This will be my trade recap for the past month of trades. (Since I started posting them to Profit.ly, anyway) I’ll be breaking my trades down by ticker, trading style/technique, pattern I followed, and why I profited or not. Hopefully this will help anyone that reads this. Just keep in mind, this is mostly a recap for myself to help understand where I’m struggling and tighten up these gaps in my processes. The highlighted script is what I did well or could’ve done better.

Here are the main points to touch on in this recap:

·         Take profits when you have them.

·         Find the best entries and capitalize on them.

·         Do not chase a stock that is already running, let it go!

·         Do not overtrade. If you can’t analyze first, don’t trade it.

·         Let your winners run and take partial profits meanwhile.

·         Always look at multiple timeframes. They give you a better idea of the stocks trends.

 

Thank you for the read!

 

 

TIK

Pattern: Unknown           Style: Weekend W/Catalyst         Win/Lose: -26%

This is my first recap. What I’m seeing here is possibly an alert I followed. There is no pattern here that I know about. This has news of a US certificate in defense for a testing software they created. It didn’t continue its rise higher. Wait for confirmation, use tested strategies, follow common patterns, cut losses quickly.

VERI

Pattern: Unknown           Style: Weekend W/Catalyst         Win/Lose: -7%

Here we have VERI. This was for sure, an alert. I remember taking this trade ONLY because the news was exceptionally convincing. The only issue I see with this trade is not selling in the gap-up on Mondays open. Otherwise I would’ve seen roughly 1%-5% gains. Take small winners, or partial for insured profits.

RDUS

Pattern: Finished HOD    Style: Weekend W/Catalyst         Win/Lose: +4%

This is simple. Finished HOD at the market close, and had beautiful phase three Biotech breast cancer research catalyst. The plan here was for more eyes to hit the breast cancer awareness and buy in. Easy +4%. Let winners run longer, especially after they bounce off previous support.

CRON

Pattern: Dip-Buy/Held 50%+ Spike            Style: Overnight/Catalyst              Win/Lose: +7%

I love this one. We have a huge catalyst for a weed stock being partially purchased by an industry leading tobacco company, giving a massive spike in volume and share price. I bought the dip in this one, assuming people were simply taking profits, and held it overnight for more eyes to see the movement in a hot sector. I don’t think there’s much else I could’ve done here without trading premarket. This play was damn near perfect. Premarket sell would’ve netted me 15% if I caught the top. I’m happy with 50% of the move.

 

 

CVE

Pattern: Dip-Buy/Finished Near HOD       Style: Overnight/Catalyst              Win/Lose: -3%

This is a nice look on what happens when catalysts don’t do much after the first day. This one gapped up about 8% but didn’t do much after that. I dip bought for another weekend hold on good news and the US/China called a truce to the trade war. I was looking for a nice return in market strength to bring this already up stock higher. Unfortunately, it didn’t move up. I got in at HOD and followed my stop at the low of the previous days candle. Cut losses quickly.

LPI

Pattern: First Green Day/Held HOD          Style: Overnight                Win/Lose: -3%/-4%/-7%

Simply a first green day pattern. In this trade, I averaged down the next day to around the support @ $4.9 and it still ran away from me. Hindsight, I should’ve bought the dip not the HOD and cut losses AT the dip had it not done what I wanted the day after. I could’ve possibly netted 1%-3% instead of losing 7%. Don’t chase stocks, use patterns and support/resistance to plan entries and exits.

GBT

Pattern: % Gainer/Spiker              Style: Overnight/Catalyst              Win/Lose: -2%

This is a catalyst play with sickle cell disease. The news hyped it, but the FDA gave them an accelerated approval. They weren’t actually approved to administer the drugs, just given a good word on their work. Anyway, I ended up buying near the highs which was a bad choice. I should’ve grabbed the dip and held it overnight as this stock surged roughly 40%. A dip would’ve probably netted around 5%-10%. Don’t buy at HOD, buy the dips.

CNHI

Pattern: Unknown           Style: Overnight/Catalyst              Win/Lose: -3%

I should’ve waited for the correction as this stock is overvalued. The reason I bought was that they announced a new product line, yet the company also got valued at “stable”, which isn’t really a buy for me. Follow known patterns and follow rules.

NVLN

Pattern: Unknown           Style: Unknown                Win/Lose: -21%/-15%/-16%

I took three different approaches to this one. I had no reason to buy this stock whatsoever. I simply overtraded and forced something that wasn’t even remotely there. Don’t overtrade. PREPARE!

BNED

Pattern: Oversold/Dip-Buy          Style: Overnight/Previous Earnings Winner           Win/Lose: -4%

I bought this stock because it was a previous earnings winner netting a large % gain that I was trying to dip-buy and capitalize on. Unfortunately, the stock went against me and I lost a fair amount of money. I don’t think I could’ve cut losses much quicker than I did. Good play, just cut losses sooner.

IDT

Pattern: Oversold/Dip-Buy          Style: Overnight/Earnings Loser                 Win/Lose: -4%

I love this play, simply because I had the right idea the whole time. I just didn’t catch the bottom. I bought in BEFORE earnings came out, it tanked and returned above my initial buying point. Wait for earnings to come out before trading. Dip-buying earnings that are oversold is a decent play.

DARE

Pattern: Breakout/Spiker             Style: Day Trade/Catalyst              Win/Lose: -10%/-6%/-4%/+1%

I simply traded this one poorly. I meant to get in and hold overnight with the Biotech catalyst. I can see that I tried dip buying this one, it just didn’t do what I wanted it to do. I could’ve made 4% on this one, but I didn’t trust the breakdown. I held way too long and lost way too much, being emotional.

ASNS

Pattern: Finished HOD                    Style: Overnight                Win/Lose: +1%

I made a silly mistake on this trade. I woke up late to the market (where’s your discipline, Zarek?) and it had already turned around on me. I made a very poor return on a GREAT play. This lesson is simply be around when you’re trading. If I’m in a trade, I better be near something that I can buy/sell off when things go against me OR go the way I want them to. This was a perfect dip-buy as well.

FNJN

Pattern: Finished HOD                    Style: Overnight                Win/Lose: -4%

I love this pattern, I could’ve made money on it just like with ASNS. The pattern I SHOULD’VE traded here is a HOD dip-buy and overnight holding, selling into resistance at the previous days HOD. Lesson, know your trade!

EYES

Pattern: Finished HOD    Style: Overnight                Win/Lose: -9%

I was going for a breakout over the previous days’ high on this one. Unfortunately, that’s not reliable on a stock without news or a reason to move. I also cut my losses way late in the day, instead of as soon as it turned red, which was the best choice. I should have dip-bought the next day when I saw it bounce off the resistance at the pre-market high and return to the previous HOD.

MNTA

Pattern: Pending Breakout           Style: Overnight                Win/Lose: -6%

I followed my strategy on this one nicely. This is a stock price range I have never really traded well or often enough to get the gist of it. It was speculative for me. This was a pending breakout over the high of the low streak for this stock, and I figured if it broke that, it has resistance several dollars higher. It had massive volume, which is good, and it had just bounced off its lows the previous day and has a history of running up multiple days in a row. I took my position and cut my losses properly. This was a double top on the daily for previous HOD. That’s a bearish sign. Get out sooner!

ACB

Pattern: % Gainer/Finished HOD                Style: Overnight/Catalyst              Win/Lose: -1%

I really liked this trade. Once again, I followed my rules and cut my losses quickly. Looking at the chart over the next few days, it’s green. I got stopped out on a dip, which is what happens often. The problem here is that I took too many losses previously and was worried about losing more, even though the catalyst and chart on this one was very convincing. Turns out, a one day longer hold was +3% and a 2 day was +6%. Don’t go into a trade with fear. Be confident, and intelligent.

VVUS

Pattern: Fibonacci Retracement/First Green Day                Style: Overnight                Win/Lose: -3%

This chart is perfect. This followed the fib perfectly, but I didn’t give it enough time and I bought a bit too early. One week later it spiked up 9% from the 2-3 retracement. I even wrote in my Profit.ly trade exit comments, “Exit comments: Sold as the market is moving lower. After I sold the market turned around. Wonderful day!” I thought it was quite funny.

INNT

Pattern: Breakout            Style: Overnight/Catalyst              Win/Lose: -10%/-5%

Had I bought this one near the beginning of the runup, even midday, I could’ve made roughly 10%-15%. Don’t chase stocks! Breakout over previous HOD. Take profits when you have them!

PIXY

Pattern: Reversing MACD/Oversold/Dip-Buy/Double Bottom       Style: Overnight                Win/Lose: -4%

This was an alerted trade that I took a stab at. I was looking for a reversal before it happened. Indicators are just that, indicative of where things COULD go, not will. Don’t bet on them. Cut your losses when they become greater than you’re comfortable taking.

EYES

Pattern: Dip-Buy               Style: Overnight                Win/Lose: +1%

I was right in what I was doing here, a dip-buy at previous support. The problem is that I bought much too early, so my exit was hardly profitable. I could’ve possibly made 5% on this one. Find proper entries and exits.

ASNA

Pattern: Weekly Breakout            Style: Overnight/Earnings             Win/Lose: -6%

I’m seeing this play and its mind blowing how silly it is. I bought near the day high and rode it about halfway down. I don’t know exactly why I bought so late, maybe I assumed the earnings would make this stock push against the overall market trend. Dummy. Follow the market, follow the rules.

 

 

MYOS

Pattern: Fibonacci/Breakout/Spiker         Style: Overnight/Catalyst              Win/Lose: -13%/-18%

This one is simple. It is a previous spiker and has a great catalyst about a new line of muscle building egg products that are just being released to the public in stores and online. I was trying to follow the move up and retrace the highs, but it never did. I simply bought in to the hype and was way too late to the party.

PLAB

Pattern: Breakout Previous HOD                Style: Overnight                Win/Lose: +2%

This was a very good trade for the most part. A dip buy here would’ve been a better option had I been a bit more patient, but I made profits here. Be patient and get the best entry possible.

RGSE

Pattern: Dip-Buy               Style: 1-4 Days/Catalyst Win/Lose: -4%/+1%

This trade looks very good to me. I still see potential in it currently, as I’m in it. But I do believe I need to check out charts that are a few DAYS before the current as that will give me a better look at the dip-buy potential. I’ll be taking a 1% loss on the rest of my shares, or a 4% gain as I don’t see it moving much more than that. UNLESS it gaps and gets major attention.

UXIN

Pattern: Breakdown       Style: Overnight/Options              Win/Lose: +24%

This was a stock recently spiking in the CBD sector. I love this trade because its quite close to perfect. If you looked at the chart you’ll see that the last big green day retraced more than 50% of it’s upward movement. Meaning shorts were all over it, and buyers were taking most of their profits. I purchase a put option for 50% of the retraced move TOTAL and a few weeks out. This is a good option for shorting as you don’t need to look for shares, although they aren’t as liquid. They do make you a LOT of money if you do it properly. I see this stock retracing back down a little further, netting me more in this trade, but profits are profits. Great planning, great trading, great execution.