It was good to get back to work today.  Glad to put the low volume holiday trading in the rear view mirror.  And looking to see how we start the year.  Today was the first day of our January class.  Nine talented, eager, new trainees.  I saw two working way too hard today as Steve and I left.  Steve and I had a spirited debate about a new seating chart that took about an hour longer than either of us had.  And so we didn’t get out until late.  And there were two new trainees still working.  We now have some evidence as to who will be the two best traders in this class.

I traded  AAPL on the Open.  It was a difficult stock.  AAPl traded above and below it’s opening of 93.15ish.  So the first two moves were tricky.  AAPL did hold above it’s opening price and traded cleanly up to 94.20.  The move from 93.20 to 94.20 was easy.  There was some resistance at 94.20.  The bid could not hold at 94.20.  Finally the bid did hold the 94.20 bid and I aggressively paid the 94.25 decrementing offer.  Why?

AAPl was in an intraday uptrend.  The 20c bid finally had held.  The 25c offers were decrementing.  Technically AAPL looked promising after a strong session on Friday.  Fundamentally Mr. Job’s letter providing color on his health brought some premarket buying.  Mr. Job’s health had weighed AAPL down recently.  Rumors that he was ill caused AAPL to trade significantly lower on multiple occasions last quarter.  The Street dislikes uncertainty.  So his letter provided some clarity that some new buyers had sought.

Paying the 25c offer didn’t work.  It was good trade.  I would make the trade again.  It was a trade normally with a win rate of eighty percent, with a downside of 5c and and upside of 50cplus.  This aggressive trade just happened to fall into that 20 percent category that fail.

And then AAPL got weak.  It started an intraday downtrend.  This was an easy play as well.  The move down towards 93.15 was slow, steady, and easy to game.  Then SPY suddenly gained some strength around 92.15ish and AAPL reversed.  Some might argue that AAPL bounced off of its opening price.  Some might argue that I should have bought around 93.15ish again and expected support.  I would respectfully disagree.  The move down was slow and steady.  AAPL was in a clear intraday downtrend.  The sellers had won at 93.25-.30 after the most intraday volume at this level.  AAPL just turned because the market got stronger and not because of its opening price support.  This was a hard move to game.  And I got beat up a bit in this reversal.

Choosing AAPL on the open was a good decision.  It just was one of those days where it was difficult for me to trade considering my trading style.  But we learned a very significant level today in AAPL.  Perhaps tomorrow we can use the 94.50 level to profit.   There was a ton of buying at the 94.50 level into the Close though the market got very weak. Perhaps tomorrow will offer some chops that today didn’t for me.

Best of luck with your trading!