A choppy day thus far in the market. TNH is rocking and rolling again as is the entire AG sector which really, besides airlines, are the only stocks I have in the green right now.
Here's another great song. This girl has a sweet voice but the best part about this song is the way it just blows up.
From their new album.
Funny how PR works nowadays. Last night, I read an article in the New Yorker about the band's new album. I'm a longtime fan and it was a solid review. Then this morning, I wake up, check Pitchfork and they have this song posted.
And then I post it here. And the wheel keeps turning.
Well, today was a slow one. The volume on the NYSE was just above what it was the Friday before the Memorial Day holiday. Perhaps it's because between 10:30 and 12:00 there were "streetwide issues" that made trading risky.
I personally had a number of orders hung and I couldn't get anyone to tell me the status of those orders. So I basically had to sit on my hands and wait... perhaps that was for the best because I had a hard time finding stocks that were moving today.
My best stock of the day was TNH although, I hardly traded it at all. Here are the trades:
9:34:22 Buy 200 @ 87.99 (200)
9:34:53 Sell 100 @ 88.44 (100)
9:35:05 Sell 100 @ 88.53 (flat)
10:09:03 Buy 300 @ 89.46 (300)
10:09:56 Sell 100 @ 89.72 (200)
10:39:20 Sell 100 @ 89.80 (100)
12:17:07 Sell 100 @ 91.13 (flat)
15:45:44 Short 200 @ 91.92 (-200)
15:46:42 Buy 100 @ 92.14 (-100)
15:53:03 Buy 100 @ 91.61 (flat)
Notice the gap between 10:39 and 12:17... that's when the trades were all screwy on the NYSE. Funny thing is that not being able to sell during that 1.5 hours probably helped me out!
Also, one note about my short at the end of the day. Everyday, at 3:40 trade imbalances are published. Mostly you see them in big cap names.
Today, TNH had a very small buy imbalance, for 14,600 shares. Normally, I don't mess with imbalances I just watch them. However, I knew that people would see this imbalance and try to buy ahead of the closing price. I also knew that the imbalance was small enough that it would almost definitely be filled by the time the confirmation came out at 3:50.
So, at 3:50 when the the news wires said, "No Market On Close Imbalance" in TNH I figured it would force the mooks who bought at 3:40 to panic and sell. I was right about everything except my entry on the trade... I shorted the stock too early.
Anyway, just figured I'd let you in on my thinking on that particular trade. It was an imbalance play. Occasionally, they are worth trading.
I'm happy to start June in the green... even if it is just $116, it's a psychological victory. I did a good job at keeping my losers small. Besides AMR, which I was trading with fairly large size, I didn't have one loser over $100.
If I can string some winners together at the beginning of the month and have a "buffer" against going into the red, it will open me up to start taking more risk again.
Hopefully, the extra risk-taking will pay off.
Here's the stats:
P&L, $116
Best, TNH, $331
Worst, AMR, -$253
shares traded, 31,400
stocks traded, 17, 7 positive, 10 negative
total trades, 166
Misstrade, $700 on 10,600 shares traded.
Me, $116 on 31,400 shares traded.
Denarii, $37 on 1400 shares traded.
Dehtrader, -$394 on 7800 shares traded.
EvolutionTrader, -$1720 on 58,400 shares traded.
A negative day for the VO is a rarity, but today we are seeing red.
Misstrade had what he termed a "flat" day but still had enough in the tank to rise to the top of the pack. I made about $100 on my first trade of the day. Had I known the rest of the day was going to be one big churn, I would have stopped at 9:40.
On the downside, ET got a little smoked. Luckily, he started the month off well on Friday so he's not in any real trouble. Check his site to see what happened.
Let's hope we do better tomorrow. The volume in the market today was pathetic perhaps tomorrow we can see a pick-up.
I imagine that with almost a year and a half to go before the presidential election that a lot will be dredged up about all of the candidates.
Ron Paul has generated a lot of buzz from the Republican debates because he is their only candidate that is anti-war and he is not a fear-mongerer. Still, there is a lot to be learned about the man and his past.
We will see how it all plays out. For now, I still can't say I would want to vote for any Republicans or Democrats currently in the running. Thank goodness it's early.
Well, just after 12:00 it seems that my orders all cleared. That kind of "glitch" really throws my day off.
Since we're in the middle of the day and not a whole lot seems to be happening, I'll probably just chill out until 2pm and see if things look any more interesting then.
I have 3 small long positions as we work our way into the middle of the day. Yawn.
Technically, this is a "stock market blog" since that is what I do for a living and because it's the fuel that feeds the drama of my everyday life.
However, you should know, I don't give a damn about stocks or the stock market and, in fact, I don't like most people who do.
It's just one of the ironies of my life.
Anyway, it's 10:40 and the "NYSE is having streetwide issues". In other words, I have a bunch of orders hanging and I'm not sure if I've been filled or not. In these situations, the rule is, I lose money. So, I'm going to sit and wait until I hear that things are okay again with the damn SIAC lines or whatever is causing the trouble this time...
Whatever your thoughts on the Hybrid Market may be, I don't think anyone can argue that since its implementation there have been far more days where "streetwide issues" effect trade. Remember the 500 point drop in February?
Anyway, here's another great song. Courtesy of the Pitchfork Media Forkcast.
Currently, I am out of my cave, blogging (with stolen internet access) from Morningside Heights, Manhattan. Our friend was kind enough the let us stay at her place while she's out of town.
At 1am there was a group of kids on the street yelling at each other for 30 minutes. No fight broke out, but there was plenty of screaming and cursing. One guy yelled, over and over again, seemingly for the full half hour, "I'm gonna FUCK that n***** up!"
I looked for a stray hammer, crowbar or whatever to keep near me in bed should the shouting erupt into a full gang war and somehow spread into my friend's apartment (which is on the second floor, so the guys really felt like they were "in" the apartment). Happily, the "discussion" stayed at street level and my daughter slept through it all.
I woke up this morning cuddling a small hammer and felt slightly absurd.
Anyway, so clearly I have chosen to take the day off. Please head over to EvolutionTrader's blog today for the VO. I'm typing on a mac and can't figure out how to create a hyperlink... forgive me, ET.
Hey, check EvolutionTrader today for the VO. It's possible he is posting the numbers today and tomorrow because I will be unable to post.
If it's not there, feel free to leave him a nasty comment.
-DT
Since I'm being delinquent and taking off tomorrow, I thought this was fitting. From one of my favorite movies, Slacker.
Not my normal music taste, but a friend of mine pointed this singer out to me. I like her.
Well, the last 3 months have been a wild ride. Too wild for my taste.
8 years of trading and 2 down months. I like to make a little money everyday and minimize my losses on the down days. Every once in awhile you can have a big day. That has been my M.O. from the very beginning.
When I worked in the city other traders would have wild swings. They'd make big one day and then lose it the next. That's never been what I'm about as a trader. There were times when I wouldn't lose over $500 in a single day for months on end. That kind of consistency makes this (rather stressful) job much less stressful. But since March I have taken some big hits and the stress level went straight up. I'm hoping that it is all behind me now.
Though I doubt it is, completely.
Even days like yesterday rarely happened to me when I was "on". So I'm hoping that this summer will really see me regain my footing now that I have broken my down-month streak and that I can start to earn enough money to make this job worthwhile again.
Unfortunately, today I learned that my prop firm is passing along the NYX reg NMS fees. So that's another hurdle to overcome. I paid over $500 this month in those new fees. The more little fees they attach like that and the less sense it makes to actively daytrade because they eat directly into profit. We'll see what happens on that front. I may have to start shopping around for a new firm. I'd love to hear if other prop firms are passing these fees along. Please feel free to comment.
Anyway, my best stock of the day was DE. Here's a 2-minute graph of the stock today.
Here's some of the trades I made in DE.
9:44:48 Buy 300 @ 119.73 (300)
9:44:59 Buy 400 @ 119.75 (700)
9:45:46 Buy 100 @ 120 (800)
9:48:06 Sell 300 @ 119.94 (500)
9:50:11 Sell 100 @ 120.13 (400)
9:51:26 Buy 200 @ 119.69 (600)
9:53:53 Sell 200 @ 120.24 (400)
9:58:02 Sell 100 @ 120.60 (300)
9:59:04 Sell 100 @ 120.53 (200)
10:02:14 Sell 100 @ 120.80 (100)
10:11:05 Sell 100 @ 120.80 (flat)
I made a few other trades in DE as well, but was mostly flat to slightly negative in them.
The key to my number today though was that I minimized my losses. My biggest loser was for $59 in WCC. This is going to be my focus going forward. Minimizing losses. I'm seeing the opportunities to make money, now I need to get the discipline to stop the ugly losers and everything should be okay.
A lot of my losers are coming from having stubborn conviction or simply lunging at trades. As Misstrade said to me once, "Patience little grasshopper." and he is correct.
Incidentally, check the interview he has on his site about his trading methods. Good stuff! And it's nice to see one of the original VOers get some recognition. If you've been following along here you know he's been on a great streak from the VO inception.
Anyway, I'm out of here for the rest of the day. I may also take tomorrow off. I'm trying to get in touch with EvolutionTrader to see if he can post the VO for the next two days. If not, it will be here again on Monday.
The VO is set to change soon. Stay tuned.
Anyway, here's the stats:
P&L, $1441
Best, DE $466
Worst, WCC, -$59
shares traded, 19,600
stocks traded, 13, 9 positive, 4 negative
total trades, 113
I'll come away from this month with a little over $1000 in my pocket.
Well, while I've been struggling with my intraday trading lately, at least my longer-term account is doing well. GAIA and MVIS (thanks Fly) are working wonders today.
Anyway, I've made some money here early with good trades in DE, ITG and CNH. Not sure if I've pulled positive for the month or not, but at least I've made it very close. I can start June with a pretty clear head. I have noticed some of my confidence returning despite another poor month. I am no longer as confused by the Freaky Hybrid trades. Now, they are just something that happens and I shake my head at them and think wistfully about the past.
I'm taking a half day today because a friend of mine has an art show in the city. I like to support artists and other poor people. Makes me feel better about myself.
I had a rough day today mentally. So, despite not having made a dime in the last 3 months, I went out and bought a wetsuit. I haven't surfed in 15 years. Why not?
Misstrade, $4000 on 4400 shares traded.
EvolutionTrader, -$40 on 12,600 shares traded.
Me, -$1213 on 41,400 shares traded.
This one broke my spirit. I didn't know it at the time, but I was already down over $600 on the day. Here's what happened.
14:05:44 Short 800 @ 47.32 (-800)
14:12:49 Buy 300 @ 47.86 (-500)
14:16:46 Buy 200 @ 47.87 (-300)
14:19:19 Buy 300 @ 47.89 (flat)
At the time, DE had dropped a point in 10 minutes and so I was playing the pair. The first mistake I made was entering a market order. I entered the order when the stock was trading near 47.55. I was filled at 47.32. It's a force of habit that makes me enter market orders still but I need to learn not to do that anymore. The hybrid market eats me alive when I do.
So, I was filled a penny off the low of the move on my short and then got immediately squeezed for over a half point and lost $450 on the trade. This one felt awful and I basically closed out my remaining positions and walked away knowing that my account was firmly in the red again.
After waking this morning in the green with 2 trading days left in the month, my plan was to take it easy. But basically, the trade I highlighted in CNH happened to me over and over in him. I lost $885 in that one stock today. It was one of those days where nothing went right for me.
To make matters worse, I had a couple of trades that really would have worked for me had I hung in there, mainly ITU and CPT.
Anyway, I feel gross. I just can't trade this market on the long side right now. Especially with the gap down off the open, it just added to my bearishness. So I was way too skittish on my long trades, getting out at the slightest hint of a downturn and too stubborn on my shorts. Disaster.
And now I go into tomorrow staring at my third negative month in a row.
Anyway, here's the stats:
P&L, -$1213
Best, ITU, $72
Worst, CNH, -$885
shares traded, 41,400
stocks traded, 13, 4 positive, 9 negative
total trades, 157
Okay, I love whales too. They're hard not to like. But I'm beginning to hate those whales in California.
Actually, it's not the whales I hate, it's the media that is tracking their every move that I hate. Frankly, I'm tired of hearing about the "heroic efforts" that are leading them back to freedom. Do people really care so much about whales? Then how about the media takes more time to report on stuff like this.
It's like Anna Nichole Smith all over again but this time with whales. And they're on every network. Please... just keep telling us about the war so we realize what a mistake it was and never let it happen again.
Or educate people about who represents them... something, anything, but enough about the whales already.
