Yesterday, support held and the bulls kept going today, indices are up 1.5-2%.
The early morning rally faded soon, but around lunch hour, the market started running again. At the same time, gold and silver sold off big.
The market got back a nice piece of the losses from the past 8 trading sessions. The bulls would like to see some confirmation tomorrow. Maybe earnings can help with that. After hours earnings include AAPL, ISRG, VMW, CMG, RVBD. While ISRG and VMW surprised to the upside, RVBD right now is selling off like crazy.
AAPL-numbers blew it out, but shares halted for now. AMZN is reacting well, up over 2 points AH.
Trades
I sold TZOO (earnings day after tomorrow) for +7.10% and got stopped out of JVA +6.51%. Holding CHKP.
I bought some more stocks today, got in VHC too soon though, and rather late in AMZN:
VHC long 37.85
SOHU long 84.49
CRM long 158.30
GMCR long 91.06, already took of 1/4 at 1R and 1/4 at 2R
RAX long 43.74
AMZN long 218.01
Showing posts with label TZOO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TZOO. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Lots of blood, but support holding (for now)
Indices went lower once more, but they all held their next support area. So some positive signs for the bulls here, although bears are still the big winners of course. We gave back about half the gains of the latest rally.
Meanwhile gold and silver keep rallying while financials keep bleeding.
Trades
I've bought 3 stocks today. TZOO and JVA went higher on big volume and CHKP was an earnings play.
The trades:
JVA long 21,44
TZOO long 80.90, took of 1/4 at 1R
CHKP long 58.70, took of 1/4 at 1R and 1/4 more at 2R
TZOO: earnings on Thursday, so I will be selling (most of) it tomorrow or the day after.
Meanwhile gold and silver keep rallying while financials keep bleeding.
Trades
I've bought 3 stocks today. TZOO and JVA went higher on big volume and CHKP was an earnings play.
The trades:
JVA long 21,44
TZOO long 80.90, took of 1/4 at 1R
CHKP long 58.70, took of 1/4 at 1R and 1/4 more at 2R
TZOO: earnings on Thursday, so I will be selling (most of) it tomorrow or the day after.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Markets showing signs of life
Wednesday, US Markets went down in the first hour an a half of trading but then reversed. The bulls were very determined, right up to the close. The S&P ended back in the range of the past 2 days. However, the Dow and the Nasdaq both closed higher, a bullish sign.
Other differences between the indexes: the Dow ended above it's 20- and 50-day moving averages, but the S&P stayed right under it. The Nasdaq on the other hand is still far from these moving averages, but did bounce on it's 100MA.
Silver and gold had a very strong day, silver making new highs. The euro fell back after hitting resistance at 1.42.
Swingtrades
Still no swingtrades for me, but I happened to stumble over the TZOO-chart. TZOO was a swingtrade I closed breakeven more than a week ago. My target was 52, below is the chart... No further comment *sigh*.
Daytrades
I didn't take any of Stewies trades since I was too busy with my own and I actually missed the entries. Too bad, AMZN and SPWRA both went up nicely.
My first trade was right at the open in SPPI, a trade I took on a recommendation from someone else in the chatroom, NYCTrader. Price spiked past daily resistance on volume. In and out for a mediocre gain.
And the same could be said from the trade in GILD. In on the bounce of the 9EMA, near R2 and the round number 41. Also, the 15m-chart formed a red hammer. The stock shot up fast and I sold partially at R3. Then followed another spike higher on lower volume, making me sell some more. Last remaining shares I sold just under 41.64, gap fill from 03/09/11.
A very profitable morning, giving me back some confidence after 2 lousy days!
Other differences between the indexes: the Dow ended above it's 20- and 50-day moving averages, but the S&P stayed right under it. The Nasdaq on the other hand is still far from these moving averages, but did bounce on it's 100MA.
Silver and gold had a very strong day, silver making new highs. The euro fell back after hitting resistance at 1.42.
Swingtrades
Still no swingtrades for me, but I happened to stumble over the TZOO-chart. TZOO was a swingtrade I closed breakeven more than a week ago. My target was 52, below is the chart... No further comment *sigh*.
I didn't take any of Stewies trades since I was too busy with my own and I actually missed the entries. Too bad, AMZN and SPWRA both went up nicely.
My first trade was right at the open in SPPI, a trade I took on a recommendation from someone else in the chatroom, NYCTrader. Price spiked past daily resistance on volume. In and out for a mediocre gain.
My second trade was PHM. In on the bounce of 7.25 (resistance from the past 2 days, now support). It worked fine but required a lot of patience. Slow mover, I got out little under R3-pivot.
Third and sixth trade were in MOTR (yes, 6 trades, I was a busy bee! Still, it didn't feel like overtrading although in hindsight I better refused some of the setups). The first one I got in on break of the hammer-high. Got stopped out...
The second trade in MOTR was not much better, in on the break of the base (with rounded bottom). Price didn't really move, while the markets were spiking up. This divergence made me scratch the trade just above breakeven.
DFS was a nice one, in on the bounce of the 20EMA after which price slowly creeped higher. Out partial on R3, some other partials just after that. In hindsight, I shouldn't have sold in so many times, although HOD was nearby. My stop was already in the money at the time, I should have kept some on, since price just consolidated sideways. The 23.55-level was a better sell-point, lots of bearish candles and price more extended from the EMA's. Still, not a bad trade, had a decent profit on this one.
And the same could be said from the trade in GILD. In on the bounce of the 9EMA, near R2 and the round number 41. Also, the 15m-chart formed a red hammer. The stock shot up fast and I sold partially at R3. Then followed another spike higher on lower volume, making me sell some more. Last remaining shares I sold just under 41.64, gap fill from 03/09/11.
A very profitable morning, giving me back some confidence after 2 lousy days!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Bounce from support
And a huge one it was! Market bounced from support (100MA) right at the open, to grind higher thru the day and end strong. Crude, gold, silver were all down, and not recovering as much as most stocks.
Dip buyers still come in the market, so no real panic yet it seems. Still, I can't imagine the market going straight up from here, we'll probably see some lower prices in the next few days.
The dollar rallied sharply during the pre-market selloff, but gave back all of its gains once the market started to rise. Even in these circumstances, the dollar can't hold any gains, so what will happen if the markets starts rallying again?!?
Swingtrades
Regarding my remark concerning TZOO in the previous post, I stand corrected, the stock made a new high today!
I covered 1/2 of my positions in SOA, GMO and NUVA, right at the open. I sold the remaining shares of SOA and GMO a little later on. SOA because it looked too strong and GMO cause it almost hit my target and now started going back up. Good thing I sold, both stocks ended the day much higher and closed very strong!
I kept NUVA since it looked weak. It barely bounced, unlike the market. However, I adjusted the stoploss to 25.55, just above the opening range high and nicely 'in the money'.
The results so far this week for my swingtrades aren't staggering, just near breakeven for now;
PAG: -4.05%
PCX: -5.77%
TZOO: -0.20%
SOA: +3.05%
GMO: +5.61%
NUVA up 3.7% and still holding half my position.
Daytrades
I missed some great buying opportunities in POT, SLB and XHB. They all shot up at the open, not my style to be buying early in the day with so much volatility going on! I prefer seeing an intraday V-shape and than buy when the time has come (judging how extended price is, volume etc). I gave SLB a try but it felt like I was chasing price so the trade was scratched for a very small loss. Ten minutes later a rather small risk entry came by, but I didn't take it. Price went up with the market afterwards, so another missed opportunity.
2 minute chart for SLB:
Dip buyers still come in the market, so no real panic yet it seems. Still, I can't imagine the market going straight up from here, we'll probably see some lower prices in the next few days.
The dollar rallied sharply during the pre-market selloff, but gave back all of its gains once the market started to rise. Even in these circumstances, the dollar can't hold any gains, so what will happen if the markets starts rallying again?!?
Swingtrades
Regarding my remark concerning TZOO in the previous post, I stand corrected, the stock made a new high today!
I covered 1/2 of my positions in SOA, GMO and NUVA, right at the open. I sold the remaining shares of SOA and GMO a little later on. SOA because it looked too strong and GMO cause it almost hit my target and now started going back up. Good thing I sold, both stocks ended the day much higher and closed very strong!
I kept NUVA since it looked weak. It barely bounced, unlike the market. However, I adjusted the stoploss to 25.55, just above the opening range high and nicely 'in the money'.
The results so far this week for my swingtrades aren't staggering, just near breakeven for now;
PAG: -4.05%
PCX: -5.77%
TZOO: -0.20%
SOA: +3.05%
GMO: +5.61%
NUVA up 3.7% and still holding half my position.
Daytrades
I missed some great buying opportunities in POT, SLB and XHB. They all shot up at the open, not my style to be buying early in the day with so much volatility going on! I prefer seeing an intraday V-shape and than buy when the time has come (judging how extended price is, volume etc). I gave SLB a try but it felt like I was chasing price so the trade was scratched for a very small loss. Ten minutes later a rather small risk entry came by, but I didn't take it. Price went up with the market afterwards, so another missed opportunity.
2 minute chart for SLB:
Other stocks I almost entered were MCP and INFY, both on bounce from support. MCP I saw too late and I didn't want to chase price. It went down fast and on huge volume, a sign the down move was probably coming to an end. The white circle indicates where I was watching.
What I should have done was stalk the stock for another low risk entry!
INFY rather grinded down and wasn't too extended from the moving averages, so I didn't really trusted the action here. Price rested on the 200MA and after a triple bottom, it started moving higher to close near HOD.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
The very first one...
The title already suggested it, this is my very first post on this blog. A blog about trading, about my intake on the markets, my trades, but also about strategies, techniques, influences of other traders etc. In the first place, this will be a journal to me, a tool to review my trades and see which mistakes I make.
First of all, a few words about who I am and what I'm doing here. I started trading several years ago (1998 - the tech-bubble-years...), blew up an account and gave up trading for many years.
A few years back, my interested for trading was revived and I started to educate myself through books, forums, blogs etc. In 2010 I got a big aversion of my 9 to 5 job. All kinds of problems made me lose my motivation. I told my boss he could kiss my... No, I didn't do that, but it crossed my mind ;-)
I had a couple of months to decide what I wanted to do next and could only come up with one thing I really wanted to do. Yes, you guessed right, trading of course.
Easier said than done. There are thousands of ways to earn an income through trading; stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds... Short-term trading , longer term strategies, investing...
I had to find my thing, my edge. For me, it's swingtrading with a little daytrading on the side (esp. in these choppy times, swingtrading isn't really a 'save' approach...)
I'm a technical trader, fundamentals don't mean sh*t to me. Reading charts to look for setups already takes enough time as it is. Moreover, the technical aspect always ment more to me than the fundamental. Respect for all the Warren Buffets of this world, but it's just not my thing!
Enough of my rambling, next you'll find my trades of Friday, March 12.
Swingtrades (stock, entry price, SL=stop loss)
SOA (short) 22.28 SL22.90
GMO (short) 4.91 SL5.35
PCX (short) 21.90 SL23.15
NUVA (short) 26.29 SL27.75
TZOO (long) 44.60 SL42.00
PAG (long) 20.615 SL19.80
The candles on GMO and PCX don't look very promessing, maybe I'll scratch these Monday-morning. In hindsight, it seems that I'm chasing price on both these trades. They are base and break shorts, but in both cases, price is extended from the short-term moving averages I use (9EMA and 20SMA on the daily chart). I probably had to wait and look for a better entry.
SOA and NUVA are also breakout shorts. They both closed weak and look very promessing.
TZOO and PAG are base and break trades long and both closed strong and with volume.
I'll post profittaking. Stoplosses will be adjusted whenever I feel necessary. I don't want to move my stops too quick, something I still have to learn. One of my rookie mistakes: take profits before my goal is reached, afraid to lose profits. Instead it would be better to let the winners run of course.
However, I do cut my losses when needed. I always use stop losses and only adjust them in the right direction (up for longs, down for shorts). Well, there's always the exception to the rule, as one of my daytrades proves... Ouch!
Daytrades
One of my first trades of the day was in OPEN. It was mentioned in the HCPG-newsletter a few days in a row and on the daily chart it hit 89 for two consecutive days. The previous day closed strong on volume and I expected some follow-thru. And that was exactly what happened. The stock went south in the first minute but than shot up thru 89. I got in at 89.48 and sold partially at 90 and 90.45. Than price came back down.
My big mistake here was to lower my stop to give the stock room to consolidate. I should have kept SL at breakeven or under the shooting star, a clear sign of lower prices to come! I got stopped out when price went thru the former low of the day. Or how a winner turns in to a loser... A rookie mistake.
My second entry however was much better, after price consolidated for 15 minutes and formed a hammer. I got in at 90.22 and sold partial at 90.60. This time I wouldn't make the same mistake and moved my stop near breakeven. Actually, I moved my stop up too fast and got stopped out, almost to the cent. If my stop was 3-5 cents lower I would still be in the trade and got the 91-breakthrough!! However, I didn't feel like entering a third time and I let this great opportunity pass me by. After having almost the perfect entry, I was kicking myself for letting this slip by me!
On the image (mostly 5-minute charts for daytrades) you'll find my long entries (green arrows) and my exits (red).
Another trade I took was CPWM on the break of yesterdays high (11.28). The stock broke out Wednesday on huge volume and had nice folow-thru on Thursday. That probably would have been a better moment to get in, but I thought I might give it a try here. However, today the stock consolidated and I sold near 11.
NOG and CLF where 2 stocks Stewie from Art of trading got in to. I took his entries and both where nice winners (esp. NOG, up +/- 3%). In CLF I again made the mistake to move my stop up too high (also 3 cents, argghh!) and got stopped out, still with a nice gain though.
While going thru my scanlist, JNPR caught my eye. It was consolidating nicely near 42.10 and I got in at the break. Price formed a shooting star on the 15m-chart and I got out whit a 26 cent gain. Not bad, but no home run. I could have sold partially here and kept the stop at breakeven, but in this rather choppy market, I didn't want to take any more risks. Too bad, cause JNPR ended the day strong under 43!
All in all I ended the day with P&L in the green after missing possible bigger winners in OPEN and CLF (and maybe JNPR, but I consider this to be a good trade, compared to the other 2). 2 losers and 4 winners, not bad, but it should have been 1 loser and 5 winners!
The big issues Friday were exits and emotions. I still have to work hard on this. My entries are not bad, it's the exit/stop that makes (or breaks) the trade!
My big mistake here was to lower my stop to give the stock room to consolidate. I should have kept SL at breakeven or under the shooting star, a clear sign of lower prices to come! I got stopped out when price went thru the former low of the day. Or how a winner turns in to a loser... A rookie mistake.
My second entry however was much better, after price consolidated for 15 minutes and formed a hammer. I got in at 90.22 and sold partial at 90.60. This time I wouldn't make the same mistake and moved my stop near breakeven. Actually, I moved my stop up too fast and got stopped out, almost to the cent. If my stop was 3-5 cents lower I would still be in the trade and got the 91-breakthrough!! However, I didn't feel like entering a third time and I let this great opportunity pass me by. After having almost the perfect entry, I was kicking myself for letting this slip by me!
On the image (mostly 5-minute charts for daytrades) you'll find my long entries (green arrows) and my exits (red).
Another trade I took was CPWM on the break of yesterdays high (11.28). The stock broke out Wednesday on huge volume and had nice folow-thru on Thursday. That probably would have been a better moment to get in, but I thought I might give it a try here. However, today the stock consolidated and I sold near 11.
NOG and CLF where 2 stocks Stewie from Art of trading got in to. I took his entries and both where nice winners (esp. NOG, up +/- 3%). In CLF I again made the mistake to move my stop up too high (also 3 cents, argghh!) and got stopped out, still with a nice gain though.
While going thru my scanlist, JNPR caught my eye. It was consolidating nicely near 42.10 and I got in at the break. Price formed a shooting star on the 15m-chart and I got out whit a 26 cent gain. Not bad, but no home run. I could have sold partially here and kept the stop at breakeven, but in this rather choppy market, I didn't want to take any more risks. Too bad, cause JNPR ended the day strong under 43!
All in all I ended the day with P&L in the green after missing possible bigger winners in OPEN and CLF (and maybe JNPR, but I consider this to be a good trade, compared to the other 2). 2 losers and 4 winners, not bad, but it should have been 1 loser and 5 winners!
The big issues Friday were exits and emotions. I still have to work hard on this. My entries are not bad, it's the exit/stop that makes (or breaks) the trade!
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