As a retail trader, one of the big lessons they teach is to always have a stop loss. Whether it is 5% or 10% or some other support, you are told to always have one just in case there is a huge drop.
But for some reason, I think there's also a computer algorithm that has an alert when there is a huge spike due to stop losses being triggered. Case in point yesterday morning around 11:00-11:10. There was a lot of selling and the huge spike down triggered some stop losses.
The question: Did you get stopped out? Did you take profits earlier when the $AAPL was going higher?
Because earnings is in 2 days, I have been planning to take some profits. With the big jump and subsequent run from 9:30-10AM, I was able to take 1/3 of my position off. Between 10-11 when things were fraught with indecision, I took another 1/3 off.
When panic hit between 11:00-11:10 where were you? Did you stay by your computer, did you take a break? Were you ready for the rally at 11:11?
If you stayed away from the desk from 10 until close you would have missed the excitement and the takeouts. As a retail trader with a day job, its easy to get caught up in the excitement, but their are greater powers at work. There are professionals and millions of other traders or SHARKS that will eat you alive.
These fake outs are meant to shake out the weak hands. They are meant to scare the pants off of grown men. As a retail trader, you are being seen as a fish bait, chum for the sharks to eat alive.
Coaching tip: Don't watch the screen all day. Have your plan, know your stop losses, and remember to stay sane in this market.
Don't let the ups and downs of 10 minutes of the day ruin your plans. God bless and happy investing!
