2022-04-27 — Bust

Today was a bit of a bust. Spent way too long trading this morning. I was up $700 before the market even officially opened. Then I got caught in a halt down so fast that I couldn’t even sell (can’t use market orders in premarket, so you’re stuck with limit orders, and I just couldn’t get them in fast enough. By the time the order was through, the stock was already below–again and again.

By the time I was successful at selling it, I went from being up probably about $1100, or so, to being down like… $900? I don’t remember. Fortunately, being bullish today paid off, as by the time the swing finished swinging I was only down $300.

I clawed back with a handful of trades to get myself up by just over $100.

So… it was a green day, but I spent so much time trading that I got a late start on the day. So the morning trade session was a bit of a bust, but it was green, so that’s good. I might jinx myself, but that’s three green days in a row after my colossal crash. I’m chipping away at those losses.

Cross your fingers. Two days of trading left in April.

I’m learning to better read the market. I’m learning to be much more emotionally disciplined. I’m learning to make much better trading decisions. For example, I didn’t like only being up $100, so I hunted and hunted and hunted for stocks to trade, but I couldn’t find any that I felt good about, and I didn’t go forcing it. I tried a couple stocks, didn’t like how it felt, and just hunted and hunted but didn’t get in again.

So… despite the weak earnings, there was some good progress personally. So that’s something.

Then there was the car work day. Good gravy. First car was a bit of a bust because the part she’d bought, apparently, was junk, and so she got another for me to put in, and apparently that one was junk as well, so… we didn’t get anywhere with that one. Second job was a complete bust. I got there and realized quickly that it was going to be a black hole, so after giving it maybe 15 minutes, I called it, didn’t charge, and recommended another shop that should have the necessary tools. Job number three was an easy one, gratefully. It was just a rattling sound he wanted diagnosed, and it turned out to be his muffler rubbing against a heat shield. The fix wasn’t as easy, but it wasn’t really critical to get a fix. He mostly just wanted to know if it was anything concerning, and it wasn’t. The last job was another complete bust. It was supposed to be a big brake job–pads, rotors, and a caliper–but when I got there, I realized it was a big truck, and that to change the rotors, I’d need to pull out the rear axles.

So I called it myself, bowing out and finding another mobile mechanic company that specializes in larger trucks (this was a Ram 5500, and it didn’t dawn on me that it was going to be this… big and require more than I realistically should be trying to do.

Anyway, came home, relaxed for several hours, and here we are.

Love to all. 🙂

Lift the World

~ stephen