Hi benysl, Thanks for the positive words. Well, I wouldn't call myself a financially successful swingtrader yet. But, I am successful with sticking to my method and discipline. I' m happy that my swingtrading started out on the right foot, (profit wize). I'm just going to be patient, I'm gonna play it safe by not taking foolish risks, I'll stick to the methods, and hopefully it will work out. Just take your time, it's not a race. Stick to the basics, don't make things more complicated then they have to be, and you'll do just fine. Losing money is acceptable, it happens. But it's unacceptable to lose money due to undisciplined and reckless trading. On occasion, I become undisciplined with my daytrading. But I'm in familiar territory, and I know my limits. But since swingtrading is new to me, I must completely stick to my rules. I haven't earned the privilege to deviate from them yet. Wish you the best, gotta_trade
EOD: Monday, June 23, 2003 TODAY'S TRADES: Sold 200 MCY 45.45 (closed position, -1.14) OPEN POSITIONS: 5/29/03..... SS... 100 PSS @ 14.83...... + 2.49 6/02/03......B......100 FR @ 30.45........ +.1.00 6/10/03......B......100 AMZN @ 34.14.....+ 1.45 6/10/03......B......200 MTX @ 48.00.......- .63 6/10/03......B......100 TBL @ 50.25........+ 1.45 6/19/03......B......300 COG @ 28.35.......- .40 Unrealized P&L................................. + $393.00 Realized P&L...(as of 6/1/03)...............+ $1,095.00 TOTAL P&L REALIZED AND UNREALIZED........(as of 6/1/03).............+ $1,488.00
EOD: Tuesday, June 24, 2003 TODAY'S TRADES: (no trades) OPEN POSITIONS: 5/29/03..... SS... 100 PSS @ 14.83...... + 2.38 6/02/03......B......100 FR @ 30.45........ +.1.00 6/10/03......B......100 AMZN @ 34.14.....+ 1.29 6/10/03......B......200 MTX @ 48.00.......- .44 6/10/03......B......100 TBL @ 50.25........+ 1.25 6/19/03......B......300 COG @ 28.35.......- .48 Unrealized P&L................................. + $360.00 Realized P&L...(as of 6/1/03)...............+ $1,095.00 TOTAL P&L REALIZED AND UNREALIZED........(as of 6/1/03).............+ $1,455.00
gotta_trade, you seem to have good strategy and i congratulate you in making money but is trading your full-time job? How much are you currently trading with? It seems to me that you either have to get more capital to trade with or you must get even more profitable in order to make a comfortable living via trading. Can you comment on this and be sure that this is no criticism, your actually making money so its working out for you.
Hi indioo, Thanks for the positive words. Yes, trading is my fulltime job. I have been trading fulltime since 1994. I started trading fulltime a week after I graduated college. I'm a daytrader, granted it has been difficult for me lately, but that's all I have ever done. This is my first venture into swingtrading. So, it's something extra on top of my daytrading. I'm intentionally trading small size. Since I'm new to swingtrading, I'm taking it slowly. I don't want to put myself in a situation where I can lose cash, especially with a strategy that I'm not familiar with. If my swingtrading doesn't work out, it won't cost me alot of money because I'm playing small. If it proves to be profitable I'll slowly increase my share size so I can capitalize of this venture. If swingtrading doesn't work out, then I'll just lose a small amount of money. So the only thing that it will cost me is my time and maybe a small amount of cash. I love trading stocks, so I consider it time well spent. I'm sure I will learn something either way. I realize that this isn't the most exciting journal to watch. It's kind of like watching grass grow. But, I hope I slowly increase my profits over time. I want to play it safe. I don't want to have wild swings in my P&L. I don't want to put myself in a position where I lose my profits because of one stupid trade. If I do lose my profits, I want it to be over multiple trades that just didn't work out. Then I'll reevaluate my strategy and try, try again. So, I'm enjoying my swingtrading experience and I also enjoy posting my trades in this journal. I'm going to play it safe and hopefully, in some way, we can learn something from this. Good trading to you, gotta_trade
Not true - this journal is great. And, I get a lot from your consistent posting. I am sure others do also, so don't take a lack of posts as otherwise. We just read and take it in. One suggestion - maybe you could pick a few charts per week and post them. It would be good to see what you are looking at when you trade. Maybe one that worked well, and one that didn't. Keep up the good work.
yep i agree i look forward for this journal over all others. The other journals have people trading variety of complex markets and i believe in keeping it simple. Ive never tried options and never will
i like the suggestion by the previous poster of putting up a chart or two. It'll help us amateurs a lot
Thanks... I use TC2000 for my swingtrades. I use a 5 month window. So, if you look at my open positions, you will notice that they are in extreme uptrends(for the longs) and extreme downtrends(for the shorts). Basically, moving averages are above moving averages. After my scan, I come up with about 500-700 charts. Then I go through each one manually and use complete discretion. (I also observe and learn as I go) I look to buy the strong ones when they pullback to supports. And short the weak one's when they rally to resistance. But, I need the stock to show some strength before I go long, cuz I don't want to get in the way of a falling knife. If it shows some intra-day strength, I'll go long. And on the short side, I need the stock to show some weakness cuz I don't want to get in front of a freight train. I feel safe with my long position, because I'm not buying garbage, and it has proven that it can rally, cuz it's a strong stock. The next question is, "will it rally"? Well, I don't have any control over that, but I do have control over what I'll do if the stock doesn't act according to plan. I'll sell it. I'll close the position. I would rather close the position early, and have a relatively small loss than close it after the weakness is obvious to everyone and the stock free falls, which will give me a large loss. I'm just trying to go with the flow. But I believe if I buy the strong ones close to supports, short the weak ones close to resistance, cut my losses short, and scale out of my winning trades.....that should give me an edge. I'm just trying to be very patient. I also don't want to think that I am smarter than the market. If the stock goes against me and proves that it's not cooperating to my plan, well I gotta get out, cuz my plan will never override the market's plan. The market is gonna do what the market's gonna do. I have no say. The market ain't gonna listen to me, so I have to listen to the market. Again, I'm new to swingtrading. I'm not new to daytrading. There are many similarities and many differences. But discipline is the one common denominator. You gotta have the right perspective. I take my time going through my daily charts, I'm trying to learn as I go along. I am making minor adjustments to my strategy as I go along. I don't want to make major changes all at once. I hope to slowly develop into a profitable swingtrader. If it seems that it's not working out. I'll put on the brakes, reevaluate my strategy and continue in the future. These are just some of my thoughts. Hope they make a difference in your trading perspective?? gotta_trade Regarding your request to post some charts. I have no idea on how to do that. If someone knows how I can copy a chart from TC2000 to my Elitetrader journal, let me know. I'll give it a try. Then I'll post some charts of my winning and losing trades.
I use a program called snagit. If it is on the screen I have not found anything it would not copy and paste. TechSmith Corporation Mail: TechSmith Corporation Attn.: SnagIt Sales PO Box 4758 East Lansing, MI 48826-4758 Phone: (800) 517-3001 or (517) 333-2100 Fax: (517) 333-1888 E-mail: snagit@techsmith.com Internet: http://www.techsmith.com SnagIt Single User License is $39.95 US Free trial is aviable.