I had a great day today. Actually, I feel like this could be the best I’ve traded in the past year. When I woke up this morning I was excited because there were a bunch of stocks that I’ve traded that had earnings today. And when the market opened, I was all over the place. My alerts were going off all over the place, getting me into trades at levels I knew were good. And then when I was done with one, my next alert went off. So that was my morning. Chop after chop after chop.

So after lunch, I was trying to keep myself from giving any of it back. See, unlike our boy CBA, I’m probably one of the more aggressive traders on the desk. Where he doesn’t take enough size (something I’ve been trying to convince him to do for months now), I sometimes take too much size. That’s a double edged sword that is great on the way up, but can quickly give back profits when you’re wrong. I had a rough week last week, and I wanted to ensure that I kept the money I made this week.

So with the financials starting to fly into the close, I’m sitting there trading half lots. Why? Because I’m protecting my lead. I watched Wachovia run up 70 cents without ever trading a share in it. It went up another point from there. When I finally did start trading, I was trading with much smaller size that I had been in the morning. I left alot of money out there today. When those financials started flying, there were NO down ticks. By risking only $100-$200, I could’ve made an extra $1-$2K. But I didn’t.

I’m happy with how well I did today, but I’m also aware that I have to get better at recognizing when it’s worth it to risk more on a trade, and when it’s not. Like today- when a sector is extremely oversold, starts bouncing back, and is responding well to mediocre/ bad news – that could be a time to risk a little more to catch the long. That’s when I should be more aggressive and hold for significant moves.