Being able to strategize and adjust to market shifts is how one stays up when trading and investing. My failure to do so has cost me and led to a so far bad July. Let’s take a look.
My biggest loss was on a Meta (META) play. Recovering from an unfair gap down from previous earnings momentum was on its side to reach new highs. I got the Aug 16th $540 option contract to capitalize on the move higher. The first week went well and even had a large up day that reached a new all-time high and had me up over 20%. What occurred next was a few consecutive down days then big drops that had me down over 50%. Scared to lose more I sold out for a loss of -$1,100.
The second biggest loss was Micron (MU). Toting a loss of -$800 after closing, this was an emotional play that I played abandoning my ideals to not play earnings report. I got in the trade a couple of days before they had to report in hopes of capturing a big move. The first couple of days were fine, then after reporting it moved lower in the pre-market and continued south in the upcoming days and weeks. I sold out to save what I had left and moved on.
The third was on Qualcomm (QCOM). A total loss of -$600, this was a good play based on technicals. It provided a nice bounce off good support and even broke through an EMA resistance on decent volume. Standing strong when other semi-stocks started their moves lower, I thought the technicals would override the market sentiment. It did not. It went sideways for a few days before following the market shift.
There are lessons in each of these losses that I must learn from when I sit down at the end of the month and do my analysis of each play. On the bright side, there were some wins for the month.
The biggest win was on QQQ (Nasdaq following ETF) gaining me $1,500. I had 2 contracts of this safe play that was heading upward in the first couple of trading days of July. Reaching a high of 75% gain, I sold out as the tech sector slid, taking some profit away.
The second win was DIA (Dow Jones following ETF) gaining $100. This one was a doozy and showed my impatience. Showing good technicals with a third bounce-off support I entered the trade. For most of the trade it went opposite S&P and Nasdaq, but in small moves. It never shot up or shot down, just traded sideways mostly. Frustrated with not seeing more of an increase in the technical pattern, I sold out for a $100 gain. A few days later it proceeded to go up a lot which could have been more than quadruple what I gained. Impatience got me good on that one.
I also had a small win in DUK. However that was a play I got from Aristotle as a test.
*please note this is not investing or trading advice. Please refer to a professional advisor or fiduciary if you want advice/guidance to investing and trading.*
One response to “Maybe I Could Be Fly In July”
Write down what you learned from the losses.