A Look Back at 2021 with Joy and Regrets

In the trading landscape, a strong bull was dominating the market in the first three quarters of 2021. Major indices were breaking all time high, even cryptocurrency was making waves (pun intended, super volatile moves for $Bitcoin(BTC.CC)$ Bitcoin).

Moderna $Moderna(MRNA.US)$, BioNtech $BioNTech(BNTX.US)$, Pfizer $Pfizer(PFE.US)$, Johnson & Johnson $Johnson & Johnson(JNJ.US)$, Novavax $Novavax(NVAX.US)$, Astra Zeneca $ASTRAZENECA PLC(AZNCF.US)$ just to name a few obvious ones, roared to all time high. Did you catch the train? I took a small profitable swing trade with Pfizer. Nothing to boast about, purely practicing my trading skills based on breakout trend.

One memorable trade in 2021 for me was with Open $Opendoor Technologies(OPEN.US)$. Been learning to read chart with Wyckroff method so it was great to be able to time my exit of Open perfectly before the price crashed.
This was the chart analysis and trading plan for my position on 22 Sept.

I tried to protect profit my trailing my stop loss. As the market unfolds, the news about Zillow $Zillow-C(Z.US)$ shook Open badly. Based on my analysis of the price action and volume, I moved my stop loss lower to wait for a rebound in order to exit the trade with profit. This manoeuvre helped me exited with 21% profit in around 6 weeks.

Think any trader would be able to tell you anecdotes of how stop loss either dented or saved their capital. Sharing a lesson of moving stop loss. After Nvidia $NVIDIA(NVDA.US)$ share split, I decided to initiate a long entry on 26 July at $193. The plan was to take advantage of the break out pattern fueled by the strong demand on chips. Given Nvidia is such a darling of both short and long term investors, the initial trading plan was to hold on to long position for as long as possible.

Current market condition seems to be rather uncertain. Nasdaq $Nasdaq Composite Index(.IXIC.US)$, S&P $S&P 500 Index(.SPX.US)$ and Dow $Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US)$ all suffering corrections. There are many factors affecting the 2022 outlook. US Federal Bank meeting in mid Dec, Omicron concerns and its closely related national border policies will likely impact market condition. I would be very cautious in trading until things get more clarity. Stay away from stocks that corrected by 30% (e.g. U $Unity Software(U.US)$, Baba $Alibaba(BABA.US)$, Palantir $Palantir(PLTR.US)$), and monitor defensive counters such as PG $Procter & Gamble(PG.US)$, TSN $Tyson Foods(TSN.US)$.