Trades 17/07/14

* buys/covers are marked on the charts in blue, sells/shorts in red *

Started the day badly with $BLFS, could have gone worse, but I really should have known better, it wasn't the right setup, and I should have covered sooner. Then i bought some spy calls on the weak open, at one point i was down $1k, but I added and it bounced back, and I made a nice profit. Made two dozen other trades, below the ones over $200 profilt/loss are listed.
Finished up $300. 


Trade Highlights:


$BLFS -$650 - it actually was looking like a tomahawk pattern yet now that i'm overly biased I longed it. Again I wasnt quick enough to cut losses, at least i didnt let it turn into an epic loss and stopped at -$650

$SPY 198 Calls +$1000 - this is quickly becoming one of my best gainers, however I need to improve on my risk management and cut losses quickly when it goes against me. Too many times I hold and hope, so far it worked, but one time it will stop working ... and then i'll give back all these gains. The swingy nature of it (knowing it doesnt expire for a few days/weeks) gives a false sense of security that it is ok to hold as it could very well bounce back eventually ...

$TWX -$215 - dropped quickly on me and I was busy with some other trade, totally avoidable loss

Trades 15/07/14

* buys/covers are marked on the charts in blue, sells/shorts in red *

Finished up $700 or so. 

Trade Highlights:


$NEWL +$258 traded multiple times, pre and during session

$GLUU +$126

$ASMB +$101 had some overnight, added on the 15% pullback

$CDXS -$80 - big miss here - the longs were poor but I cut them quickly, timed the short well, and covered well too soon

$SPY 198 calls +$200 - awful trade overall, did ok to begin with, then it went against me and I kept doubling down. My rational as opposed to yesterday's failed trade is that it takes much less for me to b/e on these calls compared to if I was down on an individual stocks, so I allowed myself to break my rules. It worked in my favour, but I wasnt really in control, I was wishing to b/e, wasnt in the trade for a good reason. Will try to make sure this doesnt happen again (CUT LOSSES QUICKLY!!!)

Trades 14/07/14

* buys/covers are marked on the charts in blue, sells/shorts in red *



Disappointing day - I get slapped once in a while with a day like this, reminding my how important it is to stay discaplined and obey your rules without exceptions. This usually happens to me on a Monday, and after a decent run.
Today it was all about $CREG - I broke 5 of my 7 trading rules on one trade.
First mistake was buying on a pullback before it actually started to show signs of reversing, before putting higher lows in. I had no defined r/r in this case.
Then the trade went against me and I broke 2 further rules - I added to a loser, and ended up with a position size which is twice what I usually trade for stocks in this price range.
Finally, not only I didn't cut my losses quickly, I let myself go over my max pain threshold ($1k) three fold!!! This just re-iterate the importance of the max pain threshold, would have saved me $2k had I not ignored it.
Finished down $2500 or so. 

Lessons:

• Obey your damn trading rules

Trade Highlights:

$CREG -$3000 - every little bounce got sold into, had I waited for lower highs I'd least have set r/r and end up with a tiny loss

$ASMB +$675 - this is quickly turning into my favourite setup; chart is easy to read, usually happens around 1-2pm; huge run up followed by a pullback. Then notice the consolidation and higher lows, you can just tell it's tightening and getting ready for a late day push to test new highs