The thing that I like about trading is much like what I like about engineering. Much like engineering everyday you have the same goal, which is to make something. The challenge behind “making something” is that the tasks that are necessary for each day vary, which is what keeps me interested and on my toes.
Today we have a green day recap, however I had some boneheaded moves that really held back the days potential. As usual my shortcomings were a direct result of my actions, and so I must find a way to clean these habits up and put them in my favor to maximize my potential. The goal is to do just 1% better than the day before and compound those wins in my trading to sustain longevity.
There were two great lessons in todays market that I can draw from . The first is to not cry over spilled milk. What’s done is done and you can only move forward to the next opportunity. You have to chalk up the last thing that happened as an experience, then reset and refocus for the next opportunity. The next lesson is that You have to stick to your plan. As you’ll see below on $ENLV I didn’t stick to my plan and while I was green I ended up minimizing the play due to
SLDB
This started off as a side watch for me and turned into my main play. Originally I had an entry target of $4.50 for a dabble. I saw something in the tape and took smallish starter, buttttt it kept going, so I took some off for a little hair cut and sized up after the move. The downside is that I didn’t touch of the $6 push, which in the grand scheme of things is fine, but it would’ve been nice for my position average.
I loaded the boat on size and had the must awful fat finger cover ever, and ended up completely out of my position on the first cover after the open….not what I wanted. It would’ve been much better had I covered in the 4.38s…ESPECIALLY with the size I had, but whatever. I was upset bt then the name gave another opportunity later on in the day, and I jumped in with size again and this time worked the position better.
I really wanted to get my covers down in the 3.80-3.90s range, but you things don’t always go as expect and I was able to take the meat of the move after the fails, so no complaints, but definitely room to optimize.
JKS
What a blunder here. It started off nice, but the tape was thin along with a wide-ish spread. I was a little over 1/4 position sized, so it was small, but it still walked farther than I liked and it gave me a little shot. I’m not sure why I didn’t cover on that pull back for a $.20 hit, which would’ve been MUCH better than a dollar hit. Lesson learned.
NIO
Found this mid day play and was able to take a nice little profit away from it.
ENLV
I messed this entry up as well. Before the bell I was hoping for a push to $11, which I completely froze on, then I missed the newsletter push back to 11.50. Green on the name, but I left a solid $1 on the table and didn’t leave myself room emotionally to size up (only got to 1/4 size, but still a decent winner). Nonetheless My execution wasn’t the best, regardless of size, and I have to correct it in order to make sure that I’m staying on top of things and keeping risk in check properly.