If Chewy Loses Money in July - He Will Quit Trading

Discussion in 'Journals' started by chewbacca, Jul 2, 2005.

  1. Gross -149
    Volume 7200
    Win% 36
    Ave Win 10
    Ave Loss -12
    Net -196


    Traded chop chop this morning lost big. Had a nice win in TEVA then then blew some more cash trading some more chop chop, false breakouts, and shit that doesn't move.
    Yesterday I realized that one of my biggest problems is stupid stock selection (stalking the same stocks) and holding and adding to losers. I can cut losses and not average down, that's pretty easy and I started out trading that way, but as far as stock selection....I'm thinking about trading stocks that gap up or down - they tend to have a lot of volume, volitility, and not too many false breakouts. I had some success with TXN today but then I got greedy and didn't take profits. Considering that most stocks have a 2% range (guess), I think I'll start scaling out at between 1-2%.
     
    #81     Jul 26, 2005
  2. Hi Chewey,
    Looking at your thread seems like a flash back of my previous experience in stock trading,

    I find your QQQQ's statement pretty interesting,
    I think you should continue trading the Q's until you get a handle of how the market moves,
    Trading stocks is sort of like trading a persons left hand, do you want to trade the person or his left hand. his left hand can go wild and all, but it usually always follows where the whole person go.

    Once you have the general market traded correctly, you can move to his hand it becomes easier, you look at the market, you see the left hand flailing to the right, you know somethings wrong with that hand when the person is moving to the left.

    Trading the Q's is just not easy, It looks like you are trading directional, The only way to learn directional is to trade the market.

    If you were scalping for a few ticks, then its a different story.


    Good luck
     
    #82     Jul 26, 2005
  3. Gross 6.53
    Volume 25300
    Win% 53
    Ave Win 10
    Ave Loss -11
    Net -168

    Crazy day. Came in feeling very confident. Looked at stocks that were gapping up and down. Had AMZN and BA on my radar. I actually don't have any filtering mechinism for finding
    gaps - I just wait for Joe Kernan on CNBC to talk about stocks in the news. Anyway, AMZN bottemed early and I got in it went up and I just added, added, added…next thing I know in about
    two minutes I have a 1000 share position that’s in the money by 200 - I think my average price was 42.3…so figure I'll just hold for one more minute and toss it for a 1% gain at 42.7.
    That shit toped at 42.64 and then droped like a rock. I was hitting the sell botton all the way down, but there just was no liquity I couldn't get filled. So a 200 gain turns into a 300 dollar loss. I didn't want to take it and I was pissed. But eventually, I'm like fuck it I can make it back so I let it go. But then I got back in long and made a lot of it back. I was still a wreck though so I lost it all again. But eventually made some more back on the late day parabolic move up. It’s a miracle I'm gross positive but my net sucks, I've never traded this many shares.
    I always come in feeling extremely relaxed and confident but then I get into 'I don't care' mode. I will cut down my daytrading significantly, I eventually want to stop and just focus on swing trading.

    Edit: I've ordered "trading in the zone' - the last trading book i'll ever read.
     
    #83     Jul 27, 2005
  4. The Qs have such a small and choppy daily range that it's just not worth it. They are good for swing trading though as the headline risk is extremely low. And if you do have a loss you can almost always get out at a smaller loss or small gain if you just hold.
     
    #84     Jul 27, 2005
  5. Thats the keys to the Q's
    They make you focus on execution correctly instead of profits, once you know how to trade the Q's you can move anywhere you like with the knowledge of knowing how the "MARKET" really works

    not a particular crazy stock but the MARKET, most important.
     
    #85     Jul 27, 2005
  6. Chewy, are you new to trading? I mean < a years experience?

     
    #86     Jul 27, 2005
  7. If you are new, I wonder why you are trying to trade news stocks and also stocks that are dominated with pros on a daily basis? It would do you very good, if you are indeed a new trader, to learn on thinner, less volitile stocks in order to get a better understand of whats going on. AMZN and BA are tough stocks even for guys that have been trading for years, let alone a new trader. Its just been my experience trading and also watching new traders come and go (I work at a prop firm outside of NYC) throughout the last several years, thats guys tend to come in and want to start trading the big movers right away. They soon learn that this is not the best thing to do, and the ones that have made it this far have sacrificed in the short run to trade stocks that dont really make them lots of money but also dont lose them much either. Once they have had a certain amount of experience, they moved on to more volitile ones.
    Just my 2 cents.
     
    #87     Jul 27, 2005
  8. btw I would encourage you to continue trading,

    just try changing things a bit, if you continue doing the same thing, it would be insanity to expect different results :)

    KEEP ON TRADING :)
     
    #88     Jul 27, 2005
  9. GTC

    GTC

    Who is your broker? Does that broker allow you to day-trade with just a couple of thousands bucks?
     
    #89     Jul 27, 2005
  10. July is my fifth month.
     
    #90     Jul 28, 2005