Today I had my best trading day in 10 years of trading. It was today’s One Good Trade.
During that 10 year period I have read over 100 trading books, attended at least two dozen live trading
seminars and read a gazillion online posts from trading “experts”. Despite all of that self-education I
never took the plunge to subscribe to a professional virtual trading floor.
Two years ago I had the good fortune to read “One Good Trade” by Mike Bellafiore of SMB Capital. It opened my
eyes to how actual traders learn and perfect their craft. Coincident to the publication of the book the
movie “Wall Street : Money Never Sleeps” was released. I was fortunate to be invited to attend the first
night with Howard Lindzon of Stocktwits and many of the traders from SMB. Just before the movie Mike
kindly autographed my copy of his book. I have since read it twice.
In January of this year I decided to up my trading game and subscribed to the SMB University. As part of my subscription I can watch and listen to the live online daily Stocks in Play review given most days by Steve Spencer. Each day Steve
reviews that day’s stocks in the news, 2nd day plays and technical plays. I have religiously made notes on
each of Steve’s observations each day since January.
Today Steve’s first stock in play was SRPT. At the time of the review (9am) it had already jumped 16.73
to 31.73 due to news that its eteplirsen drug for treating muscle disorders had shown positive results.
Steve’s advice was to watch the 32 level. It would either fall to perhaps 28 or rise to 34. He said it was
his #1 trade for the day.
I set my alert to 32 and waited. On the open the price dipped to 29.26 and then began a slow climb
to just under 32. Then at 31.56 it began to rise on increasing volume to over 32. It paused there for 2
minutes and then the volume began to increase. I entered at 9:57am @ 32.12. As the price and volume
increased I bought 6 minutes later @ 32.87. I bought again @ 33.71, 35.74, 37.17, 38.77 and 42.77. By
10:16 the 1 minute volume had risen to 428,000 shares.
Each time I bought I set my initial stop loss at .20 above my current average cost so I could ride the price
higher and not get taken out too soon. By the time it reached 43.12 at 10:16 I had raised my stops on
all the positions to 41. At 10:21 I was taken out of all my positions. In just 25 minutes I realized +15.74
cumulative points on the seven blocks: my best single trade in 10 years. The last trade lost 1.72.
The lessons from today are 1) be patient and wait for the trade to develop, 2) watch volume for
confirmation of price, 3) once the trade is in your favor set stops to prevent a loss, 4) understand gravity
will eventually catch up to a hyperbolic move so move your stops up to capture as much of the trade as
possible and 5) pay close attention to what Steve Spencer highlights in the morning meeting.
Days like today in SRPT do not come along that often. You must be prepared mentally and physically
to act quickly and with conviction. Professional sports figures make great plays only after years of daily
practice. Similarly, you can become a successful trader after years of daily practice and make your One
Good Trade.
Zack Porter @zenprofit
No Relevant Positions
