Trade Review: 3-4-08

I didn't do this like a play by play today... I felt like it takes my focus away during the trading day. Here are some of the more interesting ones today at least.

8:44am - JTX gapped down. I shorted at 14.27 and I actually added to it twice, hoping it won't break past the 15 whole number level. Looking back, even though I made money, it wasn't a very good trade. There was news, plus I didn't even really look at what the news was and I traded it. I did have a good idea of the resistance level though b/c this thing definitely didn't bounce past that. I could've shorted it again when it bounced up to that 15 dollar level at 10:30. I don't know... I wanted to believe that negative news stock tends to just inch down further. Who knows if that's true or not. I should make a note of where I see support and resistance and keep it there for the day and make sure to put them back in after I've traded the stock b/c sometimes the program cancels any stop alerts I have after I've exited out of the position.

8:57am - SGY was moving down and I believed it was going to break down past the 50 dollar level so I shorted some at 49.90 and 87. It did start to go in my favor but bounced off 49.60 and started going against me. First of all, I probably should've gotten out at 49.80 on the way back up to at least lock in some profit. Second of all, I can't believe I added to that position as well when it started going against me, but at least I've identified the absolute worst level that I'd have to get out at. I looked at the chart a little closer and the recent resistance was actually at 49.80 so I've actually been shorting into the support (ceiling that flipped to become a floor). Once it did go back to that price level I got out but it went down even further to about 49 whole number. Pull up the chart, make them bigger so easier to see and make better entries.

10:09am - Bought some SLV at 199.18, giving it 20 cents and I actually almost got stopped out. GLD had made a big down move and I thought it was bouncing. My target out was 199.80 and I put orders out at 199.84 but the 80's and 82's got hit. I figured that I shouldn't let this go past the 70's and when it did I hit the bid at 63. This was when I see that GLD just retraced and made new lows. Should've flipped and gone short as well.

10:17am - Longed SLV again @ 197.88 (see, I should've flipped to go short), same situation... looked at GLD, felt like it was going to bounce. When GLD stalled I got out @ 198.78, thank god b/c SLV moved all the way down to 195 before rebounding again.

10:21am - GLD was still going lower so was a lot of other commodities so I shorted SLV @ 197.66 but I got stopped out for a 25 cent lost... booo!

10:25am - DBA moved down sharply, might've been something to do w/ wheat prices. I felt like it was forming a floor at 41.50 so I got long @ 41.60 and added another 200 shares at 41.53. The floor broke and I got out of my long position at 47 and 48... decided to flip and go short at 46 and covered it 35. I was risking 4 or 5 cents and I made 11... it's ok I guess. This is another one where I should've identified the floor or ceiling and kept it in there or somehow make a note of it b/c it hit that 41.50 ceiling again and moved to as low as 40.50

1:20pm - Traded SLV a couple more times. Shorted, added a little bit and finally covered when I see I would not have size to get out at. Got long after seeing GLD keeps going up, made about 50 cents on it but it moved another point past that...

1:58pm - FE moved up sharply and after the news guy says no new news everybody started shorting it. I did too @ 70.23 but I only made about 25 cents on it... SUPER MEGA CHUMP. It was going so strong it actually went to about 69 whole number. stupid!

I've actually thought that I would lose money trading SLV b/c it's much thinner and moves a lot quicker and more erratically compared to GLD but so far I've been doing pretty well on it since I'm controlling my down sides pretty well and when I do have a winner I let it go at least 80 cents or try to make a point on it. We'll see how that continues to work out for me.

Made about $500. It's giving me some confidence in that I still know how to trade.