So I have finally gotten around to writing something.  These posts will be sporadic, and probably only when things are going poorly.  I enjoy writing.  Its something I rarely do, but does let me clear my head.

After a fantastic run of 4 months... the best of my career.... I have run into some difficulties the last two months (March and April).  Nothing too major, but some stress for sure.

The markets have sold off hard of late, especially high PE tech and biotech. Absolutely slaughtered.  I am happy and relieved I finished March in the green and April is a small positive month for me so far.

Swing longs have hurt me a great deal.  They seem to be my nemesis every year.  lol.  My preferred style of trading is some swing longs with an emphasis on intraday shorting.  That tends to smooth out my performance.  I tend to get a bit intimated and overwhelmed without swing positions.  The number of correct decisions and the timing of these decisions can be daunting at times.

But whats funny:  intraday trading is by far my strength.  My bread and butter; something I think that I really excel at doing.  It is what separates me from other traders.  Most of the time, I have no problems finding setups.  Some obviously are better than others, but I can find stuff daily to trade.  

Now the reason for this post:  I did a portfolio stop yesterday.  That isn't all that unusual, I do several every year.  Sometimes they are back to back (I did one in late March as well).   But this one was special in that I did it at the exact low of the day; then watched the market ramp huge later in the day and again the next.  It was quite frustrating.  I wasn't even down all that much; just reached a point where the market was not acting like I wanted and I had quickly reached my pain point.  I can only be a bagholder for so long; this time my pain threshold was low.  

I am sure this will not be the last time I stop at the exact bottom.  The "portfolio stop" is not designed as a market timing tool.  Its a tool to save ones portfolio from complete destruction.  The last time I did one in March, it completely saved me as several stocks I had dropped huge after.    One went from 69 to 44; another from 42 to 26.  I would have been crushed like a raisin.  

So looking forward, I want to concentrate on two things.  1.  Continue to trust my portfolio stop outs.  2.  Concentrate exclusively on intraday trading only.  Lets focus on my strength and see how that does.  Swing longs have been very mixed for me the last two years.  With the market getting beat up, lets just forget all those setups and concentrate on intraday ones only.  This will mean that I need to change my watch lists and eliminate stocks only really suited for swing trades.  

One final thought:  I think reflection and self criticism are great tools, but so is perspective.  I am up over 56% YTD.  I bet most daytraders are not even close to that, although I do know one guy having another monster year.  But most momo traders are crushed and in massive pain.  So being up is great; just relax and lets see what trading presents in the next few months.  The pick up in volatility is certainly here to stay; which is always a great thing in the long run for traders.