Swing trading journal - US stocks

[OverTheTop]

Hello Trading-Lab members,

as some of you may already know, I've been one of the first ones to register with this great new trading site. I'm very happy I joined Trading-Lab and would like to congratulate Alchemist, our admin, one more time for this new alternative he's providing us.

During the last two months, I learned quite a few things by reading other people's posts on this forum. Most importantly, I was able to almost completely overcome my fear of pulling the trigger when placing a trade. That was a quite frustrating part of my trading life, but it has now come to an end.

Since I learned some great trading insight from you guys, I thought about starting a journal of my US stocks swing trading activities, as a way of paying it forward and helping beginner traders. Please let me know what you think. I'm looking forward to getting your input.

[Alchemist]

Hello overthetop


I'm very glad you still like the site and it helped you getting over a couple of "problems" in your trading. Trading journals are really a great add-on to any traders' toolbox. In a way, they can also be regarded as a trading strategy! Looking forward to your swing trading picks, then. and keep up the good work!

[scalper]

I think it's a great idea. Keeping a trading journal is a great way to spot any pitfalls in your trading and help other traders experiencing the same issues. So, I'm looking forward to reading your trading journal. I will probably start one soon too!!

[OverTheTop]

ok.. I went short POOL at the open (32.05). I don't a have a target in mind for this one yet. I'm also long CEDC looking for a breakout of the 44-43.50 range and a target of 45. both of these stocks are nasdaq stocks which is unusual for me since I usually prefer to stick to listed stocks.

[BoneFishGA]

pool was a good pick, I was wondering what made you think it was going down?
I realize this was posted a while back but I recently joined.

[OverTheTop]

I learned that trend is really your friend....and the trend on this one is clearly down. I actually managed to get it right before the big gap down in late September. that was a nice trade.

[BoneFishGA]

Well done.
I've been looking into trend trading a little bit lately. Maybe I need to look a little harder.
Looking forward to your next picks.

[BlueChips]

trends and price analysis is what traders should concentrate mostly on. it's useless to waste your time trying to trade trendless markets, IMHO

[Leth]

those are words of wisdom bluechips

[BoneFishGA]

Originally Posted by BlueChips

trends and price analysis is what traders should concentrate mostly on. it's useless to waste your time trying to trade trendless markets, IMHO

I always look at the finacials of a company, even now that I'm searching stocks to watch for momentum or trending I still have to look at the finacials.
It is hard to let go.
As for price analysis, I assume you mean the ask/bid to try and determine if the stock is going to be dumped or accumulated, I don't know much about.
I'll have to add that to my research list.
I must admit I have not had success trying to buy value. And over the years I have owned two stocks, (Schlotzskys and Safeskin) that had investor lawsuites filed for lying about financials. You can guess what happened, you can't get out fast enough.
Those are extreme examples but even if your co. has good financials it does not mean people will buy it and there are plenty of co.'s with terrible financials and stock buyers can't get enough of them.
So thanks for the thought provoking ideas.