(18th) Gross PnL: -$486.
(18th) After Commissions: -$549.
This day was a bit of a bummer. Prior to this day I had been starting to get a bit of confidence (this is usually a sign that I'm about to get humbled). All this being said; this day had the potential to be a complete blow-up day if I hadn't cut losses short, so it definitely could have been worse.
It helps to show the pnl on shorts (red) and longs (green) to get an idea of how volatile this day was. Going through in chronological order sort of paints a picture for mistakes as well.
Trade 1: On the open I shorted PRKR, with a stop against the high. This trade was intended as a quick scalp to lock in some tiny profit, so I could re-evaluate the direction after the gap showed signs of holding. In the past week or so this trade has worked, provided didn't get too greedy on taking profit; and provided you were only looking to hold for short duration. This time it went parabolic pretty much straight off the open. A hard stop-loss and/or a massive amount of discipline would have saved me $200-$400 here; but less discipline would have cost me my account, so it's a step in the right direction.
Trade 2: Flipped PRKR long and sold when the momentum from the parabolic started breaking. Without the loss on the short (which certainly wasn't an A+ trade) this would have been a massive home run trade, so from that perspective a little disappointing. Bit of a chase and was hard to get a fill. There was definitely a bit of greed here trying to make back the loss - this borderline tilt (although sticking to plan) probably affected the DGLY trades later on.
Trade 3 and 4: Don't exactly recall these trades in particular, but it was a difficult stock to trade in that it never really picked a direction. As a very general guide, shorting these low floats hasn't paid off recently. So I will need to adjust and focus on long side. I actually prefer it this way, because despite the short side being more predictable (when the short side is in play), there is a lot more money to be made on the long side. This shows up in PRKR as well.
(19th) Gross PnL: -$288.
(19th) After Commissions: -$332.
Although not making a huge amount of trades, this day reeks of over-trading and lack of patience. I believe this arises somewhat from performance pressure, and from not applying strategy consistently (this applies in trades 1 and 2, and 3). Overall, a tough stock to trade.
Side note: My strategy is to take profit quickly, rinse and repeat at least once or twice, then try to hold for home run if opinion still proves to be correct.
Trade 1: Short off the open, on the retest of opening levels. Issue with entry is that stop-loss goes against the highs (5.70), so entry at 5.40 isn't good enough, OR smacking it at 5.35-5.40 after peaks out and stop at 5.50 is fine as well. Took profit into lows, as per plan, with the goal of putting the position back on. Narrowly missed offer to put back on, which is fine. This began the trigger of impatience that I traded the stock with after this. Interesting to note here that if I held full position I would have made quite a bit on short side off the open, but it's correct as part of my strategy to take profits quickly.
Trade 2: Shorted the pop off the lows at $5.00. This wasn't a good enough entry given the big down-move off the open. However, if I had taken profit quickly (as per strategy) it would have been fine. Could have rinsed and repeated this trade twice before getting stopped out, and with correct entry that would have been a really significant profit.
Trade 3: Flipped long when was stopped out of short. Am okay with this trade, and was a tiny loss. Could have been quicker on selling it when the trend move failed, but it is what it is - only tiny loss here. Good trade. If anything I should have been more receptive to the failure to make new lows (short trap type behaviour). And potentially got long there. I remember thinking this at the time, but had the short on, so (potentially?) clouded.
Trade 4: After the massive vwap stuff seemed like a clear fade to new lows, and i still stand by this opinion. But entry not good enough. Better entry would have allowed for a scalp around position before eventual stop-out.
Takeaway Points:
(1) Still clear lack of patience and fomo showing up. Need to be completely unafraid to miss a trade if it doesn't meet strict entry requirements. Am making less trades overall, but this figure is somewhat covering up the fact that these problems are still very prevalent.
(2) With the low floats getting upside momentum recently (even when they look like they're toast), focus on the long side, and almost completely ignore short side.
(3) Take profits quickly. Even on a home run idea (say PRKR) take half off ASAP. Given my small account I MUST do this to reduce risk. It is highly likely that will get a chance to put the trade back on at least once.
