Agreed, it also took me some time to realize that ... mastacoli71 has too big swings, I was doing the same thing win/loss : +/-15% per week. You want to make 150k, it is 150%, you have 200 trading days (remainder holidays), you loose on 50 days max. 1% and you make 1-2% and you should get there. You have to leverage down!
Prop, appreciate the advice. I am looking at everything right now including trades that have gotten me to this point. Funny thing is, had I stuck to original trading plans, I would be up for the year. I am trading too much size for what I am going through right now. It has always been a weakness of mine but also worked to my advantage in the past. Regardless, I have to change the approach. Forget about what could have been made and what has been lost and focus on what will get me back to green and importantly, build my confidence. Slow and steady, at this point it is all about the singles.
Leverage down I will. I never had to look at it like this in the past. I was so blinded by my success first 3 years of trading that I ignored the big PL swings cause I was always able to get it back. All about the singles now.
Back in the saddle. First day of trading was on 3/1. Starting back slow trading 3 stocks intraday (F, FDX, FFIV) along with pairs. Got carried away a bit with F on Friday and ended up dropping 650 on it that day. Overall still a pretty decent week. Friday was a good day due to pairs that I put on at the beginning of the week. Got to keep telling myself it is all about the singles on the intraday trades. The time off was good. I did not trade for 2 straight weeks. It allowed me to clear my head and get grounded again. Not sure how to explain it but I feel different when I am in a trade now. The stress of losing money is not there anymore. I am back to trading my system and having confidence in it. Week ending 3/11/11 Daily Net P/L: +310, -193, -226, +2320 Week Net P/L: +2200 on 123,000 shares traded
Steady week for me. Feeling a lot better about my trading (although I had a flu/cold all week) then I have in a long time. I am sure volatility is helping matters but also the fact that I am staying disciplined, going for singles, and not letting losers get out of control. Size I am trading is still relatively small compared to the past but the last 2 weeks results will allow me to size up some next week. Still going to take it slow and be very cautious. It's not a race. I started trading a larger group of stocks based on predetermined criteria and also stopped trading F and FFIV. Amazingly my single stock intraday trading results improved dramatically. I am still doing pairs which are moving nicely now with the increased volatility. However, not going to let this fool me like it did before. LOL, I just realized end of last week was not 3/11 but 3/4 so to keep the records straight my results for 3/4 are posted below. Week ending 3/4/11 Daily Net P/L: +310, -193, -226, +2320 Week Net P/L: +2200 on 123,000 shares traded Week ending 3/11/11 Daily Net P/L: -720, -50, +1950, +2690, +990 Week Net P/L: +4860 on 156000 shares traded
your annual goal is $150k trading day in a year is about 250 days, may deduct some for holidays/vactions/sicks, how about 220days that is about $730/day, actually that is ideal I saw lots of your gains are above this level, and lots of your loss are above this level too normally people will win at 80%time , at 20% time they may lose (inavoidable). if R/R is 1:2 0.8*220*2x-0.2*220*1x=150000, x or then the winning day, you should net at least: $1200 and you losing day should not lose more than $600. too wild swing in your gain and loss, that is not consistent in P/L. I do not know what is your consistency concept. you mean your trading strategy? or your P/L if it is your trading consistent strategy,P/L may post wild results. in another way, that means your strategy is not good or flawed since it did not produce what you want "you want a consistent P/L"?
A consistent trading strategy will lead to a consistent P/L. However, I do not believe it is possible to be consistent in trading day after day because markets change, emotions get involved, etc.... In the past the wild P/L swings you mentioned above are what I am trying to minimize but I would only be fooling myself if I think one or two will not pop pop up here and there. The key for me is catching it before it gets out of hand like before. If my trading strategy was flawed, I would not be trading anymore.
Thanks ElecEquity. First time in months I actually feel confident about my trading again. Managing the losers indeed.