Al's blog

Yesterday we featured SQNM as a potential long setup and good for all of our RSS subscribers, you should have noticed that the stock finished up nearly 20% on the day.  This morning the stock found support early in the morning, then shot up throughout the course of the day. Remember to take some money off the table as the stock rises, but we are headed for that 14 dollar area, with the bigger target still up at $22 bucks. 

SQNM Up 20% from yesterday's post

SQNM has been in an uptrend since the middle of '06. The stock has been taking a dive for all of '08. The stock was however able to put in what appears to be a double bottom in early spring. SQNM then rallied to the downtrend line from the '07 high. This test caused a short term reaction down near 7, but the stock quickly rebounded and gapped over the trendline today with a 500% increase in volume. At a minimum SQNM will test the recent '07 swing high and depending on the quality of that test, make a run for the '04 high near $13.50.

SQNM - Trade of the Day

Today I feel like Rocky. Coming off my surgery on Monday I have just finished my 6th day up in a row. Today was uneventful in the morning for all you day traders out there, but the afternoon has proven to be a mover. Today’s gains came from two plays. This morning I found myself cycling through the hot lists over 30 times, unable to pull the trigger. So, half way through the morning, I just called it quits. I finished up $150.02 on the day. Below are my trades on the day: SLM +.14% VRTX +1.51% Today I missed out on two trades that could have net me up roughly $450 bucks. One my trading partner, entered right before I pulled the trigger, and SLM I jumped the gun seconds before the stock exploded up to my target. Tomorrow should prove volatile as the S&P continues this love affair with 1,400. I need to close the week out strongly to make up for my “day off” on Monday.

Today was my first trading day back after a minor outpatient surgery. Nothing more humbling than sitting on a table having your insides scraped out. I was awake during the procedure, so I took this opportunity to meditate on my trading strategies. It did not take long before the bright surgical lights began to give me some new ideas on how I can improve my performance. First off, I do not need to use a lot of money to make money. The only thing I need to make sure of is that I do not have huge down days. This is my new found purpose. Losing days are unavoidable, I just have to keep them in check.

Well today wasn’t all that great, made a whopping $50 bucks, but more importantly, it is my fifth day up in a row. I didn’t have any real homeruns today, and I should have been up much more, but a late morning blunder costs me a $100 bucks.

So today I ran the table on the market. I finished up $214.75 for the day. I have finally come to grips with the fact I don't like using a large part of the portfolio on any given trade. Whenever I begin to use too much, I make bonehead decisions, which end up costing money. The more important thing is that this is my fourth day up in a row and I finished up $327.61 for the week.

Today was one of those days where everything rolled on me. As I am writing this post the Dow is down 4 points. Talk about a flat day. All in all it was a good day. I finished up $53 bucks, which is better than being down. The key to my success is avoiding the blood bath days where I'm down $500-$800 bucks. We're up for the month and that's all that matters at this point. The trade I want to highlight today is SOLF. SOLF was actually a losing trade, but I need to get this out in order to keep a record of my screw up today. My rule states that I have to wait for the break of the high on the 5-minute bar, yet I still pulled the trigger too soon. This silly mistake took me for a $134.64 loss. As I look at my results for the month of May, I'm only up $122.28. While this is not great, I have to remember I have 3 days which account for a -$1,100. So on days like today when my gains are small, I need to just accept them.

Lately, I have been slowly turning things around. I had some significant down days late in April and early May, but I am slowly getting my bearings back again. Today I made $95 bucks, which isn't great, but after the last couple of weeks, I will take it. Today I traded three stocks, SNE, SPWR, and CVLT. SNE made a good run, but I did not close it out fast enough. I am working on finalizing how I trade during certain times of the day, which will greatly improve my bottom line. Tomorrow I am going to continue to apply strict discipline to my trading practices. Now that I'm at the half way point for the month, I need to make sure I step up and close out the month strongly. The toughest thing for me right now is just keeping my head when I'm not making crazy gains each day.

Thank God i was able to close out the week on a strong note.  There is no more empty feeling than going into the weekend down for the day and or week.  I was able to avoid both of these today by finishing up a $274.  The key to today's victory is that I was able to rebound from yesterday's debacle and not let bad habits sink in.  Today I was able to make a decent return without ever using more than 11k per play.  At this point we are in the game of perfecting our trading strategies and growing the account.  I have the rest of my adult life to become "Scarface" in the market.  Right now it's about discipline and preservation of capital. 

So today I lost a little over $500 bucks.  So for the month, I'm down about $300 bucks. Funny thing is all of this loss came from one stock.  It just got away from me.  There are going to be days like this and I don't care who you are, every once in awhile you will take a hit.  This isn't going to work for me as I need to make money in order to survive.  I haven't had a losing month since '07 and I don't plan on starting in May.  The rest of this month will be termed project salvation.  I am going to salvage this month and turn it into something special.  As Denzel said in Man on Fire..."I'm going to take you apart piece by piece." 

So here are my goals. 

1. Finish up for the remaining three weeks in May 
2. Hit a thousand dollars per week
3. Stay Focused

Good Luck Trading

Featured Day Trade of the Day

Solid day for me in the market.   This morning started out flat, and I was tempted to just pass on the morning setups, but I gave it a go.  My first play of the day was J2 Global Communications (JCOM).   The stock was up strongly on the 5-minute chart.  Come to think of it, it didn’t have one red bar.  I was able to sell out of the stock right before the morning reversal came into play, which sent the stock down about 6% at the time of this write-up.  See the chart below.

JCOM Breakout Trade