02.25.20 $ARLO

Today was a little frustrating. I struggled to find anything I wanted to trade and balked at a couple names ($TVIX and $AMD). I wanted to participate in the moves those stocks were making but I just couldn't bring myself to trust what I was seeing. So many times recently we've dipped below support and been bought right back up. The last couple days haven't been the case. I did manage to find my way into a short position on $ARLO and feel like I traded it pretty well. I got my first take profit off as planned but missed my second opportunity by a hair, which would have been the bulk of my position. I still ended the trade profitable but was up triple at one point from where I finished. None the less, the plan is the plan and a target is a target and I'm doing everything I can to make a habit out of sticking to both my plan and profit targets, unless new information is presented to make me change my mind.

One thing I did while managing this trade was kept moving my stop down as price moved lower to make sure I didn't get wiped out in a reversal for no reason. I feel like I made the right call making those adjustments during the trade but again, had I not moved my stop to it's last position I would have closed at double where I did. Anyhow, a couple things I need to think about on this trade are whether or not moving my stops was the right call and if my profit targets were correctly assigned. I think all was good but will be worth reviewing later tonight.

Edit: after taking a break, thinking about this trade and reviewing it further I realized what I could have done differently. I took too long to make up my mind when I added. I started debating whether or not to add to my position when it was retesting $4.18. When it failed I had plenty of time to add right then and didn't. I hesitated and waited until the price moved ~$0.08 lower before adding short. Had I added at $4.15 with my stop at $4.19, my average price per share would have been $4.13, which would have put my first profit target at $4.03 and my second at $3.93 and I could have got the bulk of my position closed with higher profits. An add anywhere after $4.14 and my results would be no different than they were. I guess the lesson is to 1) make my decision more quickly and 2) better define the result of my decision before making it. These thoughts are obviously in hindsight so I may be thinking too specifically about the trade but none the less, I know at a minimum I need to make decisions more quickly and this though reinforces that.