2011: Rebuilding My Battered Account

Discussion in 'Journals' started by neke, Jan 9, 2011.

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  1. neke

    neke

    Last year, I set out to take 410K to 4 million by Year End 2010, sustaining a loss of 11% during the period ending Jan 8 2011. At the worst part of that draw-down (Oct 2010, with the loss nearly 50%), I thought of shutting down the thread and starting a new one with the current title. However, I decided to see the old thread through year end.

    The purpose of this thread is to record my journey towards recovering what was lost, and moving on to new equity highs. The battle will address the following:

    A) Recover the remaining loss from last year. That would be +45K (+13%) from here. That is the immediate target/milestone.
    B) Set new cumulative equity highs. The last one on a week-end basis was set in Oct 2009 (+635K). Since then I have pulled out 150K cash from the account. Adjusting for that, the current balance will have to go to 485K (+149K or +44% from here). This is the next milestone.
    C) Set new cash balance high. That would require going to 635K (+299 or +89%) from here. This is the third milestone.
    D) Get the cash balance to hit 7 digits ($1million). That would be +664K (198%) from here. This will be the fourth milestone
    E) Bonus: Establish such a buffer that 7 digits ($1million) should be the new floor. How much buffer is enough? I'm not sure, but given a history of 50% draw-downs (hoping that does not happen again), I think taking the account to $2.5million before tax could give such assurance. Once again, this (E) would be a big bonus. It is not an immediate aim.

    As in prior threads, I will seek not to trade too frequently (average was 25 trades a week last year, I should be OK with 10 quality trades per week), but will seek to maximize each opportunity by putting on a decent size. Still holding down my full-time job (so glad to have that after a year like 2010).

    PRIOR THREADS

    Taking 410K to 4million by Year End 2010
    Taking 320K to 3.5million by Year End 2009
    Taking 103K to 1.2million by Year End 2008
    Taking 76K to 500K by Year End (2007)


    QUICK RECAP

    Here is a quite recap of my past trading. Opened an account and placed my first trade with Datek Online in Dec 1999 at the height of the dotcom bubble, starting with 16K (basically my whole savings) and within 2 weeks I lost 50% of that. Through the years till Nov 2004 I lost a cummulative of 54K (account goes down, let the account idle for sometime until I can save some more money, and then replenish, get the next drawdown, and so on). At that low point, the balance in my account was 5.3K. Every thing in the account now sprung from that balance with some additional deposits, and lots of withdrawals as follows (The figures here are for full year, and not just period covered by thread):

    Code:
    	From		To		StartingBalance			Net P&L		Return%		Net Cash Movement	Closing Balance
    	===========	===========	===============		===============		=======		=================	==============
    	Nov 2004	Dec 2004	          5,300			  8,700		    164			    1,000		 15,000
    	Jan 2005	Dec 2005		 15,000			132,000		    880			  (12,000)		135,000
    	Jan 2006	Feb 28 2007		135,000			115,000		     85		 	 (174,000)		 76,000
    	Feb 28 2007	Jan 12 2008		 76,000		        138,000		    182			 (111,000)		103,000
    	Jan 12 2008	Jan 11 2009		103,000			377,000		    366         	 (160,000)		320,000	    
    	Jan 11 2009	Jan 10 2010		320,000			210,000		     65			 (120,000)		410,000
    	Jan 10 2010	Jan  9 2011		410,000		        (44,000)	    (11)		  (30,000)		336,000
    
    
    Notes
    * Closing Balance = StartingBalance + Net P &L - Net Cash Movement
    * Net Cash Movement is total of deposits less withdrawals. From Jan 2006 up, there has never been a deposit (just cash withdrawals).
    * Return% is percentage based on P/L over the starting balance, with no regard to the timing of deposits or withdrawals.
    * The periods listed here for 2007 onwards is from start of thread to start of next thread for completeness, including the 2 or 3 weeks before the next thread. So may differ a bit from the figures at the end of the 50-weeks of each yearly thread.


    [​IMG]
     
  2. NEKE, Were the drawdowns last year from the market not being in synch with your methodology or from personal trading issues?

    And thanks for sharing.
     
  3. Good luck Neke, keep working at it.

    You have managed to teach a lot of traders about the highs and lows of trading.Please work on those impulsive, revenge type ones (as we all have to !!)


    All the best

    John
     
  4. heech

    heech

    neke,

    If nothing else, I'm a big fan of yours for standing up against the know-it-alls with their 3-figure trading accounts. Took balls to log in every week, especially at the lowest point of your draw-down.

    Best of luck to you on the new year! (And it's AMAZING to me how close you are to recovering the high-water mark.)
     
    trader1974 likes this.
  5. Very impressive record. Curious why you would withdraw cash from a tax free account. Assume you had to pay penalties.
     
  6. I'd like to learn how Neke trades. I know he does a lot of option stuff, but he never posts charts. I'd like him to start posting some charts if possible.

    I need to read his other threads to find out what he means by "over extended moves", because he wont tell me. He's making me work for my answer.

    Neke, over time it seems you took a total of 54,000 and lost most of that, ending with just 5.3k....

    Was their ever a moment where you said to yourself "MAN, I'm not doing this right, I need to change my game plan"...this was over a series of years, of you taking these steep draw downs, yes?

    Why did you keep trading the way you were? Did you have a mentor or something?...you must have REALLY believed in your strategy.

    Obviously whatever your doing seem to work, with varying degress of success, and I wish you well in 2011.
     
  7. Good Luck Neke this year!!

    I always read your thread its very informative. Keep it up! Hopefully volatility explodes and you can nail that 7 digit year!

    Through thick and thin just know that there are genuine people on this board who are wishing you much success this year. Ignore the haters and the doubters they are a waste of time.
     
  8. Good luck. I always check the site for your thread, keeps me coming back. Could you post your strategy and maybe some entries. Also what is your full time job if you don't mind me asking?
     
  9. pneuma

    pneuma

    Looking forward to it Neke.

    Good luck,
    pneuma
     
  10. ~~~

    ~~~

    Good Luck Neke.. All the Best to You in 2011.
    You are a Trading Warrior ! :)
     
    #10     Jan 9, 2011
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