20070402 - GOOG - Weekly - Loss

Symbol: GOOG
Type: Long
Entry: 3rd bar from the right, when the price went above previous bar's high
Exit: Last bar from the right, almost close to the bottom of the bar
Result: Lost -1.13%

This is a pathetic loss due to poor management. But before I talk about how I turned this winning trade into a losing trade, let me tell you how I got the idea of his GOOG trade.

Kevin from Kevin's Market blog has been blogging about how whenever Google has a weekly inside bar, from the previous week, if the following week's price exceeds the inside bar's high (or low) of the previous week, he will go Long (or Short) respectively. I know I'm confusing you. Read about his observation here and here.

Following Kevin's approach, I managed to enter Long when the price went above the previous week's high. In fact, according to Kevin's post, I was commited even before he did.

But the problem is, I was stuck in a meeting on the following Friday, before the Market closed. I failed to exit by week's end, and led me to a loss when the market re-opened on the following Monday. Unfortunately, GOOG wasn't doing too well on that Monday, and since I didn't know if I should hang on or not, I decided to exit the holding for a small loss. (Well, it isn't really that small.) Had I managed to exit on that Friday afternoon, it would have been a gain!

I guess this is the price that I have to pay when I'm trying to trade, while working a full-time job. I just have to learn how to better manage my time.