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Beginners Trading Journal

  #1 (permalink)
223552
melbourne Victoria/australia
 
Posts: 68 since Aug 2012
Thanks Given: 22
Thanks Received: 59

Hi All,

I am a beginner trader, and wanted to share some of my recent trades. I am hoping to get some feedback, and share my thoughts. I am going to try to update with all new trades, but since i can only go over charts outside my full-time job, I only tend to do a couple of trades a week. I decided to trade with real money, as I think it will force me to manage my stops better. So far my P/L is $-500. Doing small trades to minimise losses, profits can come when I regularly pick winners (which seems like it will never happen...)

I am in Australia, so most of my trades are on ASX. I started doing regular trading from beginning of July 2012, and since I have only learned (still learning) charting, most of my trades are based on basic charting principles.

So here we go, On 13/8/12 I went 500 shares short on APA (APA Gas) at $4.72, The attached daily chart showed a break through a support line on Friday 10/08/12. My initial stop loss was the high of 10/8/12 of 4.75, and my target was around 4.40-4.45 ( based on the peaks around $5.10-5.20, and using them in reverse to give me a target range), a good risk/reward ratio.

For the next few days the stock traded under the 4.75 resistance line, and started to edge lower. Yesterday, for the first half of the day, the stock traded mainly between $4.69-4.67, mostly sitting on $4.67 and not going up much, which in my opinion showed further consolidation, before moving further down, so I added to my position and shorted another 500 shares at around $4.68. In the afternoon an announcement came out, and stock went down to $4.57, and closed on the day at $4.62. For the first time a stock behaved as I was hoping it will, and I read it correctly and added to my position. It felt really good!!!!

Since I am a newbie, I cant post links to charts, to show what I mean.... :-((

Today, the stock opened a few cents up, but there was strong volume coming in, and kept pushing it up. When it was touching 4.68, my plan was to wait for reversal, and go short again, as it would been confirming new resistance. More volume started to come in, and kept pushing it up. Once it went over 4.70, I closed half of my position as it looked like it was gathering strength. I was still hoping it was just a spike, and if it went down bellow 4.68, i would have gone short again. Instead it started consolidating around 4.70-4.72, and I closed my position, when started hitting 4.73. Total loss of about $40. As I am writing this, the stock is sitting on $4.80! Another looser to add to a growing list....For a moment, I actually thought, that this will finally play out as expected.... I guess next time.. I will still watch this stock, as it may continue down soon.
From fundamental side of things, APA was one of two bidders for another company, and it looks like the market did not like it. (Stock gradually going down past few weeks). Yesterday APA increased its offer, and this morning the other bidder withdrew.


Stock number 2.
Mirvac Group (MGR)
Long term resistance at around $1.33, broke through on 27/7/12, and has come back twice to retest it, this seem like consolidation, before a move up (hopefully), bought on 15/8/12 on a retest of support line. Stop at the moment is a close bellow support line at $1.33. Target is $1.50. Today still sitting on $1.35, there seem to be strong support around this level, if i start seeing more weakness, and moves down to 1.33, I may exit earlier.


So here is my 5c worth :-), I am open to any suggestions, or advice.

Cheers,

Felix

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  #3 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
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223552 View Post
Since I am a newbie, I cant post links to charts, to show what I mean.... :-((

Attach charts instead of linking to external image sites and it will work fine.

Mike

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  #4 (permalink)
223552
melbourne Victoria/australia
 
Posts: 68 since Aug 2012
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Thanks Mike!,

I have now attached 2 charts. One for APA, and the other is MGR

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  #5 (permalink)
223552
melbourne Victoria/australia
 
Posts: 68 since Aug 2012
Thanks Given: 22
Thanks Received: 59

Another position I have open at the moment is CSR. It has been in a long down trend for nearly 2 years, and resistance line was touched a number of times, making it fairly significant. It broke through the resistance on 10/08/12 and also closed above the resistance line that day. I entered long the following day at $1.42, with my stop being a close bellow the low of 10/08/12, which is $1.365. I am not completely confident with this trade, as I have noticed that sloping resistance/support lines often have false break-outs, and in this case, I do not have a clear target. I have set my target at $1.70-1.80, there seems to be a support around that level between Feb - May 2012 (chart attached). It is also a significant low from March 2009.

Today I also went long on a Mini AUS/USD 1 contract at $1.444.
On the chart I have drawn the resistance line at approx $1.044. This line was broken on 27/7/12, and then retested on 2/8/12. If i saw that trade, I would have gone long with a stop of 27/7/12 low at $1.038. I would have moved my stop to support line after it was retested, and I would have been stopped out on 17/08/12 with a close bellow support line. However, the stock has gone up above that support line, and I think it is still a long trade. My stop will be a daily close bellow the support line of $1.044. My target is $1.07
Chart attached.

Cheers

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  #6 (permalink)
223552
melbourne Victoria/australia
 
Posts: 68 since Aug 2012
Thanks Given: 22
Thanks Received: 59

Whenever I go into a position with my broker, I have to set a stop somewhere, so that my margin to trade is reduced. It also protects my capital if things go against me very quickly. The downside of this, I could be stopped out of a trade prematurely on intra day swings of the instrument I trade. I went long on AUS/USD Mini, I had to set a stop loss somewhere, so I had it set on $1.043 which is slightly higher than a previous low swing. 30 minutes after I placed my trade, the pair went down to $1.428, and took me out of my position (-$20). Sometimes it feels like there is someone on the other side of the market specifically playing against you ......:-)
Over night, the pair traded strongly up, and closed well above my support line of $1.444. I am still looking at, and if I see an opportunity, I will try going long again.

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  #7 (permalink)
223552
melbourne Victoria/australia
 
Posts: 68 since Aug 2012
Thanks Given: 22
Thanks Received: 59

AUS/USD

The pair has closed bellow my s/r line of 1.044 on Thursday. I did not see an opportunity to go long, and so I did not have a position. The following day, it closed further bellow $1.044. Since its closed bellow my s/r $1.044, I may actually look to go short on this trade, if i see a retest of $1.044, I could also consider a long position, if the price goes above $1.044, but I will need some confirmation on either side of the trade If the stock goes down, it may go to $1.02, this level has been touched many times over the past 2-3 years. For now I will stay away from this pair, until I can see something that makes sense to me.

I have done my weekly scan, and have come up with a dozen of stocks, I will next, assess each stock in details on weekly and daily charts to see if there is a major s/r line developing or been broken. ALL ORDS (ASX) has been going up strongly for nearly 2 months, and has broken a major resistance line drawn from the peak of 2007. As the result there are many stock that have gone up strongly, and reaching/or crossed some major s/r lines. I think I will trade some stocks that are showing potential over the next week. However, theis could be a false breakout, and everything can start going down again.

I will post any new trades I make next week. My previous positions are still open.

At the end of next week I will also post my monthly P?L, as well as all the stats in regards to my trades.

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  #8 (permalink)
223552
melbourne Victoria/australia
 
Posts: 68 since Aug 2012
Thanks Given: 22
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On Monday I opened another 3 positions. I do a manual scan at the moment. my basic scan criterias are average volume > 300000 shares, and price over $1. Basically I am after reasonably sized, and liquid stock. This is a very time consuming process, as I end up with a list of about 200 stock. I then go through each chart to see if anything catches my attention, I then go through it in details. This process takes 2-3 hours at least, and some weeks I do not get to do it. I did my scan on the weekend, and had a list of about 10-12 stocks. 3 of them I missed, as they made big moves the week before, Lesson here: stick to your plan!
The 3 stocks that I opened are:
FMG (Fortescue Metals), strong resistance at $4 on a weekly chart (attached), and also confirmed on a daily chart, there potentially was also a head/shoulder pattern on a daily chart as well, which could have got me into the trade earlier. I went short 200 on Monday at $4.04. The stock closed bellow $4 on Fri 24th Aug at $3.98. My stop loss was high of Friday which was $4.09. Potentially there was an earlier trade when the neck line was broken on Fri 20th July. I would have placed a stop the high of previous day at $4.55, which was not touched. In the last 2 days the stock has moved down sharply, and I have moved my stop to $4, being s/r line for now. My target is $3.35, just above the previous low of $3.28 from May 2010.

SHL (Sonic Health)

There has been major s/r line at $12.86 for over 12 months on both weekly/daily charts, it was broken on 16/8/12 (arrow 1), and I did not see it. If I saw it I would have taken a position , with a stop being that days low 12.62. The stock went up, and then retraced close to the stop level, and went up again over the s/r line. I took it as confirmation of s/r line, and took a long position of 100 shares on Mon 27/8/12 at $13.10. Stop being $12.62 for now. Target is $15 based on previous lows of $11.

BRU ( Buru Energy)
S/r line at $2.85, The stock stopped at it on Fri 25/8/12, On monday it moved down sharply on Monday, and I got scared of missing out, and jumped in at $2.82, shorting 250 shares. I should have never done that and waited for a daily close bellow my s/r line as I was suppose to. The stock was volatile that day and fluctuated between $2.86 and $2.76, luckily for me it closed at $2.80, bellow my s/r line, and I had a position established as I wanted. My stop is $2.86, and target is $2.30, which is a low from May 2012.

I got stopped out of MGR as it closed bellow s/r of $2.33, loss $10-15

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  #9 (permalink)
223552
melbourne Victoria/australia
 
Posts: 68 since Aug 2012
Thanks Given: 22
Thanks Received: 59

Been wanting to post for a while now, but home computer issues prevented me from it ( Belkin Router sucks!!!)
I will update my trades first, then go through August statistics

On 3/9/12 I got stopped out of BRU as it had a massive intraday swing and got stopped out on protective stop loss at $2.85 , -$22 On the chart E is for entry, S is for stop

CSR got stopped out at $1.34, never felt comfortable with that trade -$56, was a big loss, aim now to minimise losses as much as possible

FMG , Finally a winner!!! First stock that reached its target, on 5/9/12 opened below my target level of $3.35 and was automatically sold at $3.21 +$150!!

5/9/12 Bought TGA as it broke out from s/r at $1.78, its a second break in less than 2 weeks, first one fell back quickly. Unfortunately on 6/9/12 it had a big swing to the downside and stopped me out at $1.77, only to go up and close at $1.83 today. I think it is going up, but I do not want to chase it. If i missed it, then just let it go, and look for another trade.

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  #10 (permalink)
 Kingpin 
copenhagen denmark
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NinjaTrader
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Posts: 41 since Aug 2011


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