I make it a rule to NOT trade around earnings. Historically the fundamentals rarely pan out in my favor so I stay away. The irony is even when earnings are higher than expected it’s usually a case of ‘buy the rumor…sell the news’ scenario.
And yesterday’s small but ‘surprise’ positive earnings report for HNRG was such an improvement that the shorts had to run away. (see chart)
The point is, the price action could have gone either way, so why line up for disappointment. I’ve had some good fortune trading this symbol both back in May for the initial run up, and again in September but got stopped out late October.
By standing aside during the quarterly earnings report (which odds are could have tanked price) two things happened. Most importantly, I followed my rules. Secondly now I have to deal with the remorse of missing a nice run up. Such is the mental game of trading. Stick with it and keep the faith Traders!