I was just wondering if anyone on ET members are trading better this year. I made some changes to my trading style and it has paid off. If I can continue at this pace, I can certainly double what I made last year. Has anyone experience the same situation?
Haven't changed anything. Just compounding my returns. On track for a 500k year up from 300k last year. So yes, I'm improving.
On track for a 30% year Up 15% now 8 more months to go! More then enough time to make the other 15% Not too shabby with my account Once I reach 30% for the year, I will add 2x more funds to my account and go for 50% ROI / YEAR SCALE it when its hot! Steady but deadly.
I'm not trading better, but I'm trading more things. I implemented several more strategies and I'm definitely busier this year So far not really making more, still doing a lot of tweaking, plus there's less easy money for some of my core strategies, but the new stuff is taking up the slack.
I never understand why traders use the term "on track" when talking about their profits for the year. I don't know any traders who put up the same P+L every month. Especially when you consider the slow summer months and the usually busy winter months. Personally, my worst 3 months last year accounted for only 8.6% of my total profits for the year (I'm counting August even though I took most of the month off). On the other hand, my best 2 months accounted for 33% of my yearly profits.
I am definately trading much better than ever. However, I just broke out of my newbie stage so I am comparing myself to myself last year. Considering the fact that I still have any cash left to trade with at all after a year and a half makes me a rare breed. I am now taking larger profits and smaller losses instead of the other way around. Quoting Jesse: "There is nothing like losing all you have in the world for teaching you what not to do. And when you know what not to do in order not to lose money, you begin to learn what to do in order to win."
Improvement isn't always about bigger numbers. What I finally learned this year was that no matter how good an edge you have, you cannot survive if you consistently trade too large relative to your account. Confidence means trusting yourself enough to take things slow and steady, whereas the urge to rush things with an "all or nothing" attitude may actually be the rational decision of a subconscious that realizes you're really just gambling (if your edge is negative, best just to bet everything in one shot). So if you're finding that you just can't "help yourself" when it comes to overtrading or overleveraging, it just might not be as irrational as you think . . .
Definately improving this year. Beating my monthly PNL month-over-month and each month I've beat my previous best day at least once. I may not be pulling in the numbers that some of you guys are doing, but, at the stage I'm at, I'm happy with steady and consistent growth.
I've done Monte Carlo sims for 1 month, 2 months, 3months...out to 12 months to achieve my goal. To be on track my p/l at the end of each month must be within 1 std. deviation of the mean return expected at that time to achieve my goal. So far...so good. My returns are pretty steady throughout the year with 8/2004 being a notable positive excursion.