Took a HIT on CF

Yesterday I bought November Calls on CF. This morning the price dropped below my loss tolerance, so I had to abort. I lost $200 on this trade. Not happy about it, but I tried to hold it overnight. I thought I was ready to test the waters because CF reports earning on Nov. 5. Technical Analysis indicated it was a hold (my assessment). I was down less than $100 before closing. Woke up down $200+. I should not have held overnight being I was already down on the day of entry. I am sure I made other mistakes that some of you are saying, "Did that bonehead not see it coming". Anyway, I just like to share my losses as well. I will walk away from "Real Money" trading until I get 10 consecutive practice wins (my rule). Could be soon, but could be a while. Thanks for being my "sounding board".

I don't know anyone who hasn't done exactly what you did. You don't have to worry about people throwing bricks at you ... we all live in glass houses.

I am not brave enough to hold a trade overnight right now (except for W&O). It is too unpredictable.

This morning, I saw a trade on the Q's. It was sooooo beautiful. HRFP on the 233 going down. HRFP on the 21 minute chart going down. I waited for the 1 minute chart pull back and HRFP going down. I bought 10 contracts of next week's $66.5 put (one strike price out of the money) for $.54. I sold it around 3 PM for $1.23 (128% gain). I am pretty stoked. Still not brave enough to hold it overnight.

Off subject, but need a little guidance from someone!

I use Scottrade as a brokerage account (real money), but I find it very different from Options Express (practice account). I talked to a Rep for OE. I am really considering switch my account because I practice so much with OE (100's of trades). I am in and out quickly. With Scottrade, I do not have an opportunity to practice. I am simply not as familiar with the platform with CT. The commission is so much cheaper at Scottrade. That is why I chose them. Who do you have your BA with?

dmkratzer,

After reading your post, I took a look at the trade you made. Wow, I do not know if I have ever seen a HRFP on the 233 that looked so sweet!

I made about the same practice play on AAPL. I rode it down about 8 bucks and got out at about 3:30. Picked up about $700 (practice money)This was the 2nd winning trade-on my way to 10 before thinking about trading real money again.

As a new trader, I am very tough on myself for making "bonehead" mistakes because based on my basket being small, I can not afford to make too many mistakes. As my basket grows, I will be a little more tolerant for missing trades. I did not just miss my losing trade, I held it overnight. Darcy stated in an earlier post that she typically does not hold overnight during this trading zone. Also, I did not study the Market Calendar as I should have. I was asking questions about why the market was doing freaky things. Well, the answer was staring me in the face. The MC clearly stated that we can expect downward pressure in the markets. Anyway, new traders need to be aware. There are so many rules that we must follow to succeed at this. Losing real money was an excellent loss because I was taught a valuable lesson. Play by the rules, do not get over confident, and take what the market gives me.

Rookie,

I have Scottrade for my W&O because the stock trades are cheaper ($7), and OE for my trading leg because the options trades are cheaper in OE ($15 for up to 10 contracts). Scottrade's options trades are more expensive than OE. I think they are $7 plus $1.25 per contract. For 10 contracts, this is $19.25 ... although if you are only doing 2 contracts, that would be $9.50 (cheaper than OE). I try to do 10 contracts because it is easier to make up the commissions ($.03 per share).

The biggest thing I like about OE better than Scottrade is that OE positions show you what percentage your trade has made since you bought it, so you easily know when you get to 20% or 40% in your trade. Scottrade only tells you the percent your trade is up (or down) for the day, which is not as meaningful to me as the percentage it is up or down since I bought it.

That is great on your AAPL trade ... only 8 more to go. Keep going ... and NEVER give up. You will get there. Once you are there, it won't matter which platform you trade because the comission will be inconsequential.

I have never traded on TD Ameritrade, or any of the others. Maybe someone else could give you information about the other platforms ... how they compare to Scottrade and OptionsXpress.

I am looking at the futures charts this morning trying to figure out if the market is going to go up or down today.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/2012 06:28AM by dmkratzer.

Dmkratzer,

Thanks for your feedback. I have officially decided to maintain my account at Scottrade, but start trading my basket through OE. I simpy love the platform. When I have enough money, I will use Scottrade for W/O, or "Park" funds.

I am doing well with Apple. I had a huge win yesterday (practice). Unfortunately, I am using a technique that is TOTALLY against Gary's rules. I am buying weekly contracts. The trade I placed yesterday expires Friday! I am not sure if I am sniping or gambling. I am using all indicators and again, I know Apple pretty well. I guess if I build my basket, and have a trade turn against me, I would have many more wins than losses. This is one strategy I will take my chances because if I simply use basic mathmatical calculations, 7 winning trades (some 50+ %), and 3 losing trades, I will still be up pretty big. My losses are fairly small. When I see a trade turning against me, and I reach my loss tolerance, I AM OUT!

Thanks again for the encouragement. It takes constant work and dedication. I am determined to retire from my 9 to 5 and live my dream of trading from home!

Yesterday I bought a put on FB, Nov $23 strike for $1.00, Nas futures looked to be headed lower, watched on 5 min chart at open and volume was surging didn't think it could hold, after first candle closed red I entered the trade (kinda early) but I felt indicators were going to come down. I was just looking to snipe it quickly for .50 and monitored during the day and indicators still pointing more downward movement, decided to hold overnight. Watched it today as it continued down and it finally sold me out at 1.50 my GTC order which turned out to be the high of the day for the option. Whew! This took longer than I wanted and it still might go lower.