Trading Review: 01-23-2018

Gross PnL: +$1525.

Net PnL: +$1267. $147 in borrows.

Coming into today I was dangerously close to the PDT as a result of yesterday. I had the right idea initially (taking high probability of success trades), but got a little carried away and ending up going big when I saw a nice setup.
This is the completely wrong mentality. I should have been going small to grind away from the key level.

Overall, I think it is worth sizing down a little for a day or two. Have had some half-ass mistakes recently; and although on the next iteration I fixed some of them some other danger signs are there. Capital preservation is most important, so just a little size down and slow down.

Trading Review: 01-22-2018

Gross PnL: -$1330.

Net PnL: -$1419. $33 in borrows.

Argh, got the mistakes I keep making right; then basically lapsed fighting a dump. What a perfect stop on my initial short on LTBR, I was sized in and everything.

Then the long was just a disaster. First off, two of the routes I went to weren't working; then when I got a good route I didn't get the entry part - hence the higher initial entry. Tough to say if it would have made a difference or not, but definitely would have helped if I hadn't messed this up.
The add, add, adds were where I went wrong. I did recognise the distribution, so quite poor execution - I guess I was a bit tilted from the order problems.
Solution is, don't break max sizes ever... Even with all the messups, a $500 loss here 10x better than what it actually was.

Trading Review: 01-19-2018

Gross PnL: +$294.

Net PnL: +$185. $11 in borrows.

Today showed me what trading around a position can do. JUNO tested the lower bounds of what I expected it could do, and scalping around for entry allowed me to capture the resulting move; where I usually would have been stopped.

However, despite doing well on that front. Today was a terrible day because I missed a clean stop on FORD. Not only did this stop result in me drawing down $600; it also meant I missed some clean scalps on the long side, AND the eventually short near the highs. STOPS are everything!

Trading Review: 01-18-2018

Gross PnL: +$305.

Net PnL: ~+$190. $86 in borrows.

Terrible trading day, I think I hit maximum cockiness, a tad too much recklessness; and the epitome of swinging for the home-runs. This obviously comes from getting some big wins recently.
JUNO was the one that showed me this, however this trait has been visible (and I should have picked it up earlier); but I guess human nature is to learn more from losses.

Essentially I need to make sure I'm taking first profit targets; trading around positions, and not trying to crush every trade. This theme occurred on LIVE, MARA, and JUNO today.

I am well aware that the key to consistency is to actually take profits and not swing for the fences. A "swing for the fences" trade doesn't come along very often.

Trading Review: 01-17-2018

Gross PnL: -$526.

Net PnL: -$584. $46 in borrows.

Despite bigger loss than it should have been I am quite happy with trades. I could have traded around positions on OSTK/KODK and probably come out net positive; but I had a fair bit of conviction in both - so what I am actually happier with is that I took the stops despite having conviction.
OSTK ended up closing just under $77 so this is a massive deal. Obviously completely wrong read, and probably could have nailed the long if I had the right read; but damage contained.

Missed a really solid trade on NURO which I paid for borrows for, and would have been a decent trade.

Trading Review: 01-16-2018

Gross PnL: +$151.

Net PnL: +~$100.

Wasn't a huge amount on to start with. Somehow missed SPI premarket, only pulled it up right before open. Was an obvious short, but was too late to hone in with any conviction.

Messed up the BA short, I missed the stop (should have had a hard stop in, what an idiot), so then couldn't reshort; and forced to cover (at a point when I would have held a runner). Poor trading, but at least didn't compound mistakes and continue trading for the day.

Trading Review: 01-12-2018

Gross PnL: +$946.

Net PnL: +$888.

Got unlucky on NVDA but that's all good. Got a little bit lucky covering all my BA on a hunch so balances out. Am quite happy with where I took NVDA off though.

SGRP was a big trade lining up. I borrowed the shares (2000) then wasn't aggressively enough filling them (probably far too scared against upside). Anyway then I was too aggressive where I did short, but I was pretty sure it was dead. Nearly got squeezed out, stop was the high (which means I shorted too early).
I later found out that the two spikes on SGRP were chatroom induced, so that definitely makes me feel better about: (a) Not running a tighter stop eg against vwap, (b) not anticipating that move for entry, although perhaps I should have.
It dropped to $2.00 by close, which also confirmed my conviction.
So overall, I am just unhappy I didn't save my bullets for the chatroom spikes.

WATT - Probably a poor cover, I thought it would downtrend all day.
XNET - A completely misplayed short, great short idea, but was too aggressive wanting to hold it all day, and didn't take the clean stop earlier for profit.