I'm a beginner and I'm working my way through the "Trader Checklist" and "The Complete Pennystock Course" by Jamil Alluch.

In order to build good habits from the start I'm going to start my trading journal with my paper trades. I hope to follow the book to the letter in the beginning, asking myself every single question suggested, on every single* trade. I'm hoping that following the book in such a disciplined manner will allow me to learn more efficiently in my first few months. Here are my trading journals for today's paper trades.

*These are actually 2 out of 7 trades, but since I didn't have much strategy, I just highlighted the two most interesting trades. The other 5 where very the same as the first example. The "double dip" was the most interesting trade today.

Trade Record 2021-04-29 $GRTX

• Stock Symbol: $GRTX
  • Entry --
    • Price: $9.77
    • Position: 25
    • Time: 08:57AM
  • Exit --
    • Price: $9.68
    • Position: 25
    • Time: 09:04AM
  • Total Risked Capital: $244.25
  • Total Profit/Loss Amount: -$2.25
  • Profit/Loss %: -0.921%
  • Description --
    • Why Is It A Profitable Trade?
      • N/A
    • Why Is It A Losing Trade?
      • Very little strategy was utilized.
    • What Factors Influenced The Stock Price?
      • To the best of my understanding, the stock spiked hard after hours off of news of updated results from a clinical trial for a cancer treatment. It closed on 04/28 at around $6.60 and spiked overnight to almost $9.75. It seems like the intraday market made it clear that the support was actually around $8. It's been steady around $8 since around 1pm.
    • What Mistakes, if any, Were Made?
      • I did not have a strategy and I just reacted to Tim's inclusion of $GRTX in his watchlist. I had heard a bit about morning spikes and/or panics and I just assumed that with a stock trading this high afterhours/overnight/premarket, that the logical direction for the stock was "up" lol. Obviously the market had different plans. Another mistake I made was that I did about 7 trades on this same stock if I'm being honest. I feel like I know better, even though this my second ever "paper" trade. I've watched about 10 hours of content and I just should have called it a loss. Luckily I'm up about $1.30 on the day because I kept trying to hammer on it. Lesson learned. Have a plan.
  • Strategy Applied To Trading This Instrument: &NONE
  • Strategy Execution Score: 1/10 (the 1 is there because I at least had "some" information/research)
  • Other Notes:
    • Continuing to paper trade for the foreseeable future. I'll also journal about one other trade which saved me today from taking a "paper" loss. I'm taking this seriously from day one and I don't want to lose money in my "paper" account but obviously I don't mind. The most important thing is to work on an actual process/strategy from now on. I just need to learn one :)

 

Trade Record 2021-04-29 $GRTX (The "double dip")

• Stock Symbol: $GRTX
  • Entry --
    • Price: $9.77
    • Position: 20
    • Time: 09:30:23AM
  • Exit --
    • Price: $10.10
    • Position: 20
    • Time: 09:30:49AM
  • Total Risked Capital: $195.4
  • Total Profit/Loss Amount: $6.60
  • Profit/Loss %: 3.378%
  • Description --
    • Why Is It A Profitable Trade?
      • Almost certainly luck.
    • Why Is It A Losing Trade?
      • N/A
    • What Factors Influenced The Stock Price?
      • To the best of my understanding, the stock spiked hard after hours off of news of updated results from a clinical trial for a cancer treatment. It closed on 04/28 at around $6.60 and spiked overnight to almost $9.75. It seems like the intraday market made it clear that the support was actually around $8. It's been steady around $8 since around 1pm.
      • For this particular trade I benefited from an initial spike the stock had straight out of the opening bell.
    • What Mistakes, if any, Were Made?
      • I noticed the stock spiking like I expected it to (based on very little information admittedly), but I scrambled to buy shares. I "technically" nailed this, but it was NOT on purpose. And I KEPT trading after this erased my previous loss. I should have called it a day so I could practice patience.
  • Strategy Applied To Trading This Instrument: &NONE
  • Strategy Execution Score: 1/10 (the 1 is there because I at least had "some" information/research)
  • Other Notes:
    • Continuing to paper trade for the foreseeable future. This trade did teach me how fast these stocks can move. This would have been an... good(?) trade if I would have had solid research, taken the meat of the move and got out. Especially seeing that the stock hit its high ($10.11) when I was paying attention and ready to act.

 

Today's Takeaways

Keep at it. I feel good to have gotten a little experience. Already did my reading for the day. About to take a break and then watch a few more videos before bed. Cheers. I hope you all made actual money today lol.

Nova