Confessions of a Day Trader: This time it's war

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 February 22

Had a cracker of a day today, as the reporting season continues to have some volatility on some companies’ share price.

ALU was outstanding for me today, as it threw up two opportunities to have a go at them, post results.

At one point they were the biggest major faller, as was SUL.

After my second go at ALU, I just closed out the SUL and walked away.

My concern is if Russia invades during trading hours, I will be caught with my pants down or we get some inflation news shock.

Let’s hope that today’s profit of $1685 will help cushion any blows which may come my way.

Recap
Bought 1,500 ALU @ 31.24
Sold 1,500 ALU @ 31.35 ($165.00 profit)
Bought 2,500 SUL @ 11.53
Bought 1,500 ALU @ 31.17
Sold 1,500 ALU @ 32.10 ($1,395.00 profit)
Sold 2,500 SUL @ 11.58 ($125.00 profit)

Tuesday February 23

US market was closed overnight and European markets were mostly down about 2%, so gives an indication of where we are heading today, plus Russia is still playing their games.

Gold was firming a bit, so when CHN popped up as a big faller, just had to have a go. Picked up 5000 at $6.70 and put them on a 5c limit higher up and waited.

They go through the $6.75 level plus a tad more and then fall back. CBA then go below $96 and thinking they could go either way, bt some at $95.72 and again put them on a limit. Again, went through and took me out and if you look at the chart, they actually later go down to $95.05.

Finish up $380, which surprises me a bit as thought today could be a loss day. Lots of volatility and whole watch screen is in red for 90% of the day. I think tomorrow could be an up day for the market. Let’s see.

Recap
Bought 5,000 CHN @ 6.70
Sold 5,000 CHN @ 6.75 ($250.00 profit)
Bought 1,000 CBA @ 95.72
Sold 1,000 CBA @ 95.85 ($130.00 profit)

Wednesday February 24

Got a wild ride out of DMP today. They managed to have a $10 trading range and were down ~15% at one point.

On the first purchase of 500 shares, at one point I was down $1,600, so I thought I need to double down. In my error, I bt another 500 but it should have been 1000, so when I bt the last parcel 20c cheaper, it was only 1 min later.

That’s how fast they were moving. Put them on a limit 2c below $86.00 and waited. Finally got there and carried on going helping me make almost $1.00 per share.

NAB was the only one on my watchlist that was hanging around a trading level, which happened to be $30.00. Bt them on a dip and they just kept hovering around that $30.00 level and I got out towards the end of the day.

I didn’t want to hang around till 4.00pm. Plus $1,670 for the day which is a lot of pizza pie.

Recap
Bought 2,500 NAB @ 29.91
Bought 500 DMP @ 85.87
Bought 500 DMP @ 84.84
Bought 500 DMP @ 84.64
Sold 2,500 NAB @ 30.06 ($375.00 profit)
Sold 1,500 DMP @ 85.98 ($1,295.00 profit)

Thursday February 24

Well today was the day when I got caught out. We all knew it would happen sometime soon and today was the day.

Manage to lose $730 in BHP and RIO.

BHP was down 6% or so and on big volume so had a punt and RIOs broke below the $116.00 level.

Was very cautious in both and decided to wait until the end of the day to sell them.

Also did not double down or anything like that.

Was down over $2000 in total over both positions at one point and all I could do is watch and wait, as I was now in the hands of the trading God and the end result was not too bad with all things considered. Live to fight another day!

Recap
Bought 1,000 BHP @ 45.34
Bought 500 RIO @ 115.67
Sold 1,000 BHP @ 44.77 (-$570.00 loss)
Sold 500 RIO @ 115.35 (-$160 loss)

Friday February 25

Leave everything alone today, as a Friday and so much going on which is creating the volatility but not interested with a weekend coming up and a war being raged.

End the week plus $3005 gross and $2775 net. Hopefully there will be clarity on Monday with a bit more direction.

Have added some charts from today from some of our favourite plays.