Anyway, I *think* that's the correct term. And it was a success!
On Wednesday, I bought 100 shares of TBT, the ProShares UltraShort Lehman 20 Year Treasury ETF, as a short play on US Treasuries. (Over the longer term, I think the outlook for Treasuries is grim, so TBT might be a decent longer term hold.)
While I originally planned to make the trade a day trade, I was compelled by market factors to hold the position through the close. (Basically, it closed marginally above my entry at $45.00.) I placed an initial stop at $44.75 so that should the ETF drop, my loss was capped at $0.25 per share, or $25 total. If the opportunity presented itself, I would reset my stop to capture some of the upside while not tracking the market all day.
Well, opportunity REALLY presented itself on Thursday, 12 February. When I checked in around 12:15 PM EST, TBT was around $45.62. Thus, I reset my stop to $45.30. After checking in again around 12:30 PM, I reset the stop to $45.60 (with TBT trading in the $45.90 area). By 1:45 PM, my stop was executed and all 100 shares were sold for $45.60 as TBT made its way back to the $45.20 - $45.20 range. While it eventually closed at $45.96, I didn't re-trade it.
So, for the entire experiment, a $60 gross profit (not including commissions or taxes). While it's not a lot, I am still in the early stages of trading, and I don't have huge amounts of capital so I have to be prudent. But I am happy with the initial results.
(And remember boys and girls, this is not investment or trading advice. I'm just relaying to you what I did. You need to make your own decisions, based on your own research. Don't blame me if you try something I did and it blows up on you. That's your own situation to deal with. I take responsibility for my own successes and failures. Do you do the same for yours?)
Until the next trade, peace!
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