“Plans are plans until they aren’t. Don’t confuse trading ideas with prophecy. You don’t know the future. Unless you cause it.” -Curtis Faith
This morning I went in very biased about buying Apple long, my mind was clouded with the support level of the 50 week moving average holding up perfectly yesterday and in the pre-market. Looked like a perfect play off the last support level that held up for years. My love for the products did not help me think more clearly. I came in biased. I even wrote a special morning blog to explain my set up. One of the best professional money managers and a great prop trader commented on my blog post in the morning on facebook, and pretty much said I was wrong, dead wrong on that support holding. As the stock opened for trading I became flexible and aware of what happened in the past when I traded against those guys. Yes, Apple was oversold, yes it was far extended from the 5 day ema and due to return, yes it was holding at the 50 week ema, yes it has $100 per share in cash and the most innovative products in the world and a ridiculous P/E ratio of 12. But with a clear, cautious, and flexible mind ready to go long instead I shorted when it failed to make new highs of the day after opening and losing the 50 week line, then when it rallied back above it and failed again I doubled up. I used weekly in the money puts and ended up with very nice gains almost doubling my capital at risk in one hour. One thing that new traders have trouble with that seasoned traders do not is flexibility to change with the market. We have to identify a place the market can move that tells us that we are dead wrong no matter what our beliefs are.