July 2021 is in the books. The same month as the others in terms of learning and studying. I made 7 trades, and even though I lost $8.27 this month, I still count this month as profitable because, as I always say, I focus on my nominal stats and PnL, which don’t include commissions; therefore, this month I “made” $75. However, I don’t care about money at all right, it’s just nice to see that I’m able to be green even in not the hottest markets. This month, in particular, I had the most frustration, probably since March, when I had my biggest losing month. I will talk about it later and go over what made me frustrated and how I handled it. Also, not trading related, this month I was also in a different place; I visited my relatives in another town with the same time zone, though, so it wasn’t as difficult to adapt. Now I will go week by week of my month.

Week 1: July 1-2

July, like June, couldn’t have started any better for me. The first week which included just two days, I made just one trade. On the first day of the month, I made a really nice trade on MDMP; the setup was a FGD on a former runner with the EOD trigger. Right in the morning at 9:30, I saw someone saying that MDMP had a tweet, and it could run. Since I was familiar with stick stock, and I've witnessed its huge two-day run in early March, I knew that it could spike today. Right at the open, it started to move up. Of course, I didn't want to chase it, so I let it go and just watched it. It had some decent dips and rebreaks along with the morning move, but I felt no regret in not playing them. Then, when it set a top at $0.184 and pulled back, I was looking to play a perk off cons. for a potential HOD break. It bounced perfectly off the VWAP at $0.153 and had a nice perk at $0.165, but I just hesitated to buy because I wanted more consolidation. So I missed out on a nice spike to $0.185, which actually topped right at the HOD and then pulled. However, since I was a bit frustrated, I still kept it on watch since I knew it could settle for a nice afternoon ramp. It even broke VWAP and then reclaimed and had another drop and reclaim, but I wasn't watching it all that time. I started watching it when it was basing above VWAP. The trigger was $0.175, which was the previous high below HOD. I liked how it held all midday around there and didn't fall under VWAP. At 14:07, it had a nice perk off $0.162, but I didn't really pay much attention to it since my trigger was still at $0.175. Then after that perk with some volume, it spiked to $0.17 and based there for about 3 minutes and then had another perk with more volume. I was watching it super carefully, and as soon as I felt the momentum coming in and L2 + Tape action, I got in at $0.17375. After my buy, it immediately started to spike to $0.18. Then, it got to $0.1885, breaking HOD but quickly stuffed and pulled back. At that time, my risk level was $0.177 as it was the previous low the stock had after that push below HOD. For about 20 minutes, it had super tight consolidation around $0.18. You can see on the chart that it became super tight, and that time I knew that the stock just had to choose a direction. During that time, I made a plan that I would sell into the next push, ideally above $0.19, and not wait for a big move. Gladly, after patiently sat through all that consolidation, it perked with volume and broke HOD. I waited 2 minutes and sold into strength at $0.1919, locking in GREAT profits. Later it spiked to $0.232, but I didn't care at all because I took my meat of the move with super solid R/R and overall plan. 

Week 2: July 5-9

The second week I also made just one trade. On Monday, the market was closed, Tuesday all day I was on a train with almost no wifi, so I barely watched the market and saw some nice movers, Wednesday and Thursday were also watching days, and on Friday, I took that trade. The trade was on NLST, and it was an overnight swing from Thursday. I bought NLST as it was a nice multiday runner that broke multiday resistance and was basing a bit below it on Thursday. I bought it at the last minute as it didn't offer good entry points before. My plan was to swing overnight for a continuation of the breakout. Important to note that before buying, I spotted that NLSt's daily chart looked very similar to LWLG's chart before it had its huge move. It also had the first spike, then drop and rebreakout. Also, I saw that after the day when it almost brokeout, like the day I bought NLST, LWLG didn't have a strong next day; it was just a consolidation before the big spike the next following day. Therefore, I had that in the back of my mind. Coming into the next day, on Friday, I saw that it was gapping up a bit, and I set my risk at the g/r line as I know it's always a significant level, especially when swinging. So, at the open, it had a super quick small spike and then was just grinding for about 10 minutes. I was pretty calm and was patiently sitting while sticking to my risk. Then suddenly, I saw the weakness, and in the bid in Level 2, so I immediately put my sell order and got out just above g/r line before the big pull for a tiny gain. My exit was the best. However, after less than a minute, it reclaimed r/g and got to where it was before. Then after a while, it had a nice perk and spike. It finished the day pretty well but didn't have a big spike as I expected based on the LWLG chart. Therefore, if it didn't have that STUPID g/r fakeout, I would have still been it and swinging as at that time it looked like it would have the move next week. Overall, I don't regret my exit at all because I followed my plan, and that's all that matters in the long run.

Week 3: July 12-16

In the third week, I also made just one trade. On Monday, I missed FERN, which offered nice entries in the morning and afternoon. Thursday, I just watched the market. On Wednesday, in the morning, I missed a nice panic dip buy on KRFG, which made me super frustrated, and I took an emotional trade on HQGE. Bought the former runner FGD with good news into a perk off consolidation after a morning spike. However, the second I got it at $0.004, I was SO scared because I knew my risk on 0.0037 was kind of wide. But it wasn't the reason why I was scared. I think the reason was that since it was a pretty high range stock, I thought it could drop big. Therefore after literally a minute, I sold at 0.00395 for a small nominal loss, but since it was a low-priced stock, my commissions made it a $22 loss. I felt kind of stupid about this trade. Then Thursday. The day before on Wednesday, LCLP was a huge runner, so coming into the next day, it was my main watch for a panic. Right at the open, it started to panic. It panicked 24%, and I don’t know, but I wanted more. I totally forgot that 20%+ panic is a very good panic. I saw the clean bounce which was about 10-15 seconds, and I just sat through it and didn’t even click “buy.” I literally missed a 100% bounce. One of the reasons why I didn’t really like the panic in the first place was that it was after a FGD and not a multiday runup as it should be. However, what multiday runup means is that the stock needs to be up a lot, and LCLP was! It spiked more than 1000% in one day, so it was more than enough, and I just didn’t realize it. I was so empty after seeing that bounce because this pattern has been one of my favorites since February; I just didn’t know it could actually come back like that. After that miss, I was just done for the day and for the week. Nothing on Friday.

Week 4: July 19-22

The fourth week and again just one trade. The trade was on Monday on CYDY. I bought the former runner FGD with good news into a perk off consolidation after a morning spike. After I got in at $1.68, it didn't really spike right away, so it seemed like the real perk didn’t happen when I bought it. Anyways, it spiked to just $1.69 and then was just consolidating. After a while, I saw level 2 getting weak, and bidders were getting taken out, so I sold at $1.645 right before a drop to $1.62. My risk was $1.63, so I would have gotten out no matter what. However, right after it dropped, it bounced back just like NLST. Then it had a runup to $1.8 but never got above that. Overall, not the worst trade, and a very good executing. On Tuesday, LCLP had another panic and bounce that I missed, but that one wasn’t ideal, so I wasn’t mad about it. However, ENZC did have a nice panic and bounce that I also missed and got frustrated. Also, OZSC had a nice morning move that I didn’t see until it happened. This month was actually a good month for FGDs; a lot of them were happening this month, at least one a day. In addition, a lot of former runners were running this month, so that’s also good to see. The rest of the week, I watched the market, had some missed trades that I analyzed in my personal journal.

Week 5: July 26-30

And in the fifth last week, I made 3 trades. The first one was on RSHN on Monday. I played it as a FGD perk near the close. However, it wasn’t actually like I wanted and was super weak, so I sold for a small loss. Important note about this trade: before that trade, I missed a perfect entry on PBYA and missed a great move; therefore, even though the setup on RSHN was solid and the indicators were there, I consider it as an emotional trade. Felt really bad after that and just ended the day. Tuesday I watched the market and studied a lot. Then on Wednesday, I had a really great trade that I was super proud about on HALB. Actually, I had two trades on it. The first one I bought a bit too early before 13:00 and sold for breakeven, and then I did what I haven’t done before, which was to rebuy the same stock when it offers a better opportunity for an entry. I bought at 14:00 when it perked off $0.0437 consolidation at $0.04415. I could have gotten in at $0.044, but I had my limit at $0.045 just in case. The risk was super tight at $0.043, the consolidation low. Right after my entry, it spiked to $0.0467 and then pulled back and spiked more to the high $0.048s. Right there, I KNEW it was gonna pull back and consolidate for a few minutes; I was READY for it. It did exactly that. It did all the way to $0.0463, and I KNEW that it would have a second push which I would sell into as I always do. It formed a nice little wedge for 5 minutes, and then BOOM, it had that rebreakout to new HOD that I KNEW. At that time, when it was at $0.048s I put my sell order at $0.05 like ArtOfWar does, hoping that it would go there, and I would quickly get executed. Then when I saw a little struggle in the L2, I canceled it and was just reacting. As soon as it broke $0.049, I put my limit at $0.049 and got out at $0.0494. The BEST exit I could have gotten for me. Was super hyped about my patience and still is. PATIENCE ROCKSSS. Super happy about this trade and especially proud that I was able to recognize the better entry and rebuy it. It was a very nice confidence booster after weeks of frustration. I almost recovered my whole month's loss which was about $50, and now I'm only down $8. Not focusing on $, but just nice to see. 

Then on Thursday, ATRX was a rocket in the morning that I missed. I really wanted to get on the first dip after the spike but just didn’t trust the pattern and missed on a 20% gain in 2 minutes. And the last day of the month on Friday. Coming into the day, to be honest, I wanted to make a trade to get green on the month because I was down $8, but I had the right mindset of not forcing anything. Nothing special happened in the morning, but then at 11:28, I saw UATG with the news. The daily chart looked awful, but it was purely a news play. I wanted to get in at $0.19, but when it spiked above didn;t want to chase, so I missed the move to $0.24. Was super pissed because I spotted this stock very early. I should have just bought it right away and cut it if it didn’t show strength. Not only that, but I also missed a beautiful OTC breakout setup on DRNG. I’m not very comfortable with sub pennies, but I need to and will learn them because they offer very nice opportunities.

So that was my week by week recap, but now I want to talk about two important aspects in trading that have been crucial, especially this month, which are entries and frustration.

By now, I can say that I have almost all the knowledge needed to play the patterns that I focus on. However, most of the time, I want to have the best and the perfect entry possible, which often leads to missing the entries that leads to missing the trades, which eventually leads to me being frustrated because I had the right idea/plan/thesis but didn’t capitalize on it. Therefore, I decided that I don’t really need to have the best entries; a few points above the perfect place isn’t a big deal. However, my exits have been really good, actually. I have the patience to wait for the move and stick to my risk, so that’s not the problem. All I need to do is understand that’s an exact science, and if I enter a little above, it still can be considered a good entry as long as your risk level is reliable and intact. 

Now frustration. Probably the biggest theme in trading for me. Almost every time I miss a trade, whether it’s due to my entries as I already explained or just hesitation, I feel frustrated and just pissed. I know I know I’ve heard millions of times that it’s okay to miss trades because you always learn lessons from them which will help to capitalize next time, but I miss them all the time. Every good trade that I miss, I analyze in detail, go over my plan, how I would have played it, where I would have bought and sold, and do chart analysis, but I still miss them. That’s why I’m getting frustrated, and once I’m frustrated, that feeling is the worst one. However, I think I’m able to handle them very nicely. For example, this month I've been frustrated very often, and I only took two emotional trades. Not only that but, if someone looked at them, he/she would not have said they were emotional because the setups were there. So, it’s pretty good that I don’t allow my emotions to get control of myself to the extent that I just buy in random spots hoping for a quick profit. When I'm not in the best emotional state, I usually just watch the market, and if I trade something, it has to be an A+ setup. Furthermore, I’m reading the Daily Trading Coach, and there was a chapter about frustration in which there was an example of a trader who was super frustrated in the morning and then blew up in the afternoon. It was explained that if he took a moment to reflect and realize his own emotional state, he could have profited in the afternoon. You just can’t ignore your emotions, and you can’t get rid of them acting the same way. Frustration will always be there, but it’s important how you act on it and how you try to overcome it. For me personally, I will just try to act more calmly on my missed trades, and maybe I just need to not miss them to not be frustrated, which is actually a good idea. I will see how I do in August.

Key Lessons:

1. Keep stocks on your watchlist

Whether it’s a former runner from a month ago or just a morning spiker that isn’t too promising at the moment, it’s important to keep an eye on them because at any time, they can come out of nowhere and offer great entries.

2. You can’t overcome frustration by behaving in frustrating ways (Daily Trading Coach)

Very crucial point for me. I always get frustrated after missing plays, but I also need to control myself because if I stay frustrated, then I will miss the next play too. I need to be calm and just learn from what I missed, no matter how bad it might feel.

3. The only way to learn to trade is trading

This month I haven’t taken many trades, and it’s not really a good or a bad thing, but I know that I hesitate too much. When my setup is there, I just need to buy and not overthink it because if I really want to, I can think of a million reasons why I shouldn’t buy. When you see your setup, EXECUTE!

(Note: all my stats are based on my nominal PnL, not including commissions)

The second month of summer is also finished. Coming closer and closer to the fall trading. Historically August is the slowest month, so I don’t have big expectations, but the only one is to make August a green month for me. I can't wait for a new month. Same goals, same passion!

Cheers