Watchlist: CREE SNDK ATPG ABB PHG PALM UNG WM DISH OPXA
Rushed again. Wednesday was a trend day, all my paper trades were long above the Opening Range High (ORH) – anticipating breakouts. I took simulated positions in ABB, ATPG, CREE, PHG, SNDK, UNG, and DISH. Only CREE garnered some profit, but I was wicked out on a pullback (hit my trailing stop) so only go a .20 cent profit. The rest either broke near even by trailing stop or with a .20 cent loss with my initial stop order. I ended up being about -$60 in the red with only one winning trade. In terms of my behavior:
Orders: 86% – accidently doubled a position on one stock, not paying attention to my watchlist close enough that I had already entered the ticker.
Entries: 100% – took positions on all stocks that met my current simple criteria. I have modified things to focus on set-ups between 9:45 and 10:15am only.
Stops: 86% – forget for 3 minutes to put a stop in for my first entry.
Exits: 100% – let my stops get hit rather than manually exiting.
In terms of trading tactics and strategy:
1) I would of fared better entering (which I know but this is not part of my behavior focus with paper trading but will eventually be incorporated) on pull backs.
2) I would of been not been shaken out of as many positions if I had a breakeven stop instead of trailing stop, after the stock moved in my favor. This would of continued to keep some of them from turning into losing trades (as the trailing stop did), but would of prevented getting taken out by pullbacks instead of reversals.
3) Deciding when to exit a winning position is the trick (as always) but a plan based on Average Day Range, volume changes, and whole number price thresholds would of garned me more profits.
