My first loss --> (-$2.70).... devastating!!!  Nowhere to go but up, right....(well, probably not, but it's good to have goals!)

So... yesterday, I decided that TODAY (Nov 12 - exactly one month from entering @timothysykes challenge), TODAY was the day that I wanted do "real $" trading, not this funny money paper trading BS anymore.  Well, today was NOT the right day to start (or maybe it was??)!   Market not great his morning...But I have to learn to trade (or not trade) in all market types!!  So... this is a long post, but I want to document it all.... Here are my lessons learned... (brace yourself, there are many!)

I did all the wrong things!!!  This is why they say Paper Trading isn't the real thing, and that you have to just get in and start with small positions, slowly. (At least I did pay attention to that!)

1- Got exciting about seeing this big spiker pre-market (but missed it after hours last night @ 4:20, and wasn't watching market until this morning when I saw it at 8:30 am PST (I'm on the west coast, so that's 5:30 am PST.  And I'm still getting used to these early mornings!!).  Late to the game... Don't chase stocks!!!

2- Stock was not my ideal price anymore, as it was up over $12 (I prefer <$5, but realize I can be flexible).  

3- Stock had already run 120% to it's high (from $9-12.77).  So there was a bunch of Resistance overhead already

4- Had FOMO, and thought 'well, it's an after hours earnings winner (1st indicator), it's a previous spiker (2nd indicator), had good volume yesterday (3rd indicator), low float (4th indicator).... so maybe it'll spike again at open??   You know, when all those 'non-trader types' get in and read finally read the earnings news and see it's huge gains on their scans, so I should capitalize on that, right???  Wrong!!

5 - Tried to get in a premarket ~9:15 am (should NEVER trade pre-market as a newbie! Dumb idea!) 

6 - Tried executing through STT integration w/ Etrade, but I hadn't accepted Extended Hours trading agreement within Etrade so (luckily) it wouldn't fill, and I didn't know why.  Figured out why by launching EtradePro and trying to place the pre-market order there.  Didn't have time to click all the buttons in the agreement pre-market (again, should have listened to all the cues I was being give, but noooo... I'm stubborn, and when I decide to do something, by golly, I'm gonna do it!!)

 

check out these failed attempts at an order...Fumblin' Bumblin', Stumblin' idiot!!

7- Luckily (or so I thought) I was never able to  execute pre-market so decided to wait until 9:30:00

- AND during all this wasted time, the stock is going down, down, down... (how many cues do I need??)

8- Got execution of 10 shares (start small... yeah me!), @ 9.80, and stock bounced to 10.30, so I was like 'yeah!!'  But it was so fast on the bounce, that I was not able to take the single of 5% in that 1 minute!  (rookie mistake)

9- Stock dropped again, and I figured it wasn't at bottom, so I might as well add another 10 to my position (still small, right??), so got in again at 9.04, making my average 9.42.  Great, I thought!

10- stock made it back up to 10, and I thought SWEET!  I got this!  It's gonna keep going (did you look at the Resistance and support levels and calculate your risk?   NOOOO, I did not  (always have a plan and manage your risk properly)

11- and down it goes again.  Ok, time to cut losses, this one's done like dinner.  At least, @timothysykes has pounded into my head the #1 rule --- CUT LOSSES EARLY! 

12- One more I forgot, don't buy when a stock is under VWAP!!!  I didn't have this  indicator on in STT at the time of the trade... DUMB! 

Thanks Tim.  I promise to put into action the things you've taught in all these videos and webinars.  

REST OF DAY IS STUDYING HARD!!!