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.