10-14-03 Just traded the morning today. I am just going to trade the morning from now on unless we have a trend day. I have no edge really in the afternoon. I also make all my money in the morning, and seem to churn throuhg the rest. No reason at all to be paying comission for nothing. My discipline is getting alot better. I just close up shop now after the first couple hours, so i am not tempted to trade. I have just been doing other work, errands, homwork (Midterms this week...YUCK). Another narrow range so far today....I can smell a trend day in the making. Just one trade this morning. It was a text book trade for me. I took JCP long 300 shares at 23.85 (had a original stop at .75 (LOD) i should of took more shares since it was low risk BUT sticking to plan and not uping size more until i get more of a edge) sold 100 shares at 24.10, another 100 @ 24.05 (wanted to get a lil more sold cause market wasnt looking very strong at the time) sold 50 at .15 and the other 50 at .16. (+75.50) Grossed +$75.50 on 600 shares. As i said friday in my journal, this week im working on a slightly different technique to my trading, so i have more of a edge. So far this week it has worked. We will see if it works the rest of the week. This will determine how fast i up my size.
10-15-03 I just traded the morning today. Most days, unless they are a trend day i wil prolly only trade the mornings. This is my edge. I just end up churnning and losing money in the afternoon. Starting next week i will be doing share size soley on risk managment parameters now. No share max like i have now, which is only 300 shares. I am letting to many low risk plays go by with a measely 300 share. Im going to start with $100 risk per trade. In other words if there is only a .10 stop in place i would take 1000 shares instead of 300 like i have been. Not very often can you get a .10 stop, due to slippage, and what not. It is just a example. Ive finally gotten my discipline down much better. Problem A: Greed, fear of money, solved by not keeping up to date records in excel (just written in journal, so easy to do adding, ect in excel) also dont have PNL open during day (amazing how much easier it is to trade without the PNL looking you in the face!!) Problem B: Overtrading, and trading when not suppose to in plan. Solved by doing errands, homework, ect during thses hours and closing data, and platform. Those were my main problems i were having, other than my losing trades percentage was to high for my liking. (just caused from me overtrading) When it boils down to it...and not saying i am...but i seem to trade better now, and fell more comfotable with my trades. Ive been very consistant with PNL wise, but trade wise i havent felt as comfortable, but now that im going by my new plan (just changes in old one) i have becoem more consistant and comfortable with all my trades. Its also very amazing, and i dont think mosty traders understand that a big part of trading is the managment of the trade. Anyone can spot setups, but you need to know how to trade it. When to take the trade, when to take partials, when to move stops, where to put them, etc, etc... Today i just took one trade. I felt like the market was very overvalued, and then seeing the gap up from INTC earnings i just couldnt get into anything long this morning, and i was having a hard time finding short setups i like. I could of just about shorted anyhting and made money, but thats not my style. I will wait til the perfect setup comes to me before i trade any old thing. The only thing that came up on my rader that i actually liked was MANH. It had a nice gap up, and it held very very well in that selling. I ended up taking it long when it broke its base at 31.47 (300 Shares) took profit on 100 shares at 31.61, 31.71, and the rest at 31.97. (+$88.30) So i grossed a lil profit today on 600 shares (+$88.30) Ive attatched a couple charts. They were my last two trades. MANH, and JCP from yesterday. Notice on JCP that the original stop was only around .15 cents. in at .85, and LOD was .75. This is a perfect example of why i will start trading more size on tighther stops plays. I was only risking maybe 40 bucks on that trade. This is why i will now just do share size by risk. I do it that way now, but it doesnt leave any room for lower risk trades. But anyways, not going to write a story...enjoy...and ask questions or give me comments if ya have them!!
10-16-03 Well i broke my streak of positive days and gave back a little gains today. I have been in the green the last 5 days, so cant complain to much. The morning today just didnt start very good. Was running behind all morning, and finally got at computer at like 5 minutes till the open. Didnt have much time to get in the mood. On top of it i restarted my computer for the first time in prolly like 2 weeks. I figured it was due. LOL...I have a power house IBM server or workstation so its used to staying on 24 hrs a day. But anyways i forgot my damn password so it toom me awhile to rember it...that didnt help me being behind at all. So far, its seems my new revised plan is working better. Not so many small loses trades, and BE, that is killing my net ( but im still up nicely in the net sinc ei started ) I grew up in the world of business and now im treating trading as a business, which can be smart. I just keep thinking to myself "Joey? How can i keep my profits up with less overhead?" and then i reply back to myslef "Well Joey... If you trade less and let your winners run, you will make the same profit, and hav less overhead..meaning more net profit. also..go by your statestics,...they dont lie....you only make decent money in the morning! Dont trade the afternoon!" LOL..ok that was really corney! But anyways... I followed my plan ok today, just didnt follow it to a tee thats forsure. That may be why i ended up losing money today, but it may just because the market was on crack today. Into the open i didnt see anything i liked. Nothing jumped out and grabbed me at all. About 30 min into the open i figured i better find somehting. USG popped up... It was in the strongest sector of the morning..Housing??? not sure...but anyways..it also was the strongest stock in that sector. It was forming a nice Triangle or Cup and handle sort of pattern..whatver you want to call it. (see Attctahed Chart) I went long at 18.74 (200 shares) and ended up getting stopped out at 18.30. It popped nice when i got in... my partial order was the HOD, but i got it in to late or it just didnt take it...no biggie, cant win em all. (-87) I took MAN long at 43.94 (300 shares) i sold 100 at 44.10 and endd up dumping the rest of it before the close at .89...kinda sucks that i sold at the bottom of teh base, but that stock was a total flat line all day. I should of know not to waste my time with it when the damn thing didnt budge from its base during the rally...lol... Ended up -81 today on 1000 shares. Id liek to say again, not knowing my PNL is helping alot.... iknow im up for the week, but i dont know how much really. It takes alot of emotion out of trading. I am just going to tally up PNL monthly like any old business would do. OK done writing a story that no one prolly reads anyways....
Hey guys...I started this journal for many reason... id say 50% reason is to possibly help other newbie traders, along with myself...but also the other 50% is to get some criticizm... (maybe its better i havent gotten any ) or some insight, or anything... No one has replied or said anything in this journal for sometime.. Am i boring
Joey, I like how you keep your dollar-risk the same on every trade by adjusting size. And yes, you're boring -Fast
HAHA ..well i guess i cant help being boring...i guess ill have to come to Chitown and show you some fun But yes....every good trader i know does the whole dollar risk thing... works well.
Just went through all my trades this week, and if i was trading this week with unlimited share size/compared to risk (slippage included)i would be up around 400 bucks ..so average 100 a day.... baiscally that JCP trade would of made the week so far. I only took 300 shares, and with my new plan i would take 600-700 shares of it. Of course this will start next week....well see how it really goes
Also 100 dollars risk isnt a whole lot per trade, so when i fell consistant and comfortable ill go to 150, then 200. I think 200 is the maximum i will risk per trade. Any higher than that i might as well be trading futures (less slippage and better liquidity)
Ok so im bored tonight waiting for the ball game to start... i was cleaning up my computer, and i found a picture of my car on here...ive been thinking about getting a new car for awhile now because ive had my car since i was 16....on top of it, its not pratical where i live...(stored in winter) its got alot of miles on now.. So i started looking at cars to buy.. ( i hate buying cars..biggest waste of money there is...ill never spend much money opn a car) I narrowed it down to a Range Rover. Not a new one... those suckers run like 70k :eek: But like a late 90's ..i like the style of them...My mom had one years back. She hated hers, but i dont care what she thinks lol...i attched a picture of my car. Good old mustangs Anyways...i better get the beer chilled...The game is about to start! Go SOX!!!