Trades 30/04/15

Just like yesterday, started the day with good trade on a momentum stock ($FNJN, yesterday was $BPTH) only to give it back with silly trades with bad entries; then made it back shorting the stock. 
Will try avoiding the second (and subsequent) longs, instead leave it alone, or stalk the short

$GLUU was very disappointing out of the gate, I managed to escape a bigger loss by buying lower when it perked. It's time however to go back to NOT trading the first five minutes until things settle, as I dont seem to have a handle on it at this market

$LPTH was an appalling chase, then added more lower and ended up with much bigger size for an illiquid stock like that, another thing I need to tidy up for march 

Lessons:

• Leave winners along, unless they pulled back a bunch. Entering a position when the chart is o/e isn't wise
• Don't trade the first 5-10 minutes, let things settle and present clear patterns
• Stick to liquid stocks

Trades: 

$GLUU premarket

$GLUU again



$FNJN nice trade, looked like had the potential to run today. And it did.

$FNJN and i gave it all back ... this is a theme the past few session, adding a rule to NOT re-trade a winner, especially when the edge is gone

$FNJN shorted some here; made back the prior losses

$LPTH what an abomination of a trade; bad habit i picked up this week, not waiting for a dip to go long, what's worse, i added way too many, and sold right where I woulda shoulda bought; I shorted it later and made some back

$LEU shorted on $UEC weakness; in 5.30 out 5.10

$CVEO o/e daily, snug under vwap here; 4.45 risk, looking for 4-4.20; took off most on that nice flush

$CRMD shorted some .75, covered .61 and .55

$GLUU 

$

P&L:

Trades 29/04/15

First day in a long time that I was worried there will be no trades to make, so I'm glad I managed to scrape a few decent trades in the first hour.
Taking a break until the final two hours, if I make further trades I shall update the blog

Trades: 

$CRMD shorted some out the gate in the high 80s, covered in the 60-70s for a quick trade as i this stock taught me to take quick profits

$VGGL was patient with this long as i didnt have much else going on ... alas patient didn't help in this case

$SSE looked like it could run, took some for profit rest for a loss (fat fingered a s/s there (sold more than i had bought earlier...) as well and covered quickly for -1c)

$GPRO

$CANF chase for 3 break, looked like it had juice

$CANF tiny again

$BPTH low vol, but was the only stock that looked like it could run today. And ran it did

$UEC well-timed short there

Afternoon Trades:

$BPTH like an idiot I kept trading it small in the lull and gave all of my gains back until i shorted and made it back

$CRMD - also sold some long term puts i had for a small profit

$

P&L:

Trades 28/04/15

Good trading out the gate, a bit hesitant to play size on $NLST unfortunately;
$AGEN traded well, I did take a little bit off for a loss near hods, fearing a break of 8 and I'd take an even bigger loss, gladly it didnt, and i added back, generally adding to a winner and shorting on pops
$AMCN I took the shares IB had not at the best entry, however I feared they'd run out. It worked out ok in the end, but not the best habit.

Took a break after the first hour or so, came back at 2ish and things seemed slow ... traded $EIGI successfully, and $AMCO less so; and then a few bodycam stocks;

$TWTR madness eod made it into a nice day 

While I traded many tickers, I made far fewer trades (and most of these tickers were the body cam basket and 2 TWTR calls); plan on doing the same tomorrow.

Trades: 

$NLST on news, only filled 400sh ... in .64 out .73

$NLST rebought before the open, this time 1000sh (big player) at .64 sold in the 70s

$AGEN s/s - nice traded, added on pops, lightened on flushes, ran out of shares at 7.41 from 7.70s entry

$AMCN chase short, IB had only 700sh

$USAT scalped it for a few cents, it didn't hold 3 too well and wasn't liquid enough

Afternoon Trades:

$EIGI not my bread and butter, but i liked the setup; only 100sh at a time

$AMCO pretty annoying, hate it when the setup looks great, and it does what you expect it would, but then it just gets pulled from under your feet

$AMCO shorted a tiny here

$CRMD took 1/2 anticipating a 7.90 break (multi-day support); has a history of fake outs and trapping, so wont add until it confirms; added lower; and indeed it was a trap, it ripped to 8+ and then dropped back allowing me to cover for -5c overall; i'm just going to ignore it from now on, too difficult to play


$XGTI $ISNS $VII $DGLY bought a little bit of each on body cam momentum; former two worked fine, XGTI bought .28s sold .30 and .32 

$TWTR ... yeek, took just 2 contracts (one each) $42 and $43 calls and flipped them for $200ish

P&L:

Trades 27/04/15

Terrible morning, full of fat fingers and doorbells ringing (read on)
While it may sound I'm passing the blame, it's not the case, I'm still 100% accountable and responsible for today's appalling performance.
The gist - revenge trade in $FPP that I fat fingered a big position, plus leaving my desk at the wrong moment on $SYMX trade cost me in excess of $1k today.
Will take rest of day off.

Trades: 

$CPRX had a few long over the weekend, sold in pre

$FPP had some long over the weekend sold mostly 1.70s and 1/4 in the 1.80s; 

$SYMX bought some 1.80s in pre, added lower and sold into the morning push

$IBIO in pre on news in 1.13 out 1.23

$AEHR popped on scanner, had news this am and small float

$MDVX low vol pump

$SKBI popped on scanner, bagging some

$SYMX again here, looks like it's abosorbing a lot at 1.85; i was so sure it was going higher, 1.80 risk; lightened up a little bit when it was testing 1.80 and added them back when it held. ARGH the most dispappoing trade in a while ... i was up nicely in the 1.90s, then someone rang the bell ... and i (like an idiot) left my desk to answer the door, and it dropped 10c; it was a 3500 position, should not have let my eyes off it; instead of being up $300 ended down $300, pretty nasty swing

$FPP this realy isnt my day, revenge longed some (as i missed the big move with my o/n position); filled 2250 instead of 500 (didnt check the order box); sold it for a big fat loss


P&L:

Trades 24/04/15

A bit slow today, out the gate made two trades, one on $CALI and one on $LOOK, unfortunately it meant I could only really keep up with one, and they both ended up cancelling each other out ($CALI good, $LOOK bad)
Later s/s trades on $UEC and $DSKX put me in the green today

Developed some bad habits this week, not waiting for dips to get long, need to fix this ASAP; it had worked ok most times, but that's not a good habit to form ($NPD $ENZN awful entries)

Overall traded poorly today, not the best way to end the week, will implement lessons next week. NO MORE FORCING TRADES next week

Trades: 

$LOOK $MCP in pre - first was a winner, second a loser

$CALI weak open 

$CALI again on a dip 

$LOOK tried to do the same as $CALI, however since i was preoccupied with $CALI I didn't pay attention and was too patient with my sells, turned a profitable trade to a big loser

$FPP popped on scan; was trying to be very patient with it, usually I flip them for a dime to see it surge 50c; this one didnt surge 50c, had to settle for 10c

$DSKX shorted some, a very o/e chart; nice trade! nice job adding to a winner too

$DRRX same as above; closed it for peanuts, it was going nowhere; or so i thought

$LEU $URRE $URG - bought a few Uranium stocks, $LEU the low floater of the bunch was the best choice; $LEU I made two trades 4.80s sold low 5s, then re-bought 5.1x and sold half 5.40s rest 5.60s; the former two i sold for a loss when Uranium momentum fizzled 



$TOPS $EFUT popped on scanner; former sold some for a profit and rest i was being patient with, alas it went against me and closed it for a loss; the latter i made 20c on

$ICLD insanely stupid chase here, saw a tweet, reacted like my old undisciplined self, and sold for 5c loss


$UEC on 2.50 break, took all the shares IB had (2k); added 500 when they became available, nice add there to a winner; covered 2/3 at the lows, tried to be patient with rest, and covered them even in the end

$LOOK trying again here, nice setup for the long; sized in nicely, but sold most at 2.1 when it failed to break it twice, only a few shares made it to 2.18

$LOOK back in

$LOOK fail

$ENZN sold half for 5c, this stock feels so thiiiick (note the poor entries)

$NPD poor chase, bought right near hod, and sold for 8c loss


P&L:

Trades 23/04/15

Pretty pleased with myself this am session - I made no trades in pre, seemed like it was going to be a boring open, but luckily $SYRX and $RMGN popped up on my scanner and made for decent morning.
Took off after 20 minutes, will be back for final hours

---- I wish I had only returned for the power hour... would have been $500 better off ... Made insanely stupid $CALI trades during the lull, the kind I really should grow up and stop making.
Was down $600 on it at the worst point, gladly the eod push I went long and made half of it back.

Last 30 minutes with $ANY and I was able to go firmly into the green, for another good day $$$ wise, but I could have done without the stress of lull hours trading

Trades: 

$UEC $URRE had some o/n sold for peanuts on the weak open

$SCYX nice trade on this low floater with news

$VGGL thought it would squeeze some, instead lost a few cents

$SYRX chased some on news, former runner


$RMGN popped on scanner

---  Came back from break early, instead of waiting until 2pm as I should have. There just isnt the volume and predictable moves in the lull hours, a sure recipe to give back your gains, as I did

$CALI tried tiny short under vwap, but it bounced right back; covered and went long at 2.10 and made back that loss to be even on it on the day

$CALI what a mess I've made with this trade - good lesson in NOT TRADING BETWEEN 12-2 ... was all over the place, so choppy I couldnt decide whether to long or short, and still made the trade.. reversed it a few times too, all awful trades except finally was decisive when it showed weakness and sized in more than those indecisive trades, so managed to make it back; but real poor trading, was no need for that

$SCYX small again

$ANY on news - sized in relatively (1500 instead of my usual 500sh) and it paid off

$ANY again

$CALI again; suddenly in the final hour things are easier to read

P&L:

News Services Review

Past few weeks I've been trialing Benzinga, TradeTheNews and FlyOnTheWall news services.
My requirements from a news service are very specific (and limited), so this isn't a comprehensive review of these services, rather my judgement on whether it fits the specific criteria I was looking for in a news service.

My requirements - Good coverage of $1-$10 small caps stocks. The ideal is to be first to hear the news, with focus on pre-market news.
These services offer above and beyond this scope naturally.

I was impressed with TradeTheNews in terms of their offering, however it didn't offer the edge I was looking for, and is far too expensive ... so that was the first one I discarded.

FlyOnTheWall is the most affordable, however I found them lacking in terms of their alerts; they were not just alerting later than the two other services, but often times missed an alert altogether.

Benzinga offers the best value for money out of these services. They too offer a very comprehensive service like TradeTheNews (with audio call, daily emails etc) however, overall, I found the best value service is ... 
.
.
.
Twitter!

By following the likes of @StockNews_ @OpenOutcrier @BlinkX90 @d4ytrad3 @financialjuice @tradehawk I got most of the alerts I was after either at the same time, or before they popped up on any of the news services I was trialing.
Of course it begs the question, which news service are these guys subscribed to ... until I find out I intend to stick to Twitter only.

I've gathered a few tiny examples of the type of news I was looking for, and when the various news services alerted them:
$MNOV had FDA news on 16/04 premarket (exactly the type of news I'd like to hear about early)

The news popped up on Benzinga  feed at 8:01;
FlyOnTheWall at 8:12 
Twitter: @d4ytrad3 at 8:01

$ADMP FDA news:
Twitter: 9:03
Benzinga: 9:04


On 20/04 $NNVC, $CANF news not reported on Benzinga (at least not withing ten minutes of Twitter) which helped me decide to ditch it.


Feel free to ask questions in the comment section for this post.

Trades 22/04/15

Very busy first hour ... again didnt do a good job at all. Juggled too many positions instead of focusing on fewer;
Was up $400 in pre, then gave it all back on a poor $GBSN trade out the gate, figured it will squeeze up, instead it tanked; 
The end of the hour I made it back on $GBSN And decided to take it easy until the final hour.
Didn't quite take it easy in the end, perhas easy-ier.
Ended the day well with a good trade on $LOOK (to make back am losses) and overall not a bad performance.
Again the theme is be more patient with winners, and focus on better entries

Trades: 

$GBSN on news in pre; worked very well (in 4.20s out on the climb up, mostly in the .50-.70s)

$GBSN again on this flag

$ENZN bought some 1.60 chase, cut it 1.53 (it subsequently dropped to 1.30, good job cutting it)

$GBSN again - these flags are less reliable the more often they occur

$GBSN gave some back trying to catch another pop in pre; got in out the gate with a poor avg at almost 5, sold pretty much at lods. was back to 0 on it, gave back all of the premarket gains ... Bought on that big spike that followed and traded it much better from that point, made back the pre gains with some change. Made this trade way more difficult than it should have been. a bit patience with my first buys and i needn't have traded it again at all

$ZHNE popped on scanner; sold some for a profit, most for a loss (bad add there)

$GURE was short some o/n; covered for a dime

$VLTC played the $20 break for $1

$MCHX popped on scanner, lost 5c

$LOOK had some o/n and added a chase after it went r/g; learned again you cant win with a poor entry

$URRE $URG small positions on uranium momo - took a few cents on each

$RCPI popped on scanner, tiny vol longed 3.40 sold 3.60s

$ZHNE went long and sold it and shorted given it lost momentum and under vwap;  was as patient as i possibly could be, made back the loss from the long with some change

$ONVO tried the vwap bounce here, but was too much of a chase

$ZA tiny position on this low float nearing a $1 cross; nice setup on the daily too; took 500 .98 and added 500 at 1, sold on the subsequent pop 

$GBSN tiny here

$GBSN gave some back here; wont touch it again unless the setup is incredibly incredible

$LOOK silly chase trade in the morning on r/g; didnt wait for a pull and paid the price; later in the afternoon repeated the mistake - started emotionally on a pop, intended to add if it pops thru vwap; ARGH! rather upset, DAS choked on me just when it was time to add; added 1/3 of what i wanted with IB and then sold on the pop; didnt get to size in on this; made back silly losses from earlier

$NKA bought for a gapper, took the quick small win instead

P&L: