Lover of trading, tacos, 3D/AR/VR, cryptos, and most things Japanese

I just finished watching the Day Two recap of the MotoGP #SepangTest and all I can say is, “Oh man, it going to be ON this season!”

After the winter break and three months off of these 300hp premier class beasts, riders from more than 10 countries returned to the track this weekend to begin testing their 2020 bikes, getting them dialed-in for next month’s opening round of the MotoGP World Championship in Qatar.

In his sophomore year, Quartararo got his 2020 factory bike today. He was super-competitve in his rookie year last year on a lesser machine. He is now on a the same full-factory platform as Rossi and Vinales. Oh, and he topped the sheets both days of testing, despite riding last year’s bike on Day One. PRAMAC’s Jack Miller had been fastest all day today, only to get pipped by Quartararo at the very end of the session.

2019 Champion Marc Marquez has been recovering slowly from shoulder surgery and went down on the out lap after 46 laps today. He claimed it was just a loss of concentration, wasn’t hurt, and didn’t aggravate his shoulder.

Marc is joined this year by his brother Alex, who took the MotoGP2 title last year and is quickly coming up to speed in the premier class.

Dovi is back on the new Ducati, which looks to have a bit more punch this year. Mir and Rins with Suzuki are holding strong and steady in the top seven – let’s see if the ‘zook has any more punch this year. Pol Espargaro on the KTM is in the top ten with Aprilla are in the hunt again too.

Nine-time World Champion Valentino “The Doctor” Rossi rounded out the top ten with a respectable time in what may end up being his final year in MotoGP. And the legendary Jorge Lorenzo makes his long-awaited return tomorrow for Day Three.

It’s difficult to know exactly what is going on and how relevant the times are given that it’s only the second day of testing this year. Some riders weren’t even using a soft rear today – which is expected to provide a 0.4 second improvement in lap times. Others may not be pushing hard, trying to dial in their new hardware as quickly as possible or just playing their cards close to the chest.

POS	#	RIDER	GAP
1	20	F. QUARTARARO	1:58.572
2	43	J. MILLER	+0.069
3	26	D. PEDROSA	+0.090
4	36	J. MIR	+0.159
5	21	F. MORBIDELLI	+0.259
6	12	M. VIÑALES	+0.321
7	42	A. RINS	+0.406
8	44	P. ESPARGARO	+0.417
9	93	M. MARQUEZ	+0.525
10	46	V. ROSSI	+0.544

Sepang International Circuit MotoGP Testing Day 2 Results from MotoGP.com

That said, the top ten riders’ best times today were separated by half a second. Six factories were split by six tenths… and Sepang is one of the longest and more difficult tracks in the championship.

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s session brings! 😀

2020 is shaping up to be one of the most competitive MotoGP seasons in recent history. The competition was fierce in 2019 and the race tactics were thrilling to behold. Time will tell, but to my eyes (and hopes) 2020 looks to be a season filled with epic battles reminiscent of the ones Kevin Schwantz, Wayne Rainey, Mick Doohan, and Wayne Gardner had back in the late 80’s and early 90’s.

Is it March yet? Let’s goooooooooo!!!! 😀 #BringIt

MotoGP.com FTW

This was a good week and I learned a lot. Not only did I have a productive week at work, I also increased and improved my trading and completed the SMB Capital Trader DNA program.

I made more trades this week than I had before – both in quantity and in size. I got in the arena and placed my stakes. I had been thinking that I needed to increase my size and stepped up my buys in both trades I took. I also took two trades this week, instead of just observing the market from the sidelines. I didn’t miss a single SMB AM meeting, and I also attended the Saturday morning review session, all of which provided insightful learning opportunities.

My trading is far from perfect, as I’m still new to intraday trading, but I am getting better. I started scaling up positions that I was right on, slowly increasing my trade size. My goal is to increase size step-by-step for the next two weeks, when I should be getting out of my biggest position which I am holding until earnings on the 29th. This will free up a lot more capital for me to trade with, and by stepping up as that date approaches, I should be mentally prepared to trade the bigger size when I have the opportunity. More A+ trades and bigger size are the two things I’m actively working on, with the focus on going bigger once I identify my A+ trades.

I also hit a major milestone in completing SMB’s Trader DNA program. This is a 10-week program that I started July 2nd and completed in just over a month. The program content was extremely useful and I’ve already almost made back the cost. That said, I’m not done with the program. There is so much content to review, particularly an extensive list of trade setups, and I still have a lot to learn. But I feel really positive about the experience – DNA was exactly what I was looking for, at exactly the right time, at a reasonable price. I’ve learned about setups, psychology, review, stocks in play, journaling, studying, and so much more.

Part of me is a bit sad that I’ve completed the program, as I looked forward to the study sessions every weekend, but now it’s time to take it to the next level and put what I’ve learned to use. I’m figuring out how I can trade beyond the first hour of each day, which is often the most chaotic part of the day, so that I can take advantage of longer term intraday setups. Right now, my thinking is that if I take a position in the morning, I can monitor it off an on throughout the day, and then take a break from work near the end of the market day to close out any positions. This is less than optimal, as I will undoubtedly miss optimal exits, but I don’t want to hold positions overnight and I do want to take advantage of the intraday plays.

The biggest lesson of the week was not to put off doing my Daily Report Cards, but to do them each night after I trade. I repeated some mistakes that I had made the previous session that I may not have had I done the Report Card before the second session. So, I will get better at doing those on the same day, or at least before the next trading session.

$BLNK – Blink Charging – 2nd Day Play

$BLNK was my second stab at a 2nd Day Play. I was a bit torn with this one, as I think it has good long-term potential, and I might have considered investing in it if I were not trading it. It was up big yesterday and I was looking for a continuation, which I got. With rumors abounding about a possible deal with Tesla and a fresh infusion of $11M in capital, they just announced a partnership with a South Korean EV firm that caused the jump yesterday. Fresh news!

I learned from yesterdays haste and waited for the first selloff to bottom before getting in. It sold off pretty hard right away, bottoming at $3.55. I tried getting in at $3.88, but it was moving up too fast and I bought two tiers at $3.95, after chasing it up from the bottom a bit.

$BLNK moved up throughout the day, peaking at about $4.25, before pulling back and consolidating around my entry price. My position was to hold until Reason2Sell, with my stop set around $3.90 – risking five cents for a potential 5x gain.

The position turned into a winner and I didn’t get out. I didn’t take profits when I had a win and let it run for two days before getting stopped out at $3.82.

Lessons: Do Daily Report Card the same day as the trade, so can think through and review the trade before potentially repeating the same mistakes the following session. Again, take profits, and consider sizing up so the profits will be meaningful.

Review: I’m kicking myself for this one. The trade in $UUUU yesterday was such a small winner that I didn’t cover costs, and this one had me up a little after costs, which I didn’t act on. Still, I’m really happy with my improving entries. This is so important, especially in day trading small dollar stocks, where Mike says you really need to fight for your prices. I need to anticipate levels and get my buys in ahead of them, instead of just trying to react to bottoms and then buying, as things tend to move quickly off sharp bottoms.