April 27 Straight Cash.

I did something this morning that I haven't done in a very long time... end the day with no positions.  I closed everything out: MRGE 5(.32), MVIS 3.65, EBIX 30.08, SQNM (4.56), FEYE (44.56), KRNT (15.05), LBIO (12.15), VSLR (14.46), AXN (1.66)

I did so because I have some  things I need to take care of and also the market monitor was showing signs of red lining with the number of stocks hitting 50% gains in a month exceeding 20.

So peace out.

Remainder of weeks trades.

Closed ENZN:
Entry: 1.41
Exit 1: 1.44 (40%
Exit 2 1.81  (60%)

I had a very good battle plan on ENZN,  I bought the Fishhook setup.  Although the post market enthusiasm did not hold over the night and there was a fade.  This trade worked wonderfully.

 I did several things well.  First because this did not immediately take off, I felt it prudent to somewhat reduce my position size so that I could let the position go slightly against me without risk to my account.  The strategy worked as ENZN pulled back to the breakout point and then found a base.  In the afternoon it started ticking up. found a base and in the afternoon, it took off.  

TAKE Aways

• Cutting position size can make all the difference between staying in a trade and getting stopped out
• Plan the trade: I was not shaken on the pull back as I understood It was back testing the breakout point, that point held rather quickly and then this was range bound for several hours before exploding 
• Don't be greedy,
• I was looking for 1.95 but I saw 1.85 hold several attempts.  At that point I decided it was better to take profits than hold out for top dollar.  
• HOD was 1.86, when it breaks a .05 and can't keep going that can be the sign of a top.
• I got out .05 from the top.  I'll take that.
• Understand what you are trading. 
• ENZN was moving because Icahn has  small ownership interest and VLTC was up 1200% or something obscene. 
• While I knew that would get this motion if it fishhooked, I had no illusions that this stock is capable of pulling a move like that and here's why:
• Float size over 43 Mill
• Options (allow hedging, reducing likelihood of short squeeze) 
• The company has discontinued operations and is only making money on licensing of past drugs.  In other words, it is basically an annuity.  Not really much sex appeal.

VSLR:
Increased position size following successful back test of last weeks close.  I also like VSLR has now had a ATH weekly close.

Size added at 14.17

EBIX: This would be more consistent with a momo burst It has a pull back.  Notice how the RSI has held 50 on the pull back and popped back up.

On the weekly not quite a W1 B/o but close enough that a momo burst could take it there.  RSI is still very strong so I gave it a go.

Entry: 29.89

MVIS:
Although I got shaken out earlier with  a smaller position lower,  I am happy to buy a bigger position higher.  5 weeks after the its high its coming back that . The fact that this has popped back up says there is a lot of strength here.

Entry: 3.58

LBIO:
Similar to 3 weeks ago LBIO had a washout type move to the 12 week avg.  On both occasions they recovered immediately on the daily.

Entry 12.30

DPLO:
Took out the high for a w1 breakout out.
Entry: $34.72

APRIL 23, no trades

April 24:
There are some yellow flags forming and its prudent to take defense of measures.  I reduced some size and took some profits.

DPLO I not only got a gap on an upgrade but also a continuation move.  That said I'm not a big fan of gaps (on analyst upgrades) and as much like the weekly chart, it seems prudent to take profits.

Sold: 36.25 

KRNT:

I had previously increased my position on the 300 pt down day on this one, I was hopeful for a big rebound and a test of 16.  Although I'm up KRNT is range bound here. I need to start thinking of defense based on a few yellow flags on the over all markets.  Cutting my position size  in a thin stock is  a decent first step.

Entry: 14.69

Entry 2:  14.56

Exit: 14.85

Trade Journal April 7.

Today I booked a bunch of profit and closed a few positions to manage risk.  

RAD:
Nothing against this chart but with earnings on deck and only a small gain, this was not a binary risk I want to take.  Closing it out for small change.

Entry: 8.65
Exit 1: (20% reduce position size) 8.73
Exit 2. 8.78 +1.5%

LBIO:
The gas is coming out of this one a bit.  a  Couple of moves to the upside failed.  I decided to ring the register as this one looks like it needs some rest before going higher.

Entry:  11.09
Exit: 12.65  +14%

ADXS:
The Week 2 move has been less than impressive.  Since the thrust has stalled in week 2, I'll get out with a decent gain and look for a retest of the b/o.

Entry: 13.90
Exit 15.38  +10.6%

VLTC:
This was a high risk trade given my entry, I was sized small with the plan of adding if it got going.  It never did although I thought there was a chance that this could have blown the doors off on a short squeeze but the thrust couldn't keep the momo going.
Entry: 4.44
Exit: 3.95 

MRGE:
I normally do not sell the first day breakout.  But I took a partial here. MRGE exceeded my expectations  

NEW BUY:
RGLS:
Entry 17.60, A.H.  . I need to be a bit more patient on news driven trades.  My thought was that the news gets this running out of this Flag.  Small position.

Existing positions: LBIO, ADXS, MVIS, RAD, SUPN, VLRS,

LBIO. My buy at 11.09 off the MA bounce is looking good. It  pulled back slightly today, disappointing after an early AM run. 

ADXS:
Another dip buy that looks good in at 13.90.  The weekly breakout looks ready to make a thrust.

CAPN: A gap and drop today.  I added increasing my cost basis to 7.18.  The retraces are difficult to stomach unless you have a plan and I consciously made that decision The weekly breakout is intact and the the gap is now filled.  Now a bounce would be appreciated.

MVIS:
Holds steady. Looking for that 3.20 to hold and to re-set the stage for higher prices.

RAD:
A small move today, but I want to see the range expansion that pushes the RSI over 70.  Over 9 could start moving quickly

VLRS: After two weeks of lower prices that retested the weekly breakout point, VLRS bounced back in a big way.  This is now set up for a week 1 b.o.

SUPN:
This is looking like a back test to the BO might occur rather than the continuation but the bigger trend is defiantly up.  So the plan is to buckle up and ride it out like on VLRS.

Tuesday & Wednesday trades

Was working on my taxes so I did not update. So I have a combined journal update.


INUV:
I had added this on Monday on a fishhook setup breakout.  Tuesday made very little progress.   And when a "power" breakout stalls, It's usually best to get out as a good breakout should continue.   So I exited for  a .03 gain on the trade.  That turned out to be a wise decision as today's action shows that I would have had considerable pain had I continued to hold

ZIOP:
The theory behind this trade was this was a power stock that was coming back into the 10 week.  I felt that had presented a good entry.  It worked temporarily but then the selling pressure overcame this one so I'll take the loss.

Entry 1: 11.68
Entry 2: 11.04
Exit: $10.75

LBIO:
Although my ZIOP 10 bounce trade did not work, LBIO worked very well.  Not only did it reverse, the move has continued into the next day. Today it pushed over 13 for period.

Entry: $11.09

CORT:
Another  b/o fail. Bought yesterday's move 5.91 looking for the b/o over 6.

The weekly chart, however, shows the the b/o would have been in week 2, which is still too early:  It is set up very nicely for a weekly range expansion next week: 

CYTX:

This one held on for a few weeks without really going anywhere.  Today it ran my stop.

CAPN:
follows range contraction with range expansion.  This is a former runner so it has the potential to really get going once it does.  d

Daily is setup for a range expansion with  for a MACD cross over  and rising RSI. 

ADXS:

This one worked exceedingly well.  After the b.o yesterday, there was a sharp reversal and backtest to the breaking point.  I held my nose and hit the buy button as this came in. 13.91 it dropped on me immediately and made a bit nervous that I would get stopped out very quickly but ADXS than found a bottom and bounced and boy did it bounce all the way back over $15.50

GBSN:
This is one of those stocks that makes everyone say wow.

Entry: 3.67
Exit 1: 4.04
Exit 2: 3.90


Entry: 4.03   (I enter looking for the EOD run, I  knew that this would have some residual power today, but  that did not come in the A.m. and this sold off quickly.   Fortunately my position size was only 2/3 of my original position. I should have dumped this lot of a small profit like I did on INUV when the breakout was stalling.

Exit: 3.73

Entry: 4.29  ( wasn't planning on day trading this but I had something come up where I couldn't be in front of the screen so I closed it. Too bad)
Exit:  4.38

SUPN:
Finally, SUPN A great 1-2-3 ("Fishhook") breakout on the weekly.
Entry: $12.49

Closed TWTR, Opened LBIO, ZIOP, INUV,

My TWTR trade did not last long as I got stopped out today filled at 49.10, which was the b.o. point.  I took a 1% hit on the trade which is fine other than I haven't had the big winners that cancels out my losers this month. 

I think a lot of the difficulty that I (and others) have had this month is that the breakout trade has gotten choppy.  In the right environment, TWTR breaks out and doesn't look back. But many breakouts this month fade and retest the breaking point.   

To overcome this problem, my recent adjustment has been to buy the power stocks off a bounce at the 10Week average. 

SLINGSHOTS:
Here's a the new setup.

 I'm looking for a weekly / monthly RSI to stretch against a pull back on the daily to the magic line.   ZIOP  had oversold stochastic on the daily and pulled back to the magic line.


ZIOP:
ZIOP bounced off the 10 Week Avg. last week.  Not that the market is giving it an "all clear"  It gapped up and faded.  I bought post-fade 11.68.

LBIO:
Nice bounce off the 10 week.  Entry $11.09

INUV:

Just a good ole; breakout off a  Fishhook set up,
Entry $2.03

March 20 Trades:

Over the past week, I'be been trying out some a RSI filters for my momentum trades.  Since I was in the experimental phase for my setups, I wanted to take a lot of trades to provide feed back as to what was working and what was not.  For that reason, I also cut my position size to at least a 1/3 of my normal size.   The feedback I gained from this little test has convinced me in the merit of this approach. 

LBIO:
After an encouraging breakout on Thursday, Friday saw a gap up and rejection.  After seeing this would gap up, I strongly suspected that this would not move higher so I moved my stop up to Slightly below the close on Thursday.   That stop was hit. All things considered .53 Gain +3.8% on a failed breakout is not bad.

Opened: 13.80
Closed: 14.33

AXN:This one looked promising on a weekly Time frame but that move failed and I got stopped out.
his was a trade to attempt to zero in on the interplay between my time frames.  Had I taken the daily move, I likely would have closed this out for a small profit as it had run to a high of $2.29 or nearly 15% from my buy point.   I Should have sold the gap on a daily.  Did I mention I hate continuation gaps in my favor?   They almost always put in a ceiling for a stock .


Entry: 1.99
Exit: 1.76.

ARQL: I closed this one as I realized that it did not fit my time frame.  Simply having monthly  and weekly power did not coincide with a good daily setup. After realizing I was in "no man's land" I realized there was no reason for me to be in this position so I closed it.

Entry: $2.22
Exit:  $2.35  +.13  +5.9%

CRMD:
I got stopped out as CRMD finally gave way to the 10 Day EMA.

Entry: 7.97
Exit: 7.71

Summary
This one deserves some extra discussion as I made a mistake in  mixing my time frames.  I used the daily entry and executed the entry very well. 7.97 within 2 days CRMD had traded up to 8.90.  But rather than take the gains, I was counting on the weekly/monthly strength to push this one higher.   As shown in the second chart the weekly breakout was not ready.  Thus, I should have used daily signals for an exit.

Although CRMD has shown tremendous weekly power, which allowed the pull back entry to work at support this was not ready to breakout.   This was only week 2.  For a Weekly fishhook to work its 1-2-3- GO!.   Since the weekly was not ready, the exit should have been determined on a daily chart.   

Although I took a loss on this trade, it was an "experiment trade" so the loss was small.   I think the lesson that I learned here  will be well worth it. 

 

March 19 trade journal

Bought LBIO 13.80 as it fishhooks.

Target 3 day run.


BOOT:
25.47
target 30 

MTSI:
Great weekly breakout.

Closed:

REPH:

Bought from 6.40

Sold  7.42  The mm's tagged me during a low volume period.  So I'm out but I can live with the 1.02 in 3 days. 

DFS

This hasn't quite broke down. But my options are going to start getting the theta decay kicking in.   I thought it would be better to take the small profit and avoid the decay. 

Entry .75

Exit .85

PTCT.
Breakout fails.  stopped out at 70.05
Shit

MVIS:
Took a huge run on this
2.92. 3.88 in three days.  I'm going to take the gains and  wait for this to set up again .