Owner: The Denarii Trader URL:http://trader-denarii.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Sun, 05 Aug 2007 15:56:30 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A day traders journal on how he is trying to learn to make a living from the markets Site statistics:Click here
Thursday Morning Thoughts 9/20/2007 2007-09-20 07:50:00 My trading has not gone well since I decided to go full time. The wife is telling me I am putting too much pressure on myself which I agree. A lot of good discussion in going on the mind games of trading at Move The Markets. I say go check it out. I great bunch of traders there with many comments from many others. Read more:Morning
, Thursday
Big Mouth is Back I hope 9/19/2007 2007-09-19 14:58:00 The 3 charts above are all Big Mouth
stocks. They finally looked like they were going to wake up after he stated the bull is back. Very few of his buys have worked as shorts this summer. It happened the same way last year.-I had orders in for all 3 but only got filled on one. I need to dust my brain off on how to game these again. There was no pop in 2 of them that caused me to missed them. I think I need to be more aggressive again and place maybe at 1/4 position on an open trade and fill it the position out if there is a pop.-I did caught a part of GLS but it was not the true open. I noticed after getting filled, the spreads were crazy so a little voice in my head told me to take a small profit and get out. After the real open pop, I chased the stock down but did not get filled. I totally forgot there is no uptick rule anymore. Damn.-The numbers:Stock: Gross +144 Net +121 shares traded 4300Stock Futures: noneOther Futures: noneForex: none-I made more trades today than in a whil
Wednesday Morning Thoughts 9/19/2007 2007-09-19 09:09:00 This market is nuts or is driving me nuts. I am firing off trades left and right in many different accounts trying to rebalance myself. The Big Mouth stocks would have worked this morning but I did not game them correctly. I hate this rate cut because it pushes the pain off again.-I am just not taking advantage of this the way I would like - nuts. Read more:Wednesday
, Morning
Tuesday Trade Review 9/18/2007 2007-09-18 15:05:00 Days like this prove to me, I have a lot to learn. After many hours of boredom, once the Fed hit, I just could not react or think in any manner to do anything. I lost a little on trying to pick a top in the YM's early this morning and then minutes after the Fed announcement, I tried getting short. The short would have worked for about 50 Dow points but it would not fill. After that, I just watched things, like a dumb dog watching a kid eating an ice cream cone.I believe LVS should stop soon. I took at couple of shots at it and lost $75. I will be looking at it again tomorrow.-I am right now dieing of a 1000 paper cuts. My head is just not working well with this market. Very painful process. I am only down about $300 this month but I guess because I am now trading fulltime - it feels more like being down $5000.-The numbers:Stocks: Gross -71 net -75 shares traded 200Stock Futures: Gross -60 net -64 contracts 2Other Futures: noneForex: none Read more:Tuesday
, Trade
Tuesday Morning Thoughs 9/18/2007 2007-09-18 07:12:00 Just waiting - like everyone else.-I am getting pissed at a lot of friends and family. Too many people keep asking me "How is the day trading vacation working out?". I am not on vacation. I am making a career switch. If this does not work out, I may try something else.-Also everybody thinks I should be happy everyday. I am in theory just down in the basement playing around on the Internet and making a trade or two. How hard can that be? Give me a break. The only people who seem to understand me are the ones who are self employed. Read more:Morning
, Tuesday
Monday Trade Review 2007-09-17 22:37:00 My first swing trade is this account for a long while. Playing a double bottom in the Home Builders thinking it would rally into the Fed meeting. It rally but not as much as I thought it was going to. I was hoping for a 1 to 1 1/2 points on the trade and took 1/2.My favorite steel was showing support at 40 so I bought with a tight stop and got stopped. Thank God because it fell for a long time afterwords.It looked like the Ag-chemicals were going to pull it together earlier in the day, so I went long AGU on a break above 49.10 to HOD but after seeing the general market and other Ag-chemicals fail at that time, I chickened out. It could have been a good trade.Last trade, I tried to buy a pull back. I just really screwed it up as I stated on the chart. After this trade, I had not been feeling good today or all weekend long so a took a long afternoon nap.-The numbers:Stocks: Gross +202 net +182 shares traded 4000Stock Futures: noneOther Futures: noneForex: none Read more:Trade
, Monday
Monday Morning Thoughts 9/17/2007 2007-09-17 07:08:00 This market is very frustrating or maybe we are just at one of those points. There are so many ways of looking at this market right now. We are at the top of the 2 plus trading range. We went from the bottom to the top of that range way too fast. It should have failed. Now we are kind of hanging out at the top. The longer we are here the greater the chance we will break out of the top of the range and retest the previous high.-We are waiting for the Fed right now. It seems like every thing they could or could not do, will let the market down. A classic buy the rumor, sell the fact type of market.-What happens if we combine the two, the Fed move causes the market to break out of it ranges for a day then fails - do we hit the bottom of the range or retest the low?-When the market falls into this type of scenario, a trader must be very flexible. They can not put too many lines in the sand or stick to one idea. Markets that are just trending up or down, you can sell or buy the ralli Read more:Morning
, Monday
, Monday Morning
My Rock 9/16/2007 2007-09-16 20:41:00 I am having a hard time concentrating on my market home work tonight. Tomorrow is the day my lady and I like to celebrate. It is the 14th anniversary of our first date. I do not think I would have even tried to be a full time trader with out her pushing me. It has been a dream of mine for so many years but I kept on coming up with the reasons not to.-She is a great gal. We became friends as first before we became more. She is the only woman I had dated in my life that allowed me to be me. I can be a little strange at times, my humor is a little off color and I always love being a class clown. But she puts up with all my stuff and how I look at things. She lets me love her the way I want to love someone and I love the way she loves me back.-Our relationship has grown to a point where I know any problem I have, I can lean on her and she can do the same thing. I look at her as being my rock where I always know my back is covered.-We spend a lot of time together, even to the point where I
Monthly Review 9/16/2007 2007-09-16 08:08:00 My monthly numbers:-Wins: 33 Losses: 14Avg Win: 41.47 Avg Loss: -120.57Gross Trading: -319.50Commissions: -197.46Net Trading: -516.98Biggest Win: 200.00 Biggest Loss: -800.00Data Fees: -34.50Interest: 250.31Account Net: -301.17-As you can see, I did not have a good month. I took two very large losses (-800.00 and -500.00) this month which killed me. I try to kept my loss on a trade most of the time under $500 right now.-Even though I had two large losses, I also need to allow more of my trades more room and time to move. Out of 47 trades, 34 were gains or losses of $50 or less. If a trade does not start working for me with in 10 minutes, I usually get out. I found a lot of trades this month would have worked out better if I had just given them more time. Also many of my trades would have worked, if I gave them just a little more room to go against me.-All in all, I continue to like the fact, I really do not allow myself ever to blow up. It has been a very long time since, I am have tak Read more:Monthly
Thursday Trade Review 2007-09-27 14:39:00 The details of the trades are on the charts. It was a pissy day for me. I felt like I lost a lot of money but only had 4 paper cuts. I missed the Big Mouth stocks - they did not pop at all on the open and only one about 10 minutes later. -I am traveling tomorrow on family business and the next day I will trade will be Thursday
. I do not think I will be posting until then. See you all when I get back.-The numbers:Stocks: gross -110 net -123 shares traded 2400Stock Futures: noneOther Futures: noneForex: none Read more:Trade
Thursday Mid Day Thoughts 9/27/2007 2007-09-27 10:31:00 I have none. The market looks like it wants to roll over but the ranges are killing traders today. I have just had a couple of trades that I got stopped on. This is like watching paint dry. Things got so slow yesterday - I started cleaning windows. Read more:Thursday
Wednesday Trade Review 9/26/2007 2007-09-26 15:09:00 Very frustrating when this happens. I had buy stop on 69.01 for 30 minutes before it was filled. I expected the stock to run to new highs but went sideways for 20 minutes or so. I gave up and sold for a small profit. Minutes later the run started and then with the BSC news - it took off. I wanted to rise about 15 cents figuring I could take maybe 30 to 100 cents out of it. Crap.-That was the only trade worth talking about other than my post below. I had bought XHB as a swing trade but sold it because it was closing so weak.-The numbers:Stocks: gross -119 net -136 shares traded 3400Stock Futures: noneOther futures: noneForex: none Read more:Trade
, Wednesday
Can somebody explain this to me??? 2007-10-12 17:11:00 While I was recently in Mpls, MN - I received a parking ticket for parking in a Handicap zone with a Handicap person using an expired over a year Handicap Tag.-In Minnesota, if you park in a handicap zone without a Handicap Tag, it is a $200 fine. If you park there with an expired tag that has been expired for less than a year, it is a $375 fine. If you park there with one that has been expired for more than a year - it is a $575 fine.-My mother is in a wheelchair. It took me two afternoons, a lot of paperwork, and endless waiting to get the fine reduced to $250.-Nuts. Read more:explain
Friday Trade Review 10/12/2007 2007-10-12 14:43:00 Stocks: Gross -238 Net -242 shares traded 400Stock Futures: Gross +90 Net +70 contracts traded 8Other Futures: noneForex: none-I am pissed and need to take care of other business. Read more:Friday
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Thursday Trader Review 10/11/2007 2007-10-11 15:42:00 It was a good day. I will be pissed at myself for not being more aggressive. I will learn. There was blood out there and I should have been feeding like a Vampire at the Red Cross.-I was making many trades today - a lot of them in my retirement accounts. The two above were stock futures in my day trading account. To many times I am to aggressive in my profit taking instead of my order entry. Need to work on that but I had a good day.-The numbers:Stocks: gross +70 net +59 shares traded 2000Stocks Futures: Gross +335 Net +315 contracts traded 8Other futures: noneForex: none-Whenever I post numbers on this blog - it is only for my day trading account which may be a swing trade from time to time. Never are there any of my other accounts numbers inculded here. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I do not talk much about my retirement a Read more:Thursday
, Trader
Thursday Mid Day Thoughts 10/11/2007 2007-10-11 10:37:00 I am so excited I had to put on a second pot of coffee. Lost a little money trying to pick a top in the YM (Dow) futures. Sold my XHB for 4% is my retirement accounts and started a swing long in QID (short Nasdaq) in my retirement accounts. I missed a couple of shorts and the Ag chemical stocks are hot again - damn. Read more:Thursday
Wednesday Trade Review 2007-10-10 14:50:00 Most of my trades where posted below. This day really took a lot out of me. I must of had 30 or so orders in at some point and basically did not get filled. Many times I was just trying to be too cute with order placements. You can see that by my comments below with CF.-I love my wife dearly and it is nice she is home again but because we have not been together much recently - she is demanding a lot of my time. This causes me to skip sleep and I am just not functioning well.-The numbers:Stocks: gross +0 net -11 shares traded 2200Stock Futures: noneOther Futures: noneForex: none-Nap time. Read more:Trade
, Wednesday
Let me work in the Mail room so I can go postal 2007-10-10 12:14:00 A method of trading I picked up is to play the hot sectors. This is something DT turned me on to. If the sector up or rallying, find one of the lagers and buy them. If the sector is dieing, the sell the strongest.-The 3 charts above are from the ag chemicals sector - AGU, CF and MON (you could add TRA). My thought process here is bad earnings from MON pushed the sector down but yesterday there was good news from MOS. So during the MON conference call, I assume the sector would bounce back hard.-I first tried trading CF. I chased it and chased it and chased it. This I thought was going to be the best bouncer. At point 1 on the chart, it was just breaking out of it small openning morning range. I had an order in at 72.22 - no fill. Then it ran to 72.50, came back to 72.20 and I thought it was in a range of 72.20 to 72.50. Buy it at 72.30 and sell above the break of 72.50. No luck. At point 3 - tried buying at 72.70, then 72.90 at point 4. Ok give up - no luck - go play with some
Tuesday Trade Review 10/09/2007 2007-10-09 20:46:00 I am really tired tonight and fat fingering a lot of things. My main trade for the day is listed below. I also made a trade in CAT and my first trade in Forex for a long while. I closed out the Forex trade quickly because it looked like the Bid/Ask was screwed up. Instead it was my eyes.-Tomorrow, I want to share with you a new way I am trying to enter Breakout plays. I just do not have the energy to do it tonight.-The numbers:Stocks: Gross +273 net +263 shares trade 1800Stock Futures: noneOther Futures: noneForex: Gross +50 net +45 contracts 2-For those who look at Dino's numbers in the VO, I gave them to him wrong. Read more:Trade
, Tuesday
Tuesday AM Trade Review - Finally 10/09/2007 2007-10-09 12:05:00 The two charts above are again Big Mouth Stocks. I have been playing around with different entry methods and I finally got a hit on one. The first chart is JAKK. With the amount of short interest on it, I wanted to play it a little safe. While I played it too safe and did not get filled.-The second chart is VCLK. I wanted in on this one. When the first surged started, I threw a market order to short 100 just to get in. As the surge continued, I had my orders ready to go - 100 at 28, 200 at 28.30, 300 at 28.60, 400 at 28.90 and 500 at 29.20. The AH trades got as high 28.75. I believed an overall stop above 29.50 would be good. I waited a couple of minutes as VCLK moved higher before I used a feature in IB that commits all your orders on a page. I wanted to do that so I would get better fills on my lower priced orders. It worked while today. As on the chart, I got filled on my market order at 28.28. My other 100 share filled at 28.47. Seconds later my 200 share order was fi Read more:Trade
, Tuesday
, Finally
What the Hell 10/09/2007 2007-10-09 08:07:00 Everyone else is doing polls on their sites - so here is one from me.
Tuesday Morning Thoughts 10/09/2007 2007-10-09 07:58:00 The wife is back in town.-Some of the sweetest words this trader could ever here - "Honey - it is time to get your butt out of bed and go make some money. The market opens in less than an hour" as she slaps me on my butt a couple of times. -Her plane was late and we did not get to bed until 4 am while we caught up with each other.-My Pookie is back. :) Read more:Tuesday
, Morning
Monday Trade Review 10/08/2007 2007-10-08 15:35:00 Again I failed to capitalize on the market when my planned trades did not work the way I had expected them to. Both of these are Big Mouth Stocks. The top one MASI I had planned to short 100 at 31.50, 200 at 31.80 and so forth until my last was in at 32.70 to short 500. I only had the last one just before the market opened. The others I was going to put in right after the open as the stock popped. The stock did not pop and I did not get in. The same for AGN. I was really expecting a bigger bounce for these stocks this morning after the run up on Friday. -I tried to bottom fish the oils and fail. Volume and the ranges dried up quickly and I was never in the right place at the right time. I spent most of the day cleaning the house. My wife comes back today after visiting her mother for 10 days.-The numbers:Stocks: gross -51 net -53 shared traded only 200Stock Futures: noneOther Futures: noneForex: none Read more:Trade
, Monday
Monday Mid Day Thoughs 10/8/2007 2007-10-08 10:01:00 There is none. I tried to get cute with one of the big mouth stocks and did not fill. This market is really boring. I am still in mental pain seeing my Packers blew the game last night. I fear I will trade out of boredom. It does look like the market wants to roll over right now. Read more:Monday
Monthly Review 10/06/2007 2007-10-06 19:54:00 My monthly numbers:-Wins: 30 Losses: 22Avg Win: 39.45 Avg Loss: -62.20Gross Trading: -184.91Commissions: -205.40Net Trading: -390.31Biggest Win: 222.00 Biggest Loss: -250.00Data Fees: -81.64Interest: 218.00Account Net: -253.96-This is the third month in a row that I felt my trading sucked. The good thing is during this sucky period - I did not even lose 1% of my trading account. That is sucking done right.-Really, looking at all my trades, the two biggest losses should have been my two biggest wins. I thought when I shorted the electronic T-bond contract - it was a mini. There is no T-Bond mini contract. I put a very tight stop loss on it. I got stopped by 2 ticks before it turned and went in the way I thought it would by $1250. The other trade was the EFT XHB. It was going to be a swing trade but on the second day it hit a new low without recovering much by days end. I sold it. A couple of days later, it was $1500 higher and I was visiting my parents away from any computer. S Read more:Monthly
Frieday Trade Review 10/05/2007 2007-10-05 15:07:00 Most of the trades I did today were posted below. I lost $339 today but I want to look at this as a glass half full instead of a glass half empty. If I traded my plan instead of what I did, I would have made my goal for the month today. I should have made 10 trades today and 8 of them would have made money. I will say it again, if I followed my trading plan. This gives me confidence in my ability to read the market and its stocks. I know I can do it - I just have to do it. I have heard that somewhere before.-I began the review of my September's trades and I will post the totals this weekend.-The numbers:Stocks: gross -285 net -304 shares traded 3800Stock Futures: gross -30 net -35 contracts traded 2Other Futures: noneForex: none Read more:Trade
AM Friday Trade Review 10/04/2007 2007-10-05 11:54:00 A lot of frustration here- I had the right stocks at the right time but my execution left my with a loss overall. Lets go to the charts.This was a Big Mouth Stock. I jumped on to it too quickly. I was going to use the scale in method for all of the Big Mouth stocks but I got to excited then I quickly panicked. I bought a half position right on the open when I should have used the scale orders shown in RED. The scale orders would have given me a cost of 26 on a 1000 shares where my last short order would have not gotten filled. If I would have sat on my hands during the sideways motion around 25.80 I could have covered the short in the 25.40 area for a nice gain. Once a Big Mouth Stock finds a bottom, it makes for a good buy if the market is strong as like today - crap.Another Big Mouth stock with the orders in red I should have placed but didn't. Not as good of a result as STAR above, but still a very good trade - crap again.Cat - I was buying a small lot looking to double it Read more:Friday
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Thursday Trade Review 10/4/2007 2007-10-04 22:02:00 As I stated before, I am trying to recover from my trip back home. I only made two trades today and neither are worth the time to write about. I did pull another Rookie mistake. I wanted to short the morning pop in the YM futures if they did not take out the high. I had forgot to bring up my Trade
Station because I was running late. I saw the trade developed on my IB charts. Time to make the trade but no TS. I was trying to get TS up but it would not come up fast enough and the trade got away. So what was the mistake you say? I had my IB open and I can trade futures there - so dummy why didn't I?-The numbers:Stock: Gross -11 net -13 shares trade 4000Stock Futures: Gross +25 net +20 contracts 2Other Futures: noneForex: none Read more:Thursday
Thursday Mid Day Thoughts 10/4/2007 2007-10-04 11:26:00 I am back but mentally wasted. My flight was delayed and I did not get to bed until early morning. Four cups of coffee and I still can't see straight. And guess what? - I am trying to trade - HaHa.-I hope to be back in action fully soon. I was visiting my parents which neither are doing well in my eyes but both are a live and thinking they are doing okay. It is sad to see them get old and fall apart.-Time to get more coffee. Read more:Thursday
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