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.