Summary Week Ended Friday 8th November 2013 10 stock trades: 1 BARC + 36.30 BPS 7 BLT + 193.91 BPS 2 STAN + 21.79 BPS Stocks net + 252 BPS 4 Index Trades: 4 FTSE + 23.64 BPS Net trades + 275.64 BPS Long and short trades, intraday and overnight. I traded 5 days this week. Thoughts A better week, although I cut profitable trades too early (fearful of letting a profit turn into a loss I guess). Still well below my weekly target. Miners were stronger earlier in the week, then fell back a bit after Friday's payrolls data. The FTSE held up surprisingly well after Thursday's sell off on the Dow and the S&P. The ECB announced a surprise rate cut which sparked a short - lived rally (see chart). Stay disciplined. Stay focussed.
Summary Week Ended Friday 15th November 2013 19 stock trades: 9 AAL - 156.83 BPS 1 BSY + 84.13 BPS 4 BLT + 48.07 BPS 1 CNA + 50.88 BPS 4 STAN + 130.67 BPS Stocks net + 156.92 BPS 11 Index Trades: 11 FTSE + 50.34 BPS Net all trades + 207.25 BPS Long and short trades, intraday and overnight. I traded 5 days this week. Thoughts A busy week, a couple of poor entries (and exits...) on AAL cut into my profits this week. We saw a bit more volatility, mainly a reaction to an update from the Bank of England, triggering a sell - off in stocks on Wednesday. The S&P & Dax made new all time highs, although the FTSE was lacklustre in comparison. A profit, but well below my weekly target. Stay disciplined. Stay focussed.
One thing I do (apart from scaling in/out) is use pretty big stops. I have found to my cost that tight stops are just another way of giving money away in the market. I didn't get stopped out for a loss once this week. Even on losing trades, I closed because I thought the market was about to turn against my position.
Summary Week Ended Friday 22nd November 2013 15 stock trades: 3 AAL + 28.47 BPS 12 BLT + 88.54 BPS Stocks net + 117.01 BPS 4 Index Trades: 4 FTSE + 16.10 BPS Net all trades + 133.11 BPS Return on account for the week 2.66% Long and short trades, intraday and overnight. I traded 4.5 days this week. Thoughts A quieter week, and I was not able to find many trades. I closed a couple of FTSE trades very prematurely (short trades, I am always more nervous trading the short side, something I need to work on I think). A profit, but well below my weekly target. I had a discussion about targets on Livecharts.co.uk, and it may be that my weekly target of 500 BPS cumulative may be a little high. Therefore I may also target 2% return on capital per week, which is more modest and therefore more likely to be acheived. November is progressing well, but I have to be careful not to give back my profits next week, so I will be trading very cautiously. Stay disciplined. Stay focussed.
Summary Week Ended Friday 29th November 2013 5 stock trades: 5 BLT + 51.49 BPS Stocks net + 51.49 BPS 4 Index Trades: 4 FTSE + 10.03 BPS Net all trades + 61.52 BPS Return on account for the week 0.94% Long and short trades, all intraday. I traded 3.5 days this week. Thoughts A shortened week, did not want to give back the month's profit in the last week, and the US was closed for Thanksgiving. I will not be trading on the last day of the month. Some statistics for November: 75 trades. 61 winning trades. 14 losing trades. 57 long trades. 18 short trades. Return on account 15.70%. 52 Stock trades, net + 585.36 BPS. 23 Index trades, net + 100.11 BPS. Net BPS + 685.47 BPS. P:L ratio 2.57:1. FTSE change during the month: -1.20%. Stay disciplined. Stay focussed.
Summary Week Ended Friday 6th December 2013 14 stock trades: 8 BLT + 136.62 BPS 1 BP + 31.5 BPS 5 STAN + 171.34 BPS Stocks net + 339.46 BPS 10 Index Trades: 10 FTSE + 36.47 BPS Net all trades + 375.93 BPS Return on account for the week 4.53 %. P:L ratio 5.46 : 1. Long and short trades, all intraday. I traded 5 days this week. Thoughts A decent start to the month, over 4% return for the week is above target. Missed plenty of trades but that's normal. I only have one pair of eyes. Markets were quite volatile, STAN came out with a profits warning and shed over 600 BPS in the first hour's trading on Wednesday. FTSE is still well off the recent highs, and I'm wondering if Santa is going to appear before the 25th Dec. FTSE 4 hour chart is interesting right here (attached)... Looking forward to next week's trading. Stay disciplined. Stay focussed.
Summary Week Ended Friday 13th December 2013 20 stock trades: 2 AAL + 112.70 BPS 16 BLT + 73.86 BPS 2 STAN + 171.34 BPS Stocks net + 219.27 BPS 17 Index Trades: 17 FTSE + 51.72 BPS Net all trades + 270.99 BPS Return on account for the week 3.58 %. P:L ratio 2.14 : 1. Long and short trades, intraday and overnight. I traded 5 days this week. Thoughts A busy week, over 3.5% return for the week is above target. Markets were quite volatile, I traded the FTSE quite a bit this week. Modest results for quite a lot of work, but then that's the markets for you. Still no sign of the Santa rally. FTSE has declined for six consecutive weeks. Next week is the last full trading week of the year, looking forward to it. Stay disciplined. Stay focussed.
I am UK resident. I have IB a/c and apart from that I have some cash which hardly earns 2% per annum. I would like to buy some blue chip stocks they are stable and gives div more than atleast 2% Please advise me how do I go about this? Thanks