Each Monday, Stockhead’s resident day trader gives us a peek at the highs and lows of his trading diary and hints at what might be coming this week.
Platform used: Marketech
Round Trip: $10 (previously $40 on alternative platform)
Rules of engagement: Never hold any positions overnight (unless forced) and try to avoid any suspensions (if possible). No shorting.
Monday September 20
Today turned out to ba a bit of an ALDI day today – Good Different.
Watched the iron ore stocks go higher after their openings on some short covering and then the retail selling came in.
Didn’t make a move till 11.48am and started by buying 1000 FMG at $14.25. Then 1000 RIO at $94.50, 1000 BHP at $37.38 and finally 1000 MIN at $45.26.
To even out my slant on the iron ore plays, decide to buy 2000 Z1P at $6.60 and then 1000 CBA at $101.09.
So mixing it up a bit.
Not quite working as I thought as it’s these last two that give me more pain. Have to buy another 2000 Z1P at $6.45 and another 1000 CBA at $100.81.
The oversold iron ore plays start moving out of their red zones in the afternoon and RIO’s were the first ones to go. Sell 1000 at $95.06 (+$560), then the FMG at $14.63 (+$375). CBA also recovers and out they go at $101.10 (+$300).
The other two iron stocks start to move in and out of profit and seeing that I was down over $2000 on all of them at some point, just happy to get out with any gains. Sell the 1000 BHP at $37.43 (+$50) and the MIN at $45.33 (+$65).
Decide to add another 4000 Z1P at $6.42 and watch them touch $6.32 before recovering. Cut them all at $6.42 and book a loss of $420. So that was different. Thought I was playing safe in Z1P but got zapped. Zip zap = ouch.
So, up $930 on the day and was at some point well below water before touching the bottom and coming up for air.
Tuesday September 21
Coming to a fall in Wall Street and the iron ore price down another 8% to US$92. Both RIO and BHP down 3% or so and Square’s shares were down 2.3%, so even APT will get a smacking today.
Really can’t think what the market will do today, if it doesn’t get sold like yesterday. Even CBA caught a bit of a draught yesterday. So could they go below $99 and could RIO’s go below $91?
We shall see.
Well, RIO go up and CBA don’t go below $99, so not what I was thinking.
Hang off and first buy is in of all things, Z1P. Buy 2000 at $6.16 and sell them at $6.21 for a plus $100. Time is 11.44am for the buy and 12.01pm for the sell.
Then buy 1000 CBA at $99.89 (12.10pm) and sell them at $100.05 (+$160). Time 12.48pm.
So it’s now almost three hours into the trading day before I jump on the iron horse.
+1000 BHP at $37.98, 1000 FMG at $14.91 and 3000 RIO at $95.88. Time is 13.27pm
Sell the RIOs at $96.11 (+$690) and happy to trade a bit of a large position because of their volatility. They are moving like CBA were yesterday.
Time is 14.27pm. Dip my toes in 500 only MIN at $45.55 as they can be a wild child. Then buy 1000 CBA at $100.22 as they are looking like going higher.
Have to add to the wild MIN and so add 1000 at $45.22 and sell all 1500 at $45.45 10 minutes later. +$180.
Doubling down on another 1000 BHP at $37.75 and 1000 FMG at $14.68. Then buy 3000 RIO at $95.72 and sell them at $95.88 (+$405).
Basically cut the FMG at $14.68 and the BHP at $37.84, for a small combined loss of $35 having been about a $470 combined loss at one stage.
Back into another 1000 CBA at $99.91 (no frigging bounce!) and 3000 RIOs at $95.83. Sell the 2000 CBA at $100.19 (finally +$250) and then buy 2000 FMG at $14.73 as you never know. Buy 2000 RIO at $95.64 and see chart for end result. Cut the FMG down $100.
Overall, plus $1,430 gross and it’s been a long day and not how I thought it would be. Almost lost the whole lot in the last trade in RIO. Talk about being oversold.
Wednesday September 22
Today is the day when some of my favorite stocks take off at bang on, or just after 11am. After two days of falling, those that can’t make margin were stopped out in the first hour of trading. Once out of the way, bang, off they went.
I went a bit early in getting myself set before 11am and was a bit wrong-footed before they took off and the same towards the end of the day, when I was punting on a bit of profit taking, would shift from miners to industrials.
All up, managed 23 trades for a profit of $2025 gross and these volatile days are the ones I love. Not those boring steady Eddie days.
The charts tell the best stories today. Started off before the 11am rally in CBA, CHN, MIN and FMG and out of them all shortly after, into their rallies.
These 11am rallies were so strong in the miners, that it was hard to find any trades in them afterwards.
For example, bought 1000 MIN at $44.75 and then 1000 at $44.45 before selling them at $44.79 to make $290.
My next trades in them was buying 1000 at $46.22 and selling them at $46.62 for a $350 profit.
So, MIN had a day’s trading range of, wait for it, $44.10 to $47.59, with their last trade at $46.64.
Even CBA had a range of 97c, yet only finished 9c below their opening price.
Like I say, have a look at the charts so you get a feel for the day. Tomorrow will be interesting to say the least but not so volatile.
Thursday September 23
I only have eyes for FMG. Everything else was moving the wrong way for me or like CBA, where every time I looked at them they would rally before I could get set.
Bt and sold 1000 FMG for a 10c turn early on. In at $15.76 and out at $15.86. Then back in at $15.72 for 1000 and then another 1000 at $15.77. Not sure about this (no real rally) so sell 2000 at $15.78 for a small $70 profit.
It appears that FMG are starting to drift and decide happy to go long of 10,000 but just don’t know when. So, just keep nibbling away.
Buy 2000@15.64, then 2000 at 15.59, 2000 at $15.48 and then 2000 at $15.42. Just missed out on the balance on a $15.36 limit and then they slowly start to climb and eventually out they all go at $15.60 for $500 profit.
All up, plus $670 for the day.
Friday September 24
Another slow trading day today. Added a graph on RIO as it shows their rally times, though not for me today. BHP and APT both come off their highs, so buy 2000 BHP at $37.59 and 1000 APT at $131.02.
APT rally really quickly, 10 mins into the trade and can’t believe it, as manage to sell the 1000 at $131.65 (+630) but also manage to leave another $890 on the table, but such is life.
Finally see a profit in BHP at $37.67 (+$160) and that then was my day. Will be interesting to see what happens to iron ore in Friday’s overnight trading.
Finish the week up $5845 gross or $4523 net, a bit subdued for the last two days bit of trading, though Wednesday was a cracker. Still in lockdown but hopefully not much longer.