Biggest Loss of The Month...

What's up everyone? All right, in
today's episode, I'm going to break down
my trades from the morning. Today was
awful. I mean, it was simply awful. I
fumbled. I missed a huge move, gave into
FOMO, traded the backside of the move,
went deep into the red, thought there
was not a chance that I would recover,
and then miraculously, we had a stock
that actually started moving pretty
nicely later in the trading session,
beginning at about 10 of 9. And on that
stock, I was able to not only chip away
at the loss, but actually go all the way
from red to green. So now I'm finishing
the day in the green. And I'm beside
myself. I'm grateful that I'm green, but
also disappointed that I went as deep
red as I had because if I had done
things just a little bit differently,
today would have been a $50,000 green
day instead of what it is, which is a
$8,400 green day. Hey, green is good. I
shouldn't complain, but these types of
unforced errors at the end of the month,
at the end of the year, they add up. So,
this is where being a trader full-time,
you've got to constantly look at your
performance and see where can I
optimize, where can I be more efficient
at capturing profit and cutting losses.
Where can I do better? And today, there
was a lot of room for improvement. So,
we're going to go ahead and jump on the
screen share and start breaking it down.
There's the P&L. You can see it green.
34,000 on Vee E red $26,000 on PLSM.
$26,000 and that was one trade. Just one
trade and I lost 26 grand. What happened
to breaking the ice with a small
position? Well, that was out the window.
And I'll explain why. So, in my small
account, I had a couple different
trades. Uh my first trade in my small
account was an entry on PLSM down here.
This was at 2,000 shares at $6.52.
Prioritize the small account this
morning over the big account. So, this
is the current chart on PLSM. It's doing
basically a round trip, which you don't
like to see. Um, but when I first sat
down this morning, so a little context,
when I first sat down this morning, we
had QTTB that was gapping up. This is
the stock that I mentioned um from uh
the the watch list yesterday. So, it
squeezed up after hours Friday, pulled
back a little bit pre-market, and then
all of a sudden at 7 a.m., goes from 16
straight up to 21, pulls back, then goes
back to 23, and I said, "Nope, I'm not
touching it." First of all, when it
started popping right at 6:59, I didn't
realize it actually had a fresh
headline. So, it actually had news that
came out at 6:59 a.m. I'll click on
this. And that headline was what caused
that spike. So announces 659 positive
36-w week topline results from part B
blah blah blah blah. So their previous
headlines on Friday was that they were
going to report these results and then
they reported them here today. So all
right, all of a sudden the stock
squeezes up and you get this big move.
However, I looked at the level two on it
and I observed a couple things. number
one because it's $167 a share and then
eventually $20 a share. It had bigger
spreads. I also noticed that it was easy
to borrow. So, if I pull up the level
two on this QTB
and I drag this window up right here,
you can see that it's easy to borrow.
The green E right there is easy to
borrow. The CB means it's on short sale
restriction, which I don't have a
problem with. Um, but being easy to
borrow is a concern and having slightly
bigger spreads is a concern. I don't
typically do well on these higher price
stocks. Now, I can sometimes have a
grand slam on them, but I can also have
a big strikeout. And so, I just said,
"This is not the one. I'm not going to
I'm not going to touch it because it's
easy to borrow." If it hadn't been easy
to borrow, I might have been more
interested in considering it, but
because of the easy to borrow status, I
said, "Nope, I'm going to leave that one
alone." So, didn't touch that one. Just
left it alone completely. All right. So,
that was QTTB.
The second leading gapper we had um
FTRK,
cheaper stock, not interested in it. We
also had Mimi moving up from after
hours. MIMI, not interested in that.
Yes, it pushed higher pre-market but
then sold off. So, we were left after
QTB with really nothing to trade until
uh PLMS hits the scanners uh PLSM. So
PLSM hits the scanners and starts
popping up. And I look at it and I
think, you know, this stock has this big
red day from back here on June 24th. Hit
a high of 1297. So this kind of feels
like just a bounce in the shadow of that
big move. I don't know if I can trust
that. That was my gut feeling initially.
I said, I don't know if I can trust it.
But it started squeezing. And I also
thought at the same time, you know what?
A lot of traders right now, I think,
have kind of short-term memory where
they're just like, if this thing's
moving, I'm jumping in it. So, as it
squeezes up here, it goes to five, 550,
up to six, up to 650. It dips down here,
and that's where I punched it right
there at 650 in my small account. Now,
the small account recap I uploaded
separately, but I'm just going to kind
of mention it because these two trades
sort of overlapped. So, I got that entry
at 652 and then was taking profit off
the table up here as it squeezed higher.
So, I don't know why those orders kind
of filled that way. But in any case, got
out at 770. So, it ends up squeezing up
here all the way to a high of eight. It
dips down, pops up over eight, then dips
down. I was thinking about getting back
in, but I was a little too slow. Pops up
to nine. I was like, "Wow." Okay. Well,
now we've already had first pullback,
second pullback, breaks nine, I miss it,
ends up going up to 10, up to 11, all
the way up to 12. And all of that right
there was without me in both the small
account and the big account. I just had
this initial chip here and in my big
account I was like, I don't know if I
can break the ice. It's too extended. In
the small account, I was like, I don't
know if I should get back in. And then
it sells off and drops back down. So, it
dips back down here. It comes back up.
And I drew this line at 959, the high of
that candle. And as it went sideways, it
dipped down and it came back up. And I
just kept thinking that 959 levels in
play. And so, what ended up happening
was when it came back up right here, I
punched it. and I punched it in my big
account uh at about 930 and I got in in
my small account as well for the break
of 950. Now, it ends up, as you can see,
hitting a high of 985 and then flushing
back to 9. What I should have done is I
should have just stopped out right
there, but I decided to wait. And the
reason that I waited was because in my
big account, I was holding 30,000 shares
and I thought, you know, I can't just
jump in and out of this thing. I'm going
to get slippage. So, I thought this
thing was going to rip right here all
the way back to the high. Now it's
pulling back, but if it can hold it
above VWAP, then maybe I'll give it a
chance to do a one minute pullback and
then we get that next candle higher and
we continue on. So, wasn't planning on
holding, but I'm adjusting my risk sort
of mid trade to accommodate the fact
that I probably bought too many shares
on my first trade of the day because
I've got a little FOMO and frustration
that I missed this move. So, I'm in it
with 30,000 shares right here and I
finally cut it right here as it flushes.
And on that trade, I lost almost a
dollar a share in my big account right
there. And in the small account, I'm in
at 957 and I'm out at eight. So, was
sloppy there as well. Very sloppy. Not
good. You do not like to see a trade
like that. That's just ugly. I could
have should should have sold it way way
sooner and I just held and went down
with the ship. I got stubborn. That's
not a good habit to be in. So, now my
small account has gone from green 2,300
to red 500 on the day. And um my big
account is down 26 grand. This day has
just fallen apart. You know, it was one
thing to be green, you know, red in the
well, it was one thing to have no trades
in the big account, but I at least have
a good day in the small account. You
know, at least I got the small account.
But then I had neither. So, at that
point, I thought it was sort of
hopeless. We had CMND that popped up.
This stock always pops up in reverses.
There was another stock that popped up
in reverse. I don't remember the ticker
right now. and AEN was grinding higher
but also easy to borrow so I wasn't
interested in that. And then VE, this is
a stock that historically has popped up
and sold off a bunch of times. However,
they put out news this morning that
they're divesting part of their company
and doing a merger, which is very
interesting. So, all of a sudden, it
starts squeezing up and it goes from six
up to 7 up to 8 to 9 to 10, etc., etc.
And so, on this one, I broke the ice in
the main account and the small account.
I was like, "You're down 500 bucks
today. Whatever. I'm just going to put
you on the side for right now." Focused
on the main account. And I took my first
trade actually very early on. Um, as
soon as it started popping up right
here, we got this initial pop, this
pullback, and right away we're getting a
curl back through seven all the way up
to eight. First trade right there, made
$6,000. All right, decent. Pulls back. I
got back in here for the break of VWAP.
This time, got out, took the profit,
made another 2 or 3,000 bucks. So now
I'm down 15,000 on the day. Squeezes
back up. I get back in here. Adding
right here. We get this push up to 950.
Now I'm down 8,000 on the day. Pulls
back. Consolidation. Little dip right
there. Take that trade. Down 11,000 on
the day. 8,000 on the day. Whatever.
It's kind of chipping away. Then I had a
couple losses. Gave back a little profit
here. Was back to a little deeper red,
but not too bad. It pulls back. And then
coming into the open, we rally back up
and I punched it right here. Or no, it
was a little lower than that, but I
punched it kind of right in this area.
Similar trade except this was above VWAP
the whole time. And then a micro
pullback right here. And with that, I
went from red on the day back to green.
We extend a little bit higher. And I
take my final trade at the open, buying
the dip off 12 and selling into 13 and
finishing at $8,430
of profit on the day. 34,000 in the
green on V and 26,000 in the red on
PLSM. PLSM was not a good trade and V I
had to trade fairly aggressively. Thank
thankfully it was moving nicely, but um
you know if I had traded if I had traded
PLSM that aggressively in my main
account on the front side of the move,
I'm sure I would have made 25,000 on it
and I'd be up 50 grand on the day. It
could have easily happened. But instead,
you know, I'm trading the small account,
kind of have a good trade on it, but I'm
unsatisfied because my big account was
left sort of, you know, with nothing. So
then I try to compensate for it by being
really aggressive in my main account.
Well, that fails. And I also add in my
small account because I was so sort of
biased that this thing was going to
definitely work. So then I lose in both
of them. And then finally V is the
recovery. So what's the the moral of the
story? Well, I suppose the moral of the
story is that trading in multiple
accounts at the same time creates a real
challenge. One could be green, the other
can be red and you don't know how to
feel. You know, one's green and the
other's got nothing and you feel
disappointment. You know, especially
when you know if you traded in the
bigger account, you would have done
really well. Many of you guys trade in
multiple accounts because of the way you
can sync them using brokers like Schwab
where you execute an order and executes
in two accounts at the same time. So,
for that reason, you know, this is a
challenge. It's not really the intention
that the small account challenge will be
a challenge of dividing my attention.
But the reality is if I focused
exclusively on the small account, I
would make far less than I would make if
I just traded my big account, right? So
like last month, my big account was up
$570,000.
The small account was up like 18 grand.
So would I have been willing to
sacrifice nearly $600,000
to do a small account challenge? And the
answer is no. I I I'm not in a position
where I can do that. That's not the
right decision. So, I try to spread my
attention and do both. I want to do
small account challenges because I
understand that you guys enjoy watching
them. And so, I do them, but I'm trying
to juggle and it's not easy. And
sometimes you drop the ball. And today,
I dropped the ball. And so, I could try
to forgive myself and be a little bit
more gentle with myself and say, "Look,
this is just part of the deal. And it's
the cost of doing the small account
challenge. And I know I just lost more
in one trade than I've made during the
entire small account challenge, which
also calls into question whether I
should even be doing it. Um, but at the
same time, um, you know, there's things
that you guys are learning during this
challenge. And so I've kept up with it.
How long should I keep trading in it? I
I really don't know the answer to that
question. I've been thinking about it.
This is not the first time I've had this
kind of fumble. I've had a couple in the
last month uh that have resulted in
bigger red days or bigger losses in my
main account. So, it's not a sustainable
practice to trade this way, you know,
forever. But for right now, um, you
know, I I'm I'm continuing. So, today's
day 18 of the small account challenge.
The big account suffered and got the
short end of the stick. In fact, both of
them ended up suffering today because
the small account's only up 200 bucks um
you know, after um after all is said and
done. So, this was a this was a tricky
day, a tricky start to the week. The
good news is that we had two stocks that
made big moves. VE nice big move there
and PLSM made a nice move. Even though
it gave it back, we still had a couple
candles of really clean price action and
that's good to see as well. So, with
that, I'm going to live to trade another
day. I will be back at it first thing
tomorrow morning streaming as always at
7 a.m. And if you guys have any
questions, please don't hesitate to
throw them in the comments down below. I
love answering questions. And I'll
remind you that trading is risky. My
results aren't typical. So, please
manage your risk, take it slow, and I'll
see you first thing tomorrow morning.