I've been trading for three months now. I only trade the NYSE. I only trade 100 shares at a time. At first, I was losing against the market, commissions, and SEC fees. Then, I started beating the market but losing to commissions and SEC fees. Then, I started beating the market and commissions, but still ended up losing to SEC fees. Now, I'm sometimes beating SEC fees, but usually beating commissions. I still have some issues to figure out. The raw data is here. Some of the commissions information is ommitted because I switched firms inbetween. I'm still a losing trader, but I'm getting better. (I think.) I'm still refining my techniques. Day #/Profit in Market/Profit After Commissions/Profit After Fees 1 $4 2 ($1) 3 $14 4 ($28) 5 $1 6 ($12) 7 $8 8 ($26) 9 ($66) 10 ($74) 11 ($8) 12 ($58) 13 $1 14 $79 15 ($21) 16 ($10) 17 $14 18 $4 19 ($11) 20 $18 21 ($53) 22 ($98) 23 $1 24 $4 25 $6 26 $1 27 ($14) 28 $31 29 $10 30 $6.50 31 $2 32 $1 ($29.80) 33 $3 ($39) 34 $1 ($23) 35 $7 $1.40 36 $10 $0.20 37 ($15) ($51.40) 38 $35 $2.10 39 $28 ($7) 40 $20 ($13) ($31) 41 $17 ($5) ($21) 42 ($42) ($76) 43 $39 $23.60 $10.56 44 $51 $27.90 $8.76 45 $36 $8 ($16) 46 $73 $42.90 $16.56 47 $60 $40.40 $25.22 48 $50.54 $12.74 ($14.88) 49 ($16) ($42.60) ($63.31)
(-$44, -$79.70,$-107.44) ... Wow. -$107. I lost $70 on VLO in 5 minutes. I tried to get out, but got over filled, then ate more losses. I went from positive against the market to down major cash so fast it wasn't funny. The same strategies that work for DNA do NOT work for VLO. I'm so traumatized by VLO now that I am never touching that stock again. Had I just been patient with DNA or even just MO, I could've had a flat day. But I wanted a strong win so bad, I tried VLO. BIG MISTAKE. Then when I started taking losers on DNA, I lost it. I just called it quits then. I think my "edge" is not really an edge. I keep eating fat losers on DNA from time to time, where I can't escape. This is screwing with me big time psychologically. It drives me nuts when the specialist locks the book and makes it so I can't even escape into the escape volume that I see in the book. I need a real strategy to prevent this from making me take losses > 3 cents. I mean, wtf, I had 2 14 cent losers on DNA today. I just couldn't hold them down because the specialist wouldn't let me get out. What this tells me is that I need to fucking get out sooner and not wait for a print against my escape volume. This is harder than it sounds, because shorting requires me to be wrong in the first place. So, how do I know if the attack on my escape volume is a legitimate attack, or if it's going to be the attack that forces me to eat a massive loss? I just had three losing days in a row, whereas last week, I had straight winning days. Maybe the volume change after labor day is rendering my strategies useless? Or, I am overtrading. Either way, I am not too proud of today and I am very frustrated.
(+$46.14,+$9.74,-$17.23) I made a good bit in the morning, but pissed it all away in the afternoon. I'm an idiot. In addition to DNA, I added HAL and MO to my basket. I will drop MO and stick to just DNA and HAL.
(+$53,+$36.2,+$24.82) Good day. Removed HAL from the basket, added FTO. Started feeling the commissions based churn towards mid-day, so I started to look for something that was moving more cleanly. Opted for FTO. Last week's search and pain with horrible days was unnecessary. I think I just felt out of touch with the market when I stopped trading the same stock I always trade.