Just a side note: Everything I publish here is the truth. Good, bad, stupid, smart, and ridiculous. This blog is to show my real trading and to help me to learn from my mistakes. I also hope that others out there struggling with trading can learn from my mistakes (and successes), and know that they are not alone in the struggle to become a great trader. There are plenty of other blogs, of very successful traders, out there you can visit if you only want to see successful trades (just check my blog roll).
Having said that………
So this morning I am not finding many good set ups, which I take as a good sign, meaning I am getting more selective. I found a reasonable looking set up on GOOG (Google), and put a stop order in. However, I entered the wrong stop price, so I cancelled it, and re-entered the order. Apparently my first order did not complete the cancellation process, because GOOG moved up, and I got filled, but now on double my order size……………AIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE………!!!!!
My general rule is that when a problem like this happens, exiting your trade as quick as possible is the best. I was getting ready to unwind it, and then…….BAM…..my Internet connection went out. Okay, now I have a double position in GOOG, and I am flying blind. I tried to get the connection back up, but no luck. I have a Starbucks about 1 min from my place, so I grabbed my laptop, hopped into the car, and pulled up in front of the store. In the past I had set up a T-Mobile Hot Spot account, so I quickly logged on and got Cyber Trader up. Here is the funny part, my original stop had been hit, but because I didn’t have a chance to enter it before the Internet failed, my position was still open. And it had rebounded. I was down a bit, but way off the theoretical stop price.
So here I am, in my car, with my laptop, watching a double position, tick by tick. Then, my laptop went into hibernation mode. I had it set to hibernate after 3 min when on battery, if there was not action, and because I was just watching charts, instead of clicking the mouse or typing, it started to shut down. Fast forward another 3 min to get it back up, and I had a small profit in GOOG. I immediately sold 1/2 my position, taking me to the original trade size I wanted, and entered a hard stop in. I watched GOOG rise and fall, and then decided that this was not the best way for me to be trading, and that I should just exit the position, which I did, for just over a 1R gain. By the time I got back home, the Internet was back up, and GOOG had gone up, costing me about 1.5 more R’s in profit. However, given the circumstances, and my mindset at the time, I think my decision to exit and come back home was best.
