Goodpunk, I'm not sure if I came across the right way in my former post but you have admited to being in the market all the time. IMO this is a sure way to develop compulsive behaviours that are more similar to gambling rather than trading unless you have a very sophisticated arb strategy. Picking your moments carefully and sitting on the sidelines for a majority of the trading day is an integral part of this buisness and something that a prop firm will discourage you from because it decreases their incentive. I say this because you are at higher risk being in the market all the time - you are exposed all the time rather than only at the select times when conditions are favorable to your style. Take the above with a grain of salt though - I am not a penny scalper and I like to hold out for bigger moves. I consider .25-.30 a scalp and I spend most of my time churning those type of trades and occasionally get the .75 or $1-2 move. Think carefully about what intraday characteristics your basket of stocks display - it doesn't matter which stocks - and learn to take only the higher probability setups, i.e. only take positions when a criteria is met - this must be a specific criteria you are constantly perfecting.You should have enough screen time with the stocks you trade to know that certain days just produce junk moves and aren't worth being "in". For your experience level (and maybe I am dead wrong on this) I see no reason to be trading more than 20k shares per day. Seriously. This should amount to 5 roundtrips of 2k shares on a stock like ORCL. More than this and you are really just over-exposing yourself. Mike
Hi punk, I´ve been reading some last messages that talk and judge your way of trading and even your career choices or future, and as it happens in other threads of elite, and other areas of life, yeahh, we must listen and obbey this losers that need to order other people what to do in life. They are the best, they feel completely full and happy in their lives, and they want to share their "wisdom" with the rest of the world. Thank you. I don´t know what I would do without you (you know who I am talking about). So please, before giving advices like priests or old grandfathers, first tell everybody what you are in life or what are your successes in trading, and then maybe, we don´t laugh at your face. Goodpunk6, you are working really hard, you are really very motivated, things aren´t working very well last times, but even though you still feel passion for trading. Your strategies are not so bad, and you have shown you are smart enough to do it better. I am sure you will be a trader, better or worse, but you like this career with passion (more than wise Trendfader, for instance), and with a reasonable amount of money you would still enjoy it. Go on working hard! Don´t listen to "gods" that want to solve your life because they can´t solve theirs! And try new fucking things with your trading, you are stuck, try new things (stocks, amounts, number of trades, mentors...)!
I don't know what trendfader has said in the past, but his advice isn't "godlike" by any means. Of course ants probably think when I cough or flush the toilet I'm the next Poseidon. I'm sure goodpunk can filter out the good from the bad on his own. Thanks for the commentary though; you're like madden: {Emphatically} "They need to score more points in order to win!"
I just want to give props to goodpunk since he is taking increasing heat in trading and on this board. I've heard a lot of people talk about it taking a long time to be profitable trading. Goodpunk is working weekends so that he has the time to hang in there on this learning curve. Besides Sammysoes his is the only journal that mentions actual dollar amounts in his trading. I really don't know whether other people are trading like a hobby or what, but at least if anything Goodpunk is being honest with himself about these losses. When I do a journal, and I'm too chicken to do so now, I will try to do it like this!
I'd like to pipe in and also give credit for Goodpunk to have lasted this long. I can't even remember the last time you had a really decent day (>$200 net) and you're still very positive each and every day, you definitely deserve credit for seperating emotion from your trades at an early level. IMO, most novice traders (and I'm definitely one) could never handle 3million shares a month w/o some level of burnout. I know I gave you a hassle in the past about HLV, but I can see you have your head on your shoulders. They don't seem like such a bad shop if they cut your comm's by 50% and aren't giving you any sweat over your recent streak of less than stellar returns. At the end of the day, it's their money and it's not costing you a dime to learn everything you have learned (metaphorically speaking I mean; I know there is cost of living and opportunity cost involved here too). Keep up the great work, one step at a time.
Chrisofj, You really made my night. I'm sick as all hell, my back is killing me, and I feel like crap. Although I've been somewhat incoherent over the past few hours, you've managed to bring a smile to my face. Thanks. Make 'em pretty!