catsrevenge

Well, things sure changed quickly for the better. With all that`s been going on the past few days, I was able to selloff half of the 20,000 GE thereby freeing up 100% of my Margin buying power, and was able to somewhat exit my GE position at a much smaller loss than I thought, still holding 10,000 shares of GE for when it likely comes back up or above my previous entry point. At that point my losses will be further reduced. As soon as I freed up all my Margin buying power, I jumped right in on Friday and did a few round trips with Ford (F), 10,000 shares in and out four times netted me about 2K profit for the day, I`m not complaining :cool:

Thanks Tams, I never claimed to be unique, and I know everything`s already been done millions of times over. If anything, I will continue learning at a cost ,as we all do. And, I`m just glad that I am turning seemingly negative events into positive future benefits. It`s all good. I have been enlightened and will productively move forward, best wishes, cm

Wipeout??? NEVER ! Maybe I failed to mention anywhere here that as a day trader, I am pretty much a beginner ! Yet, I still managed to duplicate my own little strategy on a daily basis and with fairly precise success, as risky as it may seem to some, and still pull out a 13.5 K profit just in my first few weeks. But then, I ran into a brick wall with this last trade, which I said I thought I was "stuck" in. But through the help of many in this forum, I have learned to now perfect, fine tune, tweak and modify my approach, and my MO, and I feel I am now much better prepared to take on my next challenges in this very exciting business. And ultimately, I am NOT "stuck", though it seemed as if I was at some point recently. Thanks to the people in this forum and their comments and opinions, my thinking has been stimulated , and has helped me to think of alternate strategies, towards the recovery from my recent fall. Even my thinking on losses has been changed..... Losses?.... What are losses? Paper losses? real money losses? In the end, it`s all just paper with zeros and nothing more really. I now look to money losses, IF I should ever end up suffering any at all, as nothing more than "Tuition", as an investment used to further my education, and to enhance my better understanding of this industry. There is obviously a learning curve here, and most all education is not learned, but bought and paid for instead. Some people may lose their minds, or jump out of windows over it, but I certainly never will for sure. Some may say I am rationalizing my losses, but I say NOT, for,I have a projected ,modest goal in mind. That within the next five years, I plan on earning around a million dollars, duplicating more or less the same strategy which I have been using, but with a much wiser, careful approach this time around, once I get up and running again, which I will do shortly. And even if it costs me a few thousand, in hard knocks "Tuition money, or "Losses" as some of you may put it? To me, in the end, I shall welcome having paid my "Tuition",towards my further education,which will ultimately bring me my next Million !

The unrealized gains at the moment, with this position are at around 28K, and NOT 3K as you just mentioned, and with the recent 13K in gains, my net projected loss I believe, would really be 28K minus the 13K in recent gains or a true dollar loss of around 15K .. cm

The only reason I say i`m "stuck" is because to sell right now would mean a definite loss. But each day i continue to hold, my losses are not really real money losses,but paper losses only. The only real loss comes If I were to sell at the current price it`s at right now. I came into this field to day trade, make quick profits numerous times per day, buying in at dips/valleys, and selling for quick profits at close to peaks. My game plan is short term only. The reason I feel stuck was due to the set of circumstances which I got caught up in mentioned in my original post, and no way did I ever plan to buy and hold long term, be it GE or any stock. As for buy and hold being dead? It all depends on your over all strategy really. I know people who make a great income yearly with buy and hold long term simply because of the yearly dividends which are made off their stock holdings. And yes, I know that I should use a stop loss trigger every time I buy in. It`s just that i buy in and close my positions so quickly, sometimes within minutes in order to grab the quick profits,that the stop loss trigger function sometimes just seems ludicrous, but none the less would be a great tool of insurance no doubt... CM/NJ

I want to thank EVERYONE for their very helpful input ,about my "stuck in a bad position" post here. In general i`d just like to add that, I really didn`t have any so called "plan" that day, when I purchased the 20,000 shares. as a few people had mentioned, but believe me, next time I sure will... , Yes my position was and is short term. I had no intention of holding. What happened that day was, I had already bought and sold 20,000 shares SIX times that day at a profit. Being that for every penny it went up I would make $200 profit, I was riding the crests of the waves all day, and was buying in on dips, and doing very well, about $3650 in profit that day up to that point in time (around 330pm But what happened was that sometime around 330pm, i had just bought in, 20,000 shares at $17.44, and saw it wasn`t really doing much except see-sawing up and down around $17.45 and 17.43.... So I thought maybe I`ll just exit at my cost of $17.44 and call it a day. The door bell rang, and I ran to quickly answer it, when I returned 2 minutes later, the price began dropping $17.45,44,43,42... I thought, let me just hold it overnight and exit in the morning. Well, the next morning due to GE`s negative quarterly earnings report, it plunged to about $16.00. That`s where I became stuck in the position. Otherwise, I probably wouldn`t be. I may add that in the prior two weeks, I had made $13,500 in profits using my short term, quick scalping type strategy. But out of this whole seemingly negative scenario, a lesson or two has been learned. (1) Ignore the doorbell, (2) next time sell even at a loss, at all costs,just to get out, ($200-400-600 loss) in the 330 pm dreaded zone when most day traders mostly dump and exit, so my $3550 profit for the day would have been a little less,but at least i still made money and was home safe. Since Oct 13th I have been holding tight, but lately,I am considering dumping the whole 20,000 shares sometime after the mid term elections, even at a loss, but at least the interest will stop on the margin, which I dipped into, and I will be able to still move forward and profit everyday, once I close my position with GE. Right now this waiting game is like hell, and with my hands tied, each day is a loss. It also seems like every little negative report I hear about every morning, in any economic sector , seems to have its negative repercussion on my bottom line. Thank you all for your help once again, and I wish you all the best of success ! Chris/NJ

Most recently purchased 20,000 shares of General Electric (GE) at $17.44. Got caught holding overnight, and the next day was their day to report quarterly earnings. Coupled with the foreclosure debacle, GE Q3 earnings coming in under and the DOW misbehaving that day, the GE stock tumbled well below $16.00 now leaving me somewhere in the negative $28,000 area. The question I now ask myself... Should I sell at a loss and move forward? How long will it take for GE to bounce back to around $17.44 from around $16 and change? Also, half the stock was purchased on Margin from TD Ameritrade. So there is about $35 per day in interest adding up. Any ideas from anyone? what would you do? Chris/NJ