It’s time to move on, time to get going
What lies ahead, I have no way of knowing
But under my feet, baby, grass is growing
It’s time to move on, it’s time to get going
Bella,
Yesterday I got absolutely chopped up in JPM. I could not believe how much I lost in such a short amount of time getting whippedand shaken out of my position. My important level was 36, my gameplan was to get short under if it was holding for a move to next major support of 34.50-60 area. This was a trade to hold for me. Important level holding under with major news and a market that was under an important level and trending down on the open. If JPM was to sell off I was not going to wuss out and I was planning on taking off a lot around 75c to cover the trade and then let the rest run.
I got short 1 lot when it held under 36 and the level got tested I waited for it to get tested again and I added another lot. When it was tested again I added another and tightened my stop on all three lots to .02c. 36 lifted and I was stopped out and once it held above 36 I scalped to 23c and was planning on buying more on the pullback to 36. JPM came back to 36 and I had bids in in front of the whole where I was hit and then stopped out immediately. When JPM held under 36 for the second time I got back short thinking that I was in the shakeout and it was ready to go. There was a battle at 36 and 95c and I was short at 36 and was going to add if 95c dropped. 36 lifted again stopped me out and immediantely came back under the level and once it got under 95c I got short and then was stopped out when it got back above 36. That was my last trade and I figured that it was going to be too difficult to make money in so I moved on to CHK and AVP.
I had no clue how much money in JPM as I dont really look at my PnL bc I am trying to make good trades and not focus on how money money was made/lost. I made a couple trades in AVP when it was under 21.00 and could not put any more orders in bc I was stopped out for the day. yesterday was my first day to be stopped out and It wasn’t the best feeling. I wasn’t so pissed that I lost so much money but that I was done for the day by 10:45 and couldn’t trade anymore. I made a couple poor trades in AVP and DE after JPM and that is what really pissed me off. I should have waited for better setups after I took so many small losses and tried to grind my day back one trade at a time.
My question is even though I followed my plan in JPM about where I was getting short/adding to my position, when do you say enough is enough and move on to a better stock where there is easier money? I think I was so stuck on JPM bc yesterday AVP held under my 21 level and I was not in it. It had a huge opening drive down to 20 and I could not stop thinking about why I didnt get short that morning when it held under that big IP with a seller and I had it on my screen.
Even though I couldn’t trade for the remainder of the afternoon and lost more money than I have so far, I learned that you can lose more than you think by taking a lot of small rips and I will notice myself doing that from here on out. On a positive note, JPM had the exact same pattern going into the close that it had on Friday and I was able to chop it up on the DEMO. Would have made back everything if I had still been in the game….
BELLA
Good question. One that many of us struggle with. I too got chopped up in JPM yesterday. I ended up stopping myself out and retreating to my office for the rest of the trading day.
After trading a set up like JPM I first ask if it was In Play. At one point during the open GMan squawked over SMB Real-Time that JPM was in fact not In Play. And that it was a waste of time. I guess he was correct. But after my self-imposed stop out I considered whether I chose a Stock In Play. My sense after my review was that it was worth watching after the 2B loss, Friday reaction and the incessant weekend cable coverage of JPM, including Jamie Dimon on Meet the Press.
So next I ask whether the tape offered opportunities for me to protect my risk. It did. You mentioned a bunch of longs and shorts around the 36 level. I made many of those trades myself. But I was able to exit with small and definable losses. That is what we want when we take losses.
Next I ask like you whether I overtraded JPM. There does come a point where if the stock is not working you ought to move on, or wait for the stock to move away from the battle price of 36. Look I got chopped up in JPM. I had size on a bunch of plays short and long. And they didn’t work. Most of the trades offered an excellent risk/reward. On the shorts we were looking for a continuation trend. And on the longs we thought above 37 was a likely target. 2c and 3c and 6c of risk were worth those gains.
There is a trading clock that goes off in my head that says enough. GMan usually says. “stop trading JPM and just take a position.” That clock didn’t go off in my head until a bunch of losses. If you have not developed that trading clock yet then try the number four. Four losing trades in a stock and then move on.
But hey the stock didn’t behave like we thought. It happens. But I thought given all the news in JPM and the perceived ability for it to move away from 36 that we made a bunch of good trades.
So no worries on the JPM trading. There will be easier stocks to trade, like and HD today.
Bella
no relevant positions
