Timothy Sykes Is Sssssssso Ssssssstupid!
TIM $15,688, Down $140, You Can Do So Much Better Than Me!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh what a stupid, stupid, stupid loss, I feel like this guy:
The beautiful thing about PennyStocking is that you don’t have to scan through thousands of stocks every day, looking for the latest and greatest. No, it’s best to trade stocks that have been in play for the past few days so plenty of fickle day traders are involved. That way they’ll be volatile and liquid, two qualities most needed to give you the best odds of profiting 5-20% on a trade, long or short. Read some past blog posts and you can see me transitioning from one stock to another, whatever fits the patterns I’m comfortable playing.
COIN couldn’t breakout so it’s back to the 12-13ish range, aka not volatile enough for me (for higher priced stocks, I want 20-50% intraday moves or else with my poor timing skills, the odds of success aren’t very great) so the two plays on my radar today were SHZ and DARA, both looking like they could spike and inevitably fall (I wish I could buy, too, but I just suck at it) I woke up early to borrow shares to short, but Thinkorswim had no DARA, just plenty of SHZ to go around, so I reserved 600 shares.
The stock opened lower and I had a chance to short at the open at $7.67, just 1 cent below where I covered yesterday—a penny I’d gladly paid to avoid any overnight holding risk—but now, my screwed up COIN trade fresh in my mind, I couldn’t risk shorting too early, I had to watch out for that morning spikeness risk! So, I waited.
Within 10 minutes of the open, I coulda woulda shoulda covered at $7.31 those shares I coulda woulda shoulda shorted at $7.67, but we’re talking only $100ish in profits, ideally, before the morning spikeness came in, on very low volume, pushing the stock up big. Not an ideal trade, good avoidance. From 9:45am to 10:15am, the stock surged from $7.30 to $8.75. Ahhhh, volatility. Even though I knew I shouldn’t be shorting in the morning and more importantly, I had an 11am meeting, I thought this was just a brief spike so I shorted 400 shares–not the full 600 I’d borrowed–at $8.40, only 3 cents off where I successfully shorted yesterday, and right at yesterday’s busted support (broken support becomes resistance) Sweet, a gift, yes, please!
Twenty minutes into my trade, and 15 minutes before I had to leave, it wasn’t such a gift with the stock gyrating between $8.50 and $8.80. Damn my impatience! But there were sellers, plenty of big block sellers, so I wasn’t worried. As I got ready to leave, I figured I’d put in an order to give me a nice profit in case the stock dropped enough. Since I knew there’d be buyers trying to prevent a negative close around $7.70, I put in my buy to cover order at $7.75. It executed immediately?!?!?!?!?!
This idiot made a fat finger mistake, entering a limit order of $8.75!!!! My limit was above the current asking price so I bought 100 shares at $8.69 and 300 at $8.73, for a ridiculous $140 loss! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! What a freaken moron! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!
I took my anger out on my front door and went to my meeting. The stock rubbed my mistake in by downtrending for the rest of the day. It’s not the dollar loss that gets me—even if I had held, my gain woulda been minimal, like $100—it’s the poor execution that pisses me off, especially after yesterday’s perfect trade. This was not my first fat finger mistake nor will it be my last. Good news is this time thanks to the TIM project; it cost me about 5% of what it did last time!
TIM Lesson: Always double check your limit orders before placing them
What I Did Right:
– Not wanting to risk a overnight/morning spike, I didn’t hold overnight into today
– Shorted into the morning spike at yesterday’s support (now resistance)
– Small position size
– Posted my trade on this site and on TheLion, so others who are less stupid than me, profited
What I Did Wrong:
– Didn’t wait until the afternoon to short!
– Traded even though I knew I had an intraday meeting
– Not an ideal pattern to short into given the low volume and its already sizable drop off its highs
– Fat Finger Mistake, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
PS: DARA enjoyed some sweeet morning spikeness of its own before downtrending gradually, 25% off its morning high, 2 ideal times to short, 1.) at the first signs of weakness on the morning super spikeness 2.) when it cracked the sideways price action at $5.05, fifteen minutes before the market close.
Tomorrow it can still spike on the open, maybe a bit more, but it’s tough to sustain momo on the 3rd day, as SHZ and IDMI have proven lately. Whatever the outcome, add its chart to the pile of other microcrap momos, I’m not making this PennyStocking junk up, it really works and I’m really not that great at it! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
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| Date | Stock | Buy | Sell | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sept 4 | COIN | $5.70 | $6.21 | $745 |
| Sept 3 | COIN | $6.49 | $6.30 | $305 |
| Sept 3 | COINW | $2.75 | $2.85 | $180 |
| Sept 2 | TAYD | $7.51 | $8.13 | $545 |
| Aug 18 | FOUR | $2.80 | $2.66 | $342 |
| Aug 14 | APII | $2.66 | $3.30 | $1261 |
| Aug 12 | APII | $3.25 | $3.40 | $285 |
| Aug 7 | NOBL | $5.02 | $5.49 | $680 |
Total: $26,508 (
114%)
1Brian D
February 27th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
I went long and then short on DARA and managed to do 12% today. I’m holding my short overnight which could be really stupid. Luckily all my classes are next door to the computer lab tomorrow so I can leave and end the bullship if it decides to startup again.
2mitil
February 27th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
wouldn’t an OCO type orger come handy when you are in such a situation and have to go to a meeting?
3Brian P
February 27th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
I short SHZ at $8.53 and buy cover at $8.20..not a bad trade..
hear you about limited order..last year, one mistake cost me about $120k. I did not lose anything but I lost chance to get $120K return that afternoon.
4George Johnson
February 27th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Tim, why are you so impatient and so stupid? Just wondering. Thanks for reply.
John
5timsykes
February 27th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
hindsight is easy. u see opportunities u take them. if i waited for only perfectly ideal trades, i’d be trading 6-18 times/year. thats boring. and u guys wouldnt learn anything
6chris
February 27th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Tim,
LKQX
I almost shorted today close to 23, but just couldn’t do it. It closed shy of 22 with a small selloff, still up nearly 20% for the day. Your thoughts? I know this is not a penny stock, or is it?
Thanks
Chris
7timsykes
February 27th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
i dont short earnings plays, espeically those breakin out to new highs.
8timsykes
February 27th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
(I prefer shorting failing or fraudulent companies!)
9Nick
February 27th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Tim–checked out your library (saw you read atlas shrugged and were a philosophy major–cool stuff), but as a hella newbie to stocks, do you have a section that will point me in the right direction to get started
thanks
pupil nick
10timsykes
February 27th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
library will be better orgainized soon, but newbies need to read:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Make.....038;sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Technica.....038;sr=1-2
11Dan
February 27th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
AGIX You need to buy it Tim. Haw does the chart look now after the past 3 days. From .57 monday to today .77 not to bad Tim lol. What do you think now Tim.
12Brian D
February 27th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Trading for a Living by Alexander Elder sorry if you all dislike him but that was my first book I ever read pertaining to the subject. Have read, and re-read many times over. Reminiscences all the way.
13timsykes
February 27th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
AGIX still sucks! its not volatile enough for e, its not my chart pattern, like i said let me know when it gets p to $2 or $3, then i might play it. theres tons of moves i’ll miss, but i stick to whats worked for me.
14sonid
February 27th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
TIm, take a look at the COIN chart from the jan 14th run up….. It’s almost identical to SHZ. I think this will be a good cliff diver once it cracks 7.20ish What do you think ?
15Dan
February 27th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Why are you watching QTWW then. I think that charts sucks and AGIX chart is ready to explode up
16chris
February 27th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Thank Tim for your response. How is one to know what is fraudulent? To be honest, from the outside, COIN looks like it could be good be a good investment (VALUE - Don’t hate me. I like your concepts, but would like a small portion of my funds to go long in a good investment, is that possible in today’s market?). I hear people say they have like 6 employees, etc. In fact, I was going to go long when at 10, but was waiting for it to dip to 9 and didn’t last week. Coulda, woulda…
Again, thanks for your help.
17timsykes
February 27th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
COIN will die eventually but the break abover 11.50 is so bullish its scary. gotta wait for the momo to die out, tomorrow’s SEED’s nasty report should hurt cOIN a bit, we’ll see how it acts
I watch thousands of stocks, doesnt mean i’m gonna play them. Tomorrow only ideal play for me is DARA, multi-day exponential setups, thats what i like
18timsykes
February 27th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
no idea if any of these fraudulent, i dont want to know, if i did, i’d have to post my research and risk getting my kneecaps smashed. forget that. safe to assume the worst in all of them, it’ll help u remain unbiased against their perfectly sugarcoated PRs and exuberant management who always says the future looks bright. gotta hedge your emotions or risk getting sucked in by their kool-aid
19Stan
February 27th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
RYL came across my attention… maybe in the middle of some sideways action and ready to go down. 4 days in a row its been up a good amount but the company is a piece of crap.
what do you think??
20timsykes
February 27th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
I’ll s hort RYL if it breaches $20, nowhere else, looks too strong
21chris
February 27th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Thanks Tim.
I saw DARA too, and was considering. I am thinking of opening an acct with TOS to short such stocks as an alternative to my ET act. I couldn’t short IDMI and it cost me a lot…Does TOS require 25k in the acct if you are a pattern day trader?
I’ll start putting some water in the kool-aid…
22timsykes
February 28th, 2008 at 12:06 am
i dounno what TOS’s deal is with pattern day trading, they let me trade as long as i don’t abuse margin, so that means like 1-2 trades/day but no more
23eric
February 28th, 2008 at 12:52 am
Tim great post and very informative! I like how you posted what you did wrong and what u did right. Lots of information on your blog to digest! I enjoy the shorting game way more. TOS let’s you skip the pattern day trading rule?!?!?!? Nice! Im starting to think TOS stands for Tim or Swim.
24Stan
February 28th, 2008 at 1:18 am
TYM and SEED look to be good shorts to take over on open? also DARA?
I think TYM looks the best though since its been trending downward in a little more predictable fashion. Thoughts?
25Gibran
February 28th, 2008 at 1:31 am
DARA
I saw this big spike Tues. and considered shorting but looking at all the bids and it just told me to go long. I actually was catching this falling knife buying and began to feel nervous (amateur) but after looking at other charts similiar to this one I decided it should give about 2-3 days of gains then start to come back down (I think).
Luckily I held over Tues night on with 600 shares @ avg. $4.38 and sold today @ $4.90 = P/L: $308.00. I could have sold around $6.50 DAMN, but I’m more than happy with this gain!
I then considered shorting after it hit a nice high but stayed away after making a nice gain….
26Funterpwave
February 28th, 2008 at 2:28 am
Tim, what’s your stand on margin? Seems you stay away from it. Any reason or am I wrong?
27timsykes
February 28th, 2008 at 7:58 am
Woooohoooo got 1000 shares of DARA reserved short for the day, c’mon morning spikeness!
I use margin to short, I stay away from leverage, that way for all my mistakes, I never risk disaster
28Tony Ellis
February 28th, 2008 at 8:30 am
I can only get 314…oh well taking what I can get
29Ivan Mutaftchiev
February 28th, 2008 at 8:57 am
Tim,
what do you think is going to spike up big this morning ? I’m looking to go long….
30Aegir
February 28th, 2008 at 9:09 am
DARA looking good in PM.
31Alvari40
February 28th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Tim,
Educate me. You use “margin” to “leverage” your buying power.
32timsykes
February 28th, 2008 at 9:27 am
i suck at longs and i don’t see any clear breakouts, no idea whats going up
just shorted some DARA at $5.35, only a small position, have more shares to short on the way up, but i’m too afraid this thing will collapse without me.
33Stan
February 28th, 2008 at 9:28 am
is MF a good short to hold throught the day? They will open down 10%
34Stan
February 28th, 2008 at 9:33 am
ehh too late now for MF
35Stan
February 28th, 2008 at 9:35 am
dara up to 5.85, no shares available to short @ Scottrade. darn
36ETQT
February 28th, 2008 at 9:46 am
shorted some DARA @ 5.70
37timsykes
February 28th, 2008 at 9:51 am
added some more to my DARA at 5.53
38timsykes
February 28th, 2008 at 9:56 am
total average 5.42,,,, i suck at timing but u gotta love this strategy, now 512 x 5.25, can’t wait til we take out those stops at 5 either late morning or afternoon!
39Stan
February 28th, 2008 at 9:58 am
im so pissed at scottrade. my 1000 @ 5.85 got rejected and i would have covered at 5.07 thats like 800 bucks!
40timsykes
February 28th, 2008 at 10:08 am
GET OUT OF SCOTTRADE!
DARA bouncin a little here, but not a big deal, sellers just took out a 10k buy block at 5.31 in less than 2 minutes, somehow i doubt buyers would be able to do such a feat at these prices
41ryan z
February 28th, 2008 at 10:11 am
short entry AXTI @ 5.95 held over night exit at 5.74…. it was risky but thanks for teaching me to read graphs and not hesitate to pull the trigger tim!
42burky
February 28th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Paper trading here until I get a TOS account. Wasn’t sure how high the morning spike would go so held off. Caught the bounce at $5.30. C’mon … break $5!!!!
43Stan
February 28th, 2008 at 10:15 am
i know ive been planning to take all my money out and put it in TOS soon
44timsykes
February 28th, 2008 at 10:15 am
excellent price action, right back to 5.05 x 5.20, the 5s are gonna try and hold for a bit, but i just don’t see some short seller or scared seller not coming in and taking them out sometime today. then we’re talking 4.60-4.80 and TIM $16.5k!
45timsykes
February 28th, 2008 at 10:20 am
got faked out by those big block buyers, i’m all out at 5.15. what a horrible exit, have fun guys, this is going under 5
46lmsmith
February 28th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Ohh darn- I missed the boat on this one- Mr. Scottrade sucks..
47ETQT
February 28th, 2008 at 10:21 am
as you type…dip to 4.95
48lmsmith
February 28th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Tim you should have held….it’s at 4.95 now
49Eric T
February 28th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Anyone notice BRKR yet? any longs or shorts?
50lmsmith
February 28th, 2008 at 10:23 am
This stock is clearly going down!! Congrats to those who caught this one early….. I might go long on it at the end of the day- it seems to have the morning gap up?? any thoughts?