Sold DVN at 51.75 on July 5th Sold XBI @ 72, 76 and 78 between June 22nd and July 5th , sold all at 82.50 on July 14th, bought back at 82.50 on July 18th, still own. Will sell if it breaks below the 50 day EMA right now at 77.50 ish.
Since I set this thread up, I have net loss of $17,800. Not unexpected, noob trading in a bear market. And I wasn’t disciplined as much as I should have been, in terms of position size and managing risk. But I learned. And I was trading off a big base of cash so my net loss of capital was about 1.6%, so not the end of the world. Besides which on my entire portfolio, because if had such a low equity allocation, year to date I’m down 7%, which I think is pretty good now, I’ve opened up a separate account and moved $50k into it for the purpose of trading (not day trading, and I’ll start over, but pay a lot more attention to being disciplined about position size, sell stops, and picking my spots. maybe I’ll start a new thread, or maybe just keep my own private journal with a lot of detail. Seems like that would be easier, and more useful at the same time. anyway, I’ve been quiet, not posting much but 1. I’m still here, and 2. I haven’t given up.
@easymon, did you post something here and delete it? I got an email that u put up a post in this thread today but can’t find it.
Well, yeah. It was something about using terms like Buy / Bought to enter, Sell / Sold to enter @ price... but it's neither here nor there, so it was yanked. Are you taking only longs?
yes, it’s where I’m comfortable. Except for SH. As a hedge.not doing the leveraged shorts they are only good for day trades, they don’t track well long term.
working on it, getting close. I have a plan in my head just not sure how to organize it on paper. And the plan now is different than it would be in an uptrend ING market. I won’t trade anymore in the new account I set up, until I’m very clear about how I’m going about entries and exits. I’ve been subscribing to a service by a guy I met on FinTwit. Who I think is really good. Saves me the trouble of doing screens, he fits my style. For now it’s working. Eventually I’ll drop the subscription and subscribe to Marketsmith which is what he uses. only thing I’m buying right now is SPY and QQQ. NOT TRADES. IM BUYING IT IN DRIPS AND DRABS, REAL SMALL, JUST TO GET MY EXPOSURE BACK UP FROM 25% equity. I’m up to 33% now. But again that’s longer term money that I took out of the market early this year, thank goodness.
Let's form a procrastinators club just as soon as we get around to it. Whats the thinking around having a certain percentage in equity? In a down market you lose when you hold equity?
Not sure I understand your question about having a certain % of equity. But it’s never been my style to go all cash in my investment accounts. In fact this is the first time I’ve ever been as low as I’ve been. I think you need to be open to all outcomes. Being 25% equity when one’s fully invested strategy it’s 65-70%, means I think we are in a bear market that will last a while. But I can’t be certain. I think if one goes to 100% cash, with their investment (not trading) money, they are saying, “I know for a fact that we are in a bear market and I have zero doubt that the market will not turn soon. Only fools operate on the premise that they know for sure what happens next. I’ll ignore your comment on procrastination. Lol. I’ve learned with you, I need to pick my spots
Are you confident that you have a distinctive edge? If you cannot describe it in one clear sentence with supporting evidence then you don’t have an edge. Reading your trading posts so far I feel you don’t have any edge. If true, you should not trade big at all. Trade small until you gain an edge.