Prepping For Vacation

Gross: +$331.00
Net: +$294.60
Loss From Top: $89.09
Trades: 34
Shares Traded: 23800

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
Bank of New York Company (BK): +$378.81
BB&T Corporation (BBT): +$61.79
Abbott Laboratories (ABT): +$33.40
Sovereign Bancorp Inc. (SOV): +$32.23
Washington Mutual Inc. (WM): -$42.46
Harley-Davidson Inc. (HOG): -$169.19

Ok folks - I gotta make this short as I still have a few things I need to do before heading out to the Bahamas next week for a friend's wedding. I'll be leaving this Sunday and coming back on Thursday, but I feel as though I'm in a rush to get things done before leaving.

Anyways, the first trade of the day was on Harley-Davidson (HOG) and it turned out to be a big loser...I traded it way too early (it had just opened for trading for the day). I went long 1000 shares when I thought the $71.50 level broke...it went up a few cents, but quickly came back down...at one point my blotter was showing me a $350 loser, but HOG just bounced around everywhere and I managed to get out for a $160 loser (see bad trades).

I felt as though I needed to be aggressive today...obviously it wasn't aggressive enough. I took a few good trades on Bank of New York (BK), but I also focused on waiting for the right opportunity.

And I couldn't believe the number of level breaks I missed today. I'd either get a partial fill or I'd miss out on everything. It seemed like every time I wanted to get in on a level break, there was a split second hesitation....not quite sure what was holding me back.

By the time I knew it, it was lunch. But then I took a few small trades here and there during the lunch hour and I found that it was starting to happen again.....the same sequence of events were starting to unfold today and during the lunch hour I quickly lost over $100.

Anyways, I took off after 1PM because I really needed to get some things done (which I put off for two trading days in a row).

Two good trades and one bad one...not gonna post up charts today.

Ok - gotta run...I'll post up my "On Tap" post later tonight.

Good Trades
9:35:53AM - I went long Bank of New York (BK) when it broke the $40.60 level. I tried to get long 2000 shares, but only got 900 shares. I got out as follows: 20-cent winner (100 shares), 21-cent winner (300 shares), 24-cent winner (500 shares) ($203 profit before fees ; Long 900 shares @ $40.60 ; Out: 9:38:26AM)

10:22:06AM - Bank of New York (BK) came up to the $41 level and when it broke, I went long 2000 shares. Got out as follows: 4-cent winner (100 shares), 8-cent winner (400 shares), 9-cent winner (500 shares), 10-cent winner (400 shares), 11-cent winner (500 shares) ($176 profit before fees ; Long 2000 shares @ $41.00 ; Out: 10:23:15AM)

Bad Trades
9:31:49AM - Harley-Davidson (HOG) opened and started moving up. When it came up to the $71.50 level, I went long 1000 shares. HOG moved up, then dropped like a rock. It moved down over 30-cents and my blotter briefly showed a $350 loser, but HOG just bounced right back and I managed to get out as follows: 8-cent loser (100 shares), 9-cent loser (500 shares), 27-cent loser (200 shares), 28-cent loser (100 shares), 30-cent loser (100 shares) ($165 loser before fees ; Long 1000 shares @ $71.50 ; Out: 9:32:12AM)