Lesson Learning Day

I'll be the first to say - I did not get the full benefit from this run. This is partly because I was not at the desk, running errands and whatnot.

Originally I planned this as a short day trade - and really had no idea that it would run this hard because of the market choppiness.

I ended up selling it around 26.63 for a .78 per share gain - but definitely should've held it to the day's end where it closed at 28.

There are several lessons to be learned from this - some of which I used to my advantage and executed with perfection. The other, being the most important one, is the reason why I'm posting this.

First, lets take a look at the 30 minute chart:

I saw weakness around 1:00 p.m. so I stopped myself out - it had already passed my short day trade target of 26.35 (previous highs) and I felt as though I would be greedy to not take profits. Ultimately - I don't regret taking profits simply because I did execute my plan.

However - what is to be learned is something I practiced, but did not capitalize on. It is something that @ZMoose12 talked about in a video recap of Russell 2k futures I believe, where he said (and I think he was quoting someone else... but oh well) "Trade your plan but keep your mind open".

If you will look back to my older blog post I talked about this being a short possibility - and look where it ended up. 10%+ gain on a choppy, boring, Monday.

It started this morning as I was watching it at the open ripping higher on above average volume - bought in, placed stop - watched it run. This is why on flags like this I have alerts on b/o price levels and break DOWN price levels. This way you can go either way.





The other lesson to be learned from this is to LET YOUR WINNERS RUN. Move stops up - but not so high as to hurt yourself. This was my mistake today. I should've placed my stop at my original target (which is what I advised on twitter to others) - but it's funny how we don't take our own advice sometimes, isn't it? ;)

Daily chart:





Good luck tomorrow everyone. I'll be hunting weakness.