Don't Fixate On Market Woes, Just Make Your Trades

The worst thing about hot streaks is that they come to an end in an instant. And, while coming to terms with any string of success is painful, it can be even more painful if you struggle against the inevitable.

Of course, I’m talking about my own recent 12-day September/October winning record, which flamed out on Tuesday with a wrenching $3,000 loss on the day. The market was clearly not with me in my early trades and, rather than accept that I was going to have a red day this month, I got aggressive and tried to dig myself out. Bad idea.

It’s not a great feeling to admit that I broke my own rules to prevent just this kind of outsized loss, but I’m happy to offer up my mistakes as a lesson to other traders who might be facing a similar decision. What helps is that I had a $4,000 day Wednesday to bring me back up on the week.

Beyond my recent losses, October has actually been a strong month for me, although some in the chat are wondering how the recent market-wide selloff is affecting day traders.

Overall, these broad moves shouldn’t impact most day traders’ outlook on the market. My key tactic to avoiding any undue losses is the same as usual, look for stocks with momentum that are gapping up in premarket with enough volume to support a bounce or two on the open.

Take Wednesday, where the broad market sold off by more than 3 percent. It was a fairly typical day for me, I was up, then down, then up again. However, my final trade that day on IntelliPharmaCeutics Intl. Inc. IPCI ended up being a nearly 4,000 trade. While it might not have been wise to stay at my trading desk past 10:30, I was able to find strength enough in the market for a big late-day winner.

That’s not to say the risk of a breakdown isn’t present. Two of the top stocks to appear on my premarket scanner on Thursday, Spherix Inc. SPEX and Compugen Ltd. CGEN, both collapsed on the opening bell. Both looked good and had healthy volume to support them. While I was lucky to avoid the breakdown in SPEX, I took and $1,800 hit on CGEN.

The point is, traders getting caught up in the everyday noise of the market aren’t paying enough attention to their own trades and the market ecosystem that is most relevant to them. Your own track is always going to tell you more than the folks on CNBC or Fox Business.

Posted In: EducationMarketsGeneralWarrior Trading
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