On a Losing Streak - February 29, 2012

It's been a week since my last post so it's time for an update.  I haven't felt like posting new setups or commenting too much on the markets as I've been spinning my wheels.  Yesterday I was stopped out of yet another position, COCO at $4.71,  from a prior $4.95 purchase last Friday.  It was a nice setup in a tight flag, and it should have worked.

In reviewing my transactions over the last few weeks, the number of losers are greater than the gainers.  The only thing that has saved my account from a big setback is continually cutting losses very quickly and having a few decent gains like ALSK, VVTV, and NFG mixed in.  The setups I played that failed have fallen further from my sell price (HGSI, PIP, CIS, CALX, XCO, CECO, HNR, COCO), so I'm glad I didn't rationalize my positions and hang around.

Now I don't mind having a few losses mixed in with the gains, that's part of the business.  I've gone back and reviewed the setups, and they were decent plays.  So when a trader sees more and more setups that were working not too long ago now failing, that puts up a red flag. 

Despite the non-confirmation from the transportation index, and advance/declines lagging the Nasdaq composite recently, there seems to be an unending bid under the market.  So for me, I'll probably sit and watch for awhile, maybe look to tweak my entries a bit and focus more attention on taking only the highest quality setups.  

It may also be time for me to move away from the lower priced, riskier stocks.  Time to reassess...