Overview
Another week of chop or false breakouts. I had a sneaking suspicion that the Uranium Sector breakout was going to chop around and I did end up getting stopped out of some of the initial trades. It feels like most breakout trades are acting similar – The main breakout day, followed by a stop hunt low volume day or two, then back in the direction of the breakout. Very frustrating to try get the position size and stop location. On the positive side, my open positions are mostly well in the green with 5 positions currently sitting on 2+ X R. I am still holding too many open positions though and will be looking to cut the low volume/stagnant positions.
Metrics
Trade Analysis
Two quality trades this week were ZIM and CAN. First ZIM, I recently listened to a podcast on trading Index rebalances. Super interesting and much more complex than I thought, but after that, I did look at the current ASX 300 list and noticed ZIM was 298 or something like that. It also happened to be pushing up against a resistance AND the PGE prices were the best performing commodities. So I set an alert at 29.56. The alert triggered early in the trading day so I took the trade. The spread is super wide on this so when it spiked quickly in my direction, I did take 1 3rd off and tightened the stop straight away. In hindsight, I should have stuck to the sell rules and given it 3 days! I am still holding 2/3rd of the position, and plan on giving it room, 24 day EMA will be trailing stop.
CAN – This was an Episodic Pivot. It came up on my RVOL scanner early in the morning, my position entry was not the best, but after glancing at the news catalyst (A government issued cannabis producer license) and the chart showing a line basing level, I thought this was still an A trade. It did run pretty hard in my direction so I took 1/3rd off 2 days later. I am guessing this will be quite volatile in this new bullish price discovery, so I need to make sure my stop is out of the way during the day and only make decisions in the closing hour.
Mistakes
Some trades that I shouldn’t have taken were OSL.. I was trying to scalp the level 2 as this was already up 50 or 60% on the day. But my impatience and flip flopping confidence in the trade had me in and out for a small loss, had I been more patient, the trade would have actually been a pretty decent winner as it did have another leg up half an hour after I closed the trade, but 8 times out of 10 I am too slow and lose money on these trades. AVZ – Trying to put a breakdown trade on this and LKE at a somewhat random entry was never a good idea. The short trade was 2 or 3 days earlier. The price of these stocks are in no mans land for my trade setups/style.
Goals for the week
- Stop taking any less that A setups.
- Better trade tagging in when putting them on
- Wider stops
- Hold off on taking first 1/3rd profit if it is less than up 2 X R
- Close stagnant positions