Stock Market Digests Gains
I expected things to be churny today. Unfortunately, I was right. Although, I can never tell if it works out that it's more of a self-fulfilling prophecy...
After making decent money in the early morning, I gave it all back and went negative thanks in part to a bad decision I made sizing up in PCR.
I bought 1000 shares as it traded down to $34 at around 10:00 am. With other stocks in the sector, namely FLR and FWLT ripping higher, I thought it was a decent risk. I figured he'd find some support near the opening price, but he didn't. So I lost a quick 30 or 40 cents.
To use a toddler phrase, "it ouched me."
Luckily, despite some cursing, I caught nice shorts in DE and FLR to bring me back into the green. But the truth is, I just couldn't get real traction today. I was up $1000 at around 10:45 and just churned it all day long losing $40 here, and $80 there.
I also noticed that lots of good traders were struggling in the chat room as well and so I took a cue from that and decided to call it a day.
There are many aspects to being a good trader. Confidence and money management are huge. It's not just about picking the right places to buy and sell. I've been working on thinking more positively and growing my confidence.
So, while I don't normally stop trading in the middle of the day, I'll take my $652 and be happy with it instead of struggling to "get back to my highs." That would be forcing my hand in this market and for me at least, it would be a mistake. Score one for discipline... not one of my strengths.
I'm just not feeling it right now and I'm afraid this may be the new normal for the next few days.
Anyway, here's the stats:
P&L, $652
Best, FLR $394
Worst, PCR, -$308
3 comments:
DT, I think that was a good move. I kinda did something similar also. I was up about 1,400.00 give or take and started churning a bit so i sat on my hands pretty much the rest of the day. I just want to keep my positve energy and P&L momentum going.
JB,
Exactly what I meant to say I was doing... keep the positive momentum.
Glad to hear you're doing well.
-DT
DT I also had the exact same day. Made money on my first two trades and ended up with very small losers/scratches on the next four. I was tempted to jump in when the market was rallying late in the day but was smart enough to keep my hand off the mouse.
Post a Comment