84
General Electric (GE): +$88.74
Citigroup (C): +$81.78
Micron Tech (MU): +$61.96
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$36.44
Boston Scientific (BSX): +$29.13
Walmart (WMT): +$18.03
Motorola (MOT): -$69.31
AT&T (T): -$109.13
Time Warner (TWX): -$117.80

Did you ever wake up in the morning and just had a feeling that today isn't going to be your day? That's how I felt today. I get this feeling from time to time and it usually leads to either a negative day, or a day that doesn't amount to much.

All day I felt like a zombie and I was never really feeling the markets. I felt half asleep and half awake at the same time. In fact, there were a few trades in which I had to ask myself "How and why did I get myself in this trade?". You can say that my mind was still in weekend mode.

It also didn't help that my charting software went haywire around midday and I couldn't bring up an accurate chart of stocks and the Futures for the rest of the day.

I guess the morning strutted along okay - I was up a little over $400 just before lunch. It was at that point my charts went crazy and to add to the confusion, I began daydreaming and my focus was way off.

During the afternoon in my zombie-like state, I remember getting into trades and as soon as I was filled, the Futures moved hard against my position and I ended up taking a lot of small losing trades. I also find that when I'm not focused, I tend to do a lot of trades (and today was no exception) - there were a lot of trades that were put on without really thinking about them.

I also realize that I didn't have any coffee at all during the day. I did have a cup of tea in the morning, but usually I would have at least 3 cups of coffee during the day. Today I had none (to tell you the truth, I think I was too half a sleep to go get one!). Hrmmmmmmm....looks like I might have to add coffee to my trading strategy.....

Well, what are you gonna do? I'll try to get a good night's rest tonight and hopefully I will be 100% tomorrow.

Good Trades
10:15AM - Bank of America (BAC) was uptrending as were the Futures. The Futures popped 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).

Bad Trades
1:34PM - Time Warner (TWX) was flat while the Futures were downtrending. The Futures tanked, so I went short 10,000 shares. As expected, TWX just stood still while the Futures tanked fairly hard. The Futures then finished tanking and the support behind my trade was breaking. I got out for a 1-cent loser ($100 loser before fees).

• It was at this time I didn't have accurate charts and my mind wasn't focussed on the task at hand
• I vaguely remember thinking that I needed a big trade to pocket some bigger profits and I saw something on the Level 2 on TWX, so I decided to go short 10,000 shares
• Time Warner (TWX) has been on my "Do Not Trade" list for what seems like forever. It could have been that I couldn't see anything to short, so I chose TWX.
  

A Psychological Barrier Broken - My First $1000 Day

Gross: +$1,066.00
Net: +$1,005.72
Loss From Top: 0
Trades: 28
Shares Traded: 53600

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Citigroup (C): +$625.30
Bank of America (BAC): +$376.24
Disney (DIS): +$44.86
Micron Tech (MU): +$30.68
Motorola (MOT): -$71.37

As mentioned yesterday, I was going to tinker around with my trading strategy with the aim of trying to make $1000 in a single trading day.

Today I managed to do just what I was looking for. The keys were a combination of larger share size and holding on to winners longer.

One of the things I modified today was my exit strategy. In the past, once I was in a position, I would look at the Level 2 to see where I can comfortably exit a portion of my position. As an example, if I was long 6000 shares, I would look on the Level 2 to see where there was small size. I would then place orders to exit my position in 2000 shares increments (and I would cancel them if I think we were going higher).

So in this example I might put a 2000 share order to exit for a 2-cent winner, then maybe another 2000 share order to exit for a 3-cent winner, and maybe one final 2000 share order to exit for a 4-cent winner.

What I did differently today was that once I was in a position, I would try not place any exit orders. I would watch the prices and what I would do is wait for the stock's move to be over before I started placing orders to exit. If I felt like the Futures or the stock itself was turning around, I would try to exit the rest of my position.

The reason this helped me today was because I can ride winners longer by capturing more of the move. In the past, my orders would be filled and all I could do was watch as prices continued going higher.

I was also a little more daring with regards to share size. One of my trades on Citigroup (C) was for 8000 shares. Usually I would hit Citigroup with maybe 5000 or 6000 shares, so today was a big step for me.

By 11:15AM, I had reached my target and decided to call it a day while I was ahead (hence the low # of trades).

It was certainly a challege to finally get here, but I believe an even bigger challenge lies ahead: trying to make $1000 consistently. Nonetheless, today was a big boost psychologically - it tells me that I am capable of making this amount. The only problem now is that I have set the bar a little higher.

Only time will tell if today was a fluke or not.

I was glad to see that Citigroup (C) helped me to reach my target today. After being beaten badly by Citigroup the last 2 trading days, I found it a little easier to trade it today.

I'm gonna get my weekend started early and we'll see if I can have a repeat performance next week...

Good Trades
9:54AM - Bank of America (BAC) had just finished bouncing off support twice and reached the $49.40 level. There was about 200 size on the offer at $49.40 when suddenly large size suddenly appeared at $49.39 on the bid. The $49.40 level then started to break so I went long 5000 shares. Got out as follows: 1-cent winner (1000 shares), 2-cent winner (1000 shares), 9-cent winner (1000 shares), 10-cent winner (700 shares), 15-cent winner (800 shares), 16-cent winner (500 shares) ($390 profit before fees).

10:01AM - Citigroup (C) was uptrending as were the Futures. Size was breaking on the offer so I got partially filled long 4000 shares and got out as follows: 1-cent winner (400 shares), 4-cent winner (1000 shares), 5-cent winner (600 shares), 6-cent winner (2000 shares) ($194 profit before fees).

11:11AM - Citigroup (C) was uptrending while the Futures were slightly rising. I was watching the level on Citigroup at $49.52 because it had about 200 size on the offer. Then suddenly, a huge size of 800 appeared on the bid at $49.50. I quickly got long 8000 shares at $49.52 and got out as follows: 4-cent winner (2000 shares), 5-cent winner (2000 shares), 7-cent winner (4000 shares) ($460 profit before fees)

Bad Trades
None!

Where's The Missing Piece Of The Puzzle?

Gross: +$682.50
Net: +$583.74
Loss From Top: 0
Trades: 59
Shares Traded: 99400

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Boston Scientific (BSX): +$582.23
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$172.55
Bank of America (BAC): +$31.71
General Electric (GE): +$24.73
Micron Tech (MU): +$5.96
Disney (DIS): -$47.50
Citigroup (C): -$185.94

It's beginning to look like I might be "stuck" in terms of how much profit I'm able to make during the day. I surely hope that the $500 average isn't the best I can do.

Yes - there have been several days here and there in which I've made more than $500, but I still have yet to surpass $1000 (the closest I got was back in April at $924 net). I'm going to have to figure out what's keeping me at my "average" earnings.

On most days, it appears as though the bad trades are the things that's keeping me back...but I also realize that bad trades may be unavoidable (it's just part of trading)...

Could it be that I should trade less? (I've found that my best earning days are when I trade less). Could it be that I should increase my minimum share size? (perhaps I should only use 6000 shares or more on all my trades). Could it be that I should start looking at very thick stocks like Ford (F) and Time Warner (TWX) and use 20,000 shares or more on each trade?

The next little while I'm going to be searching for that missing piece of the puzzle that answers these questions. It's not going to be easy - I'm going to have to modify certain things in my trading strategy and my profits may suffer while I try to figure things out.

Like they say - "No Pain, No Gain".

Today the markets were down sharply. There was a nice slow downtrend, but I think the problem for me was that the downtrend was a little too slow and most stocks were also in a downtrend, but did so in a choppy fashion.

Again, it was another day in which one of my favorite stocks (Citigroup (C)) gave me a beating. It was a good thing I was able to catch a couple of good swings on Boston Scientific (BSX) and I managed to make close to $600 on BSX alone.

Overall, I found it difficult to find opportunities to trade today (hence my lower than usual number of trades).

Let's see how tomorrow goes!

Good Trades
9:51AM - Boston Scientific (BSX) was trading rather flat when it approached some support at the $21.00 level (there was about 600+ size on the bid). The Futures were downtrending at the time and when the Futures started tanking, the $21 looked like it was going to break. I got short 4000 shares. BSX proceeded to tank hard and I got out of my position as follows: 4-cent winner (900 shares), 5-cent winner (1100 shares), 8-cent winner (100 shares), 9-cent winner (900 shares), 20-cent winner (1000 shares) ($380 profit before fees).

3:13PM - Hewlett Packard (HPQ) was hovering around resistance at $32.50 (there was close to 200 size on the offer). Just then, the Futures popped up, so I got long 4000 shares. Got out as follows: 4-cent winner (1000 shares), 5-cent winner (1000 shares), 6-cent winner (2000 shares) ($210 profit before fees).

Bad Trades
1:14PM - Citigroup (C) was downtrending and so were the Futures. The Futures had just finished tanking hard and for some reason I wanted to go long on Citigroup and hopefully catch a bounce upwards. I got long 4000 shares expecting both the Futures and Citigroup to bounce up. Well I was the one that got bounced...for a loser: 3-cent loser (1000 shares), 4-cent loser (500 shares), 5-cent loser (2500 shares) ($175 loser before fees).

• What on Earth was I thinking trying to go long on Citigroup? Everything about this trade broke almost all of my trading rules!
• I believe that because there was lack of opportunities in the morning, I felt "forced" to do something to try to make something happen...obviously a bad decision
• One thing I should try to refrain from is to put on those dreaded "I'm bored" type of trades...I had only put on 4 trades prior to this one
  

I Took A Real Beating This Afternoon...

Gross: +$433.25
Net: +$290.69
Loss From Top: $176.62
Trades: 66
Shares Traded: 146850

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Disney (DIS): +$452.55
Micron Tech (MU): +$366.64
Motorola (MOT): +$80.60
Time Warner (TWX): -$15.98
Walmart (WMT): -$61.59
Pfizer (PFE): -$178.44
Citigroup (C): -$353.09

Boy oh boy what a day! We were stuck in a tiny narrow range up until the Fed announcement...but then all hell broke loose!

My day was chugging along without any problems and just before the Fed announcement I was up almost $500.

But once the Fed made the announcement, the Futures first popped up a little bit, then tanked really hard, then popped back up to where it started, then tanked very hard again. Then finally it ripped back up again.

During this time, all the stocks I was watching were going bananas! I missed several great opportunities because I was too slow and the positions I did get into immediately turned into losers.

Within a half an hour, (from 2:30PM - 3:00PM), I put on four losing trades and basically lost everything I had made during the day. It was a good thing I got out of those losing trades when I did because my day would have been a lot more uglier.

I managed to catch a few lucky breaks near the end of the day to at least come away with some profits, but overall a disappointing day. I had been waiting all day for a move like this, but I wasn't able to capitalize on it.

I had a few good trades today, however I lost most of my profits on a few small losers. As you can see, Citigroup (C) really beat me into the ground today. All my trades on it today were for losers.

Good Trades
10:16AM - Disney (DIS) was uptrending while the Futures were relatively flat. DIS approached some resistance at $29.80 (there was about 300 size on the offer). I got long 6000 shares and as soon as that level broke, it burst upwards. I got out as follows: 2-cent winner (300 shares), 5-cent winner (1000 shares), 7-cent winner (1000 shares), 8-cent winner (700 shares), 9-cent winner (3000 shares) ($452 profit before fees).

11:20AM - Micron Tech (MU) was downtrending when some huge size appeared on the offer (there was about 2000+ size on the offer!). The huge size kept pushing prices down so I got short 4400 shares. Once I was short, MU kept going further down! There was a moment when I thought the huge size was all filled so I quickly got all of my shares out for a 6-cent winner. However once I got out, I sat there watching in disbelief as MU continued to tank sharply for another 30 cents! ($264 profit before fees).

3:42PM - Micron Tech (MU) looked like it caught some support. There were also several levels of support below current prices. I got long 6000 shares. I got out as follows: 3-cent winner (2000 shares), 4-cent winner (4000 shares) ($220 profit before fees)

Bad Trades
11:01AM - Citigroup (C) was trading in a choppy fashion while the Futures were not doing much. I saw something on the Level 2 and for some reason I went long 4000 shares. It was a bad move on my part - I ended up getting out as follows: 4-cent loser (1000 shares), 5-cent loser (2000 shares), 7-cent loser (1000 shares) ($210 loser before fees)

• I should have know better...the chart on Citigroup (C) was looking soo ugly at the time and I should have never gotten into a position based solely on something I saw on the Level 2
• Even now, I can't believe I got into this position...there was a level that kept refilling and refused to break, but yet I still hit it

3:12PM - Citigroup (C) was swinging wildly at the time and so were the Futures. I got long 4000 shares on a true revenge trade. Needless to say, this trade demonstrated why revenge trades never work. I got out for a 3-cent loser ($120 loser before fees).

• Yup - I did it again! I became frustrated and I succumbed to revenge trading
• It was at this time that I basically lost $500 within a half hour so I was trading on pure emotions at the time
• This was also another trade that was based solely on what I saw on the Level 2...remember folks - have confirming evidence before getting into a trade!
  

Hello Moto!

Gross: +$680.24
Net: +$532.14
Loss From Top: $87.77
Trades: 53
Shares Traded: 157758

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Citigroup (C): +$301.97
Bank of America (BAC): +$160.64
Pfizer (PFE): +$113.65
General Electric (GE): +$111.57
Walmart (WMT): +$64.82
Micron Tech (MU): +$47.91
AT&T (T): +$41.90
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$32.14
Motorola (MOT): -$342.51

Today was a rather interesting day. When all the traders came in today, we found that none of us could see any of the Time and Sales for any stock! This meant that we would not be able to see where the last print or the last fill of any of the stocks were!

They never managed to get it back up and running again, so all of us had to adapt and adjust. I know there were quite a few traders that lost big bucks because of this problem.

For me, I just kept it simple and played off the Level 2, Futures, and stock charts. I was also a little more daring today...traded a few 8000 share positions and one 10,000 share position.

Needless to say, today would have been a perfect day, had it not been for Motorola (MOT). I had only 2 losing trades today, and both were on Motorola.

Looking back, I realize what I did wrong on those two trades and hopefully I can learn from them.

Today the markets traded in an extremely tight range. We bounced around in a narrow 3 handle range all day, so I'm glad I was able to make some money. Hopefully this is the calm before the storm and I expect lots of fireworks tomorrow because of the Fed announcement.

Since we were stuck in a fairly narrow range, most of the stocks I was watching did not move much at all, which isn't good news for my trading strategy...I wasn't able to make many big winning trades - instead I had to settle for a lot of 1 and 2 cent winners.

It's a good thing I'm starting to get comfortable trading bigger sizes now so that later when the markets begin moving again, I can take in more profits!

Good Trades
11:16 - Citigroup (C) had just finished spiking up, but had fallen back down again. Some resistance appeared at $50.30. The Futures popped up, so I hit the resistance and got long 8000 shares. Once I was long, I kind of panicked a little because the Futures fell back down again, but I managed to get all of my shares out for a profit (though if you look at the intraday chart, you will see Citigroup popped up 15-cents!). Got out of my trade as follows: 2-cent winner (1800 shares), 3-cent winner (200 shares), 4-cent winner (2000 shares), 5-cent winner (4000 shares) ($322 profit before fees)

Bad Trades
12:07PM - Motorola (MOT) was uptrending while the Futures were flat. Motorola approached huge resistance at $23.00 (I think there was 4000+ size on the ask). Just then, several big orders began hitting the resistance and it looked like it was going to break so I got long 8000 shares. At that point, the Level 2 became very messy with large buy and sell orders being thrown all over the place and when the dust settled, the resistance level at $23 remained! Then, everyone who had gone long at $23 were now dumping their shares and unfortunately for me, I had to take a big hit. Got out as follows: 2-cent loser (4000 shares), 4-cent loser (2000 shares), 5-cent loser (2000 shares) ($260 loss before fees)

• First of all, I broke one of my trading rules when I got into this position. My rule about level breaks like this clearly indicate that I am NOT suppose to take a position unless the Futures rip/tank in the direction of the trade. On this particular trade, the Futures had not moved, and so there was no real "push" to the upside
• I should have also been smarter and realized that this break was occurring during the lunch hour. Most traders would not be around at this time and hence there would not really much of a "demand" for Motorola shares if the $23 level broke
• Lastly, because this was during the lunch hour, I should have automatically reduced my share size. If I had wanted to trade this particular trade, I should have used perhaps 4000 shares instead of 8000
  

The Last Trade Saves The Day

Gross: +$670.88
Net: +$520.17
Loss From Top: 0
Trades: 59
Shares Traded: 148624

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$403.85
Disney (DIS): +$132.50
Citigroup (C): +$124.66
Bank of America (BAC): +$75.24
Corning (GLW): +$4.25
General Electric (GE): -$17.07
Micron Tech (MU): -$43.27
Sprint-Nextel (S): -$66.51
Pfizer (PFE): -$92.88

It was another fairly slow day today and the trade that salvaged the day was the very last trade.

Not much to tell you about - the only thing I can say is that today I was using larger share sizes quite comfortably (several 8000 share trades). The unfortunate thing about today was that there wasn't really much movements in the stocks I was trading. As a result, today was littered with many 1-cent losers and 1-cent winners.

Within the last hour, I put on several small losing trades and it looked like it was going to be a disappointing day.

However I caught a lucky break on Hewlett Packard (HPQ) in the last 15 minutes of trade and I managed to pull off an average day out of a disappointing day.

As I said before, there wasn't much movements in the stocks I was trading so there were only 2 good trades today, no bad trades (managed to keep all losing trades to under $100).

Good Trades
10:20AM - Hewlett Packard (HPQ) and the Futures were uptrending. Got long 6000 shares and got out as follows: 3-cent loser (2000 shares), 4-cent winner (4000 shares) ($220 profit before fees)

3:48PM - Hewlett Packard (HPQ) looked like it hit resistance and the Futures were really doing anything. All of a sudden, large size appeared on the bid (about 600+ size). There was some size left on the ask, so I hit it for 8000 shares. Got out as follows: 3-cent winner (6000 shares), 4-cent winner (2000 shares) ($260 profit before fees)

Bad Trades
None

What A Miserable Week....

Gross: +$659.37
Net: +$500.83
Loss From Top: 0
Trades: 79
Shares Traded: 146320

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Bank Of America (BAC): +$363.28
General Electric (GE): +$129.16
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$93.48
Boston Scientific (BSX): +$67.46
Citigroup (C): +$52.25
JP Morgan (JPM): +$19.03
Disney (DIS): -$2.35
Walmart (WMT): -$9.63
Sprint-Nextel (S): -$35.09
Home Depot (HD): -$74.31
Pfizer (PFE): -$102.45

Man - talk about a disappointing start to the month. Again, yesterday I did not post - it was a bad number anyways...I was down about $440 on the day.

Let's recap this terrible week for me (since my postings have been sporadic of late):
Monday: down $653
Tuesday: up $50
Wednesday: up $764
Thursday: down $440
Today: up $500

Overall, I only made a little over $200 net for the week....pathetic!

I know what I did wrong on Monday - started off way too aggressive; I guess I was trying to get a kick start to the month. Needless to say, it didn't work. That day I wasn't really feeling it either...I had a lot of things going on and I wasn't mentally prepared for the day.

Tuesday I became too conservative and hardly traded at all. I think the results from Monday fazed me a little.

Wednesday I was back to my old self and most of my trades went off without a hitch. It also helped that the markets had some nice trends during the day.

Thursday I did not adjust my strategy to a flat market. I made a little money in the morning, but then became frustrated the rest of the day as I slowly lost it all and more. It was a fairly emotional day for me - I would estimate that over half the trades I put on were revenge trades.

Today I just focused on following my trading rules and avoided traded during market lulls. I also reduced my share size for most of the day because I realized that I haven't been able to focus on the markets for the past week. For the whole week, it seemed like every big position I put on (6000 or more shares) lost money. So today I kept it simple - nothing spectacular to tell you about.

One thing I did today (that I didn't do yesterday) was to get in and out of my positions fast. Even though the markets were up today, there was not much movement throughout the day and the market chop was horrendous. Thus, there weren't any good trades ($200 or more profit). A lot of my trades were for 3 or 4 cents with an average position of about 4000 shares.

So far, I've noticed that May "feels" a little different than April. I'm not sure if it's me or if it's the overall markets. It seems like the overall markets trade in a narrow range intraday and there is a lot of choppiness in the markets.

Again, it could be me (I've been real busy lately - perhaps it's not enough sleep?). I've just got to remember to adjust my strategies accordingly and to trade smart.

Good Trades
There were no $200+ trades today - just a lot of $100+ trades.

Bad Trades
9:52AM - Home Depot (HD) started downtrending when it reached heavy support at $40.50. The Futures began tanking and it looked like the support was going to break, so I got short 3000 shares at $40.50. Bad move...the level didn't break and the Futures moved back upwards. Got out as follows: 2-cent loser (700 shares), 3-cent loser (500 shares), 4-cent loser (500 shares), 5-cent loser (1300 shares) ($114 loser before fees).

• On this particular trade, I think I got tricked into going short at the $40.50 level. Size on the bid kept getting hit and it grew smaller and smaller - but the size would just keep refilling
• I should have also waited for a more convincing down move by the Futures. Knowing how choppy the markets have been lately, I should have waited for some follow through by the Futures
• In a way, I was kind of glad this trade occurred. This was one of those "wake up and smell the coffee" type of trades. I thought that I might be looking at another down day today after this trade - so at that point, I really tried to focus my trading rules and also reminded myself of when NOT to trade
  

Sorry For The Absence...

Gross: +$890.00
Net: +$764.77
Loss From Top: $23.38
Trades: 68
Shares Traded: 110400

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
General Electric (GE): +$296.38
Citigroup (C): +$211.76
Walmart (WMT): +$157.53
JP Morgan (JPM): +$40.49
Pfizer (PFE): +$39.49
Home Depot (HD): +$15.60
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$3.48

Sorry for not posting on the 1st and 2nd. I've been terribly busy the last few days and will probably be busy the remainder of the week. I'll have to keep this posting fairly short, so I won't review the good and bad trades.

Hopefully next week I'll be back to my regular schedule.

Anyways, the previous two trading days were not good at all. I didn't really feel the markets and I kept losing my concentration. Monday I was down $653.59. I was trying some new strategies and I was shutdown within 30 minutes of the day. Tuesday I was up only $49.21 - really flat market and I hardly traded at all.

Today was a good rebound from those two days. I woke up this morning well rested and ready to go (unlike the previous two days).

Anyways - here's hoping to a good remainder of the week!