I have to agree with the above.  I was picking $58-62 as its peak, and of course chose to set my limit order at $62 which didn't quite hit.

 This bounce could be over, it could last a month, it could be the bottom (and the start of a 10 year bull market).  I suspect it fall again soon.  I'm not willing to put too much money on the definition of "soon" in that statement, but I'm betting it will fall.

 The most fundamental thing to learn with the UltraShorts, especially in this volatile market, is to set a strategy and time frame, believe in it, and stick with it.  And keep some cash at hand to buy further into the position if it works against you for a time.  Set a sell point (I'd suggest at a 10%-30% gain as a realistic spectrum before you're going to see bounce [off the ceiling in this case]), buy incrementally into dips below your entry point, recalculate average price and coresponding sell price, stick with the program and wait for the fundamentals behind your decision to play out.  WARNING: This may take way longer than expected.

I'm barely clinging to a profit now and it looks like there will be a mini-rally today sending QID even lower. They say "Plan the trade, and trade the plan" but it's really hard to do (or maybe stupid to do) when it feels so wrong.  Right now QID is up in premarket, maybe it's not so bad. :)

Fuzzy,

I sympathize with your frustration when the trade does not turn out as planned. Kudos for even knowing that having a trading plan is important. Keep in mind that one trade does not a plan make. Nor does one trade make a career. All successful traders are about the longer term. Even day traders and scalpers. It's about how many successful trades you make over the long haul, not about being right on a handful. It looks like you stuck to your plan in exiting. Even though you would have been profitable had you stayed, your discipline would have been sacrificed in the process. Traders cannot second guess their decisions. We can only learn from them and move forward. Way to go in sticking to your plan. Many appreciate the chance to read about your trades and use the information to improve their own trading. Thanks for the post!

Now for the legalese: A trading plan is only one item to consider when placing a trade. Each trade should be evaluated on case by case basis with decisions made based on personal risk parameters.

--Nicole Wachs

TradeKing Staff

Training and Education Manager

Commenting on Trade Notes is something that TradeKing will be doing from time to time. You may want to check out my most recent posts:

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Nicole,

Thanks for the post!  I did exit the trade Friday morning, at a loss because it was below my stop limit, and if I had stuck to it until even the end of Friday I would have at least broken even.  But like you say, if I had moved my stop, I would have broken my plan, and even though the end result would have been better, I wouldn't have learned nearly as much as I did having taken the loss.  I am in the process of actually documenting my trading plan (as so many people so to do) so that I am less likely to deviate from it in the future.

Thanks again!