Is this really your first month trading? You seem to know a lot more than someone who is starting out. Just keep doing what you are doing right now - consistent net profits, sticking to your trading plan.
Well lets just say ive been around in thetrading business, paper traded religiously for awhile, and have had some good mentors. But, Yes, first full month trading full time.
I just wrote up a simple risk plan....nothing special. As of now, im going to trade 300 shares, if the stop is .25 and lower. 200 shares if the stop is .25-.40 and 100 anywhere above .40 . Nothing special, i just need something to somewhat go by. I have been throwing orders in with no apperent stops. What happens alot of time is ill be trading scared money, get out a tony op thats not my way and then see it go my way all day. This is why i need better risk managment. Obviously on good trading days, such as trend days and stuff i will fel more comfortable to thrw in larger size and stuff. But we will see how this goes for now.
9-30-03 Last day of the month and my performance wasnt great. I've got to keep in mind, this is my first full month trading full time. I am gross, and Net positive so i cant complain at all. I have learned many many many things, and will keep learning more through out my whole trading carrer. My biggest thing i need to work on through the coming weeks in my discipline. You think you got it down, until one day you dont, and that single day will ruin your week, or even month. Ive had had many mistakes this month, and i have learned from all of them, but the market is evil itll make you break the rules if you let it. A horrible day for me today, even though i ran away with a profit. I broke so many rules. I took TXU long at 23.70 right into the open. This trade is so dumb. I was scanning last night and saw that it has a very pretty daily and weekly. Very strong stock lately and a good breakout will make this thing move. I broke to many rules in this trade and it cost me decent money. one rule broken is i was trading off a large timeframe for a daytrade? What the hell was i doing that for??? I wish i knew...the market makes you do stupid things. If i was trading it off the weekely i should of made the trade longerterm and did size accrodanly. But NO...just decided to jump ship at 23.43. I have no doubt in my mind the trade will be good longerterm, but thats not part of my plan. So lets see here rules broken...one: trading a daytrade off a longterm chart...two: not adjusting size according to setup, and sticking wih longerterm setup....and three: I dont trade the first 5-10 min...why did i do it today??? But i am a person that can only learn from mistakes and i do just that. Not disappointed. I took BEBE long at 26.99..nice gap up, held gap, then broke out of small base. Took some profit at 27.18, and took some more at 27.22, and took rest at 27.20 when momo died. Good trade overall. I took BOBJ short into the selling off the numbers at 24.77. It also had a nice base that broke. Great trade, took profits at 24.65, and 24.48. I took HCA long at 36.43. This strong was very strong...nice trend up and wasnt even blinking at any selling in the futs. I endd up just taking it long after it rested for a few min and broke out into a new high. Took some profit at 36.69, 36.93, and stopped rest at 37.00. Great trade, it was screming "im a ATM machine" I took ebay short during the doldrums at 53.83...basically a relative weakness trade. Broke a big rule of mine. NO TRADING DURING LUNCH TIME. and i paid for breaking the rule. Stopped out at 54.06 I took SLAB long at 46.39. Honestly not sure why i took this trade. It was one of the weaker stocks in the nasdaq, and it was during the lunch time. and i paid again for breaking rules. stopped out at 46.20. I took FRX long after it broke out of its base. Very nice setup. Strong stock, with a breakout of the consolidation. After a bad day i was very careful. I ended up taking profit at 51.15 cause the futs were showing weakness. I knew i was leaving money on table, but i aldo didnt want to ruin my day anymore than i had. Over all a decent day cause i pulled my self from a 85 dollar defeciet 10 min into the day to a gross profit of +$90.50 on 3000 shares. I learned alot today. If i wouldnt of broken my rules in my trading plan i would of had the best day of my6 trading carrer today. approx a 215 dollar day. Starting tomorrow i will be changing a few things. Once the doldrums hit, the order entry will be closed. I will only open back up if the afternoon look slike it may have some action. (new highs, lows, in the futs, or a trend day.) other than that i will proly call it a day in the morning. I have made all my money in the morning, and stats dont lie. Another thing im going to do is stop scanning for setups on longer timeframs at night. I dont trade them right anyways. I will also not be trading the first 5-10 minutes. Hopefully i can keep my discipline better, or ill have to kick my own ass. Also i find my slef overtrading due to listining to to many traders, and ideas. I need to find away to stop this. I also found out now that ill be charged 100 bucks for my trading platform. It was free. A lil pressure there because i am trading with no overhead. Now i have 100 bucks a month for my platfrom. Not a big deal. 100 bucks isnt much, but its been in the back of my head al day, and maybe that is a reason i didnt trade spectacular today. Ok ive pretty much wrote a story now...here are my monthly stats: +$617.46 on 34900 shares. Average Winner has been +.30 Average loser has been -.17.....Not horrible, pretty much 2-1 risk, reward here. I would like to see that be a little better next month. My winners to losers is still 50/50. I would also like to see my winners larger than 50%, but i keep pretty good risk managment, so i can keep profits with that ratio. My losers are alway smaller than my winners. I noticed that i only have a few breakeven trades. I also have a lot of tiny lsoers (.02-.05) This is because i dont have nasdaq stops and by the time i get a trade off if its not going my way im usually down a few pennies. Hmmm i think thats all i planned on putting here....if there is any other monthly stats i should list, tell me. Also any ideas, crticism, ect...please fell free to post away Ok back to the game...GO TWINS!!
Good work. Go Yankees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hmmmmm lets see here, we dont have any proffesional teams in any sports..lol...But i live 30 minutes from MN...i lived there for awhile...my girlfriend is from there...so im a TWINS fan and allways have been The yankees are going down!!!!
10-01-03 First day of october. For the market having a nice rally today i just didnt capitalize on much gains. But all in all, another profitable day. I must keep thinking consistancy and not the profits as much. I took GERN long at 14.10. It had a nice bear trap, and market seemed pretty strong before numbers. Ended up jumping ship at 14.01 when it wasnt doing much and numbers were coming out. Luckily i got rid of that with not a huge loss. I took AMKR long at 15.02. It had a nice continuation pattern on the 15 min chart after all that buying. Ended up taking a my stop at .90. There was some stop errors, and cancel order errors on this trade. I jumped out with a market order, but it said it only filled 100 out of 300, but it wouldnt do anything. So i canceled the pending order and sold the rest market again and it took it. Low and be hold i get aphone call from the ABN/AMRO trade desk saying that the order was taken, even though it didnt say it. Im like ok watver....next thing i know i look at my screen and the lady at the trade desk fixed all my orders, and somehow i was short 200 shares But, i made back most of my loss so i just jumped ship with a market order. After all that confusion and order troubles, i ended up only losing like .04 measely cents on it. So now the morning is about over. I just got whipped around all morning..and i have a small defeciet to tackle. I ended up taking CCU long at 40.08 after it broke a nice 5 min base. It was a very strong stock, i figured it would have more in it. After about 30 minutes of not doing anything i just put in a stop. Subway was calling my name. I was hungry for a good sandwich I come back after lunch and find out CCU did breakout nicely, but of course it trended back down...lol..it happens, i should of had a sell order in. I held it for the rest of the day to see if the buyers might come back...seeing as we had anice rally under our hands. But they didnt. I took some off at 40.55, and took the rest off at 40.42. I took AMZN for a overnighter/swing possibility at the close. In at 49.18. Well see what happens. It has a nice daily chart. showed alot of stregnth today. I ended up grossing +$42.00 on 1700 shares. Nothing special, but hey, its consistancy so i cant complain. For your viewing pleassure i posted a screenshot of my layout. Enjoy