What Was That? Was It...A "Real" Trade?!
Gross: +$313.60
Net: +$247.49
Loss From Top: $8.88
Trades: 60
Shares Traded: 86400
Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$319.52
AT&T (T): +$32.92
Disney (DIS): +$24.39
Motorola (MOT): +$21.58
Home Depot (HD): +$15.88
Walmart (WMT): +$14.54
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): -$2.66
Corning (GLW): -$23.85
Micron Tech (MU): -$46.67
General Electric (GE): -$108.17
Today I had a very tough time trying to make money.
All day I had to patiently sit and wait for opportunities (hence the low # of trades), but even when there were opportunities, they were fairly short-lived and as a result, I either got chopped out for a small loser, or I had to bail for a small winner.
Though I am not particularly pleased with the profits made today, it surely beats being negative or not making anything at all.
In the past, a day like today would have either resulted in little or no profits or I would lose a lot of money. I'm just glad that I was able to use what I have learned this past year of trading and patiently waited out this market, even though the market never did seem to wake up at all today.
Because of the lackluster morning, I took on a trade on Hewlett Packard (HPQ) with the intent on holding it for a while (see good trades). Well, I ended up hold that position for over 30 minutes - one of the longest trades I've ever held! This was no longer a quick "scalp", but was more like...dare I say it?...a *gasp!* real trade?!
Later on in the afternoon, I put on the same trade again on HPQ - but this time I held it for over 40 minutes (went short at approximately 12:30PM)! An eternity for me! However, this second trade was not as profitable as the first one. What was that?...Was it another *gasp!* trade and not a scalp?!?
For those of you who regularly visit this blog, you all know that I'm more of a micro-scalper - someone who gets in and out fairly quickly and you won't see many trades held longer than 3 minutes, so when I talk about "really trading", I really mean a trade in which I hold the position for a relatively long time. And today, I did that - twice!
All day today, HPQ was testing the $40.00 level, which was a huge resistance level (over 5000+ size on the offer at $40). I took a couple of shorts, but because the markets were moving sideways all day, I really had to be patient with my positions.
The profits gained from that first HPQ trade was basically my whole day. Unfortunately the overall markets did not really move anywhere and neither did HPQ...I only wonder how much more profits could have been had IF the markets actually did move somewhere and I held onto my positions for the same lengths of time.
In a way, you can say I practiced patience in two ways today: 1) waiting out the market lull and 2) holding onto a winning position. It was certainly an exercise and perhaps a good day to practice this.
I hope to continue to practice this more often so that I can get more comfortable with holding onto winning positions. In both of the HPQ trades, I was a little unnerved at first (as are most of my trades), but I'd say that after about 5 minutes into the trade, I started relaxing a bit...this could have simply been because I knew the overall markets wouldn't make any sudden movements and force me out of my position.
Near the end of the day, HPQ really started testing the $40.00 level and several times it looked like $40 would break, but it never did. It shall be interesting to see where it goes on Monday.
One good trade versus no bad trades today.
Because of the sideways action of the markets and the lack of action on my part, I felt that the afternoon kind of dragged it's feet and I felt like the trading day was more tiring than normal...when I got home I actually considered taking a nap! (haven't done that since...well, since I was a kid!).
Have a great weekend everyone! I'll be doing some posts this weekend, so be on the lookout!
Good Trades
10:50AM - Hewlett Packard (HPQ) was uptrending while the Futures were moving sideways. HPQ reached the $40.00 where there was huge resistance (5000+ size on the ask). HPQ seemed to stall a bit, so I decided to get short 2000 shares at $39.99. I held, and held, and held this sucker...the Futures also helped out as it tanked at around 11AM. I got out as follows: 11-cent winner (1000 shares), 13-cent winner (1000 shares) ($240 profit before fees ; In: 10:50:32 ; Short 2000 shares @ $39.99 ; Out: 11:19:56)
Bad Trades
None.
Net: +$247.49
Loss From Top: $8.88
Trades: 60
Shares Traded: 86400
Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$319.52
AT&T (T): +$32.92
Disney (DIS): +$24.39
Motorola (MOT): +$21.58
Home Depot (HD): +$15.88
Walmart (WMT): +$14.54
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): -$2.66
Corning (GLW): -$23.85
Micron Tech (MU): -$46.67
General Electric (GE): -$108.17
Today I had a very tough time trying to make money.
All day I had to patiently sit and wait for opportunities (hence the low # of trades), but even when there were opportunities, they were fairly short-lived and as a result, I either got chopped out for a small loser, or I had to bail for a small winner.
Though I am not particularly pleased with the profits made today, it surely beats being negative or not making anything at all.
In the past, a day like today would have either resulted in little or no profits or I would lose a lot of money. I'm just glad that I was able to use what I have learned this past year of trading and patiently waited out this market, even though the market never did seem to wake up at all today.
Because of the lackluster morning, I took on a trade on Hewlett Packard (HPQ) with the intent on holding it for a while (see good trades). Well, I ended up hold that position for over 30 minutes - one of the longest trades I've ever held! This was no longer a quick "scalp", but was more like...dare I say it?...a *gasp!* real trade?!
Later on in the afternoon, I put on the same trade again on HPQ - but this time I held it for over 40 minutes (went short at approximately 12:30PM)! An eternity for me! However, this second trade was not as profitable as the first one. What was that?...Was it another *gasp!* trade and not a scalp?!?
For those of you who regularly visit this blog, you all know that I'm more of a micro-scalper - someone who gets in and out fairly quickly and you won't see many trades held longer than 3 minutes, so when I talk about "really trading", I really mean a trade in which I hold the position for a relatively long time. And today, I did that - twice!
All day today, HPQ was testing the $40.00 level, which was a huge resistance level (over 5000+ size on the offer at $40). I took a couple of shorts, but because the markets were moving sideways all day, I really had to be patient with my positions.
The profits gained from that first HPQ trade was basically my whole day. Unfortunately the overall markets did not really move anywhere and neither did HPQ...I only wonder how much more profits could have been had IF the markets actually did move somewhere and I held onto my positions for the same lengths of time.
In a way, you can say I practiced patience in two ways today: 1) waiting out the market lull and 2) holding onto a winning position. It was certainly an exercise and perhaps a good day to practice this.
I hope to continue to practice this more often so that I can get more comfortable with holding onto winning positions. In both of the HPQ trades, I was a little unnerved at first (as are most of my trades), but I'd say that after about 5 minutes into the trade, I started relaxing a bit...this could have simply been because I knew the overall markets wouldn't make any sudden movements and force me out of my position.
Near the end of the day, HPQ really started testing the $40.00 level and several times it looked like $40 would break, but it never did. It shall be interesting to see where it goes on Monday.
One good trade versus no bad trades today.
Because of the sideways action of the markets and the lack of action on my part, I felt that the afternoon kind of dragged it's feet and I felt like the trading day was more tiring than normal...when I got home I actually considered taking a nap! (haven't done that since...well, since I was a kid!).
Have a great weekend everyone! I'll be doing some posts this weekend, so be on the lookout!
Good Trades
10:50AM - Hewlett Packard (HPQ) was uptrending while the Futures were moving sideways. HPQ reached the $40.00 where there was huge resistance (5000+ size on the ask). HPQ seemed to stall a bit, so I decided to get short 2000 shares at $39.99. I held, and held, and held this sucker...the Futures also helped out as it tanked at around 11AM. I got out as follows: 11-cent winner (1000 shares), 13-cent winner (1000 shares) ($240 profit before fees ; In: 10:50:32 ; Short 2000 shares @ $39.99 ; Out: 11:19:56)
Bad Trades
None.
posted by J.C. at
5:04 p.m.
4 Comments:
good job on a tough day
By
Anonymous, at November 10, 2006 7:05 p.m.
Hey Ugly,
Yea - just had to be very careful in what I traded today. I had trouble keeping my eyelids open in the afternoon - no opportunities! Have a great weekend Ugly and we'll see what next week brings!
By
J.C., at November 10, 2006 8:06 p.m.
J.C,
Yup, you had a very tough time ,but, you still made some money! Well done.
Have a great weekend.
Gav
By
Anonymous, at November 10, 2006 10:33 p.m.
Gav,
As usual, thanks for your comments.
Have a great weekend and get some good rest. Let's all hope for some great trading next week!
By
J.C., at November 10, 2006 11:06 p.m.
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