TUES 2/24 Hmm⦠1st half of the day was going well. Although I was mostly in the red I was managing my trades really well and putting up a valiant battle. I give myself an -A up to what Iâll call the 2nd half of the day. 2nd half of the dayâ¦for some stupid reason I started trading outside of my plan, in large positions. So, not only did I end with a loss, and larger than I would have otherwise. I also churned way too many shares for this strategy. This is my biggest struggle. I have not had a âgreyâ day inâ¦like a really long time, I donât even remember when. It is either all or nothing. I think until I can conquer this dilemma my trading will not advance. I may be one of the only traders out there wanting a losing day. I just donât want to hit my daily stop. -620.49 net (1/2 fees) 41,400 shares Trade Summary: NOT ATTACHEDâ¦too much @*#% to list
I haven't posted in this journal in almost 2 months...man have I been lost. The train got off of the tracks somewhere and I have been lost in the woods. Too many red days. If you followed any of my previous posts I had a pretty good thing going. Trade a certain amount of shares on every trade, reach my goal and shut it down for the day. If my share size was 100 my goal for the day was $100. I built up the account 1 day at a time, But I have been so far off of doing what I was doing. I've changed just about everything, lost my edge. So, I am going back to the very basics that I started when I started this journal. Let the fun begin...I had fun writing in this journal, I always worked the trades the best I could becuse I wanted to be able to report to you that I made the goal for the day. Thursday's goal 100 shares - $100 Play Ball !
I have been seeing red so much. To quote myself, I wrote this back in October âI got stopped and closed out yesterday, but no matter how bad the beats have been, I always wake up the next day and realize trading is what I want to do more than anything else.â I still feel that way, but in the last couple of weeks I would wake up, say âItâs a new day, it starts here.â â¦.drive to the office, trade, maybe go up a few hundred or so, lose it all, get closed out for the day, or even worse get closed out in minutes. I have been worn out with that routine and then I would spend the rest of the day and night plotting what I would do the following day just to ignore that plan and end up back in the same placeâ¦yes, Ground Hogâs Dayâ¦sitting, staring at the wall. When I was writing this journal last year, I wasnât perfect by any means, I had some of those same demons, but I kept them at bay. I know that I can do this. I will not be denied. 04/16/2009 Today I had 4 tag lines that I used to keep me in the right zone. -go with the direction (this may sound way to simple for those who base their trading set ups on candlesticks, moving averages and the such. I agree it does sound simple, but Iâve spent the last 4 months trying to be that kind of trader. Didnât work so good. Back to being me. -cut the loser -lock the winner -reach the goalâ¦put it âin the booksâ BAX 400 = + $18.00 HOG 1000 = + $44.00 NOK 600 = + $22.00 PLCM 600 = + $44.00 04/16 + $106.98 net 9:49 a.m. total shares = 2,600 Friday's goal $200 -- share size 200
Today I just wanted to stay focused on exiting any trade that went against me and move on to something else. I know that this can increase the commission & fees, but I didnât want any 1 trade to put me in a big hole to start. Unfortunately it caused me to exit my first trade (short DB) before the drop. But I have always said that I do not like looking at a chart after I am out of the trade, because I feel that it makes me second quess why I chose to exit. (It is so hard not to look though=) I also donât believe in the saying âmoney left on the tableâ. You either are in a trade or you are not, live with your decisions. I reached my goal today. (you canât see but I am doing a Michael Jordan arm pump here) You know when something is so sad and pitiful that you feel you just have to shake your head in disbelief and laughâ¦I could not make $2 over the last couple of weeks, then I put my âLast Pieces of the Puzzle Journalâ hat on and the last 2 days were a 180 degree turn around. DB 1400 = ( $112.00) EOG 800 = + $70.00 MHP 1600 = + $302.25 SOHU 600 = ( $30.00) TEL 400 = + 40.00 04/17 + $229.67 net 10:00 a.m. total shares = 4,800 Mondayâs goal $300 -- share size 300 (to clarify I usually start a trade at 300 or whatever the # and then scale in/or out shares depending on how the trade progresses.) And now for the paid subscribers to this thread (please continue to wire me your funds) here is your end-of-the-week entertainment: I thought the title and words were fitting for today's post http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY1Pd8tV4a4
I haven't posted in just about 1 month. During that time I again decided that I needed to overhaul my trading style. I don't exactly remember why I decided that I needed to do it, except for the fact that I most likely had a day with a big draw down. So for the last month I have been very conservative 1-2 trades per day. No draw downs, but no profits either...I'm about breakeven. Last night I decided that I need to trade much looser as I was in the past, but with a daily stop that wouldn't hurt the account so much. Today I felt good about "trading" again... HIG 1400 = + $ 241.00 NVS 600 = + $ 3.00 PFG 200 = + $ 19.00 TEL 600 = - (54.00) 05/15 + $186.14 net 10:04 a.m. total shares = 2,800
Over the weekend when I wasnât busy, I spent my time telling myself that âI have control of my tradingâ If I have losing trades, thatâs OK, itâs OK to have a trade where you donât make moneyâ¦but I canât let 1 trade roll over me. âBe the bullâ (not in regards to a market bull)â¦but, be an animal, donât let it rule you, rule it. With my trading, I also try to start with a quick scalp to lock in a profit. (1st trade = small share size, right now that is 100-200) Locking in a quick profit right at the start gives me a little positive reinforcement and it also softens the 1st loss a little. Today that was a short of FCXâ¦.after it ran up at the open I went short 200 shares @ 46.64 covered 1 minute later at 46.24 a quick $80 and about half of what my daily goal was for the day(I was shooting for about $185) Trading some of these stocks within the 1st 15 minutes is difficult, you need to either grab the profit or pull the plug on your loss...not nowâ¦right now. I was then mostly watching HD, pulled a short, had a nice little profit going, but it came back to about breakeven, which was as high as I thought it would go, I loaded up on shares, I had 400 already, added another 1500, it immediately dropped .14 and I closed out for the day. While I was watching HD I traded 4 other stocks, one hurt a little: ESV too many shares for the type of scalp I was attempting. BA 400 = + $ 26.00 CCL 800 = - (17.00) ESV 1,200 = - (145.00) FCX 400 = + 80.00 HD 3,800 = + $ 300.00 IBN 400 = + $ 25.00 05/18 + $209.43 net 10:27 a.m. total shares = 7,000
I started the day off in the hole. I am not very good at deciphering news or how the market or a particular stock will react to news, or how a companyâs results will move the stockâ¦I think I am at my best when I am not thinking about any of those things, just reacting to the intraday charts and direction. I try to listen to as little news as possible. I do my worse trading when CNBC is on. So I see HD on my screen this morning at 8:20am and decide to buy 200 shares. I donât think it was a huge mistake. I added 600 more shares and at the open I dumped it for about a â($116). I wasnât happy about starting the day in the hole, but pleased that I didnât fight the trade and really do damage. My goals today: were $87/$223 the $87 was what I still needed to make up for a few losses that I had last week, the $223 was my actual goal for the day. Trade # 2 was green then red and I closed it out for another loss. I think I was down about â($215). Trade # 3 was going back and forth and I decided I needed to put a âWâ in the books before I get closed down for the day. I then proceeded to chip away, $30, $13, $69, $7, $45, $12, $49. I got back to about break even (without fees). I went back to HD and decided that the downward trend was about to reverse and hit it for about $150.00 I came across BEAT. I shorted it at about $19.90 for $244. closed. done. I was happy with chipping away at my loss and being patient, and then going for the jugular when I thought it was time. I was aware of the fact that the fees were adding up and I thought I needed to make a move. BBL 400 = + $ 30.00 BEAT 2,400 = + $244.75 BHP 400 = + $13.00 DE 400 = - (6.00) EMR 1,600 = + $ 69.00 GNK 200 = + $ 7.00 HD 5,600 = + $47.00 SI 1,200 = - (97.00) SKS 2,000 = + $45.00 V 200 = + $12.00 WMI 1,000 = + $ 49.00 05/19 + $284.04 net 10:45 a.m. total shares = 15,400
"If you want to catch a tiger cub...you have to go into the tiger's den" I got this in a fortune cookie about 6 years ago and taped it to the top of my computer screen.