Since the day I bought it, FAZ has been telling me I was wrong — the opposite of what NOK has been telling me. So I sold FAZ and put the money into more NOK.

This post originally appeared at: Clear Trades. Follow me on Twitter

Sold all my FAZ

Apparently, I’m developing quite a knack for selling too soon. UYG closed the day up about 30 cents from the point I sold in the morning, which was a pretty big move to miss. Not that I’m complaining about a winning trade, but I definitely want to take note of transactions like this to hopefully learn something and do a little better the next time.

After commissions, and a dividend payment, my realized gain on this trade was 16.4%.

This post originally appeared at: Clear Trades. Follow me on Twitter

Sold Full UYG Position at 3.18 Per Share

I took a shot at FAS this morning, but I picked the wrong dip to buy. It dropped to about 6.00 a little while after I bought, and that would have been a good entry point. I entered at the wrong time, but I’m happy I set a stop-loss and stuck with it.

Realized a loss of $63.00, for a return of -6.69%.

This post originally appeared at: Clear Trades. Follow me on Twitter

Bought 140 Shares of FAS at 6.68, Stopped Out at 6.33

Finally emptied my UYG position. This is another example of a trade that I let get away from me for way too long. I stuck with it, and kept averaging down. Things were painful for a while, but I was finally saved in the end by a nice Financial sector recovery. This trade worked out, but it wasn’t a smart way to go about it and I won’t soon forget the pain I was feeling on this one. Hopefully that is a lesson learned for good.

Realized a gain of $1,825.95, for a return of 31.42%

This post originally appeared at: Clear Trades. Follow me on Twitter

Sold 2600 Shares of UYG at 2.94

Exited my FAS position. I got a little scared and felt like I had to take profits after being down so much on this one. That of course illustrates the problem of letting a bad trade run for so long and not going in with a stop-loss order. Lesson (hopefully) learned.

Realized a gain of $44.92, for a return of 1.93%.

This post originally appeared at: Clear Trades. Follow me on Twitter

Sold 470 Shares of FAS at 5.07

I still expect to see a short-cover rally (there are 182 millions shares short according to shortsqueeze.com), but there is probably plenty more downside before that will happen.

Realized a loss of -$134.02, for a return of -15.73%.

This post originally appeared at: Clear Trades. Follow me on Twitter

Sold 500 Shares of C at 1.45

Realized a loss of -$392.02, for a return of -20.56%.

This post originally appeared at: Clear Trades. Follow me on Twitter

Sold 200 Shares of XLF at 7.61

Unfortunately, this trade didn’t work out for me and I was stopped out around 2:55, at 5.32 per share (see the red arrow on the chart). This stop saved me from the low of the day (5.11), and also happened to be the price that BAC closed at.

Perhaps my stop was a bit too tight, though I didn’t really think it was at the time I set it.

One problem I have to figure out how to deal with is the small size of my account and the difficulty of making trades that don’t risk more than 2% of my total capital. I’m probably going to have to trade even smaller numbers of shares in order to allow for a little more downside risk. Of course, BAC has been highly volatile so it may not be the right stock for me to learn how to trade anyway. I’ll review some charts tonight and see if I find anything I’m interested in buying tomorrow. If not, I’m happy to let my UYG position ride for a little while longer. I still think that is due for a nice recovery.

Realized a loss of $98.02, for a return of -5.81%.

This post originally appeared at: Clear Trades. Follow me on Twitter

Stopped Out of BAC at 5.32

I actually got a margin maintenance call after I bought this. Apparently I wasn’t paying close enough attention to my ‘buying power’ and over extended myself. I could have held on for more gains of course, but I really just wanted to get out with a small profit while I could and avoid having to add more cash to my account to cover the margin.

Realized a gain of $27.59, for a return of 1.69%.

This post originally appeared at: Clear Trades. Follow me on Twitter

Sold 400 Shares of BAC at 4.164

Realized a loss of -$177.51, for a return of -17.89%.

This post originally appeared at: Clear Trades. Follow me on Twitter

Sold 150 Shares of BCS at 5.48