As an intraday trader it is important to have a playbook of Trades to Hold.  These are longer term intraday trades where we do not cover unless there is a reason to cover.  And this means something substantially different with our stocks.  I made a Trade to Hold in CVX on the Open and then I covered without anything really substantial happening.  Was I a wuss?   Let’s discuss.

Often developing traders believe they are “trading like a man” for holding a position or “willing to take some pain.” Sometimes I think these traders confuse themselves with Maximus from “Gladiator” (music by Hans Zimmer for die hard fans).   Trading does not require the courage of a gladiator.  Pretending it does is sometimes strange.

So I am in this CVX short.  It is working.   Technically below 61.90 there is potential downside to 60.  Crude is below 60, a support level, and weakening.  61.75 is  our BFF (Best Friend Forever) for this intraday trade.  61.75 is substantial intraday resistance.  So I put on a Trade to Hold.

And then something funny happens on the way down to 61.10.  CVX is not showing us weakness on the tape.  Objectively I determine that CVX went down mainly because Crude weakened.  CVX is not necessarily very weak.  It is just that the oil sector got weak.  But chop anyway.

I am not interested in proving I am as tough as Maximus.  I am interested in dispassionately observing the market and making trading decisions that are in my best interest.  And trying to hold the longest.  And attempting to hold the most.  Because you want to show your backbone is a little odd and not a sustainable long term strategy.

So CVX was not showing me weakness.  And I had a choice.  Should I cover or hold?  Objectively my indicators told me that this position was a cover.  So what did I do?  I covered.  A cover is a cover is a cover.

I started with a plan to hold for a longer time period.  But then the market presented me a gift.  It spoke to me.  It said, “Mr. Bella I am no longer weak at these prices.”  And so I adjusted my trading plan.  Was I wuss?  No.  I did what was in my self-interest and closed a position that at this time did not offer an excellent risk/reward at this price.

It is tough enough to be a consistently profitable trader.  I don’t need to make up fake standards that have nothing to do with making money to judge myself.  I am not Maximus.  I am Bella, consistently profitable trader, interested in making rational trading decisions.

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