My SKX target was hit and therefore sold. I forgot to remove my limit before earnings, which was a mistake that just worked out in my favor as the stock price has dropped more than $1/share since selling. Still something to learn from as I should have removed my limit order before earnings in hopes that the price continues to rise after open after good earnings. I will post details of the trade when I get home and am off mobile. My ACAD position limit order was also hit and therefore sold. Will post details on that as well when I get home.
Understandable. This one wasn't really fat finger (typo) as much as just making the stupid mistake of not changing my limit before earnings came out so that the auto-sell happened shortly after open when I could have kept going for a higher profit. On this trade it worked out as my limit was set at $33.50 and the HOD was $33.60 so it's not like I missed out on much and it's currently sitting at $32.03. But as a general rule, I feel like it was still a mistake as it could have theoretically gone much higher and I would have been stopped out early. I'll need to be cognizant of the other end of a stop as well before earnings. A stock opening significantly lower than where my stop loss was set. Haven't had to worry much about that yet, but I'll have to always know it can happen.
Symbol: SKX (LONG) Date Entered: 4/7/16 Price Entered: $26.03 # of shares: 196 Total Investment: $5,101.88 Stop set: $24.50 (MAX RISK $300) Target set: $33.50 Date Exited: 4/22/16 Price Exited: $33.51 Total Return: $6,567.96 % Return: +28.74% Profit (after $20 total trading fees): +$1,446.08 Immediate Thoughts: When I looked at the chart of this one back in early April, I noticed the stock had bounced between $26 and $34 quite a few times and had that range pretty much locked in. It couldn't break out either way every time it got close. I set my support level and order for $26.03 and then set a stop at $24.50. I knew if it broke down that far, that I couldn't trust the $26-$34 range. My plan was to re-evaluate once I saw the stock hold around $30 for a few days. I wasn't sure if it would continue up, so I thought about locking in my profits at the time. It started to head up a little so I held on as I didn't see anything to be fearful of at the time. I stuck to my plan. As earnings approached, I had to decide between locking in profits at ~$31.50 or shooting for my initial target of $33.50-$34. It was a coin flip, and I'm still not sure what the "correct" move should have been. The one thing I do know, is that since I decided to hold through earnings, I should have removed my limit so that if it opened high and continued upwards, I could have rode the momentum higher than my initial target price. I had my limit set at $33.50 and it was hit shortly after open before hitting a high of $33.60 and heading down for the day. It ended up working out the best it could have, but it was still a mistake to learn from in the future. I'm glad I was able to learn the mistake without having to lose any money.
Speaking fat finger trades, years back when I used to dabble in the pennies a little bit: I put a low ball bid in on some sub-penny stock. Low and behold it filled and it was way below the bid. With that I sold right away for a nice profit before the market makers or my brokerage attempted to kill the trade. Not that they would or could but I knew they couldn't take the money out of my cash account. Somebody had to be very unhappy on the other end of the trade
Symbol: ACAD (SHORT) Date Entered: 4/7/16 Price Entered: $33.05 # of shares: 136 Total Investment: $4,494.80 Stop set: $36 (MAX RISK $400) Target set: $29.00 (originally) Date Exited: 4/22/16 Price Exited: $32.86 Total Return: $5,594.10 % Return: +0.57% Profit (after $20 total trading fees): +$5.84 Immediate Thoughts: I entered this trade because there were multiple indicators suggesting that this stock was at a high at $33.05. The stock went down into the $30.xx range but my target was $29.00. I continued holding waiting to see a drop, and the stock has now consolidated over the 200MA and had trouble dropping. While RSI still shows this stock as overbought, and MACD just crossed over to indicate a sell, I'm no longer confident in the trading pattern of the chart and think it will continue to head up. This made me change my new target to $32.88 to lock in just a little profit and cut my losses. My target was hit today and my order filled at $32.86 for a very minor profit. I'm ok with how the trade went. I re-adjusted to new information that I was seeing on the charts and cut a trade short, while I still could have kept holding and hoping to eventually see a drop down to my target price. Sometimes it's better to just get out of a trade before it gets worse.
Weekly update on open positions (total gain/loss since position was started): LONG plays: GE: Entry price $30.89. Current price $30.76. -0.42% LB: Entry price $77.50. Current price $76.76. -0.95% CMG: Entry price $438.95. Current price $442.73. +0.86% SHORT plays: WY: Entry price $31.85. Current price $32.26. -1.29% SPLS: Entry price $11.30. Current price $10.50. +7.08%
Hi Torm3nted first well done on your virtual trading many don't seems to understand that by doing so one lose less capital etc... (sorry I haven't read all the thread will take me too long ) IMo is a good way to work out a discipline - strategy -plan and so on one word of advice watch out that when you go to real money the psychology change to me that is the most important "what the mind does" I did virtual trading until I began to make the green and learned to lose less... then improving from there I trade different from you but the end product $$$ is the same IMO Tiptopptrader if full of info and trading strategies like few other here learn well and make plenty $$$$
In regards to my position in WY, everything I liked about this chart has changed. The 50MA just crossed over the 200MA, RSI finally dropped out of being overbought (just below the 70 line now), and it's consolidating and looking like it could go up. I'm changing my target price to $31.70 to try to lock up some small profits/cut my losses and move on. I will probably exit this by the end of the trading day tomorrow if my target price isn't hit. I'm no longer comfortable in this trade, so I'd rather just get out and move on. CMG reports tomorrow after close, and I'm not expecting a strong earnings report, so I'll more than likely be closing my position in this one as well before close tomorrow. While the stock is currently sitting at support, earnings doesn't care about support. Hopefully I can get a strong bounce off support tomorrow and lock up a small profit. My original target was $500 from the $438 I entered the trade at. We hit a high of almost $470 but I stuck to my plan and stayed in the trade. That would have been a 7.07% profit had I exited then. Now the stock is sitting at $443.10 and I have a target of $450 tomorrow for an automatic sell, but if it's not hit, I'll most likely be exiting in the late afternoon before closing.
I'm still watching WYN. It almost hit my target price today when it had a low of $75.70. I was targeting an entry at $75.36. With the 50MA crossing over the 200MA tomorrow, I'll probably be entering a trade if the stock hits the same price tomorrow ($75.70). I will be targeting $87 and have a stop set at $74. I'm also watching AMD for an entry at $3.35 if it drops there tomorrow. I would have a target price of ~$4 for a potential profit of ~16.5%. Stop would be set at $3.15
Only one move today, and that was to close out CMG before the end of the day so that I was out before the earnings, which I expected to go poorly. Symbol: CMG (LONG) Date Entered: 4/12/16 Price Entered: $438.95 # of shares: 14 Total Investment: $6,145.30 Stop set: $425.00 (MAX RISK $200) Target set: $500 (originally) Date Exited: 4/26/16 Price Exited: $442.10 Total Return: $6,189.40 % Return: +0.72% Profit (after $20 total trading fees): +$24.10 Immediate Thoughts: When I entered this trade I had a target set of $500, but a few days later decided there would be some resistance at ~$475 so I was planning to re-evaluate when that got closer. I started out strong at hit a max of $469.98 which would have been a profit of +7.07%. The stock then continued to drop, and I should have locked up profits, but I stuck to my planned target of $475. As earnings approached, I was not optimistic, so exited today, the day before earnings in order to avoid any big drops after hours due to low revenue caused by the health concern outbreak and customers not returning. I was able to exit with very small profit and avoided the after hours drop of 4.52% to $425.62. Sometimes it's better to cut your losses (potential profit I could have had earlier that I decided not to chase and instead exited the trade).
My bids for SAVE and ATVI were hot today and I opened positions at $46.96 and $34.49 respectively. I will post full details when I get on the computer.
Tormentor just a thought ... have you ever thought to trade smaller stocks? to explain better I put the example: above CMG you bot 14 @438.95 investing $6145.30 for a return $44.10 (less com 20) net profit $24.10 if you buy 1000 of XYZ at $6 = $6000 with 6 ticks return $60 net 40 or a 3000 of XYX at $2 = $6000 with 6 ticks return $180 then 6000 at $1 well I let you work the profit IMO isn't difficult to get 6t but that is just me..... carry on walking with your legs ..trade where you fill more confortabile and get the most out of it $$$$ you doing well any way... but improve as you go along to make your $24 become 240 then $$$$
Obviously I could trade more shares of lower priced stocks, but I don't want to limit myself to anything. I'm not concerned with the # of shares though, but only the % gain on my investment. Chipotle was up for me over 7% at one point, and if it it my target like I was expecting/wanting, I would have made nearly 14% for a profit of about $834. Our trading strategies are different as you are making trades for only a few minutes/hours usually, and I plan to hold for a couple days to a week or so (usually), so our strategies will be different. I definitely understand your point though, and do PREFER to trade the stocks that have a lower price, as it psychologically makes you feel like you are gaining more when you have more shares, even though all that really matters is the % gained on the investment. Good luck to you, and thank you for the advice and taking the time to read and respond! I appreciate all the advice/thoughts/questions from everyone as it makes me think and grow as a trader.
Entered two more trades, as I mentioned yesterday. Never got around to typing up the details last night. Also, I found out that my 401K has access to self-direct brokerage when I was under the impression that it did not before. As I'm still really young, I think I can afford to use this as an investment portfolio in the stock market instead of sticking with bonds/fund indexes/etc. I will continue paper trading only for a few more months before getting involved in that to get a little more experience under my belt, but I will be basing my play sizes on a 1%-5% max loss of that portfolio instead of the generic $100-$500 max loss I was using previously. My reasoning is that it will keep my risk fairly low. As my account grows/shrinks, so to will my position sizing. Anyways, below are my plays that I entered yesterday: Symbol: ATVI (LONG) Date Entered: 4/27/16 Price Entered: $34.49 # of shares: 93 Total Investment: $3,207.57 Stop set: $32.00 (MAX RISK $232.56 - 3%) Target set: $39.50 Symbol: SAVE (LONG) Date Entered: 4/27/16 Price Entered: $46.96 # of shares: 79 Total Investment: $3,709.84 Stop set: $44.00 (MAX RISK $232.56 - 3%) Target set: $53.00
Currently watching: TWTR (LONG) - EPS was well over estimates, but revenue came in a little low. The stock is sitting just a little over support in the low 14's. If I can get a better entry price than $14.86 where the stock closed yesterday, I'll probably open a position and target a gap up to the $18-$19 range before re-evaluating. I'll be targeting an entry of about $14.60.
Opened a position in Twitter today. Symbol: TWTR (LONG) Date Entered: 4/28/16 Price Entered: $14.92 # of shares: 221 Total Investment: $3,297.32 Stop set: $13.50 (MAX RISK $243.57 - 3%) Target set: $19.00
Forgot to post this yesterday afternoon. Opened a position in Disney. Symbol: DIS (LONG) Date Entered: 4/28/16 Price Entered: $104.14 # of shares: 43 Total Investment: $4,478.02 Stop set: $102.50 (MAX RISK $70 - <1%) Target set: $120
