Today I traded REN, AUPH and CTSH for puny gains. Not my best trading today and not to mention that it has been a slow start to October. Three days in and today is the first day I took any real trades and saw some good set ups.
REN faked me out big time! The stock was gapping up huge pre-market. I shorted in the 30’s a few minutes after open with HOD as my risk. Out of no where it spiked .70. I of course covered my position according to my trading plan. After I covered the stock it TANKED! It fell over $2.50! This might go down as the biggest fake out I have experienced. So disappointed I got faked out and missed the incredible downside.
AUPH I started in short in the 3.60s on the ramp after the morning pull. Yesterday HOD of 3.75 was my risk. However, it kept going. I decided to ride this one out since I had appropriate size. What I did right on this play was how I sized in. I kept the size small and added on .1 increments. It went para and it then crashed as expected. The only thing I regret on this play is not being more aggressive on adds on the way down. I tried to add a few times but did not get filled. If I had added on the back side my average would have been substantially better. Due to the poor average I covered all my position in the low 3.60’s and only walked away with $461 on this.
CTSH was crazy. Frustration kind of got the best of me on this. I missed a few good short attempts in the AM on it. I finally got in short anticipating HOD rejection. No such luck so I exited. I shorted again pre-maturely and even chased the bid to get in–I know better then to do that! That’s what I did wrong. When it kept going I tried to get out two times but I guess I was to slow on the trigger and it skipped right past my exits. That killed me and resulted in a MUCH larger loss then planned. Third time though was a charm and I made back almost all my losses on this. I had good patients on my covers. Commissions killed me however, since I had to smack the offer to get out on my second short attempt and chassed the bid to get in. Poor discipline on this trade.
Glad I am ending the day green, but will try to be more disciplined tomorrow. I haven’t been feeling well either and that definitely effected me some today.
