Conviction vs. Conditions
I love trading with the wind at my back, so when the market is strong I’m a buyer, and when it’s weak I’m looking for short sales. In general, it serves me well to trade this way, but inevitably there are times when I wish I had thrown caution to the wind!
Take last week for example. VRTX was setting up with a very well-defined bull pennant pattern, but I was cautious with any bullish setup due to the overall market weakness. The environment was bearish, so even as I saw this bullish setup I wasn’t very interested. The pennant even formed on decreasing volume, which is exactly what I like to see with this pattern, and I still passed on it. Here’s a look at the chart I showed to members at TheStockBandit.com last week as a stock of interest, although it was never listed as a trade candidate:
(Click for full-size image, courtesy of TeleChart)
As fate would have it, VRTX took off and has still not looked back. Here’s how it looks after Tuesday’s bar:
(Click for full-size image, courtesy of TeleChart)
Each time I saw it hitting new highs intraday on Tuesday I felt pangs of regret and guilt for not being in the trade. As it climbed higher and higher, I felt more and more foolish for not having bought such a sound pattern! What was I thinking?
And then it hit me: that isn’t my trading style! Taking trades which fly in the face of general conditions isn’t what I’ve built a trading career on. Rare are the times that trades have paid me well when I did throw caution to the wind. Catching this trade would have meant bending my rules, and while that may have paid off for me this time, making a habit of it would no doubt prove costly.
And suddenly it was alright that the stock had taken off without me. After all, I don’t have to catch every single move, plus the reason I wasn’t in the stock to begin with was because I had followed my discipline – not because I ignored it. My game plan doesn’t involve swing trading strong stocks in a weak market, and VRTX fit that description. Particularly when market emotions are running high, I’ll defer to general conditions over my conviction on a given trade, and that has saved me many dollars over the years. I’ve missed out on the occasional strong move (like VRTX) as a result, but my discipline when things get ugly has allowed me to protect both my capital and my objectivity while others are losing theirs.
So while it can be at times frustrating to miss out on a great move, sticking with your game plan and letting your discipline guide you will over time pay off very nicely. The occasional stock will laugh in your face and you will at times feel crazy for having let it go without you, but good trading will involve missing out on some moves. Put the odds in your favor as often as possible, and only trade when the conditions suit your style.
I hope you’re trading well this week!
Jeff White
President, The Stock Bandit, Inc.
Swing Trading & Day Trading Service
www.TheStockBandit.com
[tags]Stock Market, Day Trading, Stock Trading, Investing, Swing Trading[/tags]
