Banner day for biotech runners, I was able to scalp three of them successfully, but was spooked out of NEXM on a pull back before it peaked. What did these stocks have in common? Three of four were up big in pre-market: NFLD – 66%, KERX – 9%, and BPUR – 16%. NEXM was flat in PM but was up 16% with an EOD rise yesterday. I am now at the point that when I see this type of action in my biotech list, I am going to enter earlier in the day rather than waiting for the spike – the risk is worth the reward. When you miss the pop on these, you miss most of the profit and you end up chasing. They move so fast, that if you even hesitate getting in my 90 seconds, they jump a dime. I was lucky today exiting these near their peaks, and securing decent profits.
Overall, my trades all went in the direction I anticipated. The ones that didn’t work out were a matter of entering too late (bought long into a peak – IDMCQ), not taking an ok profit when I had it (GM, DDS) or getting spooked out too soon and manually moving my stop (NEXM). With NFLD, KERX, NEXM and BPUR – all these were on my radar because of their pre-market or yesterday gains. I am going to start buying these at market open (like NFLD) or set up alerts in my software when they cross a price line when they spike later in the day – the key is to hold a position before they pop. FCSX looked like it was going to crack $3.50 on its long trend down, but I didn’t get in the first time when it dropped quickly to $3.30, it popped back up, but didn’t tank again when I finally shorted it, so I took a small profit of .05 cents when it went sideways. GM I should of shorted closer to the market open.
Today’s Prospect List: DDS set-up like I thought, but when it rose to resistance around $3.70ish, it didn’t fall as quick like the previous three times when it got to this range the last week. So I jumped out, though it may fall in the afternoon. NEXM and IDMCQ both happened so quickly that I bought in at their peaks, which is not ideal for moves that were on my radar. ESLR did not spike and drop this morning like the past week or so, and instead is slowing rising early afternoon. NGD did not breakout but did move up a little late morning. CHRS was in a tight range today and was not playable so far.
While most of my winners today were not on my prospect list, the prep made me feel more confident. I also found a good balance with utilizing chat. Instead of following alerts constantly, I would periodically check in when things slowed down in my monitoring. This is a nice balance between following it 100% versus just not logging in at all. I also think the convo between 9:00am and 9:35am is the most valuable. I’m also making progress monitoring stocks by price only on a screening lists (without a chart necessarily open), and just recognizing specific tickers from the past, or even earlier in the day. Last, I made eight trades – so I think my analysis paralysis is lifting some. Best paper trading day in weeks!
