Nov 5,6,7,10 & 11

Been a while since I updated my blog, very frustrating last few days, so here goes.

Nov 5 - So just one trade on the day short 500 PWR 16.54 and covered at 16.29, 2 mins scalp for $125. Nothing great but better than seeing red.

Nov 6 - 4 trades on the day, and I call that overtrading for a person like me who only wants to scalp.
- short 200 TEL 17.60, covered at 17.09 $100 bucks in 6 mins, pretty good for 200 shares.
- short 500 TEVA 39.88, covered at 40.10 $110 loss in 3 mins (see quick scalps go wrong too)
- short 1000 CNQ 45.70, covered at 46.40 $700 loss in 22 mins, now that really hurt, waaayy too long in the trade 'hoping' rather than 'accepting'. It reminded me of the bad times. Its times like these where you have to step back and do a self assessment. Experience should be in play here too, coz for some reason I hold on to the darn mouse instead of hitting 'confirm' and accepting the loss. Huge lesson to be learnt here coz this was when your upset and tend to make more silly moves.
- Desperate to recover the loss and my profit from last month I selected a volatile one POT. Shorted 300 at 78.52 covered at 79.26 for a further loss on the day for $ 222 in 4 mins.
By this time I was letting my emotions get the best of me so I stopped trading.

Nov 7 - Even though I stopped myself from further trades on Nov 6, it was still heavy on my mind and was very bad way to start the new day. So what do you think I did,
- shorted 500 QCOM 34.28, covered at 34.93 for a loss of $325 in 9 mins, again too damn long and 'hoping' and not 'accepting. I am going to put a huge board up that says 'ACCEPT IT' and clock next to it too.
- shorted 1000 FLR 41.93, covered at 41.85 for a quick $80. Now this was a very risky play coz the stock opened up almost 8-9 bucks and I actually shorted it a good point but instead of taking the quick money that came ($41.24) in about 15 mins, I hung on and ended up getting out with $80. lesson learnt DON'T BE GREEDY.
That was it for the week. I was so upset, coz I not only lost my Oct gains but lost my capital too.

Nov 10 - New week and trying to recover my lost capital and and Oct profit.
- Shorted 1k TSN 6.40, covered at 6.26, 6 mins scalp for $140
- Shorted 300 AAPL 95.08, covered at 95.35 for a loss of $80 in 16 mins (too long in the trade, thank god the loss was only $80).

Nov 11 - Lot of trades today. Good and bad, here goes

- Shorted 100 COF at 31.47, covered at 31.90 for a loss of $50 in 18 mins (too long in the position)
- Shorted 100 GS at 72, covered at 71.71 for a measly $30 in 11 min. Now this was an awesome short entry coz in the am session the hod was 72.85 and it retreated to 66.68. I was kicking my self for getting out but that's trading.
- Shorted 1 k CIT at 3.85, put a stop loss in at 3.93 and what da 'ya know, it stopped me and then it fell back to my entry. But I was not really focusing on this coz since I had my stop in I was focusing my attention on GS again.
- Shorted 500 GS 69.38, covered at 69.13 for a $175 in 1 min.
- Sometimes it does pay to be patient coz after I covered in my previous trade at $69.13, shorted 500 GS again at 68.54, covered at 68.93 for a loss of $200. The lesson I learnt here is DON'T CHASE. That is exactly what I did, I tried to jump in again too soon instead of waiting for the right entry.
- Shorted 1k 68.05, covered at 67.64 $400 in 21 seconds, got out too soon coz it just drooped fast and furiously all the down to low $67, left about $650 on the table
-Now this is when I should have called it a day but didn't. I really have to get disciplined. Shorted 300 COF at 32.06, covered at 32.61 for a loss of $165 10 mins in the position, too long.
- Did my FIRST BUY today, wish it was a positive story but unfortunately it was not to be. Bought 300 RIMM 47.20, sold (not covered) at 46.69, for a loss of 165. The market had such wild swings and if you picked the wrong side boy oh boy was it bad.
- Shorted 1k AAPL at 96.05, covered at 95.87, $180 in 6 mins. Now this was a great entry too and got GREEDY, coz it dropped at low as 95.43 and I didn't get out, instead I got out when the squeeze came in, albeit it was a profit.
- Last trade, shorted 500 AAPL 95.06, covered at 94.58 for a $240 in 4 mins.
Ended being up about 385 for the day. I missed some great opportunities coz my brokerage, tda, did not have LVS and SKF to short. SKF was an amzing drop from 160 to 150 in the span of 50mins. SKF had a nice head and shoulders pattern too.
So Iam still trying to recover my capital, then October's profit, lets see how it goes. Wow this is a long winded post, should try to detail more frequently.

Oct 31, Nov 3 & 4

Oct 31st - You know those days when what ever you pick is the wrong pick, that's what Oct 31st felt like. Did one bad short on 200 CMI at 26.50 covered at 26.91 for $100 odd loss within 10 mins (broke my rule, if it doesn't quickly go in you favor get out).

Anxious to make up my loss made another bad short on 1k shares of CI at 12.81 covered 5 mins later at 12.90 for another loss of about $100. Not good, not good at all. I should have stepped back and looked at my blunders but of course I didn't.

Next came the afternoon close, shorted 1k shares of XL at 9.35 covered at 9.53 for a loss again, again that took 10 mins, waaaay too long. Finally shorted 1k CI again at 16.02 covered for a loss at 16.20 (avg) and again that took 12 mins.

So ended up giving up about $600 on Oct 31, what a day. It was two weeks to the day since I stared trading and I was up about 1k and in trying to be greedy and end the month on high(er) note, ended up screwing it up.

Stick to the plan. My objective is 1-2% per month and I was comfortable there and I go and give up $600 in one day. So in the end my Oct ended with me being up 1.24%

Nov 3 - Did just one short trade of 100 shares on SPG at 63 for a quick scalp of of $60 in 2 mins and got out. That was it for Nov 3 and actually that was a good trade coz the lod was somewhere close to where I got out and the stock just started to go up after that.

Nov 4 - Another disastrous day. First trade tried to short LVS and of course tda did not have shares to short, however it did not move in the direction I thought it would, even thought it did later on in the day. I honestly feel LVS will drop further, coz if you think about it logically people don't have money to for basic necessities why on earth would they the likes of LVS be making money and this goes for MGM too. I will look to short this probably for a swing trade, lets see.

Now for the loosing trades. Shorted 300 HIG at 16.92 covered a loss of $100, and then shorted 300 AMT at 32.57 and covered for a loss of $150 something.

So what are the common denominators in all mentioned above

1) still just shorting

2) market has been moving up

3) hanging around too long in a position when it doesn't go in my favour

4) this is a unique one, let me try to explain. So this is my personal observation from trading earlier on in the year as well and is true even today, may be someone else can validate too. Here goes, I watch the time and sales very very closely on the stock I am preparing to enter. Now, what I have observed is when a stock is trending down and then there is greens coming thru in the time and sales, squeezing the shorts and confusing the heck out of those intending to short the stock, this is the best time to jump in short. I know this sounds crazy but its true, however watch the 10 day sma too closely on a 5 min chart.

So my November not off to a great start my I am trying to remain optimistic and hopefully make some money going loooong