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.

Road Rage

I gotta say, so far the only negative thing about work is the commute. I'd have to drive about 30 minutes both ways to work if I'm back at Lake Travis. If I leave my house any later than 7:30am it's a total crap shoot. I really don't understand... c'mon people! When the light is green you step on the gas, not wait for 5 seconds and then step on it. And don't slam on the brakes on any little thing. Do you realize what kind of ripple effect that has on the traffic behind you. No joke, on Wednesday I saw three accidents on my way to work. On car simply drove OFF the road down a mini hill and couldn't get out. The cops called out one of those trucks with a winch to bring it out and that severly slowed the right hand lane traffic. If I see traffic backed up and I don't see an accident, I get really upset... If there's an accident, hey, I can understand. If there isn't it's just you fuckers out there slowing me down. If you drive slow, don't drive in the left lane and get the hell out of my way. I am not kidding. At times like that I wish I was in the video game Grand Theft Auto because then I'd just ram them up the ass hard or get out of my car and start smashing it with a baseball bat or golf club.

Patience and Discipline

The top two rules for traders... and I sure didn't follow them today. Today the market made a big jump but the volume is very low. Just like yesterday where it went down but the volume was low as well. I definitely forced things today. I traded so many more shares than I normally do. I did have a few good trades today that were over $15 profit. I've learning to look for signs to hold my winners.

To work on in the future: watching the big offers/bids in U-Quote, how hedging works.

But really... let's really try to be more patient and have the discpline. Look for really good trades tomorrow and hopefully end this week in the positive territory. If I ever feel like I'm forcing trades again I should just get up and take a quick walk.

Ouch!

First of all, in the interest of caution, I'm going to stop listing the name of the stock that I trade. Well, I'm only trading 100 shares at a time so it's not like I have any major influence on the market but still... there's nothing wrong about being careful.

Yesterday I set a new personal high at about $62. Actually, I also had a 100% winning percentage, which even Lawrence says is pretty much unheard of. Go me! I kind of looked over my trades but didn't review them though. Basically the takeaway is the following:

• Hold my good scalping trades a little bit longer
• Once you have a good stop loss, don't cancel it. It'll often save you a lot of money more than you're trying to make

Something else from the email conversation I had with Lawrence:

• Wait until there's a new low for the candle, watch it establish a base or support level and then long. If it breaks that low get out pronto
• Be careful about chasing stocks that keeps going higher or lower--hard to play and whips up and down erratically
• Focus on minimize losses
• Try not to trade stocks that trade in less than $1 range for the whole day and stocks that don't have > 1,000 share on every level of the open book. The profit margin on those is so small it's not worth it.
• Be careful not to press when something's not there
• Keep calling trades out and asking questions

Today... eh, different story. Ended the day down about $100, which really, I could've saved myself $60 if I had done damage control better. Hit my first scalp trade and it went against me but I didn't cover so a $20 loss went to $40, $60, and finally $80 in just a little bit over the minute. Another trade too, is where I did chase it a little bit and it swiped down and lost another $40 in just another short minute. What makes me mad the most is that I get out near the bottom and both of them bounced back to a point where I could make a profit. I think I still did the right thing, getting out, it's just that in the future I need to get out faster. If I can't hit my outs at 5 or 7 cents I need to get out no more than 20... probably just market out to the specialist ASAP.

I did make a good trade towards the close when futures keep ticking down after the minutes of the FOMC meeting couple of weeks ago. It was near the whole dollar and I shorted it and Lawrence actually said that he might go long on it instead. I might have to go over that with him again but judging by the futures and the open book I did think it was going to go down for a nice little profit. I turned out to be right this time but still.... need to do more thinking on that one I guess.

Dominic

Focus on one thing at a time. Once you feel comfortable go ahead and add something else
Complacency factor will be the demise of some people---talk to other people on the floor
Go have a drink with someone, build a relationship outside of work so it's not as uncomfortable to approach somebody
Look who's gapped up and down and maybe where they should be, look for reversals
Disseminate what's good information and what's not
Anticipate news coming instead of trying to figure out what's going on at the last minute

The Week That Was: First Week on the Trading Floor

So it's been a pretty slow week, which is actually typical for trading in August. I know I didn't really update and review my trades the past few days but I think I got tired of writing down all that stuff but I should start again to really help me get over the learning curve.

I believe I could've ended the week in positive territory, instead my last trade of the week screwed me. I hit a U-Quote trade and it just kept going down. Finally after down about $15, $20 I said I had to get out. Similar situation happened in the morning and I held the stock near the whole dollar, hanging on just two more cents after losing $20... that one bounced back to allow me to take a $15 profit, and actually I could've taken a $60 profit I think if I held a little bit longer but given scalping is still foreign territory for me I just wanted to get out. Well, the last trade did bounce back before the close, too, which means I could've done some damage control and at least end the week making $10, $15 all thanks to the personal best day I had on Thursday for a whopping $25.

I don't think trading on some of these stocks that I am familiar with like KO, MO, BBY is really worth it. They don't really move that much and I've basically gone away with them half way through this week. Currently my strategy is to hit u-quote scalping at the open and close. I tried out a few momentum trades today but it didn't work out that well. A few cents of profits/loss here and there. If there is something trending down, I should probably look for the volume and open book to make sure it's a worthwhile trade instead of getting in and get hit by a small pullback or reversal. I've also been using my stops to set alerts to where I think would be a good entry point so I don't have to think about that stock and move on to find other opportunities and that seems to be working out well.

What's for next week? I'm not sure... I need to think a little bit more and review about this u-quote scalping and momentum trades from today.

Still, looking back, I think I've made much improvement compared to Monday. Everything makes more sense to me know and I have a better idea what to look for and where my entry points should be. I made a person best on Tuesday for $5 and I topped that again on Thursday for $25. Small amount, yeah, I know but it's still something positive to pat myself on the back for I guess.

I've been kind of obsessed about trying to read and learn whatever I can get my hands on about trading lately. There are just so many books out there. My gosh! I need to start studying for the 55 as well. On top of that I can't seem to fall asleep well lately b/c my mind keeps on wondering and thinking about different trades etc even though my body is weary. I just randomly pass out on the couch for a few hours after I get home now.