Yeah, blogging about winners is fun and cool but what about blogging about the losers? Tim mentions it when he takes a hit but you don't see that often in the 'community posts'. So, here are a few of those. If someone can learn from my mistakes then at least that has value.

RJET from 9/28. This is zoomed in a lot to be able to see the price action a little better. This was after the news spike and the chat room heated up. The first yellow vertical line is where I entered with the volume thinking that price was going to break out of the channel and then exited on the second vertical line when I thought that things were getting weak. This was about a $200 loss I think and it was a DUMB trade because:

1) I went against my rules of getting in when there is a 'visible' trend in play with good volume, wait for pullback and the volume to return then consider an entry.

2) I went in too heavy on a non-directional play. Yeah, price went up towards the end of the day but it was a tight channel up. Zooming out of the chart and there is no trend after the spike = no direction. Again, DUMB trade.

 

NVAX from 9/29. NVAX had good news about getting a grant and good volume and movement pre-market. There was a morning spike down then a double top after the open then down again. NVAX is shortable on TOS but I was simply hesitant to short this on good news. I think I just stopped watching it after the double top. I kept it on my screen and saw the volume picking up around 12:20 CST, then the dip, then the return up and buy. I was thinking that the good news has to start moving this thing at some point so this might be it...nope. The second vert line is where I got out when that support was broken. About another $200 loss. What did I do wrong?

1) The volume that I thought would get this moveing was not strong enough to get going. The volume that I thought was going to get this going was about 75% less than the volume that got it going in the morning.

2) Continuation volume during the upside move was weak...terrible.

3) A quick glance at the 5min chart was nothing but sell sell sell...down down down. That area that I got in with my buy was nothing but a rally to sell into which was a beautifull move to the downside.

- Never think that just because the news is good that a stock must go up or if it's bad that a stock must go down. There have been several penny's (or close to them) that got downgraded and they were up a good % during the same day.

- The overall market sentiment (the major indices were getting hammered this day) can influence a penny  stock regardless of anything you might think should happen to the stock you are trading.

- It took me a few months to get over chasing that opening bar spike that happens so much. Spread is crazy your fill can be crap and the price can turn on a dime....FAST and your loss can be pretty substantial FAST. I use to get a nervous feeling becuase I thought I had to buy on that spike to make big money...nope. I'm glad to be done with that first bar trading. I let the market come to me.

- No trend no volume = no trade. Picking a channel breakout can be a money maker but there are plenty of false breakouts. Go in with a smaller share size if you are going to trade that way. It sucks to be wrong but it sucks even more when you go in to heavy and are wrong. Or, just avoid these plays altogether.

Today, PLUG was channeling and it was the same deal in the chat room. Some people were lining up to buy and this thing was dead even on both sides of the bid/ask...I saw the sellers a little stronger. It channeled about 2 cents for the last hour of the day. Someone PM'd me about PLUG and they mentioned that they were a newer trader. My advice was to simply do nothing. There is no volume no trend. I hope they did nothing. If you were already long this stock and waiting for a move up then, cool. If you were looking for it to continue then not so cool. There was no 'chart reason' to get in anywhere during the last hour of the day.

Either way...I banked a little under $1200 on the NVAX trade I posted earlier but I see that only as about an $800 gain because of my two DUMB trades mentioned above. I acutally see myslef down $400 and I won't feel good about that NVAX trade until I can be $400 up. That's just the way I see things.

I'm no expert. I'm ver far from making thousands a day or week. I like to think that I am controlling and reading the chaos a little better and I do see things improving.

It's very difficult to learn about patience and discipline and it can cost thousands of dollars in losses to actually see what those words really mean in a chart and in your trading decsions. Especially if you are new to trading. I know some of my blog posts can be redundent or redundant (sp?) about posting winning trades so it's time to post losses also. Hoping that I can continue to learn from my mistakes and throw a bone to some of the people just getting into trading.

Study charts. Study charts. Study charts.

Watch Level 2 and do not trade. Tell yourself what you think should happen based on the Level 2 action and the price action, sup/res areas, and then see what happens. Use no technical indicators to make your Level 2 direction decisions. Price and volume. That's it.

Oh yeah...no DUMB trades.

Peace