My first outside trading hour trade
This post was originally published on my old finance blog in February 2021. Transferred here as I am no longer maintaining that site.
2021 has been an eventful year for markets so far.
On Saturday morning, 6th February, I woke up to find Ocugen Inc (OCGN) trading at around $7 in after-hours. I had bought it at $1.60 a little over a week earlier. That is a 4x move.
The problem: it was Saturday. Markets were closed until Monday. I had never tried to sell outside regular trading hours before, and I was not certain whether Interactive Brokers would allow it.
I decided to test it. I put up a quarter of my OCGN holding for sale using the outside-trading-hours (OTH) option in Interactive Brokers and placed a sell order at $7.
It filled.
By the time of writing that day, the stock had moved up further to $8.60. I reminded myself not to be greedy — I had already recovered my initial investment and booked a meaningful gain on that quarter, and the remaining three-quarters were now effectively playing with house money.
That is the frame I have been applying to several positions now. Once the initial capital is recovered with profit, the remaining holding becomes house money — I can hold it for years or decades without the psychological pressure of protecting the original investment.
OCGN joins Atossa Genetics (ATOS) in that house money portfolio. Both are long holds. Both are stakes I am comfortable losing entirely.
The hunt for the next candidate continues.
This is not financial advice. Just a record of one trade and the thinking behind it.
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