Stopped out of ABBV on Friday and I also ended up setting up a trade on MPC wrong. I exited and reestablished my position correctly but it ended up triggering a Pattern Day Trader margin call. Called eTrade and since it was my first time ever they are waiving the margin call. With that said, I have a position on MPC: MPC Reason for Entry: Cup and handle on the Daily What is my stop level: $62.55 How far away is my stop from my entry: $0.9 Target stock price: $66.15 (or wherever my position's profits are 3x my stop loss) Concerns Knowing how wild and crazy the markets can be, I wouldn't be surprised if the tax bill passing became a top. I am not one to call tops so I will play the bullish side of the play until the markets no longer look bullish but the benefits of the tax could be built into the market already at the moment.
Rolled forward my SPY call in my regular trading account. Made 100% on it over 3 months which is a great return on investment for a 3 month time period. With the proceeds of the sale, I was able to purchase two February 2018 SPY calls. The delta of prior position was 0.966 (every time the SPY moved up $1.00, I made $0.96 cents) so price action was tracking the underlying stock very closely. With my new position, the new delta is 0.78, so the price action has to go in my favor a bit with my new position before I start getting similar returns relative to price action on this position. I have two contracts instead of one this time though, with a stop loss order below $263.8 Also, I randomly applied for Futures trading in my regular trading account yesterday and was accepted today. I don't have the time to actively trade the Futures market currently, but it is something that I am better capitalized to explore than in prior years. I am thinking about initially trading the /NQ or something with a small dollar value per tick size. I will likely up my risk levels so this is something I won't tackle until after I have reallocated money to my Roth IRA for my 2018 contribution and other investment accounts in January 2018. If I follow through with Futures trading, I will likely dedicate ~10% of my account or so to futures trading. Sounds like a small amount, but Option trading often give me 9 to 10x leverage over outright stock purchases, and Futures is often 2x that. That means that compared to an outright purchase, I would be looking at in excess of 20x leverage on most Futures positions I take. A gap down with that kind of leverage can do some serious damage. The idea of swing trading futures does sound appealing but to avoid exposure to volatility via gap and the likes, I will probably just trade Futures on an intraday basis. Just to reiterate though, Futures trading is just a seed of an idea at the moment and will at most supplement my Options trading unless it is wildly profitable.
BAC Reason for Entry: Price action has consolidated under the $29 mark for the last few days and hoping to see a sustained push if the stock holds above that level. My stop is back in the prior trading range and below the 5 day MA What is my stop level: $28.78 How far away is my stop from my entry: $0.33 Target stock price: $30.10 (or wherever my position's profits are 3x my stop loss) Concerns I've been entering positions when stocks put up new long term highs but this one is the stock showing strength. It is prior to the actual breakout. With that said, I like where my stop is and I like the price action leading up to my potential entry. STI Reason for Entry: Consolidation under the $65 level What is my stop level: $64.54 How far away is my stop from my entry: $0.82 Target stock price: $68.36 (or wherever my position's profits are 3x my stop loss) Concerns This stock has been running pretty hard already. If it does go in my favor I want to keep a tight stop or a trailing stop because I think if/when it reverses, it will be fast and unforgiving.
It is late so I don't have time to fully document everything on my watchlist. There are about 6-9 stock that I can see myself entering tomorrow, but I don't have the capital for all of that. The main ones that I am hoping to enter (based on price action after the open) are: WYNN GRPN STI Additionally in my IRA acct: APA (bearish bet) FIT HBAN (short term timeframe) MCD (short term timeframe) I am not pleased that I am dipping into my IRA again for shorter timeframe trades, but at the same time, I really like the setups that I came across recently. I am between a rock and a hard place because I don't want to stress about actively managing +5 positions but when there are a handful of really good setups, it is hard for me to only choose 2-3 since the market is such a fickle beast. I have thought about increasing my position sizing as a way to limit the amount of positions that I can take, but at the same time I am also contemplating adding $$$ to my account for times like right now when I feel undercapitalized relative to the amount of opportunity that appears to be available.
Update on my watchlist: CSCO: Entered a position here. FIT: Opened a longer term position with Jan 2019 $10 Calls STI: So far, after opening a long position, the stock has headed lower. GRPN: So far, after opening a long position, the stock has headed lower. MCD: No trigger yet. Stock is moving sideways more or less HBAN: No trigger yet. Stock is moving sideways more or less MCD: No trigger yet. Stock is moving sideways more or less WYNN: Gapped higher and removed from the list APA: Gapped higher and removed from the list A part of me wants to close out my positions as soon as they go against me, but I got burned and missed 2-3 breakouts in the last week by exiting prematurely or having a stop too tight so I am going to sit on my hands and let the markets take me out of my positions.
MS Reason for Entry: Triangle on the shorter term timeframe What is my stop level: $52.21 How far away is my stop from my entry: $0.73 Target stock price: $55.13 (or wherever my position's profits are 3x my stop loss) Concerns I saw a similar pattern with BAC in a prior post. I ended up not getting involved but BAC faked higher and headed lower. I am hoping that MS doesn't do the same. Positives I know that if I get stopped out it is not the end of the world. I have also increased my stop so that I am less likely to be stopped out due to normal price action. I am learning slowly but surely. Last night I got like 4 hours sleep because I was contemplating what it was like if I focused on trading in a major way and tried to make a living doing it. I have to say that it has been the first time in years that I let my mind wander and daydream about that. Nothing comes from daydreaming alone so I wrote down some goals and criteria to meet prior to pulling the trigger. I am still determining what exactly warrants quitting my job. I should have full criterias posted over the holidays and start working towards the goal in 2018.
Order filled on Morgan Stanley. I was stopped out of my GRPN position again. Really showing strong downward pressure so I'm glad I was structured enough to set my stop loss order as soon as I entered. Most of my trades are limit orders set the day/night before and e*Trade's fills have been pleasantly above what I have anticipated. So far I am digging them as my broker since they acquired OptionHouse.
MS doing well so far: I have been watching my CSCO position and it speaks to me growing and learning from my mistakes: How price action played out: Anyways, I am in HBAN as well right now.
COP Reason for Entry: See illustrations below: Stop information: Target stock price: $54.63 (or wherever my position's profits are 3x my stop loss) Concerns I am already in MPC at the moment. It ran higher in the morning and then gave back all of its gains throughout the day. Additionally, the Dems winning Alabama might put a crimp in the stock market's future expectations. Also, S&P 500 seems due for a temporary pullback which means that the probability that COP runs is lowered. Additionally, I feel like I am buying leading into the breakout instead of actually during the breakout. Positives I like the current consolidation below the 52.30 resistance levels. I think that means there might be strength going into the area and that it will be successful.
COF Reason for Entry: See illustrations below: Stop information: Target stock price: $102.4 (or wherever my position's profits are 3x my stop loss) Concerns A minor concern is that the stock doesn't have to go much higher for my buy order to be triggered, so it could open higher and immediately head lower. Also, my stop is further away than normal but I am using a smaller position size to account for that. Positives I like my stop placement. The stock has to break down for me to get stopped out here.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ee-options-trading-as-it-builds-customer-base Apparently Robin Hood might offer free option trading next year. Still need to research whether their order execution is on par with others because there is no point saving $5-10 if it means I miss getting into a position that could make 100x that.
Gave back most of my gains in MS yesterday. Contemplating whether I should take (some) profits off the table after a good day if I haven't reached my Risk:Reward target of 1:3. Was filled on COP this morning and it is looking strong at the open. I forgot to mention it but I closed out my APA trade like Tuesday after I realized I was premature in my entry and the chance of a big breakdown was low.
AAPL (Filled on this order today) Reason for Entry: See illustrations below: Stop information: Target stock price: $171.7 (or wherever my position's profits are 3x my stop loss) Concerns Relatively wide stop for me but I only have one contract as a result so we shall. Positives Even though it is a wide stop, I like my stop placement. Also, I like that the overall markets pulled back yesterday and so the buyers have a chance to catch their breath and potentially push prices higher.
Closed out of Morgan Stanley as well. Will sleep better over the weekend starting things fresh. Will set some alerts and enter positions that are primed to breakout instead of holding positions that broke out and retraced like Morgan Stanley is currently doing. On the other hand, I did close out my other contract on MPC after some sellers came in the last 5 minutes before the close. I could've potentially held on longer to this one though...
^^^Edited that post to include CRM screenshot because I forgot to provide an expected entry/exit chart previously. Ok so I was filled on WPM and CRM. Yanked the BYD trade because it gapped higher and ran thanks to acquisition news over the weekend. FSLR gapped too I believe? Either way I didn't get a fill and yanked my order. My current holdings are: AAPL (short term but in my Roth IRA acct) COP CSCO CRM WPM SPY I am stalking: KBH ZNGA
Stopped out of CRM. Also got an execution on a CVX trade yesterday that I didn't get an alert for smh. Letting my current positions play out before I jump into any new positions.
