Confessions of a Day Trader: Things getting silly? Don't be a hero

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: A round trip is $10 up to $25,000 and then above $25,000, commission is at 0.02% in and at 0.02% out.
Rules of engagement: Never hold any positions overnight (unless forced) and try to avoid any suspensions (if possible). No shorting.

Monday November 29

Thought I would be coming into a sea of red, with opportunities galore. But saw FLT open down about 7% and then start to recover, so kind of started to feel and see a change.

Had no way of feeling which way all of this could go, so did the hardest thing that a day trader could do – absolutely nothing.

I’ve added some graphs and you will see that they all got marked down heavily in the 4.10pm trading session, which I take as a sign that there was a book of book-squaring ahead of tonight.

This COVID thing makes everything harder to find a bottom, so will keep an eye on the volatility of things tonight and see if tomorrow offers a better day.

See graphs for a feeling of their day ranges and not on too big a volume. Low volume worries me, along with the ranges. Have a look at RIO as an example.

Recap: er, ZERO!

Tuesday November 30

Going to get back on the horse today and hope the saddle doesn’t slip as I put my foot in the stirrup. Kick off with a 1000 CBA at 11am and hold on tight with my legs and fingers crossed. After 37 mins take a $320 profit and that’s after it started out a bit hairy (see chart).

So hard to pick things today and sure that I am not alone with this. Back in for another 1000 CBA with 15 mins to go at $93.19 as they and FMG get a bit of a knock downwards. CBA rally and through pure chance, book the exact same amount of profit ($320) and happy to take a smaller one in FMG ($50).

The one that makes me fall off my chair is the closing 4.10pm auction price of APT. It got sold off from $110.70 with 30 mins to go to $108.85 in the auction – 95c down from their 4.00pm close.

Never seen that before!

Patience is the hardest thing to master, when everything is all over the place and what seems a bottom, may not be.

Plus $690 today and await APT tomorrow morning. Still feeling a bit nervous, market-wise though.

Recap:
Bought 1,000 CBA @ 94.48
Sold 1,000 CBA @ 94.80 ($320.00 profit)
Bought 1,000 CBA @ 93.19
Bought 1,000 FMG @ 17.11
Sold 1,000 CBA @ 93.51 ($320.00 profit)
Sold 1,000 FMG @ 17.16 ($50.00 profit)

Wednesday December 1

Man oh man, these kind of trading days are very hard. APT ended up having a range of $4.21 over the day. I don’t recall ever having seen this before.

You don’t know what’s around the corner and if any bad news is coming out during trading hours. I have the song ‘Billy Don’t be a Hero’ going around and around in my head.

Luckily, I came out on top today, starting with FMG, who were heading towards the $17.00 level, when I gingerly picked up 1000 at $17.01. They went straight through it, before finding a bottom and rallying in my favour.

CBA were the standout for me though and they opened weaker, rallied and then came back again and looked oversold at $92.60. When they did rally again, they cracked the 93.00 level and kept on going and ended the day with a range of $1.66 overall.

Looking around towards the end of the day, I noticed that Z1P had a low of $4.99 and I managed to grab a 2c turn on 2,500. Not much, but I will take it to add to this week’s war chest, as I may need it for Thursday or Friday.

Still nervous over this market. Plus $790 today but expecting this will be given back soon!

Recap:
Bought 1,000 FMG @ 17.01
Sold 1,000 FMG @ 17.37 ($160.00 profit)
Bought 1,000 CBA @ 92.60
Sold 1,000 CBA @ 93.18 ($580.00 profit)
Bought 2,500 Z1P @ 5.01
Sold 2,500 Z1P @ 5.03 ($50.00 profit)

Thursday December 2

Decide to have an 11.00am pop at APT today and got set in 500 only (told you I was nervous) at $100.93. That’s right, they are below $101 today.

Amazing.

Happy to take a profit of $125 on a small parcel. Later, buy 500 at $99.89 and happy to sell them at just above $100.00.

Today means that, with CBA closing at $95.90 and APT at $100.02, the gap between them has closed in again and is down to $4.10 today. Yesterday it was $12.17!

Talking of CBA, I was tossing up between CBA and APT today at 11.00am and chose APT. CBA would have been better.

So a small day today. Didn’t have to give anything back, which is a miracle. Be glad when tomorrow finishes and the weekend begins.

Up $205 and still nervous about the trading ranges getting thrown around.

Recap:
Bought 500 APT @ 100.93
Sold 500 APT @ 101.18 ($125.00 profit)
Bought 500 APT @ 99.89
Sold 500 APT @ 100.05 ($80.00 profit)

Friday December 3

The iron ore stocks got marked up overnight, so not much I can do with them, however APT gave a classic 11.00am trade and took literally 3 mins to lock in $300.

Happy to grab and run, even with some more left on the table.

Slightly lifted the amount from 500 shares to 750.

CHN had a massive range for their share price of around 8% off their highest price. Crazy stuff and again kept the size down a bit and very happy again to lock in a profit.

Even though this week came out plus $2075 ($1860 net) it was a very hard week because of the news on COVID and the volatility that this created. The gap between CBA and APT narrowed down to $1.63 and curious to know if next week they may cross over.

Have added a chart on NVX, who were down a massive 32%. Did have a look at them but it was too close to only an hours trading left.

Didn’t touch anything in the last hour, as being a Friday, booking squaring up can be very harsh.

Need a lie down and then a few cold ones and I think I had a lucky escape.

Let’s hope we get some solid news on this new strain of COVID, so we can get some direction!