8-19-03 I recently started trading my proprietory account through the firm I trade with. I thought I would keep a journal on here to help me out, and hopefully be benificial to more than myself. Let me tell you a little of my background. I am only 20 years old. (still a little kid ) From a small hick town in Iowa. I started trading a couple years back. basically trading very low priced stocks, and paper trading through a retail account. The typical way alot of traders start. Of course i lost it all. So i decided to learn, learn, learn. Now here I am trading with a firm. I am still enrolled full time in college, but I currently take all my classes online so I can persue my trading goals and dreams. Im starting my trading out with just 100 shares for many reasons. One: Im a newbie, TWO: August is a horrible month to start, THREE: I am using a platform that is new to me. Once i show consitancy, and get more into the fall months i will up my size slowly. Im not going to tell you all about my trading now because you will slowly figure out how I trade with my posts. One of my long time friends and mentors is Brandon Fredrickson from trading from main street. So, yes i do trade some of his setups. Im not exactly sure how im going to do this journal. I would like to post charts and everything, but we will see how it goes. As of now ill post my PnL from last week when i started trading and the current PnL of this week to start off the journal. Then from here on out ill post my trades, and profits or losses. I never thought i would do a journal on here. Maybe because failure is bad enough the way it is without thousands of other knowing you did it. Or maybe its just the criticizm this bored gives, or maybe its just im lazy But im going to do it anyways. Last Weeks PnL : Net +191.85 Volume: 6950 Shares Monday 8-18 PnL: Net +11.50 on 1200 Shares Today 8-19 PnL: Net +32.00 on 600 Shares Well im sure there will be alot of criticizm and maybe some helpful people that post here....So lets get this show on the road!!
I went through and noticed a error. The PnL are all Gross before Comission. I think ill just keep it that way instead of figuring the net everyday after the close.
IMO very bad idea. If you don't want to reveal your rate then just don't post amount of shares...but IMO you absolutely must be looking at the NET results everyday. If you don't, you will go for a few months thinking that you're ok..and then realize that commissions have been killing you all along. Good luck.
I have to agree here. You can only spend your net, not your gross...unfortunately Good luck, Joey!! I'm looking forward to your journal.
Thanks guys for the insight. I will have to get my clearing sheets sent to me daily if i want to do NET profits. That is a smarter way of doing it though. I plan on doing the trading journal simular to how Hitman did it. I dlike to incoporate a little about my life of growing up, etc. I promise i wont use the word princess though
8/20/03 Busy. Busy, Busy...Thats all i was today. Traded a little bit this morning but not much. Overall not disapointed seeing it was a typical end of Aug. summer day with the exception of some rumors of Bin Ladin's death. Had a couple trades today. I shorted MU (13.36) around 9:00 Cst after it broke its 5 minute base. Pretty weak market, Sox also weak. Overall seemed like a good trade until the rumor brought market soaring. Covered it at 13.35 with a measely .01 gain. Took LOW long right after rumor news at 52.82. It had broke a nice 15 min base. Ended up selling at 53.19 later in the day once market got weaker. Made a .37 gain on it. Grossed 38.00 bucks on a measely 400 shares today. I was busy all day today on the phone. (Talked to some traders, and had a confrence call) Im getting a office opened soon in Kansas City, and been very busy with that. Not sure how much ill be trading the next couple of weeks...but well see... Also i am just going to post Net figures like once a week because my clearing sheets get to me to late at night, and thats just if i request them daily from firm. So easier to do it once a week. Ill keep ya posted though. Ill also start doing more figures like win to lose ratio, YTD PNL, etc. once i get going more.
8-21-03 Another pretty busy day, but slow trading day. I traded the morning and then quit for the day because i had a lot of stuff to get done before i leave for Kansas City tomorrow. Went long CECO right after the open because it broke its 15 min base. Long at 92.98...sold most of it at 93.72 right before the numbers came out...then sold the rest at 93.30 because the market started to get weak. Grossed 63.50 on that trade. I went long BEV about 10 min into the open. Went long at 6.28 ended up selling it right after for 6.17. Not real sure why i got in it. Well it happens. You learn from your mistakes. I think i just wanted some more long positions because the market was showing so much strength early in the day, and i wanted to take advantage of the move. I shorted JNJ at around 10:40 cst. time. It had a very very nice support put in on the daily around the 49.75 area. It broke it and i took a short at 49.64. Trade went great...text book trade....but the market decided to take off to the upside and stopped me out at 49.65. Did i mention that the ES was trading like a crazy IPO today :s Other than that that is all i traded today. Just traded the morning. I ended up grabbing a 6 pack out of the fridge and mowing the lawn and changing my oil in my mustang. Also had alot of othe odds and ends to do before i leave tomorrow. If i have any advice for anyone its dont change your oil if you have a 6 pack in you. Its a pain in the ass sober, let alone a good buzz going. So i ended up the day +51.50 gross. Not a bad morning seeing as i am stil trading 100 shares. I am going to up size pretty soon i think. I have only had 2 losing days in the last 12. Pretty nice numbers.
8-22-03 Allready done trading today 1 and half hours into the session. Great trading day this morning. One trade today. I took AET long 10 min into the open because it broke a nice 30 min base along with the fact the market looked ready to drop big time, and it did. Shorted at 56.25, covered half at 55.80, and covered other half at 55.67. Average profit of +.52. Grossed +$51.50 today on a measely 200 shares . Grossed +$184.50 for the week. I didnt have one down day all week. Only have had 2 down days in the last 12 days of trading my account. I may up size next week. I have to head to Kansas City in a couple hours. I have a couple meetings there, and my girlfriend lives there. I probably wont be back until Tue. night. So i wont trade untill wed. But ill keep ya informed. Ill request Net numbers this weekend an post them also.