by the way - just realized I didn't reply directly you what you said. Yes I need some serious soul searching over the next couple weeks as I am leaving a months income on the table in a few days. IF I had held every trade I either posted on here and/or entered every trade I had planned in February -- just in this one account and with no bigger than a 7-10 lot- I'd be up about 15000 more. Almost every trade I have taken in this account (for example) has been or would have been a big winner --- but I am still managing to leave 100s of % on the table. I believe a major reason still is having too many open positions in options strategies when in fact I am most likely a better directional trader. IF I do not soon amend my style and positioning/money management with respect to options strategies that are time and margin intensive-- I will continue to give up a LOT of profits. "you have to minimize your losses and try to preserve capital for those very few instances where you can make a lot in a very short period of time. What you cannot afford to do is throw away your capital on suboptimal trades" ... Richard Dennis I would add to that "and throw away your time and energy"
AAPL +4 March 6750c @235 day order buying 4 march 6750c @2 (short March 70/7250c in regular accounts at 2.50-2.80)
+3 AAPL March 65c @ 3.70 low confidence on AAPL trades - this is an example of a non-intuitive trade. More like a gamble. But since I am short calls in other accounts I will hold these 7 AAPL calls atm/ITM calls into next week.
sold 1 SOX March 555p @18.10 PnL -120 bought 2 of these ITM puts @16.70/19.30 - posted earlier. Then rushed into exiting one at 15.90 for a small -80 loss. Today they bid as high as 18.80 and SOX could trade lower still. For me it has always been often early/rarely wrong. Its just too difficult to expect to be perfect on every entry. But what I/you do to manage a trade AFTER in it -- is the road that makes all the diffference as Emerson might say (or was it Frost).
Thanks I have been real sick the past two weeks - believe it or not. 103 fever and all last weekend. A friend of mine was questioning my sanity in trading - and actually making some decent money in 3 accounts - while sick as a dog. I told him it was delusional and yet in some ways I was better able to focus since I knew I was going from computer to bedroom. So this is the first weekend I feel pretty good- can get back to business. I need to review all the trades and download them from brokers to my management software. I know I have one u/r loss in CME that ate up a lot of profit this period so far. Will post open positions and try to post an attachment of gain/loss report for last 30 days, and account balance.
thoughts to ponder over the weekend: In this game, the market has to keep pitching, but you don't have to swing. You can stand there with the bat on your shoulder until you get a fat pitch --Warren Buffett The true speculator is one who observes the future, and acts before it occurs --Bernard Baruch The crowd is right during the trends but wrong at both ends -- Humphrey B. Neill "This Time It's Different" are among the most costly four words in market history -- John Templeton Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get -- Warren Buffet It's not having what you want... it's wanting what you've got! -- Sheryl Crow, Soak up the Sun
Couldn't be more true. I believe it was John Templeton who stated the secret to wealth in a single word. Gratitude.