Day 94: Caught in a Halt :(

 I learned my lesson today about many, many things:

1--When sitting at the orthodontist waiting, don't buy any stocks.  Stocks are to be purchased at home only in front of a minimum of 2 screens.

2--When you have a work meeting and stock is showing weakness, go ahead and sell then---especially when you shouldn't have bought it in the first place.

3--When Ross says don't buy amex stocks because they can get caught up in long halts, believe him.

Ticker:  UUU

Float:  2.07m

News:  No news but had good earnings last week, and it has been moving up over a few days

Price Bought:  $8.50

Price Sold:  $6.64

Loss:  $186, 21.9%

Total Balance:  $1,064.88

Got caught in a news pending halt for over an hour.  I was just going in to sell it at $7.10/share when it halted.  I kept trying to enter my sell order, and it wouldn't let me.  What was the news?  NO NEWS!  The exchange asked for the company to comment on the recent volume and stock price rise.  Do you know what the company said?  We have no news.  Grrrr....bad thing is that before I bought it Ross posted on the chat room that amex stocks have a history of being halted for no reason when they are moving up.  I was doing all of this while waiting at the orthodontist.  I took my laptop to run a work report while waiting, so I decided to go ahead and do a little day trading.  UUU was the second leading gapper, has a very low float, and did have good earnings last week.  I thought it was a winner...I was wrong.  Never, ever trade while waiting around somewhere because then I had to drop off at school, drive home, and get on a work meeting.   I didn't have time to stay on top of the price.  Lessons learned!  

Day 93: RGC for the Win

 A great trade today!  But, it wasn't perfect because I hesitated in buying and ended up chasing for a hot minute.  I could have lost big, so I don't plan on doing this setup very often. 

Ticker:  RGC

News:  No specific news.  It has been a multiday runner of giving big wins with big flushes

Float:  2.3M

Price Bought:  $31.94

Price Sold:  $35.00

Profit:  $122.40, 9.6%

Total Balance:  $1,250.88

RGC was the biggest gapper and had the  most attention. The morning was very slow with no great news overall.  I thought about buying at $24 but didn't because the volume was low. When it started moving, it moved rapidly.  Because of the large moves, I decided to jump in.  A very risky move on my part when I should have been more cautious.  I decided to set my price target as $35 as it seemed to be moving to whole dollars pretty fast.  At open, it halted and I got out with a great trade.  Now, it is halted again around $39, but I'm happy with my trade and can work on my FOMO.  Nice to be done right after bell.  Can't wait until I can build my account and trade a little more frequently.  Of course, one trade a day is definitely the safest way!

 

 

Day 92: Instincts are Kicking in!

 I am very happy with Day 92!  I didn't have a grand slam winner, but I correctly saw when I needed to bail out.  It felt so good to feel my instincts kick in and tell me what to do.  I so often ignore them and keep waiting, but this time they saved me.

Ticker:  BPTH

News:  FDA approved phase 1 trial for cancer drug

Float:  6.93M

Price Bought:  $7.82

Price Sold:  $8.21

Gain:  $49.53, 5.0%

Balance:  $1,128.48

BPTH was the leading gapper and also had a small float with news.  Winner, winner chicken dinner.  It was the obvious choice to purchase, so I got it on the first 5 minute candle to make a new high.  Ross was not going to trade it as it has a history of flushing fast.  I've also noticed that phase 1 trial approvals really aren't a super great catalyst.  I decided to jump on thinking it would get to $8.50 and set that as my price target.  As we moved towards bell, it started breaking out but wasn't pushing past $8.30.  When it seemed to be moving slowly, I decided to bail before the bell. If something has a lot of momentum it will typically start moving pretty fast around 9:28.  I am so glad I got out as it did flush.  It did make a move around 9:45 and I maybe could have sold for $8.50, but it immediately flushed from there.  If I can have consistent days like this, I'll become a very profitable trader :)

Back to Writing-Day 91

 It's been a while since I posted!  I've been bobbling around $1,000 in my trading account for a good bit of the summer.  I took about 3 weeks off from trading while I did my training with Warrior Trading.  It is very extensive and takes forever to do. I'm still not completely done because I usually watch Ross for 1-2 hours each day during his live trading, so my attention span is very low to continue watching the training.

However, I do feel like I can read charts much better now and have a little bit better intuition on which stocks to chose.  I'm still having to deal with waiting for my funds to settle, so I can only do one trade per day.  And, I still struggle with bailing out fast enough.  So, my wins are getting more consistent, but my losses are too large and offsetting my good days.  I also continue to want to swing for the fences rather than take boring base hits.  But, I have taken some boring trades and then watched the stock go absolutely parabolic without me.  But, overall, I'm getting better and very much enjoying the experience of trading.  

So, on to day 91:

I am now able to use the Warrior Trading scanners which is very helpful!  The primary strategy is still Premarket gappers.  Basically, one of the top 5 will give a good run...Just a matter of which one to pick.  The lowest stock floats always have the best movement, and news is still the best catalyst. 

Ticker:  VVOS

Float:  17.87m

Price Bought:  $6.05

Price Sold:  $6.50

News:  FDA approval of a sleep apnea treatment

Profit:  $73.80, 7.4%

Total Balance:  $1,078.95

Notes:  This ticker was really the only one interesting in premarket which gave it a lot of momentum.  I wanted to hold it to go parabolic, but it bobbled at open and I bailed out at $6.50.  That was a good move because then it did come down further, but as I write this blog, it is currently in another move up.  Dealing with FOMO is real, but I'm getting a little better at it.  7.4% is nothing to sneeze at and it lets me trade tomorrow with a little more money.  Never a bad thing!

TD 45-51: Steady Gains, Learning lots!

 I must admit that I really enjoy momentum trading.  I'm very happy that gamestop opened my eyes to this wonderful world of candlesticks.

I got sidetracked on my blogging again, but I have been making steady gains.  I'm still fighting with the psychology of wanting to hold out for the giant gains.  That has led to extreme frustration when I don't close out trades until the afternoon.  That's the main reason I haven't blogged.  I hate closing out trades in the afternoon after watching it go sideways all morning.  I know the solution to this is to just cash out after a nice 3% gain.  There is no reason to wait for more.

Here is my summary with more detail on today's trade:

Day 45:  NMRD, 3.4% gain

Day 46:  LEDS, 10% gain

Day 47:  PLTR, 2% gain, SQBG, 3.2% gain

Day 48:  EYES, 4.8% gain

Day 49:  AMC, 4.7% gain (a great trade on a red day)

Day 50:  PLUG, 0.2% gain....that's when I really learned about getting out early.  But, at least I didn't lose!

Day 51:

Ticker:  DBGI

Price Bought:  $4.45

Price Sold:  $4.60

Example of I could have been in and out in about 15-20 minutes.  Instead I held on hoping it would start running.  I watched and watched.  It didn't make any huge moves, so I went ahead and sold for 3.4% gain.  It seemed to be slowing down which doesn't bode well for market open. It might still run, but I'm glad to not be watching it all day.  It was a new IPO from Friday, so it was hard to tell what it was going to do.  

Balance of my $100:  $552.15, 8.9% average daily gain

TD 40-44: Ho Hum finally became EXCITING!

 I haven't been blogging lately as I've been trading sort of late into the day which is a very bad decision for me.  I do much better when I trade early and get done.  If I pick a stinker and have to follow it all day to see when to get out, it makes me very frustrated--even if I end up with a gain.

I'll give a summary of Days 40-43 and then share my excitement of a big win on day 44.

Day 40:  

    Traded:  OCGN, 5.2% gain and BNGO, a 9.9% gain

    Notes:  OCGN went sideways on me--I have traded it a few times, it's a covid vaccine play.  I was finally able to get out at a decent gain, but it skyrocketed right after I sold.  I don't even remember trading BNGO at all...ha!

Day 41:  

    Traded:  ALDX, 5.6% gain

    Notes:  Easy momentum trade from premarket

Day 42:  

    Traded:  METX, 5.8% gain  

    Notes:  A Good trade all around.  Found momentum and took it for a swing up in about 15 minutes.

Day 43:

    Traded:  VXRT, 5.8% gain and BTX, 8.8% loss 

    Notes:  VXRT was a great premarket trade.  It and out before 8:30am.  Got cocky and decided to do BTX which had a huge run the day before.  It went sideways and I had to watch it all day.  I finally decided to take the loss because I had to take H to voice lessons. The very moment I sold it, it went way up and I could have sold for a huge gain.  Lesson learned?  Get one good trade for the day and stop.  Don't get greedy

Day 44:

My best trading day yet!!  I started premarket and picked the one stock that had volume, was above VWAP, and had good news. It took a hot minute for that choice to become obvious.  I have learned that the sure things are most likely to be trading above VWAP.  Every now and again, you can find a stock on its way back to VWAP but waiting until it is above is more of a sure thing. By waiting, I did leave some gains on the table, but I have been burned by not making sure that the VWAP will be honored on the 5 minute candles.  I have also noticed that when there is going to be a red market day the herd will really latch on to the best premarket mover because they want their gains one way or another.

I made 2 different trades because of the issue with cash settlement.  I had to buy some on etrade and some on Ameritrade.  Because of the timing, I got to average down my cost per shares.  I felt very good that I would be able to get out at least a 5% gain based on the sentiment on my stocktwits app. People are hot and heavy on this stock, so I knew the volume would continue when the market opened.  The company is a healthcare company that has a covid self test going live on Amazon.  

Because I had 2 different trades, I set my limit at different.  With my bigger lot, I decided to get out at a lower price.  I took more of a risk with the smaller lot.  The market opened, and it was hot, hot, hot.  It halted twice!  That hasn't happened with one of my picks before.  Halts can be dangerous so I got out after the 2nd halt.  The stock is now going sideways, but I think it is still a viable trade and will rally back in the afternoon.  But, I'm glad to be out and not having to watch it all day long!

I am happy to report that I do feel like I am learning viable stock trading skills.  I'm glad to be learning in a really choppy market instead of the bull market of the past year.  I'm still learning how to exit a bad position which I believe is the most critical part of success.  Minimizing losses is key.  I get into the most trouble when I get greedy--that has been true since day one.  

Summary of Day 44:

Ticker:  PRPO

Price bought:  $6.80 and $6.35

Price sold:  $7.95 and $8.95

Gains:  16.9% and 40.9%

Total of my $100:  $448.16, a 7.9% daily average gain

TD39: Love to be a Winner

 2 good trades today.  Well, one good one and one lucky one.

Decided to jump in on 2 trending stocks, OCGN and MVIS.  I knew I had a winner with MVIS based on the chart.  OCGN was a little more iffy but fortunately had a pop.

OCGN:  6.8% gain

MVIS:  9.0% gain

Total of my $100 is $276.14, a 4.5% average daily gain.

I'll take it. I need to get back to more thoughtful blog posts.  That's my goal for next week.  I also need to watch videos on how to use Thinkorswim on TD Ameritrade.  I used my TDA account to trade this week, but I didn't use thinkorswim.  I'm still using trading view for my main analysis tools.  It's time to get more savvy.  I need more charts pulled up at the same time.  That's the key to being a pro trader...lots and lots of screens.  

TD38: Busy Day

 I made 4 trades today which is a record for me and something I don't like to do generally.

Yesterday afternoon, I decided to buy VIAC and NNDM.  Both were getting a lot of hype and moving well.  It seemed like they would move higher in the morning, so I went for it.

VIAC:  I made 6.8%

NNDM:  I made 2.0%--it started going sideways in the morning, so I jumped out for a small gain

I decided to buy SKLZ as it was the biggest premarket gainer and was having some great movement.  I turned on Warrior Trading live stream (last one for the summer...boo), and he didn't like it because it had a large float.  I decided to look for an exit quickly and get out.  So, I got a 2.9% gain.

I got excited while watching Warrior Trading this morning.  He streams his entire trading day on Thursdays because he donates everything to charity.  BTX halted, and he jumped in, so I decided to as well. Bad idea!  He is a great trader, but I can't keep up with him as he can trade very quickly.  I bought after the halt and had a loss all day.  I decided to get out for a small 1.3% loss this afternoon when it moved up a bit.  Of course, as soon as I sold it, it jumped up and I would have had a huge gain.  Oh, well.  I'm glad to be out since I watched it in sadness almost all day.

Yay!  Just saw I didn't sell all of my BTX.  I had the wrong quantity.  I sold 11 at a loss for 1.3%, but I sold 7 at a 14.7% profit!

Also, found a mistake on my tracking spreadsheet.  Not sure how it happened, but it is fixed now.

My $100 is now at $239.04, a 3.7% average daily rate.

The market is very choppy these days.  I'm hoping for better trading ahead.

TD 34-37 I'm back!

 The last few weeks have been hectic and hard to trade.  

I only made a few trades while at the beach and then got distracted last week with the trip to Atlanta.

I'll just summarize today and make a better update tomorrow.

My $100 is now at $224.01

On TD 34, I traded ATNF.

TD 35:  VTVT

TD36:  YVR and FSR

TD37 (today):  OCGN

I'm at a average daily gain of 3.4%.  

I've also gone heavy into crypto and have had some wins and losses.  I finally was able to buy Safemoon yesterday, but it's down now.  So sad!

TD33: Learning how to bow out gracefully

 I made 2 trades today which I don't usually do, but I was inspired by Warrior Trading.

I decided to purchase RMO this morning.  It had good news, had a big premarket change, and looked good to me.  I bought it, and it didn't move much.  Should have accounted for volume which is the third ingredient necessary for a good premarket mover.  

Fortunately, I have finally learned when to exit a bad trade.  As soon as the price hits the VWAP, I know to get out.  Don't wait around hoping for a big reversal.  VWAP and slap it out.

So, I lost 1.7% on RMO.  I was watching Warrior Trading live stream, and he purchased another big premarket gainer, SJ.  He was explaining his criteria and the technical indicators, so I decided to jump in as well.  He's big on the first 5 minute candle to make a new high, followed by a pullback on the 1 minute candle as long as everything is above VWAP.  He calls that a bull flag breakout.  

Anyway, I bought at a decent entry and when the bull flag breakout was false, I sold before it came down to my entry.  In and out.  Basically, he sets the next target that the stock should break, and if it doesn't break, then get out immediately.  So, I made a 1.4% gain on SJ.

All in all a 0.3% loss, but so glad to see how to exit a loser at a good point before I lose my shirt.

Ticker:  RMO

Price Bought:  $9.06

Price Sold:  $8.90

Loss:  1.7%

Ticker:  SJ

Price Bought:  $14.60

Price Sold:  $14.80

Gain:  1.4%

Overall Balance of my $100:  $162.29, a 1.9% average daily gain

TD32: Good Trade in PreMarket

Made my first trade at the beach, and it was a good one.  Now, I can enjoy my day being done at 8:10 am central time.

  TICKER:  CEMI

Price Bought:  $5.25

Price Sold:  $5.70

Gain:  8.6%

Total of $100:  $162.81, a 2.0% average daily gain

This stock was good because the news catalyst was that the company got emergency use authorization for a covid test that also tests for flu.  It was the highest volume premarket with the largest gain.  I would have held on with it until the bell to try to get to $6.00, but my favorite trader started live streaming and said he thought it was "thickly traded" based on the level 2 charts that I don't have access to.  So, I decided to go ahead and get out since I was already at a very respectable gain.

TD 30 and 31: Making progress

So glad to be done trading for the week.  The market is closed tomorrow for Good Friday.  

I did a couple of decent trades yesterday, but they left me sweating a bit.  I, again, decided to do multiple trades which does not make for an easy day.  I was glad they both paid off, but as usual, I promise myself that I will stick to one trade going forward.

3/31:

Ticker:  RKDA, 3.0% gain

Ticker:  SVRA, 5.0% gain

I'm sticking with the strategy of going with the premarket gainers.  They tend to move nicely as at each half hour new traders start and see them on their scanners.  I'm getting lazy with my due diligence, though, which makes for a bit of stress when things go sideways, and I'm not sure if I should get out or stick with it.  Sometimes a big mover starts losing off if the news they were triggered on was not enough to keep the momentum.  

4/1: 

Ticker:  JAGX, 5.0% gain

I was so relieved with my trade this morning.  I looked at the top 3 premarket movers around 7am.  JAGX was the only one trading above its VWAP which is a good sign.  I had to take the kids to school, so I bought it around 7:10am. Because I couldn't watch it closely, I set a sell at a reasonable limit.  Halfway through the school dropoffs, my sell order went through.  It is so nice to be done for the day by 7:45am.  I'm so tempted to make another trade, but I'm holding back because I have other things to do today besides staring at a computer screen.

Total of my $100:  $145.71, a 1.5% average daily rate

I am hoping to get a few trades in while on vacation.  We tend to be quite lazy in the mornings, so it might be nice to sit on the deck and watch some tickers.  I also need to start educating myself on the TD Ameritrade analysis tools, so I can start using it instead of etrade.  It will be very beneficial to have a 5 minute chart and a 1 minute chart up at the same time.  My favorite trader always starts his trades when the first 5 minute candle has made a new high, and the 1 minute candle has a pullback.  

In other news, I bought my first cryptokitty.  He's super cute and completely worthless.  I thought I could breed him, but the ethereum network is completely bogged down, and it would cost $5k just to get on the network.  Grrr....I really wanted some cute kitties.  

TD29: Decent Trade

 So happy to only trade one stock today and be done by 9:35am.  Of course, I could have been done at 8:40am if I had not revised my sell limit to higher.  Still can't learn the lesson of not getting a big gain.

Ticker:  CSCW

Bought because it was the biggest gainer on the morning screener, and it had news that they were going to start doing NFTs.  Those kinds of stocks have been moving fast and furious with the NFT craze. 

Price Bought:  $2.19/share

Price Sold:  $2.50/share (originally I set my sell limit at $2.40)

Gain: 14.2%

Balance of $100:  $128.50, a 1.0% average daily gain

TD 26-28 Back at the Grind

 I'm back!!

I found trading to be very difficult at my mother's house last week.  I wasn't able to properly analyze and stay close to my computer to check prices.

I did trade Monday and Tuesday before I gave up, at a net 25% loss.  Back to formula again.

Day 28 has been much better.  I'm back at my usual routine and getting to spend time with the numbers again.

I made 3 trades today.  I'm using a terrible strategy of picking 3 of the big premarket movers and seeing which one pays off.  This really isn't technical or good, and it ends today.  If I want to be a successful day trader, I need to know the indicators and use only them.  I'm still always so hopeful for the "runner."  It is amazingly satisfying when you get one, but that's not the point of day trading.  I keep telling myself Small wins.  If I just average a 3% gain per day, my $100 will turn into $40k by the end of the year.  That's not bad.  It is much better than going for a big hit and ending up with a big loss.

Of course, I've written all of this before and after 28 trading days I still haven't learned it.  There's always tomorrow....

Tickers purchased today:

UPC, 7.1% gain

HGEN, 5.4% gain

SEAC, 7.1% gain.

All in all my $94.73 I started with today ended at $112.69, a 19% gain.  

My $100 is now $112.69, a 12.7% gain, a 0.5% daily average gain.

TD 25: Got some Runners

 I wasn't planning on trading today since I did a lot of stressful trading yesterday.

But, I decided to jump in on a couple that were quickly moving.  Today, it paid off.

I made 1.8% on EYES, just a quick in and out.

Then, I purchased the top 2 morning gainers to see which one would take off. I'm finding that usually one of the top premarket gainers usually takes off, and the other fizzle to a slow death.  To diversify risk, I bought the top 2 to see what would happen.

Fortunately, they both took off running after the bell, and I was able to make quick profits on both.

ZKIN:  a 9.3% gain and CLVS: a 8.3% gain.

I'm slowly digging out of my bad trading hole.  I'm still finding myself being very emotional when a stock starts to go down and wanting to keep hanging on for the reversal.  I'm going to have to start using stop losses to keep emotions out of it.  

I did fund a new account with TD Ameritrade.  I'll take some time to learn their software.  It does look pretty cook but also quite complicated.  It might take me a hot minute to figure out.

Balance of $100:  $126.96, a 1.1% average daily gain

TD 23 and 24: Digging back out

 I failed to post yesterday as I had to actually physically go in to work which threw off my whole day.  

I was able to make one trade yesterday, TNXP for a 2.7% gain.

Today, I made 3 round trip trades, and I got lucky.  I also determined that I really can't trade multiple tickers until I get a better software.  It's too complicated to be watching all 3 charts for entrances and exits on the set up I have now.

NEOS:  I started with NEOS.  It was the big premarket gainer, and it had news of a merger.  I bought too high and decided to jump out at a 5.6% loss when the chart looked bad.  I hated the loss but glad I actually took a loss.  Too often I hang on for too long.

UONE:  On morning screener, and it had the technical set up I was looking for.  My setup isn't great, though, and I started really sweating it out thinking the whole day would be at a loss.  Fortunately, it turned around a bit at market open, and I was able to get out with a 0.7% gain.

OCG:  My big winner.  It was on the morning screener and chosen by my favorite morning trader.  Again, I thought I was able to have to sell at a loss, but the buyers showed up in a big way, halted the stock, and I sold for a 15% gain when the halt was over.  

I have determined that I need better software to do my analysis.  The free version of tradingview I use was a great starting point.  Etrade has terrible software, so I think I will move over to TD Ameritrade.  They have free software called sinkorswim, and it is the industry leader as far as free goes.  TD Ameritrade is basically the same thing as Etrade, so I might as well take advantage of the free tools.  I'll start working on a transition to Ameritrade today.

Glad to be back on the winning side again.

Balance of $100:  $109.05, a 0.4% average daily gain.

TD 19-22 Dog Days! Learning how to lose

 I have made some truly bad trades the past few days.  My knowledge on when to exit was terrible.  I kept being emotional and holding in for a reversal when no reversal came.  I thought that stocks with news would always rebound.  #fakenews

It started with AVEO.  A great little pharmaceutical company that just got FDA approval for a drug to treat kidney cancer.  It was up and up and looked to continue to go up.  It did not.  I held it as the company kept putting out good news after good news, but the market didn't respond.  

I finally let it go today at a 36% loss.  I wanted to jump back in and bought SGLB, but I didn't follow my governing rules.  I wasn't able to trade in premarket, so I bought it around lunchtime.  Bad idea.  It did pop up from where I bought it, but then it went down the toilet.  I sold it this morning for a 34.8% loss.

Then, I turned on the live stream of my favorite trader and decided to invest in the biggest premarket mover with news. Listening to him confused me, and I didn't sell when I meant to.  Blek.  That gave me a 9% loss. 

I bounced back a little with ENZ.  Got a respectable 3.5% gain on a quick trade, but it wasn't pretty.

Unfortunately, my quick gain on ENZ made me think I could get my money back.  Bad idea.  I bought ANCN, and it sank like a rock, a 12.7% loss.

But, as everyone says, the failures are what you need to learn.  I have learned a lot today.  I have changed my chart indicators and realized that I have to trade on a 5 minute chart, not a 1 minute.  The 1 minute moves to fast, and I can't keep up and get emotional with the trades. I learned about bull flags and VWAP and MACD.

I'm looking forward to trading tomorrow with my new tools and see if they make a difference.

Total of my $100:  $96.60

  

TD 18: Halted! 14.6% gain

 I had a very nice trade today.  

Came up on premarket screener with news.  A company that was just awarded a big government contract.  

Thought I got a good entry....could have gotten a much better entry.  Kept me a little bit worried, but I figured with the stimulus passed the market would be wild today, so I held through premarket.  I increased my limit sale when the stock was halted about 5 minutes into market open.  I increased but not too much, so after halt, I sold and got the gain.  

Lesson learned today is to not start my trade until 7:45-8.  I'm finding earlier than that is a little choppy, and I'm buying too high.  The premarket starts out hot and then settles down, so it's best to do my analysis beginning at 7:45.  So instead of mediating after placing my trade, I'll meditate first.

I don't even care one bit about the gains I missed out on because it is always such a relief to get a good gain and get out.  

Ticker:  XELA

Price bought:  $6.11/share

Price sold:  $7.00/share

Gain:  14.6% 

Total of my $100:  $271.35, a 9.5% average daily gain.

TD 16 and 17: Did not get a grand slam

 I'm trying not to kick myself right now.  I bought this morning a biomedical stock with news.  Great pick!  I bought it and it went down.  Made me feel iffy.  I figured it would pump at open, so I set a 6% gain for a sell, and it sold.  Now it's trading at a 65% gain.  Oh, well.  My goal is to not have a grand slam and to get consistent gains which I am.  So, I shouldn't cry over spilled milk.

In good news, my strategy appears to be working well, so I'll stick with it for now.

Yesterday, I did not follow my strategy.  I had stuff to do in the morning, so I wasn't able to trade premarket.  When I got home around 10:30, I decided to do a trade anyway.  I picked a bit of a dog, but it has reddit support.  I would have lost 10% had I sold it at end of market.  I decided to keep it into after hours as I have found these meme stocks to rise in the extended hours with lower volume.  Fortunately, I was able to get out of it first thing this morning at a 1.1% gain.  Lesson learned to follow strategy.

TICKER:  SOS

Price Paid:  $6.17/share

Price Sold:  $6.24/share

Gain:  1.1%

TICKER:  INVO

Price Paid:  $5.90/share

Price Sold:  $6.30/share

Gain:  6.8%

Total of my $100:  $237.53, a 8.1% daily gain

TD 15: 8.3% gain but my butt hurts from sitting for 2 hours

 Got my loss back from yesterday. Thank goodness!  

The premarket screener looked much better today than yesterday.  I had my eye on ticker WTRH which announced it was going to become the Amazon of weed delivery.  I thought that would really take off, but while it had good volume, it really slowed down and wasn't moving.

The other big movement was a Chinese company, but I have found them to be very fickle. There was also an Israel drug company that was up, but it had no news which scared me.  

So, I sat and sat and my butt began to hurt.  I knew I could find something, and I really thought my weed stock was going to start moving.  

Then, around 8:45 an FDA announcement was made for ticker EYES.  They just got approval for something that will help with blindness.  Exactly the catalyst I needed.  

I watched the chart and found a decent entry.  Unfortunately, in premarket it didn't go up to my exit which was slightly below the premarket high.  I felt good about the news catalyst and thought the market open would help.  

I had my order in for $2.36 but had hope that it would break through and go higher.  What do I know about hope??? Don't have any!!  The stock got some movement right when the market opened, and I got excited that it was going to break.  I hurried over to Etrade to change my sell limit to higher.  God bless Etrade.  It had already initiated my sell order.  Which is awesome because the stock immediately fell to below the level I purchased it at.  Why do I have to keep learning my own lesson of stick with the plan???  

At this moment, 9:45 it is trading higher than my sell, but I'm glad I'm out of it and can move forward with my life.  An 8% gain is amazing.  If I got 8% everyday, I would have $100k in 100 trading days.  I can live with that.  Glad Etrade has my back. Now I can close down my computer and go for a walk on this beautiful day.  My butt will thank me.

Ticker:  EYES

Bought:  $2.18/share

Sold:  $2.36/share

Gain:  8.3%

Total of $100:  $220.28, an 8.0% daily average gain

TD 14: 6.2% loss

This morning my trusty screener showed me nothing.  So. much. nothing.

I kept looking and looking and decided today was not a day to trade.  There were a few tickers that stood out, but their charts were yucky and not obvious.  The only drug approval that came through was for another covid vaccine that frankly no one is interested in anymore.

I pulled up the morning stream of a trader I like, Warrior Trading.  He does his trades live in the morning.  I thought he would show me a way.

To my delight in how much I have learned about day trading, he also decided to sit out premarket.  That gave me confidence in what I have learned...mostly only trade on the clear winners.

I kept watching his stream as the market opened.  He decided to initiate a trade on SLGG.  It was one of the few that came up on the morning screener, so I decided to follow suit.  Unfortunately, I haven't watched him enough to understand how he does his trades.  He is a true day trader and once he finds a stock he will add and get out a million times as it changes.  I jumped in and bought on market just to watch it fall.  So sad.  I exited the trade as quickly as I could for a 10.2% loss.  Warrior Trading also lost his shirt, so that gave me a little sense of karma.

I kept watching him to see how he would recover.  Another ticker started having great movement.  He decided to buy, so I watched the chart for my own entry instead of trying to jump in right away.  The ticker did have good movement, and I was able to jump in and out for a 4.3% gain.  

After that, I decided to shut down my trading for the day.  Lesson learned today is that when the premarket has nothing going on, don't wait around for the regular market to show anything. It is in fact best to sit out rather than to force a trade.

Summary:

Ticker:  SLGG

Bought:  $7.03

Sold:  $6.31

Loss:  10.2%

Ticker:  RETO

Bought:  $2.30

Sold:  $2.40

Gain:  4.3%

Total of my $100:  $202.10, 7.3% average daily gain

TD 13: 9.4% gain with a lot of sweat

 I found an amazing ticker today.  It was a drug company that had just gotten FDA approval on a new best in class ADHD drug.  I had watched it a bit yesterday because the approval was supposed to come out during market hours, but the FDA announcement was delayed until after hours.

It was the biggest premarket mover with the most volume.  It had a news catalyst.  Perfect pick!

I bought at a price that had good resistance and set a sell a little lower than the previous high.  

Then, I got pulled into the hype.  The company was having a conference call regarding their results that I listened to...what in the world?  Why am I listening to conference calls?  The call was nothing but good news.  Wow!  

The price continued to bump around the support, so I felt confident that I wouldn't lose money.  I increased my sell limit to higher as this seemed like a sure thing.  And, then it took off!  It felt so good to finally have a good runner on one of my picks.  I increased my sell to even higher.  

Then it all petered out.  I got very sad.  I did not follow what I had learned and got greedy.  I really thought this would be a grand slam.  I revised my sell limit down again to the previous high and decided to sit tight until market open.  I saw my gains slip before my eyes.  I was contemplating what my move should be.  I do think this company is a great long game based on their fundamentals, but I'm not supposed to be playing a long game.  

Fortunately, I lucked out and the market did respond to the news in a big way before falling.  Because I had set a sell limit, my trade hit automatically.  I was actually on my way to change my limit to higher again which would have ruined everything.  Thank goodness I had the limit set and it executed before I could get in the way.  Now, the price has fallen again, so it worked out in my favor.  

Lesson learned again.  Stop trying for the grand slam...again.

  Summary:

Ticker:  KMPH

Bought:  $16/share

Sold:  $17.50/share

Gain:  9.4%

In another update, I did a swing trade on RKT yesterday and got a big win which is probably why I kept holding on for a big win today.  RKT continued to go up from where I sold it, but I was glad for my gain.  Keep focusing on small gains.  They add up fast and are somewhat safe.

Ticker:  RKT

Bought:  $23.84/share

Sold:  $30/share

Gain:  25.8%

Total of my $100:  $216.64, 9.0% average daily gain

Feeling good about where I'm at now.  I have some room to take some losses and still stay in the game.  

TD 12: 8.3% gain by 7:56am

 I think I've found a decent pattern--as long as drug companies make announcements every day at 6:30am.

Checked my tracker around 7:30am.  NNVC was #3 on the list for premarket change and #2 for volume traded.  Checked the news, and they announced they had positive results on some coronavirus drug.  

Watched the chart to find an entry.  Made my entry at the 20 period MA.  The price kept going up from that, and I was getting worried I wouldn't be able to purchase it.  However, instead of rushing in to buy, I just kept changing to the 20 period MA for entry.  The 5 minute chart was highly bullish, but the 1 minute chart showed what I hoped was a bearish retracement and not a bearish trend.

It came down to my 20 period MA, and my trade was executed.  Of course, it went slightly lower as soon as I purchased it.  I kept the faith that the news would continue to percolate as the morning continued and set my sell point at the premarket high at that time.  My plan was to check on it again at 9:05 when the market really starts heating up and see what was going on.  Because I had a decent entry point, I wasn't worried about losing too much money on it if I had to sell.  I've noticed that drug stocks shoot up on the news and then consolidate around the 20 period MA with brief breakouts from that.  They don't tend to fall below the 20 period MA until the market opens at 9:30.

Here's the chart:  I put the pointing fingers where I bought and sold.  The top chart is the 1 minute and the bottom is the 5 minute.  

I would almost call this the perfect technical trade as far as momentum trades go.  If I can find this everyday, I would be very lucky indeed.  But, I know this won't happen very often, so I'll feel good about it for now.  

Glad to be developing a pattern...just need it to work more than 50% of the time.

Final Stats:

Ticker:  NNVC

Bought:  $8.68/share

Sold:  $9.40/share

Gain:  8.3%

Total of my $100:  $167.84.  

Daily Average Gain:  5.7% 

TD 11: Done for the Day at 8am 5.3% gain

 I'm finally figuring out a strategy that is working for me.  

I find a bigger premarket change, watch the chart for a bit, look for the news, confirm hight volume, and try to buy on a good entry.

It worked for me on Friday, 2/26.  Made 6% off of LIXT. And today, 3/1, made 5.3% on ASLN.

I am having a problem finding a really good entry.  I see where I should buy--usually off the 20 period moving average, but I get scared that it might go up.  So far, in all instances, it has come down to the 20 period MA.  Note to self to try that tomorrow as I'm losing gains, and I'm spending a little too much time sweating out the trade.

The best thing about premarket is that prices move fast, and so far, in my limited experience, the more a stock has changed premarket the more interest it gets as it gets closer to market open.  The additional volume will cause the stock to spike rapidly.  I'm trying to be conservative with my exits and just go in for a decent gain and not the grand slam.  I'm trying to enter lower than the premarket high and set my sell as the premarket high at that point.

Of course, a news catalyst is key to good, consistent movement.  So, I've learned to pass on stocks that just have good charts without news.  I'm also trying to stay away from the under $5.  I still have to pay a minimal trading fee per share, and I'm trying to keep down that added cost.

Here are my financial stats:

2/26:  LIXT, bought at $6.96/share, sold at $7.38/share, a 6.0% gain.

3/1:  ASLN, bought at $7.50/share, sold at $7.90/share, a 5.3% gain.

Total of my $100: $145.86.  I've traded 11 days, so that's 4% gain a day.  If I can keep this up my hundred will turn to $1,000 by trading day 61.  However, I seriously doubt that I will achieve that as everyday will not be a winner.  

In good news, I was able to sell half of my GME holdings at $175/share...got that price with a premarket spike.  I kept the other half of my holdings (3 shares) as a stick it to the man move, and I will keep those shares forever...or until it goes back to $480/share. With that sale, I now won't have to keep taking trading days off.  I will keep enough cash in my account to float the settling period of T+2.  

Happy Trading!

Back on Top

 I made a successful trade today for a 12.4% gain!

I started in premarket.  Saw a stock come up on my screener with a big premarket change, watched the chart to insure it was bullish, made sure it had a news catalyst and bought it.

Then, I sweated it out for about 30 minutes when the chart turned bearish.  I put in a limit sell, and when the market opened, the stock popped again and I sold at my limit.

What did I learn?  Set a limit sell right away.  Don't wait to see what the stock does and hope that it really takes off.  I could have sold at the limit I ended up setting about 20 minutes before, but I was too greedy and hopeful.  This is a lesson I have been struggling with during my day trading project.  I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not looking for a grand slam.  I just want to take some percentage points off the top and move on with my day.

Ticker purchased:  SYPR

Price purchased:  $6.05

Price sold:  $6.80

Gain:  $14.25, 12.4%

Total amount for day trading:  $130.70

Can't trade tomorrow again.  I would put more money in to prevent this from happening, but every time I have more money in I end up going long on something else.  I'm going to end some of my long positions soon, and I'll be able to trade more frequently.  

And, in most wonderful news, Gamestop is making a move again.  Hooray!

Learning When to Enter Trades

 Today I bought CLSN at $3.05 at exactly the wrong time. They had news regarding a cancer drug they produce, and it had a lot of momentum.  

I didn't give a full analysis of the chart and purchased at the wrong entry point.  Blek.

Fortunately, the chart showed that there were a few bulls around, and I was able to exit at the right time--$3.17.  But, I was sweating on it most of the day.  

I watched a few more videos on how to enter and exit and set up a better premarket screener...I hope.

So, I finished the day 3.9% ahead with a total of $116.05 in my day trading fund.  

I can't trade again tomorrow.  The delay in settling of funds is quite annoying, but it also gives me a chance to regroup and learn. 

Premarket Discovery

 I have grown frustrated with day trading the past few days as I would see stocks making huge gains premarket only to fall as soon as the market opens.  Like Bernie Sanders says, "it is rigged."

Well, I finally figured out how to rig it up in my favor.  Etrade allows for extended hours trading for a 1/2 penny a share fee.  When only trading $100 on a few stocks, sign me up!  

I didn't discover this until 9am, so I didn't get to capitalize on it a lot today.  I did give it a try with GTEC and made a quick 1.3% during premarket.

I also broke all of my rules I tried to establish yesterday.  I get alerts when  stock gets halted.  PHCF got halted early on in the trading hours, so I jumped in and bought as soon as the halt was over.  Sold it for a cool 13% gain, approx 1 minute later.  

I'm learning slowly...very slowly...how to set limits based on a small gain.  My instinct is to want to keep holding because it might go higher.  So far, my candlestick charts haven't told me wrong...I've just ignored them and what they are telling me.

Summary:

Sold SENS at an 8% loss which put me below my $100 at $98.77.

Bought GTEC and sold for a 1.3% gain, brought my balance to $99.97.

Bought PHCF and sold for a 13% gain, brought my balance to $111.97.

So, I'm up 12% overall, or a 1.5% average daily gain since I started.

I can't trade tomorrow because I made 3 trades today, so it will take a day for the account to settle.  I'm going to use the time to settle down my emotions as well and study how to stick with charts and use them to my advantage in premarket.  

Breaking all the rules

 Yesterday, I bought SENS towards the end of day based on a good chart and decided to hold through close as it had all the indications that it would continue to rise today.

And, it did rise...in premarket.  It was up and beautiful, and I had visions of wonderful gains dancing in my head.  On market open, it immediately plummeted.  Should have entered in a limit sell after I bought it :{

After the initial fall, it has stayed almost in the exact same range all day.  This is called consolidation and usually happens before the stock makes a big move.  

I believe that because the overall markets are down buyers aren't quite as active today...something my day trading book said would happen.

So, I'm breaking my own rule and will hold SENS until tomorrow.  I will definitely sell it tomorrow without a doubt.  I have also created a  new rule to use for picking stocks that I want to day trade:

1-Make 5 stocks to look at from pre-market change

2-Wait until 10 to see how stocks are moving, analyze the charts, and have bias towards any stock that is moving based on news.

3-Sell based on the chart only-don't keep holding for possible bigger gains because those only result in definite losses.

I got greedy with SENS.  I kept holding when I could have set a limit for it with a 3% gain.  Lessons learned.  It made my day very boring to watch one stock stay almost the exact same price all day.

A good day and hopefully a good tomorrow

 Tickers Purchased: NAT @ $3.62/share

Reason:  Above 20 and 200 period moving average over all time periods.  Had strong support and resistance.  Thought earnings would come out, but that was #fakenews.  Did not buy until 9:45, and I could see a clear in and out.

Sold:  $3.72/share

Reason Sold: It got to its resistance, and the volume was very low.  So, I got out right when I should.

Ticker price at End of Day: $3.68, so I found the right exit.

Balance of my $100:  $107.47, a 2.7% increase

I spent all weekend reading "A Beginner's Guide to Day Trading" by Toni Turner.  Learned all kinds of neat things.

The most important thing to keep in mind is to only be concerned with making a good trade...not how much money it involves.  Must keep emotion out of it!  Definitely served me well on the trade today. 

I decided to make an afternoon trade after lunch, so I bought the ticker SENS.  It was making a break out-was at an all time high above all of its moving averages.  I purchased it because it was at a high and had no resistance to stop it and decent support.  After reading about it, I discovered that it is being propelled forward by the reddit crowd on the news that this company will soon have a diabetic medication to market.  Because of that, I decided to hold until the morning.  Toni Turner said that if you are in an uptrend and you end the day on a doji, you should hold overnight.  

I'm going to follow her advice for this trade and hope for a good tomorrow.  It feels good to have a stock readied for tomorrow.  It's a little stressful in the morning trying to pick one :)

Finished the week with a gain!

 Tickers Purchased: DNN @ $1.18/share

Reason:  Pre-market increase with gap of greater than 4%

Sold:  Decided to try the split the difference method, so I sold 42 @ $1.25 and 43 @ $1.14

Reason Sold: I watched more youtube videos on analyzing the charts, so I noticed that there was a good point of resistance at $1.25.  I decided to sell half to see if it would break through the resistance and move up.  It obviously didn't, and I sold it before I would be in a loss position.   

Ticker price at End of Day: As of 3pm:  $1.10/share

Balance of my $100:  $104.67, gained 1.3%

I spent some time yesterday watching youtube videos.  I found a new free software to use as well:  tradingview.com  It has a much better screener that is easy to filter.  Surprised that what I used it for was free.  

I learned today that it is best to focus in on those stocks who have pre-market gains but not excessive gains.  The ones with huge gains all went down when market opened.  

I also learned a lot about support (low levels) and resistance (high levels) and how you can use those trends to determine your entrance and exit points.  Obviously, that worked great if I had just decided to sell all at $1.25.  But, I'm glad I stayed in to learn that exiting at my first good point of resistance is best for a day trader. I'm looking for small gains that add up, rather than a grand slam. 

I'm starting to set my rules of engagement for now:

1-Select stocks that moved up in pre-market less than 20% with a greater than 4% gap

2-Stay true to the support and resistance levels--don't deviate for the hope that it will push through the highest high

3-Print out candlestick patterns, so I can start learning them better.  There are so many different patterns:  morning star, spinning top, hanging man, tombstone

Glad the market is closed on Monday.  It is getting a little exhausting to watch the market all day.  I'm hoping to change my strategy to be in and out within the 9:45-10:30 time frame, so I can go about my day.

You Win Some, You Lose Some

 Tickers Purchased:  INFI @ $5.34/share; CTRM @ $1.59/share; NAKD @ $1.95/share

Reason:  These were all market movers when the market opened.  They all had decent high volume.

Sold:  INFI @ $4.47/share; CTRM @ $1.73/share; NAKD @ $1.56/share

Reason Sold:  I went through the throes of Ecstasy at the beginning of my trading day.  Gains of over 20% were dancing in my eyes.  In the end INFI was a total heart breaker.  Because I couldn't watch all day, when I started losing I just set my sell at close of market.   

Ticker price at End of Day: All were sold at close of market

Balance of my $100:  $103.28, lost 4.1%

The chart above shows my great excitement about INFI.  In the first half hour I owned it, it seemed like it was about to hit the sky.  So, I walked away and counted my gains in my head.  When I came back to the computer, it had fallen terribly.  I held until end of day in the off chance that it would rally . The company had good news today, some drug showed great promise on clinical trials.  But, like all biotech companies, it did not have staying power.  Once the news goes cold, the stock goes cold as well.

Lesson learned:  I decided to buy 3 stocks, so I couldn't easily review all three.  I'll go back to purchasing just one from now on.  I read some articles about what kinds of stocks to purchase:

1-A Float of under 100m shares, ideally under 20m

2-Strong daily charts above moving average

3-High Volume, at least 2 times its average

4-Some kind of new event or earnings release

I also learned about the bull flag breakout pattern on the candlestick chart.  So, I can give that a go next time to figure out when to buy in.  I'll close out my position on the first candle that closes red.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try using the finviz free screener and put in the qualifications above, pick the stock that has the best premarket data, and keep my fingers crossed.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

 Ticker Purchased:  SNDL @ $2.20/share

Reason:  Was trying to buy a premarket gainer, but nothing stood out.  I put in an order for Under Armour, but etrade didn't execute it when the market opened.  So I waited until the market was open for 20 minutes and picked a market mover.  This stock is also loved by wallstreetbets, so it had unusual momentum

Sold:  @ $2.45, a 11.0% gain

Reason Sold:  The price initially went up and then dipped down quickly.  I put an order in to sell at $2.50 but etrade did not execute it.  That made me a bit nervous when it dipped below my purchase price.  When I saw it moving back up, I set my sell at $2.45 to make sure I unloaded it at a profit.  

Ticker price at End of Day:  $2.95  Sold too early again, but I didn't have time to watch it, so I'm glad I got out for a respectable gain

Balance of my $100:  $107.66

Proud of my first win!  And, tomorrow I have more money to work with.  I think I'm going to stick with under $5 stocks that have a lot of volume.  It is a lot easier to see movement when the stock is trading in the millions of shares rather than 100ks. 

On my to do list is to try to figure out why etrade did not execute on 2 of my orders quickly.  Very bizarre!

I'm also going to watch more youtube videos on interpreting candlestick charts.   Those candlesticks can do lots of funky things.

I was mad at my family this week, so that took a bit of energy out of researching stocks.  Day trading takes a high amount of focus and energy which is not often produced when in a funky state of spite and resentment.  

Monday, Feb 9--A Gain Not Realized

Ticker Purchased:  TDC @ $39.87/share

Reason:  Consistently up in pre-market from the marketedge premarket screener report

Sold:  @ $40.07, a 0.5% gain

Reason Sold:  The price initially went up and then dipped down quickly.  Didn't want to be caught under my purchase price.  

Ticker price at End of Day:  $48.25....d'oh...would have been a 21% gain.

Balance of my $100:  $97.12

So, I learned that up in pre-market is a decent strategy.  I just got scared too quickly from my losses on Friday.  And update, I only ended up losing $3.28 on Friday.  The stock I sold at end of day blipped up right at the end, so I didn't lose as much as I thought I would.  

I've also learned that its not best for me to buy right as market opens.  I need a chance to review the charts before buying, so I'll take my time the next few days.

I cannot buy anything today (Tuesday) because Etrade has a rule that the funds from selling can't be used for buying until the balance has settled.  I've moved a little more cash in so this doesn't happen again, but for today, I'm out.  I'll use the time to watch a few more stock picking youtube videos.  

Practice Day Total Fail

 I must admit that day trading has given me a new pep in my step.  But, sadly, a little less change in my pocket.  

I decided to use my new Candlestick graph knowledge on a few selections today.  Makes me realize I need to watch more than one youtube video about Candlesticks.

Yesterday, I decided to purchase 2 IPO stocks because it is my experience that IPOs zoom up before they settle back down.  That is precisely what my 2 IPO stocks did.  Sigh....I held.  It was just too hard to sell, and it was before I had any knowledge of candlesticks so I couldn't interpret the data.  I could have sold yesterday for a 15% gain....

...Instead today I sold for a 10% loss.  Yuck!

I then decided to try my hand at purchasing a big mover and see if I can capitalize on the movement and get some of my loss back.  Once again, I did get a reasonable 5% gain but didn't exit until the stock had moved down 26.7%...yikes!  (It was only a $5 stock.)  This time the candlesticks lit my way, but I ignored them thinking it was going to reverse.  

I'm still waiting on what my final loss will be as I have one more stock that I decided to sell at close because I can't look at anymore charts today.

I should end up the day with an overall $10 loss and a very bad start to this experiment.  

Today I learned:

1-Candlestick charts really do show you the way as long as you follow them

2-To day trade, you have to move in and out fast.  You are looking for small wins that add up.

3-I need to focus on just one stock to start and stop looking at others.  One stock, one buy/sell, and out.  

4-Day trading is bad for getting steps.  It's almost 3pm, and I only have 2,000 steps.  

Time for a walk!!

I do have a plan for Monday.  Based on some additional youtube videos I watched, it is a very popular strategy to purchase stocks based on their premarket gap.  I found a free screener on Marketwatch.com that will show me the largest gaps.  Then, you put an order in for open and sell usually within 5-10 minutes when you get a 5-10% gain.  Fingers crossed it works!

#GME vs Pandemic Black Hole

 It has been a very long while since I've blogged.  I didn't even know that blogger was still in existence.  Brings back so many memories from the late 00s.  

I have come down with the Covid blues (again for the 4 millionth time.)  I'm a person who enjoys setting personal goals and then researching and executing on the plan. 

I did make a Covid bucket list, see below. 

I did learn to juggle--I successfully made 2 passes with 3 balls.  Mission complete. Juggling is hard.  We got the lake house ready...check!  Check us out on instagram @lakehousebliss.  I did make progress on Animal Crossing until Tom Nook became an overbearing loan shark, and I couldn't bear to catch one more fish just to feed his greedy desires.  N is wearing deodorant every day...thank goodness.  We had too many smelly days to count.  I changed from training Lucky on a shock collar to just carrying around a spray bottle of water to contain his blood lust in murdering the golden retrievers who have the audacity to walk past our house.  Our rando summer foster dog did get trained to the shock collar (to keep her from jumping the fence), so task completed.  Garden check. I planted the seeds.  The weeds took over.  The most evolved seeds thrived in their hostile environment, and Alan had a few tomatoes when he remembered that we had a garden (which was approximately twice.)  I did not pee pee my pants.  That was N's non violent protest to the task list.

H's bucket list is still incomplete.  She is halfway through These Happy Golden Years and stopped completely around August.  It did delight my heart when upon recently seeing an icicle, Helen remarked, "I wonder what Laura would think of that."  Helen thought Laura would lick it and then say, "it tasted so good-just like cold water. Then, Ma told me to give it to baby Carrie."  Tennis Lessons came to a screeching halt when school started back.  Somehow 6 months of lessons has been blacked out as if she never played once.    

Alan was never a believer in the bucket list assignments.  He did, however, enjoy making biscuits.  Not sure he ever got to "good ones."  

Nathan ripped his bucket list from the door, but his list primarily revolved around "start wearing deodorant." 

It feels as if we have now entered the pandemic black hole.  Dreams of eating inside restaurants, seeing movies at a theater, and joining Cross fit are again delayed.  Blek, Blah, Bloop.

Enter Gamestop and Wallstreetbets.  

I started reading about it mid-January, and it has provided so much wonderful entertainment ever since.  I have gone diamond hands on my rocket ship to the moon with gme.  I have been wildly up and wildly down, but mostly wildly fascinated with day trading.  

I'm a buy and hold kind of gal.  You might call me a Warren Buffette.  S&P 500, yes sir!  I've been buying and holding since my first job began August, 2000.  I have literally only sold 2 stocks in the past 20 years, AirTran and Snapchat.  I had to sell AirTran to cover my loss on the bankrupt WebVan which I rode all the way to the bottom.  WebVan was the precursor to Door Dash--just 20 years too early.  They would bring me one pint of Ben and Jerry's Ice cream to my dorm at OU for $3 and give me a CD case.  RIP WebVan.  I bought the Snapchat IPO because I saw that kids were obsessed with it.  Then, the millennials turned against SNAP, and I sold for $17--not knowing that gen z was totally nuts about SNAP.  It is now trading at $59.  D'oh.

Day Trading goes against every instinct I have (which is clearly a very good and financially responsible instinct.)  I'm impressed with the level of detail and analysis that the people on wallstreetbets do.  I'm curious to see if I could be any good at day trading.  Enter climbing out of pandemic black hole to set a personal goal that doesn't involve deodorant and circus tricks. 

"Wait, Kim, Stop! Terrible idea!  You could lose tons of money!  It's gambling."  Calm down, everyone.  I have a plan...I am my parent's child, so taking big risks is not part of my DNA--my oldest brother got every last bit of risky chromosomes that infiltrated our family tree.

Plan:  Take $100 and see what happens over the course of 2021.

Rules: 

• Must buy and sell the same stock each day
• Cannot buy/sell the same company in a 2 week period
• Diversification is allowed but each company has to be sold by end of day
• I can use any source for research but must provide reasons for my purchases

I'll be doing this in my Etrade account, so I won't be able to buy fractional shares.  I'm looking forward to discovering low cap companies that have big cap dreams. I might go bust in a couple of days and that will be ok.  

I'll start on Monday, February 8th.  Game, Set, Match on my covid blues.  I'm burying my black hole and getting jazzed up on staying at home again.