Linda’s Trades
Here are my trades for the week of August 3 – 7, 2020. I make most of my trades in the morning while I listen to Investor’s Business Daily Live show, some trades from my own research or some with these experts’ advice. I’m posting my trades soon after I make them, but it isn’t real time. In no way is this a recommendation to buy or sell any of the ones I’m trading. It’s just an example of one person’s trading. My focus this week is review your trades.
If you are new to trading, taking a free trial of IBD Live and listening to these experts will heighten your trading knowledge if you like that approach to trading. That has been my biggest learning boost.
Week’s Summary
This is written after the week has finished for obvious reasons. I put it at the top of the post for those who just want to see how the week went. Every trader should go over her or his trades at the end of the week. If nothing else, it will probably make her or him feel better, especially on a week like this one.
Review Your Trades
Monday through Thursday were positive days, with Monday being the most profitable. But Friday was one of those big hits so it makes the week feel like it all was bad. But the good news is that my portfolio is still up 1% from last Friday. Make sure you look at the big picture, not just one day. You can only do this by reviewing your trades.
Outcome of New Trades This Week
- AMD Advanced Micro Devices – bought at $82.76 and it’s currently at $84.85.
- ZM Zoom – bought at $265.11 and it has done poorly at the end of the week. Currently $258.73 and my stop loss order is at $248.35 which is just over -6% loss. Fingers crossed I make a profit, not a loss.
- DOCU Docusign – I added 50% more at $223.96 and those shares had a loss right now. Currently at 204.76 (I just realized I have an 8% loss on those new shares and I will be dumping them Monday unless after market trading brings it up!)
- DXCM Dexcom – I also added to this position at $438.40 and fortunately it is doing better than DOCU at $440.70
- DDOG and CRWD both sold on my stop loss orders. See Friday’s post below.
What will Monday, August 10th bring? Who knows? But I will be researching my stocks more in depth and will have a plan for the coming week. But a 1% profit in one week is not bad at all.
Monday, August 3, 2020
I bought Microsoft (MSFT) at the end of April and the beginning of May at $174 and $180 respectively, and today it enjoyed a big increase. So I’m up 21% on this stock. There was a recommendation on IBD Live that you could buy it today, but if I did, I’d put a tighter loss price than -7%. Fortunately I got a full position by the second purchase so I don’t want any more stocks in it. (Full position for me is 10% of my portfolio.)
I also bought Zoom (ZM) this morning at $265.11. I’m using the low price of Friday’s low ($248.36) as my exit price if it tanks. It’s not a perfect entry point so I might exit the trade sooner if it sours quickly. But I do want a position in it because it has great sales and growth, and I feel it is such a heavily used product during this coronavirus. I “Zoom” with my family every week and I know I will continue to do so even when the coronavirus eventually ends. Many businesses use it too so unless it gets a strong competitor, it should be a good stock to own.
I also added a small amount of Docusign (DOCU) shares to my existing position, mostly because of the advice on the show. I kind of feel it’s not the best time to buy it, so I will be watching it carefully. I’m still new at this so I’ll take action on some advice, but I’ll keep my eyes on it. (I did want to add to it, I just wasn’t sure where.) But at this current moment of this post, it’s gone up $3. I guess they do know what they’re talking about.
Last night I decided to sell my small position with a gaming stock HERO. It had made an increase (10%) but there is no institutional support and I noticed yesterday that even the company doesn’t even own it’s own shares. So I sold it today and took my $140 profit I had made on it over the past month.
Today was a super strong day and my portfolio went up 2.4%. Crazy amount of money being made in 6 days! That usually means there are a few down days coming and my defense radar is on high alert! See Defense Is Everything in the Stock Market!
Tuesday August 4, 2020
I saw that premarket indices were down so I did a quick review of my defensive plan that I made Sunday night. I have a little notebook that I keep all my notes where I write down all my new purchases. My first line of defense is to sell any new shares that are down -5-7%.
Right now nothing is down more than 2% so I’m just sitting tight and watching. My hope is that I keep my total from the end of Friday but the market doesn’t care what I want. It will do what it’s going to do.
I just bought Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) at $82.76. I have a -3% stop order on it for half my shares, and I will sell the other half if it goes below Friday’s low. A couple of times I had tried it earlier this spring in the $50 range. I had spoken to a friend last week and he was telling me that AMD was superior to Nvidia in one aspect (I’m not a computer expert by any stretch of the imagination.) But that information made me pay attention. I’m jumping in with the price extended so it’s a risky trade. But I have my stop loss order in so it will limit my loss if I guessed wrong. (I just checked my AMD stock and it is up 3.3%! That was a great trade! (So far.)
All day long I had a loss and most stocks were in the red. The last hour slowly got stronger and stronger though. Right at the last minute my day’s total ended positive. Because the market had been so strong over the last 6 days, I would’ve been happy with even a marginal loss. But it was up .08%, very tiny but still positive.
Wednesday, August 5, 2020
This is my first day back to teaching, or rather, staff development days. Even though we are virtual, I will not be trading during my contract hours. That doesn’t mean I might not take a peek or two (I did). Right now the market seems to be biding it’s time and not moving either direction. I’m comfortable with all my stock choices, even thought Twilio (TWLO) took a big dip after earnings last night.
I’m totally confused about reactions regarding earnings. Stocks gap up after great earnings, stocks drop after great earnings. It makes no sense. The best way to handle earnings is to get out of the stock just before if you don’t have a cushion to support a drop. They happen quarterly and not all at the same time. So get to know when your stocks are reporting and be aware of your cushion and act accordingly if necessary.
Today my portfolio went up .4% and it didn’t even need any trading on my part. Right now I’m 100% invested and even have a tiny amount on margin (borrowing money from my broker.)
Thursday, August 6, 2020
Today’s been a tough day for me, but it has nothing to do with the stock market. Wrapping my head around what online learning and eventually online AND face to face learning is more than my brain can handle. The stock market feels way more comfortable to me. I can hardly believe I actually feel that way. The market has thrown me up, down, and sideways, sometimes quite violently. And yet, it seems like small potatoes to online teaching.
I’m not sure if today’s action was stock rotation or just in anticipation to earnings. My Apple stock was way up again as well as Microsoft. But Datadog, Twilio, and Zoom took a big hit. If any of these cross the 50 day line, I’m going to sell them. They’ve all made nice gains and I don’t need to take a loss on them. I bought them because I thought they were quality stocks so I’ll at least give them that much room.
I can count on at least one hand the stocks I bought and sold because they came down but ended up maybe 25 – 50% higher now than when I sold them. Every stock is going to have a normal correction. What I need to learn to spot is abnormal price movement!
My portfolio had was up just a little bit, not near as much as the NASDAQ (1%), but it still was a gain of .14%. Better than a loss.
I watched Investor’s Business Daily Live this evening and the discussion made me want to watch my Crowdstrike (CRWD) stock tomorrow. It might break through the 50 day line and I will sell all of it then. I have a 15 minute break in the morning so I will be jumping in on the stock market then.
Friday, August 7, 2020
Every night and morning I check to see how after hours trading is going, whether it’s generally up or down. It appeared to be down, in spite of the improved jobless claims report. (Remember how I said earlier that I can’t figure out stock reactions to news, good or bad?)
This morning I had to go into school today so I got up just a little earlier and checked a couple of stocks that weren’t doing well. I decided to put a stop loss order on Crowdstrike (CRWD) at $105, not quite a 7% loss. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before it sold. When I checked the current price, it was down to $101, so I was glad I didn’t take that extra loss. Datadog (DDOG) also sold on a previous stop loss order I had entered.
Warning, Stocks Going Down!
I knew then that it was going to be a very down day. Twilio (TWLO) and Docusign (DOCU) also did very poorly and I strongly considered selling them. But I decided I liked the stock and they didn’t look “broken” so I hung on to them.
Part of my decision was based on a new observation. This past April I had a friend open a demo account or a paper trading account. He had a million dollars in “paper” money to invest. So he bought 3 stocks, Shopify, QQQ, and Cisco. Only $500,000 was used. The other day he checked it after doing nothing since he made the trades. His “account” was up $185,000!
I think about all my active trading, and I’ve determined that sometimes I trade too much. Now that school has started, it won’t be like that, but I need to consider it for my next long time off. And that’s why I decided not to bail on TWLO and DOCU. I don’t like losing my profit (and I haven’t taken a loss although DOCU came down to my purchase price) but I don’t want to keep jumping in and out of stocks.
Today was a crappy day for my total. I lost some money when my 2 stocks sold, and I was down big time with several stocks. My total was down 2%. Yuck.
Be Sure To Review Your Trades at the End of the Week
Remember, always do your own research before making any trades! And ALWAYS have an exit strategy when you purchase a stock.
Until next time,
Linda
Linda Davis (“Publisher”) provides this website (www.stockmarketgal.com) for informational purposes only. All information on this website is information of a general nature and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual or entity or on any specific security or investment product. In reading this website, you understand that Publisher is not advising you personally concerning the nature, potential, value, or suitability of any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, investment strategy or other matter. In making an investment decision, each investor must rely on his, her or its own examination of the investment, including the merits and risks involved, should consult with his, her or its own investment, trading, financial, legal, tax, accounting and other advisors, and should not construe any information on this website as investment, trading, financial, legal, tax, accounting or other advice. From time to time, Publisher or her affiliates may hold positions in securities discussed on this website and will disclose those positions if applicable, but neither Publisher nor any of her affiliates receives any compensation from the issuers of any securities discussed. Publisher does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of any information provided, either expressly or impliedly, and expressly disclaims all warranties of any kind.
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