China Rapid Finance (XRF) was the stock du jour (more specifically the HTB du jour), doing 157,000 trades and $86MM in volume … it was hard-to-borrow and I paid 2.71 cents per share to borrow it ($271 per 10,000 shares). It gave me a good spot and faded all day. I was a good boy and took no partial profits and ended up making 25% on the full position. I also traded POAI (3.29 cent borrow) and MDGS (a 9.19 cent borrow and a meaningless partial fill) with the brookie. POAI was a very good trade, but MDGS I messed up, the partial fill on borrow threw me, then I missed entry, had to chase (but didn’t really have to), then hated everything about it and scratched it later in the day.

Two ETBs were in-play today: MGNX (318,000 trades and $2BB in volume) and LPSN (45,400 trades and $345MM in volume). I noticed them late so I don’t have a full Bookmap tape to replay, otherwise I’d make MGNX the stock du jour. I swore to myself that I wouldn’t play any ETBs at IB from the short side, but these two were real parabolics and I couldn’t resist trading MacroGenics. Of course I got tricked, trapped, and top-ticked out, but of course I expected that to happen … ETB after all.

It was a good day all things considered, I was a good boy, patiently waiting for my spots, sizing right, riding the winners hard, no partial profits, banking sick coin, brah (though never stress-free) … no tilt, no revenge trading, no TWTR … only thing I’m upset about is playing an ETB at the end of the day there, but that should serve as a reminder not to do so in coming days and weeks (or minutes, if tilted). You’re always one trade away from total destruction in this biz, and don’t let anyone tell you differently.