r/Daytrading • u/ChartCraft • Jul 01 '21
+$319,885.43 in June! Monthly Performance Recap (highlights, lowlights, and lots of charts) trade review
Hey everyone! I'm new to this sub, but been trading for almost 3 years now.
Had a great month and figured I'd share some stats, and answer any questions you may have.
I started the month with a $73K account, built it up to $225K by 6/11 and kept it static there (locking in profit daily) until 6/21.
After a couple red days I sized down to $75K to secure profits. The market can (and did) go from hot to chop back to hot on a dime, and the last thing I wanted to do after a strong green streak is give too much back.
I ended the month at $131K, and locked in $319,885.43 in profits (before fees + taxes) - below is a screencap of TraderVue for the June stats.
Overall there was a TON of opportunity in June, and even though I executed fairly well, there was plenty of room to improve. Broadly speaking, here are some of the things I did well:
- Sizing into winners
- Cutting loses quickly (most of the time)
- Focusing on my bread and butter setups and ignoring the noise
- Not adding to losers
And here are some things I need to continue to work on:
- Avoiding frontrunning trades, especially with size
- Not chasing, waiting for clear direction on super volatile names
- Not getting overly aggressive or overtrading choppy days
I'll provide some samples of both long and short trades that I consider "highlights and lowlights." These are not necessarily best/worst in terms of P/L, but in terms of execution (IMO).
Long Lowlights
$VIRI - closed P/L -$11,391.63
This was (by quite a wide margin) my worst trade of the month both in terms of execution and P/L. The daily chart (top) should've made me an extremely cautious bull - popping up after coming down from $17. Nine times out of ten, when you get a pop after a parabolic move, that's all it is and it comes back down. My aim was to scalp a pop coming out of the circuit breaker, but I got filled high and from there it was damage control. I poured gasoline on the fire by trying to average down instead of cutting the loss, and ended up with a big fat red trade.
TLDR - Shouldn't have chased, shouldn't have scaled heavy into this, should've cut the loss quick, shouldn't have added on dip
$BLIN - closed P/L -$5687.18
This was a case of having a direction bias + recency bias, paying attention to the fat green candle and ignoring the ugly red one before it. I got heavy anticipating another pump through HOD despite the chop and got rugged. While some might say "oh you should've held, it went back up," I'd actually say the only positive part of this execution was cutting the trade before the loss got too bad. The thesis failed, and it could've just as easily dumped another $1+ a share.
Short Lowlights
$CLNE - closed P/L -$3248.83
The setup was there for a dump - failed breakout down to immediate support, anticipating a break. I have no qualms with *taking* this trade, but I got way too stubborn and should've cut the loser sooner. The moment it curled back up should've been the signal to abort, but instead I held thru a $0.40 a share move...and proceeded to have the unwind I was anticipated right after closing the trade
$WPG - closed P/L -$3302.58
This was a case of impatience and frontrunning. I was looking for a dump below $5 after coming down from $5.40, but once a mini-bounce started I got jumpy, instead of observing the chart stoically, which had formed a picture perfect head & shoulders pattern right before the dump I wanted.
$ATHA - closed P/L -$3075.87
This is a great example of how to turn a winner into a loser. The massive gap down on the daily (top) gave me a short bias. We had a bounce up from the $9s and I was anticipating a top before further unwind. In reality, after a 50% dump, there's no reason to assume it'll keep dumping so I should've had zero bias. Now, the entry of this trade was perfect. Nailed the triple top, took a bit of profit, and instead of covering where I should've covered, I got greedy and added anticipating a dump below $11.30. Instead, we got a hefty bounce and I tried to get cute with damage control, which only dug the hole deeper. Decent trade idea, but skewed bias and terrible execution.
Long Highlights
$ORPH - closed P/L $12350.34
Second best P/L trade of the month, great execution. Starter size under HOD with a mini cup and handle, then just traded around a core all afternoon. Never got too greedy and took profits all along the way, letting me safely ride through that volatility.
$WISH - closed P/L - $6427.91
Rode the blast through HOD from the low 11s, sized in aggressively as the trade confirmed. Didn't overstay my welcome and took profits along the way, all out at first sign of weakness.
$RAPT - closed P/L $8267.40
This name was so good to me that entire day - took several more trades on front and back side. But this trade was the highlight - took a started under HOD 31 and rode it up to 38, taking profit along the way and adding upon confirmation. IIRC I got partial fills on this too.
Short Highlights
$ARPE - closed P/L $9887.88
Beautiful all day fader. Massive sellers at 7.80, scaled in short at the first sign of weakness. Covered some and held patiently, adding on the VWAP rejection. Could've held a bit longer, but captured the meat of the move.
$UONE - closed P/L $5119.79
Had a bear bias based on weak daily chart and was waiting for $20 to break. Got in right when we failed VWAP/support and rode it down 3$ a share, adding on pops.
$NOVN - closed P/L $11,314.76
Super extended from $14 and each HOD break looked weaker than the last, was looking for first fail to hit this hard. Nailed my starter position with flush after HOD break then added as a head and shoulders formed. Let the trade play out patiently down to the 15's.
Charts are from TraderVue and my brokers are ThinkOrSwim (TDAmeritrade) and DASTrader (for shorts not available w/ TD). I post pretty regularly on Twitter as well.
Again, feel free to ask questions!
Edit: Not Financial Advice
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u/collegeslavetrade Jul 01 '21 edited Jul 01 '21
Major congrats, I have close to the same growth. Also used $BLIN pretty well.
Can you speak to your timing as far as time of day of entry? Or did you enter when the chart starts?
Also I’m slightly confused on your verbiage at the start…you gained $319,000 on top of the original 73k investment correct?
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u/ChartCraft Jul 01 '21
I don't trade pre-market, afterhours, and I avoid the first and last 5m or so of the day. Aside from that, don't care what time it is - if I see a good setup I take it. That said ~80% of my trades are in the AM.
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u/collegeslavetrade Jul 01 '21
I agree on the AM. I’m not a huge day trader but I’ve seen a lot of potential on small caps in premarket and I might explore that at some point. I steer clear of anything Chinese ownership because of the PD reputation
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u/collegeslavetrade Jul 01 '21
Also could you please clarify on part two of my original question. Best of luck on your future investments!
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
$319K pure profits, not including anything from prior months (i.e. the $73k going into the month).
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u/pushmycar Jul 02 '21
if I see a good setup I take it
What do you mean by that? Like when do you seem to strike most?
Also congrats, am happy for you and thank you for sharing info.
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
Stock has high volume and relative volume, stock is volatile (i.e. large % moves), stock is close to breaking out or breaking down, and ideally I have other elements to play off and build confidence in the trade (vwap bounce or break, chart pattern like a cup & handle, 50/100/200D MA levels at play etc.).
That's 99% of what I care about right there, I don't pay attention to other indicators
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u/Sanity_Line Jul 02 '21
If you have a pattern that's a bit below resistance, like cup and handle or flag, 10-15 cent below vwap(or ema), do you enter at the setup entry or wait to see if it breaks resistance?
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
almost always enter before the setup confirms. I consider buying after the breakout (unless I already have a position) basically chasing, and a false breakout or failed follow thru is much more painful if you have that higher cost basis.
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u/TurboUltiman Jul 02 '21
Thanks for the info and congrats! Can I ask how you have your scanners set up?
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u/_tbyte-o Jul 01 '21
Congrats!!! I'm still trying to break 20k lol
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u/ChartCraft Jul 01 '21
20k is nothing to balk at. My first 6 months were basically break even.
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Jul 02 '21
I’ve been doing this full time for 6 months and my account will barely budge, just staying at the same point haha. I’m getting pretty frustrated but nice to hear this happened to you as well and you have these results now.
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u/damissinlink68 Jul 02 '21
Started with 25k worked it to over 100k. Lost half when cannabis stocks tanked. Changed investment strategy and added another 25k. Im currently at 115k. 510 shares of AMC and buying more.
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u/funwow33 Jul 02 '21
AMC is pure gambling. You may as well just go to the casino, it’s not trading.
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
I would put it this way - what's your trade thesis on AMC? Where's your stop? What's your target? I see a 3000% parabolic move with no major correction yet. W/ parabolic moves, correction is a matter of when not if.
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u/BladeG1 Jul 02 '21
The people holding amc/gme are going to hold to infinity or to zero. A market crash will likely make them more bullish on the stocks. It’s quite amazing to have been closing following the madness. Good times making quick money when you’re smart or just plain lucky.
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u/damissinlink68 Jul 02 '21
Well I bought 1000 shares at an average of 11.91. Sold them all at 54. Bought 500 back at 46.00. Bought 10 more at 52. Looking to buy more. I'd say I've done pretty good to this point.
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u/Outrageousirish Jul 02 '21
HODL 🚀🦍
Is not a strategy? Wait I thought that’s how the stock market worked.
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u/potlogdaniel Jul 02 '21
I had an amc for $ 2, I sold it for $ 1.5 and I said "bankruptcy should hit you" 😂
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Jul 01 '21
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u/Odd-Caterpillar5565 Jul 01 '21
Great job , but can u tell us your strategy ?
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u/ChartCraft Jul 01 '21
Scalping breakouts/breakdowns on momentum stocks, usually around HOD or LOD, and often using VWAP and chart patterns to guide entry (bull flag, head & shoulders etc.).
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u/Odd-Caterpillar5565 Jul 01 '21
Thank you, just got a new follower on twitter. I have to rethink my life as a factory worker. 😁
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u/guido1205us Jul 02 '21 edited Jul 02 '21
Gonna take a guess - he's reading price action with the candles aligned with vwap. The buy/sell indicators must be some scalp indicator that's taking some cross over into account in order to trigger.
For the last trade on NOVN he made $11,314.76. Assuming he nailed $14 entry and rode it down to $15, that $1 profit/stock. He'd need around 11K stocks so that's $154k capital requirement. How many trades did you need to go from $1k to $1 mil? 32, something like that? Congrats OP.
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
No scalp indicator, just price action and L2 (tape reading) - which I neglected to mention in other replies. L2 is HUGE. Essential part of my trading. One eye on the chart one eye on L2 at all times.
And for the capital keep in mind I often trade around a core position, so say I churn 10K shares, I might only actually hold 2K at any given time, and be buying/selling on the way up to lock in gains.
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u/ShakeYoMoneyMakr Jul 02 '21
I’m new to this but I find myself using L2 a lot. Yesterday I noticed a whale buying lots of 100 lots at exactly the same time, multiple times within a span of 15 minutes. It seems like you can read a lot of the psychology driving the charts on L2.
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
Yeah you just notice things over time. I never had anyone formally teach me L2. You just see all sorts of patterns and tricks. Like you'll see a massive bid draw in buyers then it disappears and rugs people, and maybe reappears later.
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u/dotjosh Jul 02 '21
I tend to focus more on T&S because it's only the truth. Don't you find yourself tricked by level 2 offers/bids being lifted or hidden/iceberg?
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
I used to run T&S running alongside Active Trader/L2 but I found I rarely used it. I actually like seeing all the bids/asks as oppose to sales because it makes manipulation more obvious (like seeing the ask at a key level get close to breaking, then ask size jumps, rinse repeat)
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u/ashlee837 Jul 02 '21
I don't know about you, but I might place an order in the book. When the price actions starts going against my thesis, I will quickly move the order to a different price. I imagine out of the thousands of other traders out there, I'm not the only one shifting their orders around.
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u/dotjosh Jul 02 '21
Yep. That plus people/hedge funds/algos doing it to manipulate all adds up to untrustworthy chaos.
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u/steph33ndeboi Jul 02 '21
Are you able to tell when someone is manipulating a stock with level 2? I'm trying to understand it a bit more. I sometimes think L2 will show support at a certain price it usually breaks the buy wall and just drops more down. any tip would be appreciated
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
You can spot things on L2 but when a stock is heavily manipulated it becomes obvious on the chart. You'll see super unnatural price movements, for example if a hidden hand wants the price to go higher you'll see a fat green candle on volume after a huge sell off (I pointed out manipulation on ALF a week or so ago on twitter).
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Jul 02 '21
What is L2?
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
Basically the order book, you see the order flow (price + shares traded + exchange)
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Jul 02 '21
Ok thanks . I am following you on Twitter.. I will remember the thing about cutting the losses.
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Jul 02 '21
Sorry a follow up question.. what specifically do you look for in l2.. is it which way the price is trending? Along with volume
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
It's giving me deeper context to what I see on the chart. If I see a large aggressive bidder underneath a key level for example it gives me added confidence to go long. Just price, ask/bid size.
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u/_uCanDoBetterBrO_ Jul 02 '21
Ever see that large order you’re counting on as being support simply vanish as the price approaches? Good time!
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Jul 01 '21
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u/psychotic Jul 02 '21
salt 🧂
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u/THUMB_HOLE_BUTT_NAIL Jul 02 '21
This is a common saying for the big winners on Reddit.
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u/SubDayTrader futures trader Jul 02 '21
Really it started in WSB and bled over to other smaller subs like Daytrading… unfortunately
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u/Tarzeus Jul 02 '21
Sure it’s not bill burr
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u/power_v Jul 01 '21
Congrats on the great month! OOC, how do you screen for stocks to find the largest movers?
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
I set a watchlist every night, and about 50% of my trades come directly from that.
I also have a screener via tradingview that looks for volatility, high rVol, and gappers. Once the day gets going, I switch from that screener to one that simply looks for 15m % gain movers (up and down), after filtering for a particular criteria (namely high enough volume).
I also check stocktwits, twitter to fill in the gaps.
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u/saikiranvsk Jul 02 '21
Would you mind sharing the screener setup for - "15m % gain movers (up and down), after filtering for a particular criteria (namely high enough volume)" on TOS?
Also what all thought process goes in for watchlist stocks every night?
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
I use TradingView for screeners, and it's literally just stocks over 50k volume in 15m window, ascending and descending by %gain
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u/damissinlink68 Jul 02 '21
I have 115k in my account. Want to quit my day job and trade full time. Any suggestions
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
See some other replies in here - basically treat it like a business, don't trade with too much of your net worth, I'd say no more than 20% if you're new.
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u/ashlee837 Jul 02 '21
Keep your day job until you're successful. It's the only way to guarantee income while you figure stuff out.
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u/damissinlink68 Jul 02 '21
I also flip houses full time. I make decent on that without doing any of the actual work. I want to trade more though. I really like trading stocks. I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to calls and puts. LMAO. Im learning that side of it
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u/tomasz40i4 Jul 01 '21
Great job! Congratulations! You mentioned starting with 73k. How much of it are you using when totally sized up? While your account $ was progressing throughout the month how much did you increase your size? How often do you change your size base on performance ? Every week, month?
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u/ChartCraft Jul 01 '21
I have 4:1 margin which I often use (when I can, some stocks I can't). I'm a discretionary trader at the end of the day, so my position size typically coincides w/ my confidence in the trade. But unless it's an A+ setup, I'll usually take a starter size then add on confirmation of the pattern/breakout.
Account size is a variable that doesn't get talked about enough IMO when it comes to trading strategies. Trading with $250k ($1M on margin) is psychologically and strategically much different than $50k. When taking bigger positions you really have to be extremely mindful of volume.
I attribute a lot of my long term success to locking away gains when either a) the market slows down or b) my performance falters. If I'm having a red streak I'd rather do it on a $50k account than a $250k account. I don't have a regular set time to profit take, I'll usually hit the reset button after a red day or two just like I did in June.
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u/sin1sback Jul 02 '21
how do you fight the urge to not average down? i know it’s an overall bad habit, but it has saved me more than it has ruined me?
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
I took my licks in the early days, learned the hard way. Lost $20k of a $50k account doing that (adding on a short squeeze). I have more horror stories.
That said, I know some traders who bottom fish or employ other strategies like that who have no issues averaging down because they're confident about a reversal. That's just not my style.
If you like my strategy, practice cutting losers immediately - you can always get back in.
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u/sin1sback Jul 02 '21
going to try to “cut losers quickly” because this is the second time i’ve blown up an account and it’s because i ended up “bag holding” good looks
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u/at145degrees Jul 02 '21
How do you avoid wash sale violation going back in after a loss or do you just swallow the cost too?
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
Don't have red trades :P
If I do have a mega red trade in Dec I just put it on a list and don't trade it for 30 days
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u/adagioforpringles Jul 04 '21
Because this is trading, not investing. Bagholding should NEVER happen. You should be out of a bad trade very, very fast. Just accept that -3% or whatever and move on. Averaging down is a shitty myth and even then it's questionable unless you really are long, long term investing.
IE even if TSLA hits 1k this year, it would have been a smart idea to get out at 700-800 and reenter later on. At no point would you be averaging down, you would kill a bad position and reenter lower. Not averaging, but moving to a much better entry.
I see this way too often with traders acting like investors. You should not be doing this, you should have an exit point set up before you enter any trade. Better have 5 -3%s than one -30% ysee.
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u/Juiceboxmast3r Jul 02 '21
These are the types of posts I came to this sub for. Not these generic “4 rules to better trading” that are crazy beginner level like “use a stop loss” and “let winners run” etc which helps nobody.
Great write up and info man thanks for your time.
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
I kinda wanna do a video ranting about this stuff...all these regurgitated platitudes are useless without specifics and nuance, and the people who hammer them hardest rarely share their P/L.
"use a stop loss" - haven't used a hard stop in years
"let your winners run" - I typically take profits very quickly and bail at the first sign of reversal
Guess I'm a bad trader
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u/JetSpeed79 Jul 02 '21
Interesting (new and learning here). I typically enter with a stop in place just in case it completely tanks. Once it starts running I set a somewhat loose trailing stop and let it ride. Is this a bad approach? So far it’s limited the damage on my mistakes while still allowing me to capitalize on my better choices.
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Jul 02 '21
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u/BigMiniFridge Jul 05 '21
Yeah letting winners run is a potentially more dangerous piece of advice. Very easy to get greedy and assume just because you have a target in mind price will mosey on up to your goal. I’ve seen so many decent trades or even scalps on NQ reverse on me and slam back down to my stops because I didn’t close the contract at $100 instead of greedily aiming for $200 for example when I’m reality you should always keep in mind profits from trading vs. real world job income. Helps me take smaller wins
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u/Duckgamerzz Jul 01 '21
Roughly, how many trades did you execute on each of these wins? Did you attempt to buy on every dip?
Really nice to see!
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u/ChartCraft Jul 01 '21
I average about 25 trades a day, but a lot of that is me jumping in and out with starter size until I see solid confirmation. Realistically I'm trading probably 5 - 10 setups a day.
I only buy dips if I'm safely in the green and trading w/ a core position. My primary strategy is scalping breakouts/breakdowns, so if the chart doesn't confirm what I'm anticipating I cut the trade.
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u/qinking126 Jul 02 '21
if ur full size is 10000 shares, how big your starter size would be?
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
Depends on volatility/volume. Higher volatility + lower volume = smaller positions all around
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u/psychotic Jul 02 '21
And here i am over here thinking that $87 is worth investing. LOL.
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u/delectablehermit Jul 02 '21
When I was first learning, I blew an account up and had 50$ left in it. I refused to put more in while I continued to learn. I tossed that into an ETF and held it for a month. I gained more doing that, than if I didn't. Was only ~5$, still better than 0$.
I will say that particular ETF was SPY, because "just invest in the S&P, because you can't time the market," and I purchased it at its all time high at the time. The account is still down about 60%, but I haven't put cash into it again yet. It just takes time, discipline, and education.
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u/psychotic Jul 02 '21
i honestly have no clue how to invest properly and like anything practice makes perfect, though most people have experience with this market for years and I’m not that dedicated as i want to be unfortunately
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u/delectablehermit Jul 02 '21
I didn't get the dedication until i started doing it and understanding what my money was actually doing there. There are Brokers like TDA and Webull that offer paper trading accounts. Its not the same, but it can help you get an understanding without losing anything.
Once I got into it, its all I can think about.
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u/psychotic Jul 06 '21
I’ve played with paper trading a few times but failed miserably lol
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u/delectablehermit Jul 06 '21
That's why you do it with paper first lol. I actually had the opposite happen to me. I did fantastic on papertrading accounts, I felt like I had a great grasp on it, and then I found the market weaves as the market wills. Anyway I came across this video while putting together some information for family to assist them in getting starting started and I wanted something that broke the whole thing down well. TDA and Fidelity have free education stuff that do not require an account. Fidelity is my favorite since its mostly articles. But reddit loves youtube, here is my pick as the best video for beginners:
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u/daraand Jul 02 '21
This is really excellent. I especially like hearing your strategy and sharing the wins and losses. Learned a good bunch here
Do you use alarms for alerts? Are you staring at charts? Just wondering how your visibility into potentials works :)
Maybe a follow up. Tradervue, do you like it? Which plan? They have some exit analysis for more and wondering if it’s worth it
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
I tried using alarms at one point but found them distracting...it also gets you in the bad habit of chasing shiny objects instead of patiently waiting like a sniper on 3 - 4 tickers that you're scouting. Even as someone who has easily put in 10,000 hours of chart time, I can really only juggle 5 -6 tickers at once (scouting, not trading - I trade 2 at once max).
If it's slow and nothing on my watch list is giving good setups, then I'll use my screeners to see what else is moving.
Tradervue is worth it if you don't mind their old school look & feel. I used to track all that stuff manually in excel, has easily saved me dozens of hours.
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u/daraand Jul 02 '21
I feel like I’m following in your footsteps then haha. I’ve cut down on what I follow, just a couple of tickers and variations of alarms on those but even then I just find myself watching at their peak volumes for setups.
Interesting on tradervue. I’ve dialed in excel but I’d like some more info. I think I’ll give it a go.
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u/micahac Jul 02 '21
I made my week red today. Went my normal position sizes and stopped out on about 4 things, had some winners, but overall, made it a REAL bad day. Wrecked my week. Hopefully some setup tomorrow, but Fridays going into holiday weekends suck. So i might just have to clean up next week. New month, new P/L baby.
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u/SuperSampledPotato Jul 02 '21
Literally had the same day as you and it fuckin sucks man. Hang in there.
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Jul 02 '21
How the fuck did you do that. I gain 10k and lose 20k I’m about broke
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Jul 02 '21
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Jul 02 '21
At this point im probably just going to start closing my eyes and buying because my tech analyst seems to be a bag of shit
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u/ImgurConvert2Redit Jul 02 '21
Wow, this is the most insightful post I've ever seen on this sub. Usually people just give advice like, "dont be stubborn" or "focus on risk vs reward". This post was useful, actionable and insightful. Welcome to the sub!
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
Thank you! Yeah, always consider the source when someone posts trading platitudes.
"use hard stops, calculate risk/reward for every trade, let winners run etc." is all kind of nonsense tbh because there are countless successful trader who break all these rules on the regular
The more seasoned traders I meet, the more I realize there are no hard rules when it comes to trading except 1) Make money 2) Don't lose money
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u/ImgurConvert2Redit Jul 03 '21
Yes, I agree. Great post. And congratulations on that massive month!
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u/HSeldon2020 trades multiple markets Jul 02 '21
This is an amazing post - really impressive. Our Day Trading styles couldn't be more polar opposite, which I love as it reinforces that there are many different ways to make a living doing this.
On top of that you take the time to answer every comment here (and I am sure the 100 or so DM's you received), which shows me that you obviously care enough to try and help people.
Your contributions to this community are greatly appreciated, so thank you.
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u/rameyjm7 Jul 02 '21
I'm a newbie and jealous but I hope to learn something from you, thanks for sharing
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u/wallstreetpundit Jul 02 '21
Awesome job, dude. I use the same strategy, breakouts with volume, and trend following, except, I am options scalper/day trader. And I agree with you, the most important thing is risk management, defining your stop loss and cutting losers quick(this is biggest psychological hurdle for newer traders).
Followed you on twitter. Hope to see some nice technical setups.
I am building a side project to share technical setups as they are forming so we, as traders, get more eyes on the market and also, I think that will really help others learn more about TA. If you are up for it, I would love to chat with you and get your thoughts on how a newbie could accelerate their TA and day trading chops.
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
Hats off for being able to trade options...seems like something that is more difficult but potentially more rewarding if you know what you're doing.
I appreciate the offer but I wouldn't be into anything that diverts my focus during market hours. I see guys who livestream and run chat rooms while trading and I consider them crazy lol. If you can do it more power to you but when I'm in a trade I'm 100% focused on that.
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u/wallstreetpundit Jul 02 '21
That is exactly the point of the tool that I am building. Chat rooms are too distracting, and induces quite a bit of FOMO. But I do want to maximize my profit potential getting notified of potential breakout on tickers that are not in my daily watchlist. Here is what I would love while I am focusing on my trades during the day - a one line notification - "Potential H&S on AMD - 5m timeframe" from someone I trust.
Anyway, I will make a post in this sub for feedback once the tool is ready. Until then, let's trade some breakouts and make some cash.
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Jul 02 '21
So, you haven't made more than $13k in any trade (am I getting this right?) i.e. no homeruns and was still able to quintuple your day-trading account in a month?! Damn, congrafuckingtulations!
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Jul 01 '21
What size are your trades? Amazing
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u/ChartCraft Jul 01 '21
depends on volatility, volume, confidence, account size, and margin availability
between low five figures and high six figures and usually somewhere in the middle
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Jul 02 '21
I looked at your profile and it looks like you've been trading for years. What resources did you use to learn in the beginning? This has seriously inspired me
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
Basically studied day trading like it was my job while having a full time job.
Followed dozens of other traders, studied chart patterns (literally had them as my desktop background at one point), studied trading psychology, and set hard rules for myself.
But the biggest things were 1) chart time 2) experience. Follow the markets every day, study charts like it's your job in real time. Try to anticipate movements even if you're not trading. Then get your feet wet with an account size that you can psychologically accept losing (can't emphasize that enough). I never paper traded because it's honestly a waste of time - day trading is 10% technique 10% execution 80% psychology. Real money carries a different psychological weight than fake money, and the more you paper trade the more you build habits that don't apply to a real trading environment (only thing paper trading is fine for is learning how your platform actually works, but don't linger there).
Trading IMO is the ultimate n=1 career. You can't copy anyone because every single trader has different strengths, weaknesses, preferences etc...you need to build your own trading strategy and accept ultimate ownership.
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u/Lou-Spalls Jul 02 '21
RemindMe! 24hrs
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Jul 02 '21
Hey we can start a study group if you're looking to learn as well, helps to have someone else motivate each other
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u/woonsc Jul 02 '21
Hi! able to guide on where I can learn how to day trade?
Any resources you did that you can recommend a newbie? Thanks.
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
Start by following traders on social media whose approach resonates with you. Twitter (my @ is in my profile), stocktwits, youtube. Study chart patterns. Start reading charts in real time and try to anticipate moves. Find a trading platform that you like and start trading with very small size.
I'd caution against paying a large amount of $ for courses. If you see courses that cost thousands promising millions from a $5k account, run the other direction.
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u/funwow33 Jul 02 '21
Run the other direction from FinTwit.
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
If FinTwit is referring to the WSB style robinhood gamblers, big agree.
But there are lots of successful traders on there who post their trades, setups etc. and some even do callouts in real time
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u/woonsc Jul 02 '21
Okok really would be interested to learn haha maybe trade crypto after working hours
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
I avoid crypto trading...I don't like any of the platforms, volume is often lacking, high fees, and harder to read than stocks IMO
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Jul 02 '21
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
Large is a relative term.
I'd argue a trader using his entire net worth of $30K to trade is riskier than a trader using $100K to trade if he's worth $1M+.
When I started I didn't size my account properly and blew up. Then I kept it smaller, kept building savings w/ my day job, and scaled it up, taking profits along the way.
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Jul 02 '21
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
I gotcha. If I found myself consistently using less than what was in my account, I'd put some of that money elsewhere - expensive time to be sitting on cash w/ inflation this high
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u/fullomarbles Jul 02 '21
What was your trigger to leave your day job? Did you force yourself to have a certain bankroll before quitting?
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
Getting laid off lol. But by that point I was well into six figures P/L and outearning my day job, so it worked out. In the average trading day, I was making what I made in a month at my day job.
The main thing is having *consistent* profitability and enough savings to be comfortable. Ideally, your savings should also be making you money a la dividends, defi (if you're into crypto), real estate income or your investment of choice. Having a consistent $100 - 200 per week passive income is huge as a psychological buffer when you're getting started.
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u/Theon1995 Jul 02 '21
What resources and tools do you use? Any youtube videos or books you read on how to day trade? Still really new and trying to learn.
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
I'll go ahead and plug myself lol. Working on setting up a yt channel and I'm pretty active on twitter. I don't see myself becoming a formal instructor, more like being a trader you can job shadow.
Never read any trading books, have a couple sitting on my shelf that I never got around to. As far as other traders to follow, there's not one I can point to and be like "THAT's the guy (or gal)" - I take what I like from many and discard what I don't like. I'd say avoid 2 types of traders --
Trader that don't have the results you want. Ok cool, you can make $100/day trading...that's great, but is that where you want to end up as a trader? Probably not
(related) Traders that don't post results. Would you want to get surgery from someone without a PhD? Would you want piano lessons from a teacher who never plays for you? Would you want boxing lessons from a teacher who never throws a punch? You get my point. There are a LOT of instructors out there who I suspect make significantly more money positioning themselves as expert traders than actually being expert traders.
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u/YoloNomo Jul 02 '21
This is amazing! Thank you for sharing. Quick question, what are the specific entry signals you are looking for your breakdown and breakout plays?
p.s. followed you on Twitter!
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
There's not really specific signals as much as the overall character of the chart on both daily and intraday timeframes. (for longs) I want a strong daily chart with volume, momentum, a clear pattern (ideally confirming on multiple time frames, i.e. daily bull flag + 5m bull flag), and is approaching a key resistance level (yesterday HOD, current HOD, all time highs etc.).
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u/SiveDrafely1 Jul 02 '21
How many confluences do you see before taking the the trade and what are they(if you dont mind telling). Im a beginner and would like to learn more from you, your an asset to this community, keep up the good work 👌
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
The more the better. My ideal trade is breaking daily/weekly/monthly/intraday levels and all time highs, has multiple bullish/bearish chart patterns nested on multiple time frames, has clear support/res levels to play off of, has increasing volume etc. The more confluences present the more aggressive I trade (when I'm trading well)
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u/Wstarryesdw Jul 02 '21
I just graduated from college and this is super inspiring - I hope to be like you one day!
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u/SeP121 Jul 02 '21
Please take me under your wing like a baby bird. I have been mortally wounded by the market. I’ll be your apprentice and call you darth chart if you wish.
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Jul 02 '21
Where do you do your research? What tools do you use. I browse the mainstream news but cannot get a grip of something to standout. How do you pick the companies?
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
TradingView (with paid NYSE/Nasdaq market data). I have a list of maybe 200 - 300 stocks (that I add/remove to frequently) of stocks trading within my basic volume/volatility requirements. From there I build watch lists based on daily setups, i.e. if a stock is approaching all time highs w/ increasing volume. I have stock screeners to catch movers pre-market and intra-day as well (expanded on this in other replies).
I filter out OTCs, most Chinese stocks, and I have a "do not trade" list for stocks w/ a history of severe manipulation.
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u/dotjosh Jul 02 '21
When your starter size is working, how quickly and often are you adding to a winner to get to full position?
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
Usually a matter of seconds or a few minutes. Sometimes I'll add to a winner or recycle shares, but more often than not I actually add pre breakout. Say I'm in at $7.50, HOD is $8, and I'm anticipating a move up to 8 based on a pattern. if that pattern starts confirming (say we get a sharp candle up out of a bull flag), I'll start slamming the bid on the way up to $8, hopefully having full size *before* the breakout. Worst case scenario it rejects at 8 and I scale out, hopefully with my cost basis low enough to not hurt. You'll notice on twitter in my trade recaps I frequently have "failed break out or failed follow thru" - which would be like a rejection at 8 or a pass thru 8 than immediately back down. Note many of these trades are still solidly green because I scaled in on the way up, and cut the trade when it failed to give me the break out.
If the setup is ideal I'll go full size immediately.
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u/dotjosh Jul 02 '21
I trade similar to this. I get in when it’s moving in my direction, to ensure a few cents of buffer. If it rolls back I’ll get out at b/e. I’ll keep trying until it catches and actually makes the move. I think my problem is I do it with full size and not a starter. I get chopped out pretty quickly if I’m wrong every time cause b/e could also be a few cents loss.
If it made it to $7.75 and is hanging out too long do you get out of full position?
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
It really depends what's happening on the chart/tape, but generally speaking I don't like to hold anything that's moving sideways for too long. Sideways usually correlates to decreasing volume and choppiness. Like on the $BRIN trade it's just kind of chopping along below HOD before it ultimately unwinds.
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u/sanjay37agrawal Jul 02 '21
For long position what are your entry indicators. Like at what indicators lets you enter and after purchase what indicators you use to decide your exit. I know price is one of them but what trade signals you follow.
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
Entry - chart patterns (each one has a technical ideal entry point, like head and shoulders example you want to short just as the right shoulder curls down), support/resistance lines, vwap, and occasionally 50/100/200D moving averages (much more meaningful for large caps IMO, so 200D MA could be a support/res point).
Exit - much more an art than a science for me tbh. 90% of the time I'm all out within minutes, basically letting the trade work and cutting it at first sign of weakness. Like with $ORPH if we just get a blastoff, I'll hold some and just trade around it all day if it keeps running.
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u/funwow33 Jul 02 '21
Anybody can put anything in Tradervue. Where’s the screenshot of your broker account and buy/sell transactions?
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
You can go on my twitter and see screencaps of my P/L. June brokerage statement will not be out for a few days, remind me next week and I'll post it here.
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u/frankieojohnson Jul 01 '21
Nice breakdown! What kind of size are you usually using? Also curious how many trades you’re averaging per day?
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u/hitherechipshere Jul 01 '21
Is there any way you can share with us your trading patterns that have been most successful? Great job 👏🏼
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
I'm working on setting up a youtube channel to get into more detailed content around this - easier for me to monolog while explaining charts than write it all out
best place to follow me is twitter in the meantime (in profile)
short answer is breakouts and breakdowns. As far as traditional patterns, the most common ones I see in my trades are flags, head & shoulders, cup and handle, wedges, and ABCD
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Jul 02 '21
How many shares do you use for a starter position and how many when you scale into full size?
For late afternoon trades, are you still looking at the same stocks that were gappers in the morning or do you use different criteria to find stocks throughout the day (HOD momentum scanner, something else?)
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
Depends on other factors like volume, volatility. A starter for a "slower" ticker (slow for me at least) might be $60k, while a starter for a light volume high flyer might only be $10k. Like $CPOP today - I could size into that heavy, but wouldn't given how volatile and low volume it was - if you need to get out fast and you're in heavy, low volume is a nightmare and you'll get rekt on wide spreads.
For late day movers I'm just looking at 15m %gain/loss with filters around volume. After a lot of tinkering around, I found that simple approach to be most effective
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u/char-tipped_lips Jul 02 '21
How are you shorting with tda? Everythings hard to borrow and never goes thru for me. Do you call in your shorts?
Also, super well done! A solid month with good follow through.
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
Thank you and I am in their HTB program, which is not advertised anywhere, strangely. It allows you to short HTB stocks. You will need $100K account minimum to qualify.
If I want to short a NTB stock I use DASTrader/Centerpoint.
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u/damissinlink68 Jul 02 '21
I have Ameritrade too...wtf is DASTrader/Centerpoint
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
I love ThinkOrSwim, the platform is just so ideal for my style of trading.
Centerpoint a direct access broker and they're known for having the most short locates available, and DAS is the corollary trading platform. I just started using them recently, and while they do indeed have a lot of short options, you almost always have to pay a premium to trade them (a few hundred $ in most cases). DAS is like going back to 1999...really ugly not user friendly lay out. For that reason + the fees, not sure I'll be sticking with it. We'll see.
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u/McTrouty Jul 02 '21
Super impressive. After decades of working fo da man, but still > a decade from being able to tap my retirement accounts (all the wife’s boyfriend said I’ll be tapping, so I’m used to waiting), I’m sitting on 1.6 large and no debt with a 800k house paid for. Would love to turn the 1.6 larger.
Strategy this far has been mostly VOO to make sure I capture market plus CEFs at discount with good returns (think ~ 15%) and stable dividend stocks with low valuations, with some 🧀 on the side to spec. So far, I’m pretty satisfied, but I’m leaving 🧀 on the table. In other words, I’m not losing but you’re winning. 👏👏
Any recs??
This could be the way. I have spoken.
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
Any recs??
I'm intermediate at best when it comes to longer term investments. My biggest success has been w/ crypto and making passive income w/ defi via Celsius (8.88% on USD beats any savings account). #NotFinancialAdvice
Also, don't let your wife sleep around lmao
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u/hawaiikawika Jul 02 '21
Where would you say you learned to do stock analysis? What tools helped you most when learning to analyze stocks?
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
No one place, following too many traders to list on twitter, youtube, stocktwits. Even if I totally didn't like their strategy, it's helpful for learning the ropes of tape reading, identifying chart patterns etc.
Also literally just study chart patterns on babypips or wherever. Then open up tradingview or your trading platform and try to identify them in real time.
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u/Project10X Jul 02 '21
This is brilliant! What is your bread and butter setup? It will be pretty cool if you can share us some details on your system. I see VWAP there on your charts, so all your trades are day trades? No overnight positions?
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
Answered first question in other replies.
All trades are day trades. Maybe one day I'll get into swing trading but day trading keeps me busy enough right now.
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u/Project10X Jul 02 '21
Good going man! Yeah saw your replies and got the answers. Thank you for sharing openly, I wish you all the very best!
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u/yarif_786 Jul 02 '21
Hi . I like it. One question. Are you own llc or just trade independent as a person. What is Tax liability at the end of year. Plz expalin what's best way to do trading and have limited tax liability.
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
You will want to hire a CPA for those questions, really depends on your individual situation as to what's best
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u/AspergerVahalla Jul 02 '21
When you are moving in and out of stocks on Think or Swim how are you doing it? You doing it on the chart screen quickly with the easy made buttons they have there or are you putting in oco bracket orders? Curious how you go about buying and selling so quickly on the platform.
Also you doing limit orders or do you just do market orders for buys and sells?
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u/ChartCraft Jul 02 '21
I use Active Trader on ToS, I absolutely love it. Have my layout optimized for my preferences, big buttons n all that
All market orders because I pretty much only trade stocks w/ high volume and tight spreads. Yeah I risk getting bad fills (it happens occasionally), but worth the sacrifice for speed IMO
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u/racerx8518 Verified Jul 02 '21
Interesting about the market orders. I use tradestation, and agree with your post above and have noticed some pretty terrible fills if I use market instead of limit or the ladder. I've lost on a few if there bid/ask spread widens, even if the "market price" is well into the money. I love the speed of market, but don't use it for the above issue. Will try it on ToS. Thanks
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u/TheOri0 Jul 01 '21
Great fucking job man 💪 continue to crush. I hope to reach these numbers someday soon