Robbie has to get back to his studies in junior high for a while. Around Labor Day, he will have a little more time for us and be able to paper trade once again.
Wow you are pathetic port....im almost certain robbie pays more in commissions in a month than you make in a year
Me. The S&P got got rangebound, or so it appears. I'm staying in cash. Altough I'm waiting to see how things go, to make sure stocks aren't about to plunge dramatically. Then I will buy and hold with up to 4x leverage.
I'm very new to trading but it seems to me like things are kind of slow right now anyway. Maybe the market will pick a direction once Labor Day is passed? Peace, Lisa
I always have to laugh this time of year whenever I see people say that it's "holiday season". In the last decade at least half the Augusts have been *amazing* trading months with great volatility. This year August has not been crazy but it has been pretty good. If you are taking days off right now then you are just being lazy and using other peoples' behaviour as an excuse. Traders should holiday at different times to everyone else - take your breaks when markets are dead, not when they are active. Personally I aim for the last week or two of the year - volume always sucks in late December, volatility is usually minimal. When the markets are dead, that's the time to go away. Not when it's busy. Wait for a slump in volume, daily range, and volatility - then take months off, not days or weeks. Besides, you can always go somewhere else and take a laptop with you. Stay at a hotel with net access and you can still trade in the day, then relax and party at night.
The reason is that trading is a cyclical profession. When it's good, it's great. When it's bad, it sucks. There are whole months or even quarters of sucky market action sometimes. That's when to go on holiday, travel round the world etc. Not when the market is literally handing out bags full of free money every single day.
cgarcia, Thanks for the encouragement! Cutten, Interesting perspective. I have "heard" that this is a slow time of year and just assumed that to be true. It does seem like some of the volume is down from 2 months ago when I first started paper trading - but there have also been some big seesaws in the market as well! I'll have to look into the historical data. I do love that trading can go with you on vacation as you suggest. Gotta love what you can do with a laptop these days.