3/2/17 and 3/3/17 Recap

3/2/17: $PTCT entry at $11.23. It had long term support at $10.50 and was trending well above VWAP. Took half of my position off at $11.88 and then the rest off at $12.00. 

3/3/17: $NTNX got long at $25 once VWAP and that $24.70s level held. Tried to give this too much room to work and got stopped out at $25.08 once I saw weakness in price action. It was a scratch trade but at least it covered the cost of commission. I should have taken half of my position off at $25.30ish, but I was sure that it was atleast going to test $25.50s and I was gunna take profits there. 

1/31/17, 2/1/17, 2/3/17 Recap

1/31/17: $TEVA was a gap down on negative news. I saw it holding trend and got long at 33.24 and got out at 33.60. I was a little late to the party missing most of the morning move so it was a small gain but easy, stress-free trade overall.

2/1/17: $OKS was a big gapper on positive news about a merger deal. Around the $46 area was resistance on the daily chart and this stock gapped up to almost $60 in premarket so my thought was that if it starts looking weak and cant hold VWAP then it has alot of room downward for a correction. You gota think when a stock gaps up like this there is going to be a lot of people who have been holding this for a while that are guna want to take profits and sell their positions creating a surge in supply....and we all remember from econ class what happens when supply>demand = price decreases. My first entry was right below VWAP at 56.32. Sold half of my position at 55.60 and the other half at 55.15. Kept my eye on this and it kept selling off so entered short again at 55.21 and took first half off at 54.77 and the second half off at 53.75. Awesome trade here and good risk management on my part!

2/3/17: $CY had news about missing their 4th qtr earning estimates, but it still made for a decent long trade. You know never know what these stocks are going to do..sometimes they have positive news and they tank and sometimes they have negative news and they skyrocket. My job is to plan for the most likely scenario based on the chart and react to price action, not try to guess which way the stock is gunna go. Anyways, 12.50s was resistance on the daily chart so when I saw the stock shoot up to 12.90s in the first few minutes of the open I planned to wait for a pull back near 12.50s for an entry. Once 12.60s held I got in long at 12.69. Sold half of the position at 12.90 to secure some profit and got stopped out of the rest at 12.75. Second trade had no follow through. I got short once it broke below VWAP but stopped out pretty much right away. 

1/18/17- 1/23/17 Recap

1/23/17: $QCOM gap down ticker on news about Apple's big lawsuit against this company. The float on this stock is bigger than I usually trade at $1.47 billion shares, but I figured I'd give it shot anyway. Got short at VWAP $55.22. No follow through and at 3:30pm my broker cuts my buying power so had to get out at 55.90 for a decent size loss. Oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  live to fight another day.

1/20/17: $BMY gap down on negative news about their cancer treatment drugs. This stock also has a big float of $1.67 billion shares but I kept it on my watchlist anyway. I wasnt patient with the first entry short. then I added again when it popped up towards VWAP my average was now around $50.10. Got spooked when it reclaimed VWAP so I got out for a loss at $50.30. Kept this on watch and re attacked once I saw the stock was starting to break down. Second attempt got short at $50.15 and finally it faded. Locked profits at $49.10.

1/19/17: $NFLX big gap up here. I took a small position since this is a higher priced ticker. Short $140.38 held through the pop and finally faded. Covered all shares at $139.

1/18/17: $CCJ scratch trade here. Was looking at $11.50s on the daily as resistance. Didnt have any patience with my entry and ended up getting out flat.

12/20/16 and 1/13/17 trades

 12/20/16: $ACAD was a gap up on positive news about their study on this new drug to treat Alzheimers. I try not to read too much into the news, really I just want to know why its moving then I let the chart tell the story. Drowning myself in fundamental analysis is just not as effective for daytrading. Here I got short at $29.95 on VWAP rejection and rejection of that $30 level which was support/resistance on the daily chart. Covered all shares at $29.35 really just because it was the friday before the holidays break and I didn't want to leave for vacation on a loser trade so I took my profits and ran lol.

1/13/17: $P pandora radio station gapped up on positive 4th quarter earnings, but this trade was a dud for me and didnt go anywhere. Got long at $12.90 once the break over VWAP was cofirmed and I saw 9ema holding, but didnt have enough range so got stopped out at $12.80. This was the second week of trading for 2017 and still havent had any juicy setups hit my morning scans so hopefully things pick up here going into the third week!

12/12/16-12/16/16 Recap

12/13/16: $AKAO long entry at $14.43 once it broke above VWAP. Held through the pullback then sold half the shares at $14.75 and the other half $15.15.

12/15/16: $ATHN had the right read on this just bad timing. Got long at $117 and stopped out at $115.50. Luckily I had super small size on this so loss wasnt too bad. I need to stay more patient at the open and not trade for atleast the first 15 minutes. 

12/15/16: $PIR was from the gap up scanner on good earning estimates. This could have been a easier long than short I just have to make things complicated lol. I was watching this all morning just kept hesitating for an entry thinking it would pull back to VWAP before 11 am. That didn't happen so I stayed patient and  I waited for the backside then got short at $8.69 once I saw price action weakening and approaching VWAP. Got out at $8.45 since my broker reduces my buying power at 3:30pm and it was getting close to that time. 

12/5/16-12/9/16 Recap

Wednesday 12/7/16: $WDC from gap up scanner.Had a nice short entry here at $67.41 and exit at $66.88 for the first trade but then I started chasing. Second short entry was at $66.70, which was horrible, I should know better than shorting into weakness like that. The stock rebounded and I tried to get my average cost of shares down with another short entry off VWAP at $66.92. Got stopped out at 67.30. This is how you turn a $200+ winner into a $50 winner. I guess green is still green. 

$PLAY from gap up scanner as well. Long entry at $54.90 risking on the 9EMA and exit at $55.50 once I thought I saw weakness. Nice and simple. If only every trade could be this headache-free. 

Thursday 12/8/16: $LULU also a gap up. I was initially looking for a long since the the 9EMA and VWAP were holding well, but I was patient and kept waiting for confirmation. Once that first candle printed under the 9EMA I got short at $70.22. Exit was at $69.15 near support. 

11/29/16-12/2/16 Recap

Tuesday 11/29/16: $X popped up on gap down scanner and I was looking to short under $31 which was premarket support but it broke through before the open and didnt take the trade since i dont like trading premarket. I decided to wait and see what sets up. Around 11 oclock the stock was uptrending nicely and broke above VWAP. Got in long at $30.91 with a tight stop right below the 9-day EMA. Saw resistance at $31.50 so got out at $31.40.

Wednesday 11/30/2016: $SPLK from gap up scanner. Big sell off right at the open so I made sure I didnt chase (as tempting as it was). Waited until stock came back up towards VWAP and got in short off the bounce at $60.31. It was consolidating for a bit at that $60 level and that kinda spooked me out so I got out pretty fast at $60.07. I kept my eyes on this and on the next move back up $60 confirmed as resistance so I got in short again at $59.84. Got out way too quick here at $59.50 but I'll happily take my piker profits lol. 

Thursday 12/01/16: $BLUE from gap up scanner. I had my eyes on this all day and when the short set up off the VWAP bounce I realized my broker didnt have any borrows and stock was not shortable. :( no trades this day.

Friday 12/02/16: $WDAY from gap down scanner. Was looking for a short to break under under $67.50 level. got in short at $67.67 and got stopped out at $68. I kept my eyes on this but I let my earlier trade affect my bias on this and I was still thinking short for some dumb reason instead of looking at what the chart was telling me. I should have taken this long around 11 oclock once VWAP and the 9EMA was holding and stock was uptrending. Im just glad I didnt push any other buttons for another short attempt here.

Things to keep in mind:

Look at where stock is at around 11 oclock once you have a whole half day of price action to go by

Missing out on a trade is better than a losing trade

Dont let earlier trades affect yout bias

Check to make sure broker has borrows before wasting time on a stock looking for a short 

General Rule- gap down, look for uptrend. gap up, look for downtrend. obviously this is just something to use as a guide.