My big picture outlook and best idea for the 31st of July 2020

BIG PICTURE:

As I have been saying over and over; the overall markets are still in healthy up trends. After trading in fairly tight ranges over the past few weeks or so; they now look set to break out to the up side on the back of very up beat earnings announcement from the large cap tech stocks like $AAPL, $FB and $AMZN. So therefore, I remain long biased on the overall markets and will continue to favor taking long trades over short trades for the time being.

MY BEST IDEA FOR TODAY:

While there are lots of gappers to choose from this morning, unfortunately most of them are outside of my price range and comfort zone. That being said, there is one idea I do like a lot and will look to trade today:

$PINS:

Catalyst: Announced earnings this morning and easily topped analyst expectations in addition to giving an upbeat forecast for the 3rd quarter.

Technicals: After carving out a massive 6 month bullish cup with handle formation; $PINS now look set to gap out of it and run big to the upside on the back of the aforementioned earnings news.

Fundamentals: Float - 399.5M; Short float - 7.00%; ATR - $1.16 and Avg. Vol - 13.93M

Bias & Plan: Given the technical picture and catalyst; I am anticipating that a lot of swing traders and longer term investors will be looking to accumulate this stock today. So therefore I am long biased on this stock. It has all time highs at $36.83 and fully expect this stock to test it today if not break through it. However, due to the size of the gap up; I will not be surprised to see some initial profit taking at the open before it settles down and starts trending higher later this morning/today. 

My best day trading ideas for the 30th of July, 2020

My best day trading ideas for the 30th of July, 2020

BIG PICTURE:

I'm afraid I will sound like a broken record, however, I must re-iterate that the market uptrend is still intact. Index futures sold off overnight after all rallying powerful in yesterday's session coming into this morning's GDP report which came in slightly less worse than expected. Given the overall context, this is bullish in my opinion and I therefore expect the markets to rally near term or worse case chop around today.

Given this I will continue favoring long ideas and try to avoid taking short plays until I begin to see them working consistently. Until then I remain fervently bullish!

MY BEST IDEA(S):

Pretty shitting pre-market action today; not seeing many high quality opportunities. Lots of low float runners like $KODK, $KNDI and $BLNK but I'm not gonna touch any of them!

$INO:

Fundamentals: 154.65M float; 19.14% short float; $3.41 ATR; 36.57M avg. vol

Catalyst(s): Reported positive news related to the efficacy of its COVID-19 DNA vaccine

Technicals: Almost text book double pattern at major daily technical plus whole dollar ($20) support level in an overall bullish context plus hot, hot sector. 

Bias & Plan: Given this positive drug news, technical set-up, hot sector plus this stock's recent history of making big runs I am definitely long biased on this stock today. Further I like it long above yesterday's high and will be looking for it to get back up to the high $24's/$25 today.

$APA:

Fundamentals: 376.47M float; 4.72% short float; $0.82 ATR; 15.57M avg. vol

Catalyst(s): Reported second quarter  earnings but perhaps more significantly they also announced a major oil discovery offshore Suriname!

Technicals: After  consolidating in a  fairly tight range for the past 2 months or so; this is stock is now set to gap up big on the back of significant news announced above.

Bias & Plan: I am most definitely long biased on this stock. Although the ATR is not huge; this stock has shown that it can move over 2 points in one day when its RVol is elevated. So I like this stock long above its pre-market high and will be looking for it to get up to the daily resistance at $17.87 today. 

$QLGN:

Fundamentals:

Catalyst(s):

Technicals:

My best day trading ideas for the 29th of July, 2020

BIG PICTURE:

In spite of the selling that came into the markets in the afternoon yesterday, the overall uptrend is still very much in tact. Further more, curiously the $IWM has been showing strength relative to the $QQQ which has been the leading index since we bottomed in March. So this is giving me even more conviction that we will likely continue higher in the near term at least.

Notwithstanding, volume and volatility has been really low recently. It's critical to be disciplined and focus on trading "in-play" stocks only or not trade at all. Markets have been really choppy and unforgiving of sloppy trading recently. Also FOMC announces their rate decision at 2PM today in case you plan to trade this afternoon which I don't plan to.

MY BEST IDEAS:

$STX: 

Fundamentals: 254.89M float;6.39% short float ATR:$1.30 Avg. Vol: 2.88M

Technicals: Gapping down from a 4 month range.

Catalyst(s): Reported that it lagged earnings and revenue estimates in Q4 plus multi analyst downgrades.

Bias & Plan: I am therefore short biased on it. I like it short below its pre-market low. Although the ATR is only $1.30 the stock has shown that it is capable of moving up to 3 pts in one day. So I'll be looking for a move down to $42 which is in the vicinity of the March lows.

$NIO:

Fundamentals: 838.55M float; 15.16% short float; ATR: $1.29 and Avg. Vol: 110.95M

Technicals: After an explosive run up in early July on the back of earnings related news; this stock coiled nicely over the past 2 weeks or so and now looks poised to resume its uptrend.

Catalyst(s): No fresh news. Market play but part of the hot electric vehicle group with $TSLA and $WKHS.

Bias & Plan: I am therefore long biased on it. I like it long above yesterday's high ($12.64) for a possible push up to the $13.58 daily pivot.

$LB:

Fundamentals: $228.28M; 9.32% short float; ATR: $0.81 and Avg. Vol: 8.04M

Technicals: Set to gap up from an almost text book cup with handle pattern on the daily chart.

Catalyst(s): Announced that it expects to deliver almost $400 million in annualized cost reductions through its profit improvement plan. 

Bias & Plan: I am therefore long biased. I like it long above pre-market high and will be looking for it to push to its 52-week high at $25.26.

OTHER POSSIBLES:

$MIST: 

Fundamentals: $21.77M; 6.98% short float; ATR: $0.93 and Avg. Vol: 6.00M

Technicals: After a huge gap up last Thursday on drug news this stock has flagged nicely and looks like it could resume its up trend today.

Catalyst(s): No fresh news. But float is really low. Technial breakout alone will be enough to send this stock on a tear.

Bias & Plan: I am therefore long biased. I like it long above yesterday's high ($8.50) above that it has lots of room to the $9.58 daily pivot and then above that lots of room to the $11.40 daily pivot.

My best day trading ideas for the 28th of July, 2020

BIG PICTURE:

Not much has changed from yesterday. Up trend in the markets still very much in tact. Although the indexes look set to gap down slightly today; I remain long biased. With volatility almost back down to pre-covid 19 levels its very important to stick to trading "in-play" stocks only!

MY BEST IDEAS:

Not a very inspiring gappers list in today's pre-market. In fact, I've only seen one ticker that I'll be interested in potentially playing today. 

$VXRT:

Bias: Doesn't appear to have a catalyst but it is a covid-19 play and has been one of the hottest stocks in July. After a 6 day pullback to its 20-day moving average; it now looks set for a bounce especially after a wide range doji day on above average volume yesterday. So I am long biased!

Plan: I like it long above $12 for a potential push up to $14/$14.30 resistance today.

My best day trading ideas for the 27th of July, 2020

BIG PICTURE: 

In spite of the heavy selling that came into the tech stocks last week Thursday and then Friday; the overall market uptrend remains very much intact. In fact, given that the indexes have been unable to sell off for than 2 days in a row since the start of this uptrend in March, I am long biased on the overall market heading into today.

MY BEST IDEA:

$MRNA: 

After a big pop in mid-July and then low volume pullback to the 50-day sma; this leadership stock in the battle to develop a covid-19 vaccine is set to gap up today on news of receiving additional funding ($472M) from the U.S. government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). The company is also set to begin phase 3 study of its mRNA-1273 vaccine. MRNA has already traded just about 10% of its average daily volume and will almost certainly be in play today. It has a solid float with 308.94M and ATR of $6.92. It has a daily pivot at $84.12. If it can break above this I'll be looking for a move back up to the all time high at $95.21.

BACK WATCHERS:

$SPCE:

Has picked up some nice momentum in July and looks set to continue trending higher after pulling back to and bouncing off of it's daily 9-ema on Friday. I like it long above $25 and will be looking for it to potentially get up to $27.55 today.

$JMIA:

Another recent momentum stock that looks set to resume up-trending after bouncing of its 9-ema on Friday. Like it long above its pre-market high and will be looking for it to potentially push back up to $10.80 today.

My day trading watch list for 12/6/2018

It was an extremely ugly day across the board in the markets with all of the major indexes closing down 3%+ on the day on high relative volume. All of the gains from the "China truce" gap up yesterday was erased and then some. This sort of price action screams bear market to me as pretty much every stock from every sector was taken to the cleaners with nearly 1,000 stocks closing down 4%+ today but less than 30 managing to close up 4%+! Given this, I'm anticipating at least a re-test of the October low and possibly even a test of the low set in April this year in the $SPY before the end of 2019.

That being said, here are my best ideas for Thursday, not surprisingly all shorts!

Has room all the way to $55 should the markets keep selling off.

$EA and sister stock $ATVI has been getting hammered of late. Had it on watch this morning and turned out to be an excellent short today. I expect more down side especially if it can crack $80

This stock could trade as low as $15 by week's end

$30 will be the key in this stock. Cracks this level and it could drop down to $27/$26

One of several retailers with almost identical pattern. Big gap down on earnings and bear flag. Has room to the Nov low around $48.

Same idea as $JWN. Has room down to the low $60's.

Will be looking for a move down to $66ish.

Yet another earnings bear flag. Has room to $65ish.

Plans and adjustments for my 4th attempt at becoming a consistently profitable day trader!

Sad to say but my third attempt at growing a small day trading account in September/October ended once again in failure despite a quite promising start. Unlike my first 2 tries, I went with TradeNet which honestly was not a bad experience. It may very well turn out that TradeNet is a scam but when you take into consideration the fact that I only had $399 (the price I paid for their Intro package) at risk it was not a bad option for any one trying to make a start in their day trading career. So with the $14,000 in buying power I started with in September; I'd manage to take it up as high a $14,700ish by my 2nd week of trading. However, After then it was all down hill. In the next three weeks; I managed to erase the $700 in gains and lose a further $700 thereby triggering the max loss on the Intro account and being shut down. Since this; I've been day trading with ThinkorSwim paper and going through the same daily routine I'd be going through if I were trading live money. Although I haven't been keeping strict track of my paper trades; I've been able to uncover and work on some of the "demons" that have been holding me back from consistency which I'll mention later as well as how I plan on countering them.

That being said, this week, I will be re-funding my SureTrader account and making a forth attempt at finding consistency in my day trading. 

My Plan:

1. I will start with $2,500 which will give me $15,000 in buying power this time around. Last time I started with $1,500 ($9,000) in buying power and gave myself a max daily loss limit of $100 or 2 stop outs as my max risk was $50/trade. This time I will give myself a max daily loss limit of $150 or 3 stop outs instead. I've come to realize that I usually need around 3 "bullets" before I should call it a day. Many times I might make an early dumb trade; followed by a good entry in a good idea but get shaken before getting back in and making a nice trade for solid profit. So before I was sort of choking myself up. I was forcing myself to be perfect; not giving my self room for error or room for being too early in entering good ideas.

2. As before; my focus will be on the daily chart (for idea generation) plus the 30-minute and 5-minute charts (for timing entries; placing stops and managing trades). However, I will banish the 1-minute chart completely from my platform as this has been causing me to over trade at the open and make several poor trades for every one decent trade I would make from the 1-minute set-ups. 

3. Keep 5-minute charts of the market indexes up at all time and try to take most trades in alignment with the 5-minute trend of the market indexes

4. I will take absolutely no trades in the first 15 minutes after the open and even try to avoid taking any trades up to 25 minutes after then open. I will let the market indexes and individual stocks form clear trends then look for low risk entries near the 9-ema on the 5-minute chart.

5. I'm also going to invest in a proper laptop (my current Lenovo with i3 processor definitely not going to cut it any more...can't even run ThinkorSwim without freezing every minute) and a third monitor to increase my screen real estate.

6. Finally I will also join a group of traders. Bearbulltraders are at the top of my list.

I should be re-funding my account some time this week and will give an update on my first week's performance next weekend! 

My day trading review for the week starting 10th of September, 2018!

On the 10th of September, I resumed my third attempt (in a little over 1 year's time) at growing a small live account. My first 2 tries were with SureTrader; however this time around I went with TradeNet. This decision was primarily due to financial reasons as it costs much less to purchase the TradeNet intro package (I paid $399...got it at a discounted rate on a summer promotion) than to fund a SureTrader account with a minimum amount that makes sense (I'd say around $1,500-$2,000 to get sufficient wiggle room and intra-day buying power). 

That being said; I started the week with $14,000 in buying power as do all purchasers of the Tradenet intro package who choose to go live. After the close on Friday; my balance stood at $14,116.40. So essentially, I made $116.40 in profits after commissions and fees. I'm really glad that I ended the week green but I should have done way better! 

Here's the breakdown of my trades from my first week. I took a total of 17 day trades and ended with an accuracy of 58.8%. There is definitely room for improvement here but it's not so bad as I shoot for an accuracy or around 60-70%. In terms of win:loss ratio however, this is where I really fell down! My average loser was -$40.79 which is excellent considering that my risk is set at $50 per trade. My average winner on the other hand was only a disappointing $47.23 giving me a win:loss ratio of only 1.16; well below the 1.5-2.0 range I'd it like to be.

Looking back at my journal; I noticed two major glaring issues and a minor one that were the causes of my below par win:loss ratio: 

1) adjusting my initial stop loss too early and too aggressively thereby stopping my self out of perfectly good trades! To fix this issue; I will continue placing a hard stop after putting on the trade but I will not touch this initial hard stop until I get to take my first partial off at or near 2:1 if my stop does not get hit first. 

2) hesitating to take my first partial off at or near 2:1 as per my trading plan due to greed and nit picking the exit price. To address this I've added hot buttons to my montage to either "Sell Half" position or "Buy Half" position at market. So price gets at or near my 2:1 zone; I hit the relevant hot button and take half off as per my plan instead of nit picking over a couple extra cents with limit orders.

A third but not as serious issue was jumping the gun on a couple entries before getting confirmation and also taking a few trades that didn't have realistic 2:1 risk/reward potential. To address this issue; I will change the default order type to "STOP LIMIT" which will force me to assess and plan out all of my trades properly before entering. 

So I will continue focusing on my process, and my strategies as outlined in "My PlayBook" while also implementing the above adjustments which should improve my accuracy but more importantly significantly improve my risk to reward ratio!

Monday September 18th, 2017 trading review....-$113.93

1. So my stock selection continues to be on point. I definitely traded the best stock there was to trade today.

2. My risk management and position sizing for the most part are also on point. Despite my poor entries and exits; I still haven't blown my account up yet...lol

3. My struggle now is with trusting my entry selection strategy. As a result of this I missed really good opportunities today and ended up once again forcing poor trades:

Solution:

I must commit to a single stock after the open; a single time frame; entry strategy and exit strategy. So:

a) Going forward; I will focus on trading one stock after the open. I may keep an eye on 1-3 in pre-market but at then open I will drill down to a single ticker. I will wait for the open before place any trades. Further I will focus on the 1-minute chart from the open till around 10/10:30am. Then switch focus to the 5-minute chart from then on. 

b) I will wait for pullbacks to the 9/20 ema before looking for long/short entries. Risk/reward based on the next level of resistance/support (on daily, 30 minute, 5 minute and 1 minute charts) must be greater than 2:1. 

c) I will exit 1/2 of the position when unrealized profits are equal to 2x intial risk taken on the trade; no questions asked. Then I will hold the remainder of the position until the price confirms a trend reversal using the 9/20 ema's, pivot highs/lows and trend lines as guides. 

Quitting Day Trading...What's next???

This Friday marked the end of 7 weeks since I started back trading. I started with $1,000 on May 10th, 2017 and then added another $500 at the start of June. So in total, I've contributed a net of $1,500 to my SureTrader account in this period.

 

At the moment, I am down to $700ish in equity or basically making a net loss of $800 over the 7 week period.

 

Of the $800 I've lost, about $100 was for platform and level II fees (plus a further $100 will be deducted from my account at the end of this month) and all of the remaining $700 was for commissions since I've actually managed a positive gross return over the period albeit a small one..$33.50.

 

With the economics of this business clearly being tough for small accounts mainly due to the high relative commission fees and platform costs; my trading statistics over the period have actually been quite poor.

 

My accuracy is about 40% and my win:loss ratio is around 1.5:1. Which is about breakeven before commissions and platform fees etc are factored in.

 

My honest conclusion after 7 weeks at this (with a day trading style) is that out right day trading is not the right style/strategy for me at this point given my skill level or lack thereof, account size and cost structure.

I need to get back to what has worked for me in the past and what will be more conducive for success for me given my proven skills (track record), current account size and cost structure.

 

My plan is to switch back to multi-day holds (swing trading style) like I had originally planned to do. I never stuck to my initial plan of hybrid day/swing trading and I've now paid an $800 price for this...lol.

 

Essentially I need to take less trades per week, use wider stops and smaller position size and go into positions with the intention of at least holding over night or even up to as many as 3-5 days once the trades are working.

 

These changes should cut my commission expenses down; increase my win:loss ratio and get my accuracy back up as I am much better at picking winning swing trades off the daily chart versus picking winning day trades off the intra-day (5-minute & 1-minute) charts.

 

I will stick with this new plan until at least the end of July and then assess my statistics at that point. I believe I will see much better success with this style/strategy but we will see.

 

 

Perfect game plan but yet $90 losing day! :( + Best ideas for 5/19/2017

So coming into today; I had the perfect game plan. I was expecting a bounce in the markets and had stocks on watch to play if this scenario played out. The markets bounced and $AAOI bounced perfectly off the $60 support while $PULM set up both a red-to-green play and then OPR breakout and followed through nicely although it didn't quite hit the target I had it moved enough to yield significant profit had I traded it. 

Both plays I had spelled out in my pre-market game plan. So you would expect that I'd be talking about the profits I made today! Instead I ended today another losing day and my 3rd losing day this week. Now my equity is slightly below the $1,000 starting balance at $942 ish. 

I have recognized what I changed between last week when I made $180+ in profits in only 3 trading days and this week in which I am losing $220+ in 4 trading days. Now last week, although I did play a few gappers; my primary focus after the first 15 minutes or so from the open was my best ideas from my nightly scan. However, this week I some how managed to add the top list to my platform as well as Twitter to my nightly scan ideas. So in addition to the 5-10 ideas off my scan, this week I've been trying to scan through 40+ stocks off the top list plus scan twitter for ideas. For what reason, I do not know. This distraction and spread of my focus has been causing me to be making random trades. 

Going forward I will remove these distractions and focus on my best post-market ideas and game plan. I've already removed the top list from my platform set-up. Also I will not open twitter until in the afternoon when things have slowed down and I'm just looking for entertainment if I am not in any open positions. I will focus on the 5-10 ideas I have on watch and look to trade the fuck out of 1-2 of them like I did last Friday with $AUPH. 

Before I move onto my best ideas for tomorrow; I've two thoughts/observations that I'd like to share.

Firstly I'm expecting this bounce to continue into tomorrow or if not worst case scenario we have a narrow range/doji type day. I definitely do not see the markets selling off hard again tomorrow barring some unanticipated news again. Secondly, I've noticed in the recent weeks that Chinese stocks have been very strong. So ideally I'd be looking to go long a Chinese name for my first trade tomorrow. Speaking of which my favorite is $BZUN above $22 with $23.50 target then possibly $24.

In addition to $BZUN, I also like: $IMMU (tapping the half dollar $7.50 + all-time highs; could be explosive if it breaks this level tomorrow); $EXTR above today's high with $9.30/$9.50 targets; $AKAO has been forming a cup with handle sort of base past couple months...I like this one through $26 with $27.75 intial target and then possible new 52 week high push; $SGMO above today's high for a push back to $8.60ish and finally my sole short idea $HZNP below today's low for push down to recent lows at $9.50.

Let's end this week of strong!!!

My best ideas for Thursday May 18th, 2017

So as I mentioned; I noticed that the short set-ups I was seeing had outnumbered the longs and today we had a nasty sell-off. Not saying that I predicted anything but the weakness in the markets was showing.

That being said; all of the short ideas off watch worked. I even traded one of my watches: $AFSI for a $45 profit. I really should have closed this trade when I was up $100 but greed got the better of me although this stock was surprisingly stubborn and held up around $12 late in the afternoon even while the indexes were tanking to new lows. Either way it was an okay trade.

Besides $AFSI, I also made one other trade in $SNAP. Today was my first time trading this stock and boy is this stock volatile! It moves in very sharp bursts and likes to fake-out. So gotta be very conservative with position sizing and stops. It faked me out for a small $15 loss before tanking lower in the afternoon. Could have been big winner for my small account had I managed to hold on. Ah well you live and you learn; I'll be better prepared to trade next time. 

So after commissions; I ended the day flat. No gains but I feel much better about my trading today compared to Monday and Tuesday. I was not anxious to get into positions and I did not feel like I was missing out when the markets were tanking and I wasn't short anything. I stayed patient and waited for solid intra-day setups to form. What failed me today was my trade management. So I'll be sure to work on that going forward.

With the market gapping down and selling off hard today; I anticipate either 1 of 2 scenarios will likely play out tomorrow. The first one and the one I think most likely given the recent track record of this market is that there will be a bounce in one form or other. This could play out in two ways; a big gap down right out of the gates in which case I believe a bounce day will be a shew in. Alternatively the markets might open flatish; tank hard and then reverse later in the day. The second scenario and less likely in my opinion is for the selling today to carry over into tomorrow and we have another trend down day. 

In any case; I have plays that will have me prepared to take advantage of either scenario.

So if we get a bounce day tomorrow; I will be looking to play the following stocks: 

$IPXL (off $15 support), $FRTA (off $10, riskier play since its a recent IPO and has less trading history so $10 is not a proven support level), $AAOI (my best bounce idea; a leading stock and it held up well today...will be watching for a possible buy off $60 support)

If on the other hand we get a follow through day; I'll be watching:

$DDD (below $22), $SNAP (below today's low), $AMD (my best short idea for tomorrow..will be watching it for a short set-up below today's low)

My sole long idea is $PULM low float former runner spiked big today and surprisingly managed to close strong unlike all of the other morning runners today. I'll be eyeing it for a red-to-green move/OPR breakout tomorrow with the recent high of $3.42 as my target. Hit and run trade only...do not marry!!!

Lets get it tomorrow...CHEERS!!!

My 2nd consecutive losing day + Best ideas for today!

So today I made 2 trades both of them losers.

The first one was a pre-market entry in $XGTI anticipating a spike on the open which never came. So I cut it quickly for a tiny loss. Wasn't the worst trade in the world but with only $50 risk to work with each day I really shouldn't be trading pre-market!

Then I saw $CLDR which I had been stalking for days and in which I had took a loss in on Monday setting up an OPR play just beneath the $21.75 level with the $22 all-time high magnet just above. Near perfects set-up!! I decided I wanted in but I wanted to wait for the confirmed break of $21.75. So I set a stop limit order at $21.76 but my mistake was not off setting it a few cents to increase my odds of getting a filled. What do you...the stock ripped right through the level; triggered my stop but I never got filled.

Sort of frustrated; I saw $IMGN beneath $5 and thought I'd take this long through $4.95 in anticipation of the break of $5. I had no exit plan for this trade. Then on a rush of blood; I entered it long @ $4.93 without waiting for the confirmed break of the flag and within seconds the stock reversed and was at my stop out level! I took the loss and shut down my platform for day....down a whopping $70 + $20 in commissions!!!

Although my losses were $40 in excess of my max daily loss; its not catastrophic by any means. Plus I am still up from my starting $1,000 balance. My plan going forward is to re-focus and wait for A-quality set-ups. I will stop looking for gap-and-go plays until I have more daily risk to work with. I will let the market open and wait for clean set-ups in either one of the stocks off my night watch list or an "in-play" stock.

With that out of the way; here are my best ideas for today...

$PIRS this is my #1 watcher and I will be eyeing for a red-to-green/OPR break play

Besides this I also have alerts set on:

SHORTS:

$NOMD (below $12.8), $AFSI ( below $12.4), $ACAD (below $28), $WTW (below $24), $BTU (below $23.9), $EXAS (below $31.60)

LONGS:

$EXAS (above $32.60), $CHGG (above $11.72), $BITA (above $31.65)

Just an observation but I am beginning to see a lot more short set-ups than longs. Very stocks have been holding their mornings gains. There have been almost no 50%+ day runners. So taking quick profits especially on longs makes sense at the moment in my opinion.

Best of luck....here's to a solid day of trading...CHEERS!!!

Best ideas for 5/16/2017

I made one trade today and it was a loser. Tried the $CLDR long idea off my watch list from last night....ended up losing $50 and as per my trading plan rules I had to stop trading for the day. The idea was solid and I never should have lost money on it. I saw all the indexes surging higher out of the gates and just felt like I had to be long something or I'd lose out on a great money making opportunity aka FOMO. So I forced a long entry in $CLDR when there was clearly no intra-day set-up and I was stopped out immediately. The stock was too extended and need some time to rest and consolidate yesterday's move. After doing exactly this; it broke out in the afternoon and make the exact move I was looking for. Lesson learned...wait for a proper fucking intra-day setup!!!

With that off my chest, here are my best ideas for tomorrow:

$ETRM former huge runner! A lot of eyes will be on this one tomorrow. I'll be watching it for a red-to-green move for second day run. This stock moves big when it moves; won't be surprised to see it touch 7's or even 8's tomorrow.

$IMGN will also be watching this runner today for a red-to-green move and re-test of $5. If I do play this I wouldn't be looking to marry it. Just hit and run. So this would have to set-up perfectly for me to consider playing it.

$SNAP massive 3-day run up after the huge gap down on earnings news. Looks like it could go parabolic tomorrow. I will eyeing it for a short trade off $22/$22.50 if it gives a clean intra-day set-up.

$CLDR still like this stock long. Still think it has potential to break to new all-time highs. Will be watching it above today's high for possible long entry.

$WTW this stock is beginning to weary now. I'll be watching it for a possible short below today's low for a pull-back to its 10-day EMA or $23ish.

$AFSI still short biased on this stock and still think it has a lot of downside potential. Will be eyeing for a possible short trade below today's low with the recent 52-week low as my target.

$ACAD persistently weak stock flagging above $28 for the past few days. A crack of this whole number support level could easily see at least a $1 move in this stock.

Those are my best ideas for now. Apart from these I will be trolling the top list for "in-play" stocks after the market opens tomorrow.

Best of luck out there tomorrow!!!

My best trade of the week + My watch list for Monday May 15th, 2017

So my best trade of last week, although not my biggest gainer, was the trade I took in $AUPH on Friday.



This idea came from my night scan. After making a massive run in early March; $AUPH has been coiling in a tight range for weeks. Further it has a low float and is highly shorted. So I know a lot of traders will be watching for a break out from this consolidation.

Although it didn't quite make the break out I was looking for I was very happy with the way I managed trade.

1st Entry: So I made my first buy (500 shares @ $7.50) as the stock went from red to green on the day round 10:00 am. and it forced me to be patient as it went no where for about 1 hr. Since it never came close to my stop which was at LOD and my conviction in the trade was very strong I was patient. Also it did a similar thing on Thursday; small gap down...1 and 1/2 hour consolidation then break to the upside.

1st Exit: I sold 1/2 my position (250 shares) @ $7.72 into the $7.75 resistance level as at this point the stock was up 3 solid green candles in a row on the 5 minute chart plus running into resistance. After this sell I then adjusted my trailing stop loss to break even for the remaining 250 shares and allowed the stock to do its thing.

2nd Entry: With stock consolidating nicely beneath resistance and the $QQQ's doing the same just off all-time highs my thinking was that this stock could be setting up for a second leg higher and possible push to $8.00. With the profit cushion I had plus the setup the stock was forming I was confident about pushing for a home-run. So I added 400 shares @ $7.69 and in the process put my account on full 6:1 intra-day margin! Although I was fully margined my risk on this trade was minimal as my stop on the entire position was now at $7.62

Final Exit: The stock tapped $7.75 and consolidating in a 5 cent range for about 30 mins. This was exactly the sort of price action I was looking for. The intra-day chart had now formed what appeared to be an ascending triangle. So if it resolved to the upside; I was going to profit big. However, if it didn't I know it could just as easily tank hard. So I adjusted my stop to 1 penny beneath the low of the 5 cent range and was stopped flat on the 400 shares I had added but for a small gain on the 250 shares I was holding from the initial purchase.

Final Thoughts: I ended up making about $100 on this trade or about a 10% return on account but this trade had the potential to be a $300+ winner! These are the sort of positions I love to be; guaranteed decent profit with possibility of a home run if the stock wants to give it me. Overall I was very pleased about my emotions during the trade and I pretty much followed my trading rules perfectly. If you have a proven system and you follow your rules; profits will come! Focus on making good trade after good trade after trade and not on making money. Thinking about how much money you're going to make instead of thinking of making good decisions is what gets most traders in trouble. Focus on mastering the process not the outcome!!!

My Best Ideas for tomorrow:

$AUPH will be watching for a break of $7.75 and possible push to $8.00 then $8.50

$WTW I could turn out to be wrong but this stock just has that look. So I will be watching for the break of $24.50 for push to $25.20 and potential parabolic run up to $26. If I play this stock and it works out according to plan I might even hold a few over night for a possible morning gap.

$AFSI will be eyeing for a short around the $13 level if the markets are weak. Will be looking for a push down to the $12.00 support. If I do take this short play I would not be looking trim and hold partial for a bigger move unless the markets are absolutely bleeding. Dips are being bought up in this market and so I'd be cautious about over staying in short positions in this market.

$CLDR this recent IPO has been exhibiting some sick daily ranges. I will be eyeing it for either a red-to-green move or OPR break (ideally around $20.50) in anticipation of a run up to its all-time high @ $22.

$GIMO nice low volume pull-back and hold of support @ $38.00 following the recent breakout on news that a hedge fund manager has acquired a large stake in this company. I will be watching it for a follow through day on Monday. Would love to see either a red-to-green set up or OPR ideally around $39 for a possible run to the recent high of $42.00

Best of luck on Monday....CHEERS!!!

                                 

Trade Review & Best Ideas for 5/12/2017

Today I made one trade and it was a loser. I took $HIMX long right on the open for a gap and go play but I got in a bit too early. I got in before there was a confirmed break of the pre-market high and the mini-dip that came in the first 2 minutes after the open was just enough to scare me out before rocketing higher and doing exactly what I was anticipated.

I was so upset at my self for messing up a set-up that was almost identical to the same set up I nailed in $MTBC yesterday. None the less, the loser took me to within $10 of my max daily loss and as per my trading plan rules I quit trading for the rest of day. So that tomorrow I start with a clean slate knowing that I only had small losing day today.

So without further ado; my best ideas for tomorrow:

Will be watching for red-to-green set up or OPR breakout on:

$AUPH
$IMMU
$PIRS

Will be watching for the break out of $14.50 on:

$VIPS

Good luck out there...lets get it!!!

So I made my first trades today and the first one was well executed gap-and-go set up in former recent runner $MTBC while the second was also a well executed 2nd pull-back momentum play in $PIRS. While I ended up profiting around $131 on the first trade and only $15 on the second I was happy with both trades.

While I was focused on $MTBC; $VRX completed the red-to-green move I was anticipating from last nights watch list and proceeded to rip to almost $13.00 from just below $12.00. After having a good morning, I decided to shut down my laptop. As a result I missed the 2nd set-up off last night's watch list in $WTW which came around mid-day.

I really don't mind missing trades as that's a part of trading. Besides everything's always 100 in hind sight!

Before moving onto my watches; I wanted to highlight one observation. Afternoon break outs are working again!!! That's not to say I'll be looking to aggressively trade afternoons now but I'll be a bit more open to it now should I see a really top quality set-up.

Now onto my best ideas for tomorrow:

$PIRS I believe this stock has a second green day in it after peaking out of it bull flag on the daily chart. This stock has a low float and close about 40 cents off all-time highs. It reported earnings after hours and is yet to show any sort of reaction. I would love to see it open around $4, show some slight weakness for the red-to-green + break of whole @ $4 play. This stock has the potential to at least touch the $4.40 all time high and possibly even break into new high territory.

$SHLD has finally made a decisive move out of the range I highlighted on Monday night. Based on its recent trading history; I believe this stock has more upside potential. The break of today high which was also a penny below the half dollar ($11.50) could see this stock rip to $12 and then possibly $13. Ideally I would love to see this stock form an intra-day flag beneath $11.50 then break out with volume.

$WTW another stock I've been stalking for the past couple days. Finally made the push I've been anticipating today when I wasn't paying attention! lol No need to fear missing out though as I believe this is only the start of this up leg. I would not be surprised if this stock touches $25 tomorrow and hopefully I'll be holding it long! I don't see a play in it from the open as its a bit extended intra-day. So I'll be keeping an eye on it for some sort of intra-day flag or late-day consolidation break out for the long.

$DATA textbook earnings flag + this stock trades very clean. $60.75 has acted as staunch resistance today. So the ideal set-up in this for me would be an open just below $60.75; slight weakness then red-to-green push through the resistance level with volume for a push to at minimum the low $62.00's.

If I see anything else worth watching based on pre-market activity in the morning as was the case with $MTBC today; I'll try to tweet about it...so be sure to follow me on twitter!

Watches for 5/10/2017

So after my first real session live, I made no trades.

Apparently my broker was having some technical issues with its platform and no short trades were allowed until around mid-day and thankfully so!

The only trade I attempted to make today was a short on $SHLD when it hard appeared to be setting up for a tank. However, my short order was rejected and initially I was disappointed as it dropped around 10 cents from where I would have entered putting me up immediately. I then turned away from  my laptop for a few minutes only to check back to see that I would have been stopped out for a loss if I had been able to take the trade.

Although I don't mind taking a losing trade; as taking small losses are a part of profitable trading; I should never have been attempting to trade $SHLD for the simple reason it WAS TRADING THIN AND HAD NO FREAKING ORDER FLOW/VOLUME!!! So even a tiny buy order could have and did eventually spike the stop 10-15 cents in mere seconds/minutes. I have a weakness for taking "set-ups" in stocks when they are thinly traded and I need to work really hard to avoid this.

Further $SHLD was still stuck inside the $10/$11 range I alluded to last night and really I should not be looking to touch this stock until it breaks it range or heavy volume starts coming in.

One of the changes I have made is to increase the minimum average trading volume in my nightly scan to 1,000,000 shares/day. Even so; I will make a special effort to stay away from stocks  that have no volume intra-day.

So with that (mouthful) being said; here are my watches for tomorrow:

$WTW still like this stock long; it put in a nice inside day today and I'll be watching tomorrow for a break of today's high and for a possible push up towards $25.20

$EXAS after a powerful breakout and strong run-up this stock has formed its 2nd "mini-flag" on slightly lower volume. I believe a break out of this flag (and whole number $35) could see a push to $36.15 and possible second break out into new highs.

$OSUR almost text book earnings flag here. A break of today's high could see a push to $15.72 and possibly even new 52-week highs.

$TRUE liked the chart set-up before I realized its up after hours on earnings news. Will be keeping an eye in case it set-ups a red-to-green or OPR break in the first 30 mins of trading.

$VRX beat chart; highly shorted with monster breakout on monster volume; very likely that it will have some follow through on the open tomorrow. I will be looking for a weak open then possible buy on red-to-green move or OPR breakout.

My best ideas for Tuesday May 9th, 2017

So on my first day live, I was able to make no trades. It took hours of back and forth with my broker before I could get my account funds confirmed then to get my account assigned to the SureTrader Pro platform. By time everything it was settled it was just about market close.

Not that I would have made any trades any ways. All of the best opportunities recently have been in the first 30 mins - 1 hour after the open. Rest of the day volume drys up and it has mostly been chop with one or maybe two strong stocks that keep running right through the day.

Plus I had to get my platform configured properly and set up my charts etc. Now I am all set and ready to go including the plays I will be laser focused on tomorrow in order of preference:

$WTW bounced nicely off 22ish support after selling off hard following it earnings gap last week. This stock has been one of the leading stocks in this recent market rally and I expect this bounce to follow through into tomorrow. Will be watching for a break of today's high ($23.45) and push to last week's high of $25.20.

$AMD after crashing hard last week on an earnings disappointment; this stock has been unable to muster any sort of bounce even as the overall markets push to new all-time highs. I will be keeping an on this stock for a possible short on a break of $10 tomorrow if the markets are weak. If do short this target; my target will be the January low of $9.42.

$IMMU  poised to break into new 52-week highs through $7.15 out of a multi-week base following an earnings breakout on Friday. Ideally I would like to see this stock go side ways for 3-5 day before it breaks out but this one could still work in spite of this. If I do buy this breakout; my target will be the half dollar magnet ($7.50).

$MDXG this highly shorted stock has been on fire: up 15% in the past 5 days and up 50% in the past month or so. After 5 up days in a row, the odds of a pullback is now very high. I will be looking to short this stock on a break of Monday's low (14ish) for a push down to $13.50. If, however, the markets are weak tomorrow I will try to hold a partial with $13.00 target as these extended stock can tank more than is expected before bouncing.

$SHLD trading a narrow $1 range over the past couple weeks beneath it 10 and 20 ma's following a recent 10/20 bearish cross. Last time it did the opposite of this in last March/early April; the range break resulted in a solid 2 point move in only 2 days. I am expecting a similar move in the coming days expect to the downside. Note however, any shorts within the range must be take with $10 support as the target until this stock breaks. Given this stock is highly shorted, another scenario I am open to is playing a potential short squeeze on a break of $11 resistance but the stock must first break $11 before considering a long!!!

Best of luck tomorrow...let's do this!!!

Watchlist for Monday, April 17th 2017

With pretty much all of the major indexes breaking and closing below support last Thursday and breadth indicators such at the McClellan Oscillator and $VIX far from indicating over sold levels; I am leaning bearish tomorrow unless we get a huge gap down in the markets in which case I'll be looking for a bounce.

Will be eyeing $CALI for continued push up to the $3.75-$4.00 level.

Will be looking to short this if it can morning spike up to the $24 area then set-up some sort of intra-day reversal pattern.

Eyeing $ESPR for a long trade over $40.00. Has the potential to run to $42.00-$42.50 area.

Idea in $CNAT almost identical to that of $AXON. I will be looking for a short if it spikes up to resistance + whole number $8.00 and then forms an intra-day reversal pattern.

Will be eyeing $WTW above previous day's high for a possible push to $18.00

Looking for this stock to bounce around the $42.00 support level after a nasty sell-off in the past week.

Oil stocks have been very weak in the recent weeks. This is one is flagging above support at $17.50; will be looking for a short if this level cracks.

Might need a few more days before this set-up plays out. None the less, I'll be eyeing this stock for one of two long plays. Either the break of $31.00 or a pull back and bounce off support at $29.50.