Not in tune with trading at all recently. I had a very busy week with work, and I know that spilled over. In the past, I would of taken a couple days off from trading but I wanted to keep on my schedule of training every day. For example, from 7:30am to 9:00am, I had to knock out a task with a deadline today in which I only got the info I needed by email at midnight, just hours before. That is the juggling act of the part time trader, and I should be grateful I work for myself from home as I have an enormous amount of freedom compared to those in traditional 9-5 jobs.

The last two days I have totally regressed, not following my rules – mostly chasing, not buying on a pullback or shorting on a pop, but also not waiting 10 minutes between trades or really following my entry or exit signals. Next week I have to review my rules again and become consciously aware of them – right now they are not even in my mind as I trade. This weekend I hope to find time to review all 22 paper trades I made this week.

# Following Rules Behavior Chain % Wins Gross Net
5 0% -5 20% -0.14 0.195

PDLI -.01 LONG ~ Stopped out by to the penny after being in the trade 3 1/2 hours. I entered at $3.99 and as of right now, it’s been consolidating within a dime range over $4. In premarket, it had incredible highs, but this potential biotech runner may have just had some over enthusiastic buyers on an analyst upgrade not on real FDA news. At one point when I had about .14 cents profit, I moved my stop to near breakeven and it looks like I may of made it too tight. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a late afternoon run on this one.

OSIR -.16 SHORT ~ Still learning to play these higher priced stocks that have candle ranges over a quarter – cheaper stocks don’t typically have such wide ranges. Shorted under $14.00 but not on a pullup. The stock quickly moved against me and I exited without even having a stop order put in, then it sank a half buck. I shorted on the top of the opening range and there was incredibly lower prices in pre-market. Could of worked out if I had entered by fading strength more.

NOK -.09 SHORT ~ This stock was under yesterday’s low and gapped down, with the red market, I shorted but on a chase entry and near the lower end of its daily range/support. So far today it’s been consolidating between $11.70 or $11.80 – I manually exited on the morning spike right after I entered my long on HIG. Eventually, I would of been stopped out of this position but I wouldn’t be surprised to see this one sink into close some.

DYAX -.07 SHORT ~ This stock had FDA bad news this morning and was a preloser. I shorted near what I thought was resistance, but the stock remained strong so I exited though I suspect there will be an afternoon fade.

HIG +.19 LONG ~ After a mid-morning spike in the DOW and a move up by the financials, I entered HIG at $9.35, it seemed to be lagging like BAC, etc. I was hoping to get in early to maybe catch a run to $10 after it crossed red to green at the half buck threshold. I was very lucky and missed being stopped out by one penny. $9.55 was acting as consistent resistance so I took profit after lunch to close out my trades for the day (same as with DYAX though neither of them had hit my exit rules).