Career Expo

I agreed to go with Chrissy to the Career Expo at UT today. Interesting to think that just last year I was on the other side of the table. I got in some really good set ups for scalping but my head just wasn't in the ball game and I took my, $6-$15 profit and got out when I know just looking at the charts that it had potential to make $30-$50 on all of them. I'm not upset that they ended up going for much more like $80 on the trades I could've made b/c there's no way I could've foreseen that, I'm just mad that I didn't follow my rule and discipline.

Career Expo is actually kind of fun when you're a recruiter man. I'm just there talking about my job. I hopef I didn't talk about stuff I really shouldn't be and maybe get in trouble. I remember the first guy that asked me the question: "do you like it?" I had to pause briefly to think and I replied: "Yeah, I love it. I think I sound like a dork but I love my job." And it's so true and thanks to whoever that cluess sophomore was I have that revelation.

Oh, this is kind of interesting, I mean... it's not laugh out loud funny of course, but on my ticker yesterday came up the symbol DOG (it's an ETF to short the Dow 30. you buy it if you believe it's a bear market) and then right after the symbol CAT (Caterpillar). I just found it amusing that's all. If you don't, whatever.

I was suppose to have coffee with Kristen but she cancelled so I was just sitting at Starbucks reading for a while before meeting up w/ Vicki for dinner and go to the volleyball game. My energy just crashed after sitting in my car for a while... then I remembered that I woke up at 2:30 the night before and couldn't sleep b/c I was so excited about the trading day and just tons of different scenarios are playing out in my head. I'm so sad that Ashley Engle is injured. She's so good. I hope she's back before we play Nebraska again.

Personal Best Day and The Long Awaited Fed Decision!

LOL, I actually overslept this morning. It was about 9:15 and I heard my dad's voice so I basically ran out of the door with a trail of residual mouth wash after me. I did manage to get hit on a scalping trade for $12 before everybody collectively held their breath for the Fed decision.

Now, this is my thinking: a 25 point cut is already priced in the market. The only way to get a major reaction is if 1) there are no cuts and 2) a bigger cut than 25 points.

Literally, as the voice over the speak goes: "50! 50! 50!" I longed XLF the financial sector ETF. I watched it shoot up 20 cents and got in as soon as I can. Might not have been a great idea, in retrospect, but it worked out. Chalk it up to one of those instincts trade. As soon as I see it starts to pull back I got out. Honestly, I knew I didn't really want to trade a stock that'll move beyond my ability to do damage control if it goes against me like GS, BSC or LEH so that's why I picked XLF b/c ETF's move more steadily. It might not move as much but it's more of a sure bet. Risk/reward I guess... you hear that two words right next to each other a lot when you're in this business. Technically I probably should've just adjusted my stops up and keep holding it. The ECN and all my tickers were going so nuts I couldn't even read it at all. It was just a blur.

I got in some other scalping trades. Mostly though I didn't get hit at all, which pissed me off. I looked back at the end of the day and it must have been at least 30 different times I didn't get printed. I wasn't slow at all is what pissed me off. I just have a lot of my bids or offers far away from the print b/c I felt that with such high volume it's probably gonna print away from it. I did get in a stock that was about $100 and the spread was well over 20 cents so that caught me by surprise that I was down $20 the second I got hit. Fortunately someone took my offer through ARCA and I got a $25 profit from it.

There was one trade though, I guess it wasn't the best set up. I saw that it printed up so I shorted it but really it printed down and already ticked up so I got burned for $17 there I think. As we approached the close I remember I was $2 away from making my personal best and I finally got in a scalp for a $5 and I took it with like maybe 3 minutes until the market close, hehe. Really though, I knew I shouldn't have taken it and could probably make $5 more on it but oh well.

Tomorrow I'm going in to trade during the open and then I'm going back to campus for the Career Expo but as a recruiter this time! I already set up some time to meet with old friends and then going to the volleyball game at 6:30. Coffee at the Alumni Center with Dani @ 12:30, grab a drink or bite with Kristen after the expo, dinner with Vicki and then go to the game with her and Steven as well. After the game I need to swing by AJ's place to pick up my Hofbrauhaus mug <3 and then head over to Holly's new place and hang out for a bit.

Trader Interview with Rob Booker

• Read everything you can get your hands on
• You have to go through the experience, figure it out for yourself, back test your strategie and do your homework. It takes 6-12 months and it just doesn't get through faster simply because you want to
• It's not as simple as doing what other people are doing. You have to test it out for yourself. Not necessarily trade it live but go through the historical prices or candle by candle.
• Go back and revisit why you made a trade in the first place instead of trying to figure out why it went wrong
• Have the discpline to go back in time and test out a strategy and trade in the same manner live later

Not Comparing Yourself to Others is Easier Said Than Done

Jennifer yahtzeed... good for her, but I'm very very unhappy about this. WTF, she did it in a month and a half? I'm very competitive, ok? I hate to lose, especially losing to a girl. I mean, c'mon... seriously? this girl leaves right after the close and barley gets here before the open. I know she's had a few big winning days and maybe she hasn't dug as big as a hole as some of us have.

I don't care. I need to focus on myself. If I keep comparing myself to others I will always be neg. Grass is always greener somewhere in the world. I might not be the best trader but there's no way in hell I was going to let someone else outwork me.

Sigh... It's been slow the past couple of days. Actually, the past two weeks has been pretty slow. This Thursday was Rosh Hashana and try not to read more than what I'm saying here but all the people on Wall Street that are Jewish are no working... It's the calm before the storm. Next Tuesday baby!

Hmm... Birthday's Coming Up

My 24th birthday is coming up and I'm playing with this idea of making a mockumentary 24 style. But I have a feeling that some of those hours are going to be pretty boring as I will be passed out. Also, since my bday is on a Wed. this yr... another 1/3 of that day will be working as well. We'll see. Maybe we can somehow spice this up.

Rough Day...

So... I just lost $6 on a trade, trying to short near the whole dollar. Patrick was telling me that even though it's a big order, compared to the average volume it's really not that much. And since it's thin btwn that and the next big order, it's probably better to go long instead and it'll be good for like 10 cents.

Well, it's been a rough day... my winning percentage is like 10% today and that was for a grand total of $2, even though I knew that I should've held that scalping trade and make $15 or so on it but I took it, lest I forget what the taste of winning is like.

Lots of bad trades today, kind of. I got burned on TSL and couple of times I tried trading IWM and SPY because they correlate to the S&P futures pretty closely when I feel it was making a move but I got with probably $3-$5 lost each time.

I felt like I haven't really improved that much recently. I know that scalping, especially the speed is suppose to come in time and actually Lawrence called me out on being way too broad and general with my comment. He's been saying to keep my losers small and he suggested 3 cents... which quite frankly, I dunno, that's not a whole of wiggle room. What do I want to improve on... that's for another time, like in the moring. It's too late right now and I've got to get some sleep.

... I feel like I should branch out of my pod and talk to some of the other traders more, but how do I approach them? "Hey, I'm Jason. I'm new. I suck right now. What's been making you money?" God, that former NYSE specialist guy Ben yahtzeed already. Sick! Well, he does have much much more experience than me. Argh! Just frustrated, you know. For awhile all this trading stuff seemed to make sense but now it's all completely foggy again. son-of-a-bitch!

Mini Losing Streak

Hmm... haven't seen an up day for a while now. I'm making some really good trades but I have to say that I'm just too impatient right now and going back to the days when I'm pushing buttons without thinking it through fully. U-quote scalping is going decent. Still need to work on improving the speed and reading my ECN outs. Mian was talking to me about making sure that I have ECN outs if the print up/down is not that big. I'm not 100% clear what he means, but I have a good idea... I'll have to work on that tomorrow. I'm chasing stocks too much sometimes. I got burned by GS and VMW. I should probably stay away from stocks like that for now.

ARGH! Keystroke Errors!

Son of a bitch!! I had some key stroke errors today and it costed me $80... the price of tuition. So instead of up $20 I was down $60 for the day. Fiddle stick!! I lost $34 in the trade and market it out to cover my short position but instead of buy I shorted 300 extra shares... grrrrrrr

I had set some good targets for my trades today but twice I took my profit early. I've been patient in waiting for good entry points, now I really need to learn to be patient to wait for my exit points.

Yay for Scalping

Decent day today, I started out really strong and up $56 the first three trades before 9:30. I think I only ended up the day with about up $20. I made the stupid chase, in two different occassions in a stock an lost $12 the first time and $32 the 2nd time. I think those trades where I'm trying to catch a ride up I really need to pause and think longer. It's better to miss the trade and not make that money instead of losing. Pretty good scalping today as well. I think my speed has definitely improved. There was a news trade and I basically watched the stock go up 5, 6 points before finally longing it near the whole dollar with a good out in mind. It worked out that time with a $20 profit. I think ideally in the future I'd like to have a profit target ready in mind already as well.

Take away for the day: continue work on scalping speed. don't be a dumb dumb and chase.

Question to ask: buy/sell imbalance, the PLX trade towards the close, why does scalp keep going down... what am I not seeing?

So Much for Labor Day

First day after Labor Day weekend. Not exactly a good day. I feel like my speed for u-quote scalp has improved. I hit 6 today compared to my normal 2 or 3. There were a few trades where I was too eager to make trades to get some action instead when I should've been more patient and observe it a little bit longer. I had a bad loss in one trade, where I turned around to short it except I shorted it too late and my entry price isn't good enough so I ended up getting slapped twice. What made it worse was that I over covered so really I lost about $135 on that one stock. Son of a bitch...

I really need to learn to let my winners run a bit and how to block out the noise. I know how to look for my entries and I just need to be patient and not trade on wishful thinking.