A short of Google was the big winner for me today. The 80/20 rule was in full effect for me today as my other 3 trades were a wash — a 1R loss in AAPL and 0.4R and 0.67R gains in ISRG and MXIM respectively. (All trades were shorts.)
I was watching Google because of the swing setup I posted about yesterday. I entered at 414.82 as it broke through the low of the
10:00 candle. My stop was just above the high of the 10:15 candle @ 416.50. It was tough watching my quick gains slip away as the stock retraced during the day but as you can see being patient paid off. I covered half into the woosh down at 406.36 and held the rest until the close (with a much tightened stop).
I ended the day with a 5.91R gain in GOOG and a 5.98R (~3%) gain overall for the day.
great execution and discipline, mike.
do you ever hold daytrade winners overnight to try & catch a morning gap (further in your direction)?
Thanks Buck. I do those kind of holds once in a blue moon — with half the initial position. I didn’t hold GOOG because of the way it hung around and the fact that it fell on what I think was rumor.
Mike,
Very nice trade, and thanks for generously showing your setups/techniques. I really like your honesty. Some bloggers/traders I know always like to brag about their winning trades but never show or talk about their losing trades like you frequently did.
And I haven’t seen anyone actually admitted something like: “It was tough watching my quick gains slip away…” after such a big winning trade. It’s much easier to just say: “I did a good, successful trade” to show your full ‘command’ of the trade and to satisfy your ego. But instead you detailed your real emotion during the trade, and I do appreciate your modesty and integrity.
Thanks,
Tom
Hello Mike, any take on OVTI? Seems the pull back create a buy opportunity.
GOOG Post 12/5
Great post on GOOG, Please explain the 1r loss on AAPL,.4r ISRG. Is there a way to get your comments throughout the day?
Thanks Tom. The other thing that I should have said is that I pulled all of my trailing stops during that retracement — but my initial stops stayed in place. The Nasdaq was so ugly — my moving averages stayed bearish all session and the A/D line was very negative, that I was pretty sure the market would stay under pressure. That was what allowed me to ride out that retracement. But is was real tough. I was up about 3R real quick and at the top of that retracement I was down a few dollars.
Scott,
I’ll post those charts tonight. As far as intraday commentary, I do post some in my daily watchlists but it’s tough for me to do that and concentrate on trading. Remember, I’m trying to make a living and I don’t get paid (much) for blogging.
I have been considering opening a chat room. THat would solve two problems that I have with posting intraday commentary to my watchlists:
1: I feel like I’m talking to myself b/c there’s no interaction. That makes me post very little.
2: Posting to my blog takes a bit too long, which again makes me post less. It’s much easier to post in a chat room/IM. I’ll have to look into what would be the best way to do a chat. But I guess I should find out if anybody is interested.