Strategy

Open Range Breakout (ORB) - Short Sale

Account

TD Ameritrade (TDA) margin account. Remaining Day Trades (DT) before trade 1, after trade 0.

Why did I get in?

I got off work early today and was able to catch market open (excited and thought I could make a good all day hold or ORB to actually have a GOOD green day). I had just gotten home and to my trade desk when I saw the reversal. Got in after the second reversal attempt failed at about 1015. I really didn't take much time to analyze it, rather I watched Ed (Average Joe Trader) and jumped in. Hindsight, I was following rather than planning and just wanted to make money!

Issues

Think or Swim (TOS) somehow executed 470 shares rather than the 200 I intended on executing. This made me panic, especially when I saw my P/L fluctuating by such high numbers....I thought it was due to a huge spread. I then noticed it was due to the number of shares I was in. This increased my panic and flustered me. I started clicking and my judgement started getting clouded (almost literally!) and I was trying to figure out how to get out quickly but I didn't want to accidentally make another mistake. I clicked "Buy" thinking it would automatically fill in the required 470 shares to cover, but for some reason it only showed 200...which is what I originally wanted, except not this time...I wanted OUT of the 470 shares TOS somehow put me into! All I saw was this stock shooting up and me losing big so I wanted out! Looking at the candles there was really no reason to get out until about 1055-1058. I also didn't have a plan of what my stop loss and profit target was, I was winging it and going for "1 point". This trade ended up using my last DT for a few days which was frustrating. Granted, I came out green, so I'm thankful for that, but it was LUCK not process! I also wanted to get back into that trade for a continuation and it ended up slowing going down the rest of the day, bottoming out at $26.75, so if I hadn't been so paniced, been in at the 200 shares I intended to be in with, I would have probably paid closer attention to the candles and developed a plan (albeit after the fact) to get out when it traded above the 9EMA (use the "Ride the 9" strategy). Looking at the chart that may have gotten me out at 1810 until 1835, but if I had more DT's I could have re-entered and rode it down until close of day. On the 5min chart the green candles from 1810-1835 were not strong candles anyway and I MAY have endured it risking a break even, a choice I could have made at the time.

Lesson Learned

1. Don't rush to get in. I was getting in to try to make money rather than trading to improve my process.
2. Don't follow another trader if I don't have my own plan!
3. Establish an entry, stop loss and exit plan!
4. When I'm in the trade I need to watch the candles and volume closer.
5. Double check my entry order before sending. If I have a plan this should be doable, if I don't I may rush and make a mistake.

Frustrations and Changes

Issue: I feel like the PDT rule is making it hard for me to make progress. I am second guessing myself and missing trades for fear of "Losing a Day Trade". I can accept taking a small $50-$100 loss and can plan for this, but when I couple it with a loss of a Day Trade I get irradiated and feel like I can't move my process forward. I have $1500 in a SureTrader (ST) account, but I really don't like trading with them because I have had too many small issues that have kept me from getting into a trade or have affected the trade when I'm in. I just don't trust ST.
Resolution: I have opened an account with CME Group (CMEG) out of Trinidad. They have received OK reviews by others and I have a coupon code from BullishBears. They have a $2.95 per share up to 420 shares (cheaper than TDA and ST) and then it's $0.007 per share. They also do 6:1 Margin. I plan to move the $1500 from ST and close my ST account. I also have $5000 in a USAA brokerage (not an IRA, just another brokerage) and I plan to move that to CMEG too, this will give me a total of $6500 to start with. If all goes well with CMEG I will consider staying with them long term, but if not then I will use them like I would ST and once I get my account to $30,000 I will move to either Interactive Brokers (IB) or to Lightspeed.