A New Small Account Challnege: Higher By 50% In The First Week

After a hugely successful month of training through November, December marks the start of my brand new $500 small account challenge. Only 3 days in, I’ve already increased my account by about 50% and I’m feeling confident I can carry over the lessons I learned from trading smaller size to make some consistent headway in my new account.

However, the challenge actually hit a few hiccups before I even started trading. Monday ended up being a non-starter thanks to a snowstorm that kept me from my regular trading station at Warrior Trading HQ. Then on Tuesday when I actually began trading I saw that I had been charged a platform fee for November when I originally funded the account. So in actuality, I started this small account challenge with a little less than $400 in my account.

Despite that, Tuesday ended up being a stellar day that boosted my account by 40% thanks to one really strong position in DarioHealth Corp. (NASDAQ: DRIO).

DRIO was the second leading stock on my morning gap scanner that day, up about 80%. Going down my criteria for finding a winning stock, the volume and float characteristics were right in my wheelhouse and the stock has a history of popping. On the downside,  its price tag was on the high end of my range $1-$10 range and it sold off pretty substantially on the open, though it some buyers were keeping it buoyant.

While these negative factors might not have been an issue last month, I am working with a razor-thin margin of error and can’t have my first trade in this challenge completely drain my funds. I kept my eye on the chart and waited for signs of support and resistance. I noticed the stock kept bouncing off of the $10 psychological level but was resolving closer and closer to the $9.50 range.

I waited for the first candle to make a new high and, once it started moving above $8.80, I bought in for 200 shares using full margin. A second later the stock was approaching $10.50, I sold half my position on that approach and sold another 25 shares near $10.60. My biggest sale was at the top of the move at $10.93 and, while I had hoped for the break above $11, I sold the rest as DRIO fell back to $10.

For those interested in seeing the full play-by-play, you can check out the special live stream I did of the trading day. While those are usually exclusively for Warrior Trading students, I decided this edition was worth making available to everyone.

Overall, it was a stellar start to the new challenge. While Wednesday and Thursday were more middling, I’m still technically green on my trading record and trending toward hitting the $1000 mark before Christmas.