I journaled my last 10 trades in detail. After journaling and breaking down my thought processes I highlighted areas that I thought needed improvement. I wanted to share this on a blog so that others may get a similar idea.

 

Things that hurt my trading (Reasons for losing trades):

·         The stock did not spike higher than the previous close in the morning

·         The stock fell through support in the morning and it began to act as resistance

·         Traded on the first break of the resistance in anticipation that the stock would push towards HOD

·         The stock broke my risk level but instead of exiting my trade I decided to be patient and used the morning low of $1.41 as my new risk level

·         support level around $0.95… My entry was at $1.02 with a risk level on the break below $1

·         After open the stock dropped but held support at a previous resistance level of $1.83

·         The next morning the stock moved to test $1.90 but failed and fell through a previous day support level at $1.87

·         The stock failed to hold any push back above the $1.87 level and fell though $1.83

·         The stock opened weak and after the initial low of the stock was put in and broken I sold on the next bounce to cut losses quickly

·         The stock traded in a tight range for the rest of the day. My original plan was to hold the stock overnight and sell in the morning on a spike for $0.10 - $0.15. Early pre-market the stock started to jump to a high of $1.74. I put in a pre-market order for $1.70 but I hesitated and when my order was placed the stock sold down to $1.65… I decided to wait for the morning open after the stock dropped off

·         I may have been thinking that I just wanted my profits back because I missed my trade pre-market

·         I added to my position in the low $1.40s to bring my average down, this brought my average down to $1.4926, to alleviate the loss on any bounce back to test $1.50

·         I walked away from the computer after this as I felt like I did not want to watch the stock anymore

 

 

Things that help my trading (Reasons for winning trades):

·         I was going through my due diligence and noticed a resistance point at $0.265

·         I wanted to make sure $5.50 was broke and held because round numbers tend to be more psychologically perceived than a random number such as $5.43. When the stock broke $5.50 it pushed up to $5.55 and came back down but held support at $5.50. I bought in on the show of support at $5.52

·         The stock pushed up to the low $5.80’s but was rejected. When the stock failed to breakthrough and hold above $5.80, a previous resistance level, and failed a retest on a bounce I sold my position at $5.69

·         The next morning the stock spiked up to $1.40. I immediately sold to lock in profits as my targets had been hit as I thought the stock would make a move to a previous $1.41 resistance level.

·         My planned exit was going to be at a chart resistance at $1.60

·         The stock bounced off of $1.25 and slowly made it’s way back above $1.30. $1.25 became my new risk level as level 2 seemed to show good support as the stock came down

·         Every time the stock would make a move to test $1.40 the ask would stack. After looking at level 2 I placed a sell order at $1.36 to get out of the trade

 

·         I sold into the strength when my 10% goal was reached as it was a speculative play and did not want to risk any sudden drop on a pump

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I decided to break it down further by creating a do's and don'ts list for my next 10 trades

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The Don’t Do’s List:

·         Don’t trade a stock that shows weakness in the morning. (Drops on the morning open)

·         Don’t open a position near a resistance in anticipation of a break

·         Don’t hold onto a stock and rationalize when risk level is broken

·         Don’t get greedy when your target is hit. Take the profit

·         Don’t trade emotionally

·         Don’t add shares to a losing trade

 

The DO’s List:

·         Do make sure that you know where the perceived support and resistance levels are prior to a trade

·         Do wait for a resistance break through to hold and act as support prior to placing a trade

·         Do plan to enter trades around support levels

·         Do plan to exit trades around resistance levels

·         Do adjust risk levels while in the trade if a new higher support level from risk seems to have formed

·         Do sell into strength when targets have been reached

 

·         Do watch level 2 intently while in the trade