2014: The Battle for Survival

Discussion in 'Journals' started by neke, Jan 5, 2014.

  1. neke

    neke

    Period Update for April 3/29/2014 - 5/3/2014 (5 weeks)

    Frustrating month, up 1.25K (0.8%).

    Started brightly early in the month with gains, but then the move fizzled out, and then surrendered much of the gains later in the month. We can just call it a month of consolidation, although the P&L on the individual trades are such that the month could have gone either way.

    Took out 7K for the months of Mar/Apr.

    Because of a higher account balance, and better expectation on some strategies, I am revising my expectation for the remaining 8 months of the year to +108K as in the attachment.

    Code:
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    
    Opening Balance:                	152,713
    Net gain for period 		          1,248
    Cash Withdrawal				 (7,000)
    ------------------------------------------------
    Net Balance:                   		146,961
    
    
    For the Thread YTD  2014 (1/4/2013 - 5/3/2014)
    
    Opening Balance:                       101,037
    Net gain   	    	                57,924 (Up 57%)
    Cash Withdrawal			      (12,000)
    ------------------------------------------------
    Net Balance			       146,961
    ----------------------
    
    
    
    TRADES
    
    TYPE	Exit Date/Time		P/L
    
    Stock	2014-04-02-11-16-03	2598.4
    Option	2014-04-02-13-19-22	-668.5
    Stock	2014-04-03-15-52-44	-1051.7
    Stock	2014-04-04-10-27-36	-2016.3
    Stock	2014-04-04-10-06-30	5517.9
    Stock	2014-04-04-10-03-55	3698.7
    Stock	2014-04-04-15-49-28	-8868.8
    Option	2014-04-07-15-26-27	594.9
    Stock	2014-04-07-10-02-42	3776.9
    Stock	2014-04-07-10-02-20	10742
    Option	2014-04-07-15-30-27	-1861.1
    Option	2014-04-07-15-29-50	4421.6
    Option	2014-04-07-15-28-21	-279.8
    Stock	2014-04-07-15-28-41	-856.5
    Stock	2014-04-07-15-27-20	-481.7
    Option	2014-04-07-15-25-38	614.7
    Option	2014-04-07-15-19-41	4580.2
    Stock	2014-04-09-10-58-45	-1577.7
    Option	2014-04-09-11-36-08	7125.8
    Option	2014-04-09-11-11-37	-3697.3
    Stock	2014-04-10-12-19-16	1807.1
    Stock	2014-04-10-14-48-38	471.8
    Option	2014-04-10-15-02-56	1761.4
    Option	2014-04-11-14-27-06	-932
    Stock	2014-04-14-14-23-23	547.9
    Option	2014-04-14-15-28-03	-5606.9
    Stock	2014-04-15-10-54-14	-778.4
    Stock	2014-04-15-15-52-13	-151.4
    Stock	2014-04-16-10-47-50	137.8
    Stock	2014-04-17-12-02-39	3390.3
    Option	2014-04-17-12-30-18	8072
    Option	2014-04-17-12-03-34	-8205
    Stock	2014-04-22-10-18-19	202.4
    Stock	2014-04-22-15-02-09	-2406.5
    Stock	2014-04-23-15-53-17	-4358.4
    Stock	2014-04-23-10-54-37	1635.9
    Stock	2014-04-23-12-24-41	1885.7
    Stock	2014-04-24-10-42-48	312.5
    Stock	2014-04-25-10-21-51	5215.3
    Option	2014-04-25-13-43-25	-9050.4
    Stock	2014-04-25-14-16-56	-5917.2
    Stock	2014-04-25-14-55-18	-923.7
    Stock	2014-04-25-14-16-47	-7681.4
    Option	2014-04-28-15-51-56	1483
    Stock	2014-04-28-15-52-49	-7521.7
    Stock	2014-04-28-15-51-50	2715.3
    Stock	2014-04-28-15-51-49	-2030.1
    Option	2014-04-28-15-51-55	-277.3
    Stock	2014-04-29-09-40-26	-471.2
    Stock	2014-04-29-12-44-31	6185.9
    Stock	2014-04-30-12-20-51	-727.9
    Option	2014-04-30-14-47-05	-2494.9
    Stock	2014-05-01-14-30-56	3392.2
    Stock	2014-05-01-14-00-11	-2364.3
    Stock	2014-05-02-09-45-23	-816.7
    Option	2014-05-02-09-45-13	2438.3
    
    
    [​IMG]
     
    #101     May 3, 2014
  2. RedSun

    RedSun

    Neke,

    Just wonder why you never move on to trade futures. At least index futures.

    This way, you care less about company specific events. No earning release, no company manipulation, no games played by the management.....
     
    #102     May 8, 2014
  3. It's like going from drinking a few beers a week to a fifth of jack per day. Totally diff ball game imo.
     
    #103     May 10, 2014
  4. RedSun

    RedSun

    No, he is not just drinking a few beers a week. He has put on quite a leverage and aggressive. And he has been doing this several years.

    To me, I know I can never out-smart company management. Trading stock is like betting against the house with no edge. Maybe you guys are smarter than I'm :D

    Just look at Apple. Its last earning has been just so-so. No new product. The company was smart enough to engineer its finance and jack up its stock price. Why, the dumb fool stock traders were fooled by the management.....
     
    #104     May 10, 2014
  5. Scaleout.Scalper

    Scaleout.Scalper Guest

    You forgot less volatility :)
     
    #105     May 11, 2014
  6. Mo06

    Mo06

    "To me, I know I can never out-smart company management. Trading stock is like betting against the house with no edge."

    Not at all.

    Many traders trade stocks successfully, I would even suggest that the percentage of stock traders who are consistenly profitable greatly exceeds those trading index futures.

    Certainly a different ball game, but in no way inferior from a profit point of view.
     
    #106     May 11, 2014
  7. i'd have to agree.
    I know of a lot more people who are consistently profitable with daytrading stocks than futures.
     
    #107     May 11, 2014
  8. RedSun

    RedSun

    Yes, I agreed that there have been a lot of successful stock day traders. In general, buying stocks makes more money since the market should go up in general.

    But how do you get the edge in stock trading? Technical side? Or information side? Most of the stock analysts are not honest. The boiler room stock tip is mostly bogus. There are just so many ways to manipulate stock prices. For small cap, info is extremely hard to get.

    With all this, you'll have to spend more time in researching companies. Then you still do not have the edge with information.
     
    #108     May 11, 2014
  9. RedSun

    RedSun

    The edges I can think of in trading stocks are:

    1. You have some inside information the general public does not have.
    2. You have the capital to influence the stock market, like controlling some shares to squeeze the shorts.
    3. You have means to influence the company management, like what the activist investors are doing in controlling the board and management.

    Most of the above are illegal. But the activist investors have made it legal.

    If you do not have any edge, then it is like going to a casino and bet on the luck... Of course some come out winners, but most would lose...
     
    #109     May 11, 2014
  10. But you have an 'edge' in index futures?
     
    #110     May 11, 2014