I don't use the thinkorswim platform. Just the web based TD Ameritrade order entry system for manual trading. Automation is handled externally (via APIs)
Hello neke, if you do not mind, what is your strategy? Not the specifics, just the general premise. Are you day trading or interday (entering and exiting positions same day or holding them several days)? Are you taking options on the same stocks you have positions on or taking options on completely different stocks or instruments. A general outline of what you are doing will be much appreciated. Thanks
So Neke made around 110K for the last 12 months counting from November, when the performance got volatile. That is about a 30-35% return, since his account was around 300K. Just for comparison, if Neke was trading the ES, and using 1 contract for each 10K on the account, that is about 1.5 points gain per week....
And he probably paid way more than 1.5 ES pts per week in commissions and slippage this entire time. Goes to show that a very good edge is necessary to overcome frictional cost when you trade frequently.
Period Update for November (10/31/2015 - 12/05/2015) (5 weeks) Mournful month, down 120K (32%). Started pretty bad, down 116K in the first two weeks. Was frenetic the rest of the month with insane number of trades. Only aggravated the situation. Back to the drawing board; will be limiting my trades - especially options - for the rest of the year. It would be horrible to end the year negative after seeing the earlier performance. Code: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Opening Balance: 377,127 Net loss for period (119,607) Cash Withdrawal (7,000) ------------------------------------------------ Net Balance: 250,520 For the Thread YTD 2015 (1/3/2015 - 12/05/2015) Opening Balance: 256,099 Net gain 53,421 (Up 21%) Cash Withdrawal (59,000) ------------------------------------------------ Net Balance 250,520 ---------------------- TRADES TYPE Exit Date/Time P/L OPTION 2015-11-02-11-38-39 -11676.2 OPTION 2015-11-02-15-54-44 -9700.4 STOCK 2015-11-02-15-47-56 1800.7 OPTION 2015-11-02-15-46-52 -3327.9 OPTION 2015-11-03-09-34-36 -460.1 STOCK 2015-11-03-10-36-14 2286.6 STOCK 2015-11-04-10-47-05 1268.4 STOCK 2015-11-04-11-13-41 -7722.4 OPTION 2015-11-04-11-52-36 -8214.7 OPTION 2015-11-04-15-53-09 -1703.1 STOCK 2015-11-05-10-42-31 -1776.1 STOCK 2015-11-05-12-04-36 2394.8 OPTION 2015-11-05-10-32-08 -2258 OPTION 2015-11-05-12-06-34 6825.3 OPTION 2015-11-05-09-50-11 4932.9 STOCK 2015-11-05-13-03-09 -12692.9 OPTION 2015-11-05-13-02-50 -35499 OPTION 2015-11-05-14-50-06 -8303 OPTION 2015-11-05-14-43-01 6466.7 STOCK 2015-11-06-09-35-14 793.7 STOCK 2015-11-06-10-23-47 2772 OPTION 2015-11-06-09-52-42 15916.7 OPTION 2015-11-06-15-39-05 1293.8 STOCK 2015-11-06-15-15-55 458 OPTION 2015-11-06-15-38-27 -741.6 STOCK 2015-11-06-12-45-26 3460.5 STOCK 2015-11-09-10-25-02 1194.1 OPTION 2015-11-09-10-29-58 3429.1 OPTION 2015-11-09-10-09-16 2320.3 STOCK 2015-11-09-15-47-57 1188.7 OPTION 2015-11-09-15-58-05 -8044.8 STOCK 2015-11-09-15-55-17 -2910.8 STOCK 2015-11-10-09-27-37 -17003.2 OPTION 2015-11-10-10-57-24 -3770.3 STOCK 2015-11-10-15-49-38 -4536.9 OPTION 2015-11-10-11-27-55 -6041.5 STOCK 2015-11-10-15-11-38 4858 OPTION 2015-11-10-13-21-24 7591.9 STOCK 2015-11-11-09-49-12 4857.9 OPTION 2015-11-11-11-45-04 5927.1 STOCK 2015-11-11-14-44-51 685.8 STOCK 2015-11-11-14-44-38 -41776 STOCK 2015-11-11-15-38-03 4216.1 OPTION 2015-11-11-14-49-15 -397.5 STOCK 2015-11-12-10-30-08 5055.8 STOCK 2015-11-12-15-43-36 1102.2 STOCK 2015-11-12-15-42-55 -633.1 OPTION 2015-11-12-14-45-53 1574.7 STOCK 2015-11-13-13-08-10 -9754 STOCK 2015-11-13-15-49-07 1141.7 STOCK 2015-11-13-15-00-57 -13157.1 STOCK 2015-11-16-10-04-09 4775.1 STOCK 2015-11-16-12-53-57 2766.7 OPTION 2015-11-16-12-07-33 -3486.6 STOCK 2015-11-16-11-47-43 -1507.3 OPTION 2015-11-16-15-07-33 -8602.3 OPTION 2015-11-16-12-24-04 180.4 OPTION 2015-11-16-15-54-28 -3870.6 STOCK 2015-11-17-15-35-32 11777.2 STOCK 2015-11-17-11-17-46 -3815 OPTION 2015-11-17-10-07-32 -1659.1 OPTION 2015-11-18-09-53-42 8462 OPTION 2015-11-18-15-57-17 -10581.8 STOCK 2015-11-18-15-15-10 1594 STOCK 2015-11-18-15-55-14 -1934.9 STOCK 2015-11-19-09-34-02 1624.9 STOCK 2015-11-19-09-40-09 436.3 OPTION 2015-11-19-09-34-46 -683.5 STOCK 2015-11-19-12-17-26 6483.8 STOCK 2015-11-19-13-58-23 11129 STOCK 2015-11-19-14-41-52 1629.5 OPTION 2015-11-19-15-07-22 8854 OPTION 2015-11-19-10-04-22 4997.7 STOCK 2015-11-20-15-09-33 -1407.9 STOCK 2015-11-20-10-10-15 2916.9 STOCK 2015-11-20-10-10-38 2999.7 OPTION 2015-11-20-10-46-34 -8912.2 STOCK 2015-11-20-15-09-36 -285.9 STOCK 2015-11-20-15-38-33 -5716.3 OPTION 2015-11-20-15-23-06 -9192.2 OPTION 2015-11-20-15-34-15 -8773.7 OPTION 2015-11-20-15-52-19 1336.3 OPTION 2015-11-23-15-43-27 -3025.3 STOCK 2015-11-23-15-25-48 4835.5 STOCK 2015-11-24-09-55-20 -134.6 OPTION 2015-11-24-10-33-32 11464.9 STOCK 2015-11-24-12-07-59 1685.1 STOCK 2015-11-24-15-49-14 -207.7 OPTION 2015-11-24-15-59-00 -887.9 OPTION 2015-11-24-15-59-41 -733.4 OPTION 2015-11-25-15-57-04 -8044.2 OPTION 2015-11-25-10-37-11 11838.8 STOCK 2015-11-27-12-32-28 -515.8 OPTION 2015-11-30-09-31-34 -394.5 STOCK 2015-11-30-09-37-13 -113.8 OPTION 2015-11-30-09-59-13 -3341.7 OPTION 2015-11-30-12-23-22 -6030.6 OPTION 2015-11-30-15-52-11 329.3 STOCK 2015-11-30-15-46-56 1107.8 STOCK 2015-12-01-14-31-47 -2598.9 OPTION 2015-12-01-11-18-09 -4718.8 STOCK 2015-12-01-11-19-08 -257.7 STOCK 2015-12-01-14-04-59 57.8 OPTION 2015-12-01-10-18-44 -1268.9 OPTION 2015-12-01-10-19-55 -429 OPTION 2015-12-01-10-26-16 -1332.5 OPTION 2015-12-01-14-34-10 7924.7 STOCK 2015-12-01-12-35-31 -1838.7 OPTION 2015-12-01-15-58-13 -1232.8 STOCK 2015-12-01-14-50-22 247.9 STOCK 2015-12-02-09-35-03 653.7 STOCK 2015-12-02-15-48-47 1252 STOCK 2015-12-02-14-29-31 -6778.3 STOCK 2015-12-02-15-11-17 -41.4 STOCK 2015-12-03-09-30-34 1512.1 OPTION 2015-12-03-09-35-15 2489.4 STOCK 2015-12-03-12-26-53 2032.6 STOCK 2015-12-03-09-50-40 2179.3 STOCK 2015-12-03-15-17-41 384.6 OPTION 2015-12-03-15-16-33 -8759.1 STOCK 2015-12-03-15-22-27 84.1 OPTION 2015-12-03-15-50-00 -2150.9 STOCK 2015-12-03-15-55-28 -16 STOCK 2015-12-04-09-46-58 8821 STOCK 2015-12-04-12-33-01 3962.4 STOCK 2015-12-04-10-02-39 1816.3 STOCK 2015-12-04-10-01-46 -1092.6 STOCK 2015-12-04-14-12-32 -1797.2 OPTION 2015-12-04-11-45-41 -1862.1 STOCK 2015-12-04-15-55-24 -1318.6 OPTION 2015-12-04-13-08-39 -8043.4 STOCK 2015-12-04-14-30-45 -571.9
Great start to the new year, up 49.5K (19%). Another good month, up 99.8K (33%). Terrible month, down 70K (17.6%). Nice month, up 68K (21%). Ugly month, down 51K (13%). Frustrating month, up 1.6K (0.5%). No comments. The wounds are still raw, down 88K (27%). Monstrous month, up 254K (107%). Awful month, down 172K (36%). Some recovery from last month, up 82K (32%). Mournful month, down 120K (32%). You sure love that roller-coaster of yours... you're an adrenaline junkie.. no disrespect intended, i admire your honesty and persistence.
So for the last 13 months (since the roller coaster started) you actually lost money, like -10K. Imagine that all those time and energy could have been put to better use like spending with family or having a hobby. On the plus side, your broker loves you... You seriously need to change something (having a trading coach or partner, trading much less), or consider giving it up. I mean it is your life, but this journal is getting really depressing and at this point I just wish you would just lie to us....
As expected, we have the trolls come out in droves berating neke for his down month, forgetting the fact that he is up 50K this year, trouncing the benchmark S&P 500. Let's not forget the long term winning record that neke owns, which the trolls WISH they could achieve. If you trolls haven't made as much as neke, please keep quiet. neke is a winner, he will have down months, like all of us. neke is the most tenacious trader I have seen here on Elite Trader, he never lets a bad month ruin him, Watch him catch fire for the rest of the year to finish the year with pizazz. He always comes back strong after a bad month.
Are you his cheerleader? There are obvious issues with his trading, the volatility is most definitely too much because after 2 very bad months in a row his account would be wiped out. I've pointed out correlation of strategies before but since that's not the problem, it must be position sizing. His 50k return in relation to portfolio volatility is a weak at best as the S&P isn't anywhere as volatile. I'm not belittling him either as he clearly is better than most traders.
Let's not forget that neke makes regular withdrawals, so he doesn't have all his eggs in one basket. Plus he has a job. Not a cheerleader, just pointing out the fact that he makes a lot more than the trolls that criticize his trading. In the end, trading is about making as much money as you can, not have a smooth equity curve. I'm sure he's made at least 100 times what Pekelo has made, or whoever it is that comes here after a down month and starts chirping atop his soapbox.