Daily Recap: A Solid Start to the Month

Today was a decent day of trading, and I’m glad to have started the month off in the green. Although I only won one of my two trades, both felt well-considered, and I believe I had the right ideas in play. My winning trade was a bit of a challenge since I was managing it from my phone while at the zoo with my little one, but it all worked out in the end. I closed the day with a profit of $45.55, bringing my account balance up to $1,187.60. Here’s a closer look at the trades.

Trade 1: CNFR

CNFR had gapped up in the premarket with some news driving interest. After a quick ramp following the open, the price began to fall. I saw potential for it to recover and decided to enter at $1.00, with a 5-cent stop loss, as the price appeared to be reversing. Unfortunately, the momentum didn’t sustain, and I got stopped out at $0.95 for a loss of $22.94. The frustrating part was that the price did rally shortly after I was stopped out, eventually reaching what would have been my 3:1 RR take profit target. While the trade didn’t work out, I’m confident in my strategy here—my timing was just slightly off.

Trade 2: BOF

My second trade was on BOF, which presented a similar setup to the first trade. After a sell-off, I saw an opportunity for a positive reversal. I waited for the price to dip below my potential entry and then took the trade as it came back up at $3.27 with a 15-cent offset. This time, my stop loss was deep enough to allow the trade some breathing room. Since I entered this trade just before heading to the zoo, I had to manage it from my phone. If I’d been at my computer, I likely would have moved my stop up to a 2:1 RR and taken profit there. However, due to the slower pace of managing trades on my phone, I missed that chance. Despite the challenges, the trade worked out, and I exited at $3.72 for a 3:1 RR profit of $68.35.

Reflection

Overall, today was a strong start to the month, and I’m pleased to be ending the first day in the green. I understand that even when I make the right call, sometimes I’ll still get stopped out, and that’s okay. I also learned more about using Thinkorswim on my phone, which will help me manage trades on the go in the future.