Getting Rocked & Getting Rolled

Gross: -$505.00
Net: -$515.23
Trades: 16
Shares Traded: 17000

Stocks Traded Today (net profit/loss):
AirTran Holdings, Inc. (AAI): -$39.30
Murphy Oil Corporation (MUR): -$76.04
Rite Aid Corporation (RAD): -$159.78
SAIC, Inc. (SAI): -$240.10

Never under-estimate the power of the S&P Futures....

My day was quickly done and within 45 minutes, I had to close her down for the day....

It was just my luck that every position I had early this morning was in the opposite direction of a rather hard move made by the Futures.

I went long on SAI twice early in the morning...unfortunately I was long right when the Futures decided to tank hard....on both times!

When I had those SAI positions, I saw the Futures tank quite hard, but I didn't immediately do anything about it...I figure that this stock could resist the overall moves made by the markets.

Unfortunately I waited too long and was stopped out twice on this stock....the first time for about $130, the second time for about $110.

And wouldn't you know it....whenever I was short, the Futures made a forceful move up.....and again, I didn't immediately got out of my position, opting to wait a little bit to see if the stock could resist the move....but then I'd get stopped out. Whenever I was long, the Futures made a forceful move down...I'd hang around only to get out when it hit my stop for a loss.

Every position I had on today had a similar story....I'd either be long when the Futures make a forceful move to the downside or I'd be short and the Futures make a forceful move to the upside.

And in all of my trades, I waited a little too long to see if the stock could resist the move.

Oh sure, eventually the stocks I was in eventually went in the direction of the trade (or at least come back to break even) - but I didn't know that....nor would I know the extent of the Futures move.

All in all, just bad, bad, bad.

I guess I've been focusing so much on other aspects of my trading that I sometimes tend to forget some of my basic trading rules....one of which is to trade only when there is a clear direction in the Futures (so that I can trade in the same direction) and to avoid trading when it does a lot of wicked chopping.

Had I been more mindful of this, I would have been caught maybe once or twice with those Futures moves (which ultimately affected the stocks I was in).....but to be caught soo many trades in a row means that I failed to follow those rules.

I also have a feeling that this morning I really felt eager to put on an aggressive trade and because my mind was so intent on making that big trade and trying to use bigger share sizes, I failed to follow through on my rules (like get out of my position if the Futures make forceful moves in the opposite direction of your trade!)....

Oh well - I'll have to put this day in the books and move on.

I just have to remember to never under-estimate the power of the S&P Futures....

Good Trades
(trades in which I make $200 or more)

• None
  

Bad Trades
(trades in which I lose $150 or more)

• None - just many trades in which I held onto a loser longer than I'd like to hold them for