Well I might have missed the action on Monday, but as I’ve talked about before, epic movers often make pretty decent moves the next day too. So I was ready and waiting with my finger on the button in case KRTX went supernova again. And oh boy, did it…
I rarely if ever post 1 minute charts here, but I do use them occasionally. When stocks are extremely volatile, the faster chart can come in handy. Here’s the first KRTX trade of the day. I’m somewhat saddened to say I did not increase my position size. I was wary of such extreme volatility, and though fairly confident the only way was up, decided prudence was the best option. The trade was still profitable, and there’s no need to be greedy.
The chart speaks for itself. I scaled out because, again, extreme volatility. But with so much profit in the bag, I was happy to let the other half run. Run it did, and I tried to get out at 120, getting surprisingly close.
Taking $17,875 profit in a trade that lasted about fifteen minutes goes some way to making up for missing out on Monday’s fun. Still, I suspected there was more. Even an aftershock from such a wild move can be profitable.
Such an aftershock came not too much later, so here’s the second trade on the same stock:
This was over in minutes. Literally. Remember, those are 1 minute bars, not the usual 5. This was a quick bite at the easy middle of a nice little move. That portion of the ‘little’ move netted another five grand.
Things got decidedly sideways after that. With more than twenty thousand dollars banked from two trades on a single stock, there was no need to take any further risks. Volume dropped back a little, and anyway, we were getting late in the morning.
Will KRTX move like this again Wednesday? No idea. It will probably have an effect on the rest of the sector, so that’s something to watch out for.
Not Lucky
When stocks go berserk like this, some commentators deride those who profit as being nothing more than gamblers who got lucky. Probably some people did get lucky. Maybe a few irregular traders heard the commotion and jumped on board without a thought, lucking into some profit. But the thing is these trades, whilst insanely profitable, were nothing special. They were standard setups traded the normal way. They just happened to move further.
Professional trading isn’t about chasing big movers like this and trying to get lucky. It’s about applying a solid, proven strategy and trading it day after day, taking small profits regularly. Those small wins add up. Sometimes there are bigger wins. And on rare occasions, like with KRTX, there are massive wins. But the work is the same.
These weren’t “lucky” trades; they were the result of following a proven system. Experience and discipline gained during normal times allow us to make the best of exceptional times, all without doing anything differently.
Incidentally, the reason for KRTX’s mega-moves over the last two days has been because of some successful trials of a new drug. I won’t pretend to understand how the drug works or exactly what it does, but it sounds like it’s a step forward for the world of medicine. That’s a good thing. It’s always nice to be able to profit from good news for a change.