7/23/15

$ITEK is a perfect example of what I blogged about yesterday. This stock had a HUGE move today after the 9EMA(blue line) crosssed over the VWAP(red line). So far, its up pretty much 100% since the crossover. I'm still not back to trading, but if I had been at my desk this morning I would have considered a long position over the premarket high of 8.84 and seeing the EMA and VWAP crossover would have been a good confirmation of the move. 

7/22/15

Recently I've been adding the 9-day EMA (exponential moving average) study to my charts, which is the blue line, and using it in combination with the VWAP (volume weighted average price), which is the red line. I've noticed that in a lot of charts there is usually a strong move up after the 9EMA crosses over the VWAP. However, this does not mean that I should rely on a single indicator to determine an entry. I will use this along with other technical info in conjunction to give me the best chance at a successful trade. 

This stock $EXEL had lighter volume today, I was actually first watching it to short near 6, but one of the rules I try to follow is dont short a stock thats still grinding up above VWAP after 11 am and this is a good example of why. I was too short biased and failed to see the opp for a long position here, first when it dipped near 5.85 and then when it based around 6 again. 

    

6/17/15

Should have had a $200+ day today, but I made some rookie mistakes. I started out trying to short $SGYP and I was too early. I should of been more patient with it and let it break the 6.05 low and then make a new lower high from there, which didnt happen. So the setup wasnt there and I should have stayed away completely since Im only trying to focus on short plays for now. 

Had a nice little gain on $AMCN. I kind of chased this, but lucked out and exited with a decent profit.

$JUNO should have been the only ticker I played. Its "lockup" period ended today which means company insiders were no longer restricted from selling their shares so a sell off was expected, but of course I didnt keep an eye on it at the open and missed some good opportunities. It setup nicely with resistance at 54.49, then resistance at 53.03 on the next breakdown, and 52.69 on the last breakdown. I should of been a little more patient with my third round of short shares I had at 53.94 because I got out right before the breakdown of that 53.72 support level and missed the quick washout. The loss from $SGYP really got me in a "play it safe" state of mind so I need to make sure I'm being patient and nailing my first trade of the day because its gunna establish momentum for the rest of the day. 

6/16/15

Nice short day today. Made $170 on $AAVL and left the computer so I wouldnt give any of it back. Once I saw a lower high from that 19.45 level I entered a short position at 19.25 with a stop at 19.36. I covered half at 19 and then the rest at 18.82. Of course by looking at the chart now I just wana kick myself for leaving the computer and missing the short entry on the next pop towards 19.45, it would have been very profitable seeing as how the stock ended up dropping to 17 after that. When I first saw the chart today though I saw how it was down from 40 to 19 in just a couple hours so I didnt think it would go down that much more. Guess I was wrong. Atleast Im not the CEO of this company who ended up losing a little over $24 million today! ouch. 

6/15/15

Frustrating day today. I completely butchered $BLFS. Bought at 2.70 (near top) and instead of getting out quickly in the mid .60s when I saw it wasnt going my way, I held and ended up selling at 2.53 for a bigger loss. I need to use smaller size if Im gunna chase and have a tight stop. Then I made another dumb mistake. I shorted at 2.46 which was near the bottom and then covered at 2.60, which was near the top. I did the complete opposite of what Im supposed to do. This was a revenge short trying to make some of the $$$ back that I lost trying to long it and I realize now that I had no business shorting it there.

$AMCN I actually did pretty decent on this ticker. Sucks I only got 50 shares filled on my first short or I would of had a nice gain on that one. My next short was at 6.16 when I saw lower highs from that 6.28 level. This was a great entry I just need to work on my exits a little bit. After I sold half at 6.07 I should have let the rest run until the 5.80s, but I was already frustrated from the $BLFS trade and I wanted to lock in profits. The next short at 5.92 was a decent attempt. I covered at 6.02 for a .10 cent loss. My last short was at 6.17 once I saw it wasnt breaking over that 6.28 level. Covered at 6.06.

6/11/15

Maybe I'm trying too hard not to over trade, because lately I've only been focusing on one ticker a day. Today it was $CJJD. There were some news in the morning and the stock spiked up to 4.67 then began making its way down. I was about to short it at around the 4.20 level, but I chickened out and decided to wait until it made a new lower high. I ended up missing the first lower high it made around 4 and so I waited for the next one. I started a short position at 3.90 with 500 shares. Once it dipped to 3.68 I sold 300 shares to lock in some profits. The plan then was to put a stop order at 3.85 and let the rest run until I either got stopped out or was satisfied with my gains. I had to leave for work around 3pm and ended up cashing out around 3.68 this time too. Waste of commission, but Im glad I covered there because it came back up towards the 3.80s a couple mins later, which was probably all the shorts covering before the close. 

6/9/15

Only had one scalp today for a small gain on $AXN. It could have been a decent trade, but I was not patient with it at all. The stock hit a high of 3.75 during after market hours yesterday and today during premarket it made its run to 4 then quickly dropped back down. It ended up opening at 3.35. I shorted at 3.10 once I saw it failed to break above the VWAP. This time I used a hard stop at 3.20 because last week I got caught in some plays (like $VLTC) where I didnt respect my stops and ended up losing .20-.30 cents more than I was supposed to. Anyways, I covered half of my position at 3 to lock in some gains and I originally planned to let the rest run but I got impatient and took the rest off at 2.96. Had I stuck to my plan and let the remaining 500 shares run with a stop at 3.20 I would have been able to catch an extra .30-.40 cent move once support at 2.83 was broken, With the 500 share position I had left it equals out to an extra $150-$200 that I missed out on because I was impatient!