Not a good day. 2 trades. 1st was just a bad choice and I got killed on the spread. 2nd I couldnât close out the winner and I had more than enough time. It came back to bite me. ADI 200 = - (72.00) FMC 2,200 = - (303.00) 05/20 - (396.26) net total shares = 2,400
A couple of losing days a couple of winning days, 10 days offâ¦sounds like my schedule, my trading, and my posts in this journal are pretty consistent on being inconsistentâ¦have to work on this. One of the things that I would like to achieve is to get my winning days to be 3 times what my losing days are. This is not easy. I have always had a hard time with having a losing day without hitting my close out for the day. I want to push on the winning days so I can achieve this, but I am also a fan of daily goals. Anyone interested in sharing their W:L ratio, strategy or goals? Today I thought I was in control of my trades⦠15 Different stocks traded today, so I wonât be listing them. 06/02 + $161.69 net 10:55 a.m. total shares = 8,600
Sure. But before I share, I'd like to salute you for hanging in there. Your first post said you have been trading for 8 years (three years of them full-time). That takes a lot of determination. My strategy is simple: I get in a trade and wait for it to be in profit. As soon as it is in profit, I exit and take the profit. I am sure you will ask: what do you do if it is NOT in profit? I don't exit, simple as that. I wait. I go to the bathroom. I do something else. I go for lunch. Sometimes it gets to a point where I cannot take it anymore and exit with a big big big loss. Sometimes it comes back with a profit and I take it. I can go without a losing trade for weeks, or even months, until one single big big big loss wipes everything out.
This week, although not really profitable in $$ I think may be the beginning of correcting my biggest flaw, which was keeping a losing day under control without hitting my "close-out" for the day. This was the GRAY area that I've written about & that I needed to come to be at ease with. I was either hitting the goal or hitting the stop. This week I had days -($33), +0.69, +95, +90... On days when the trade(s) go my way I can make money, but learning not to get closed out when the day is a struggle is the key for me... Looking forward to next week...My goal is (a) to protect the account (b) make $100 a day. I'm going to work on this for the rest of th month and see where I end up... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibsnBpzBT-4
Back to my old ways, with a few adjustments that I needed to make. Basically cut your losses and let your winners run...You guys ever hear of that? I dropped my share size, 1st 7 days I was at 100, last 3 days I have been at 200, I'll adjust up as long as I stay on coarse. July 7/16 +$33.91 7/17 +$33.55 7/20 +$29.40 7/21 +$33.02 7/22 +$37.28 7/23 +$40.42 7/24 +$40.45 7/27 +$60.18 7/28 +$68.86 7/29 +$107.84 (today)
8 years later.... Like a phoenix, this thread and my account will be risen from the ashes. I have been on a demo checking out a platform and will be funding my account in about a week. I have checked back in from time to time to Elite Trader. I always enjoyed reading posts here. ⚡
Thank you. I think that, for me at least, trading is as much about being mentally tough as it is about pulling the trigger on more good trades than bad. What happened AFTER I entered a position is where things had always gone wrong. Adding shares to a losing position, not cutting a loser early enough, changing my position out of boredom, desperate to make money and losing all of my gains. I am now in a different place in life than I was in 2009...before single, job not secure...looking for a little magic to happen. Now married, children, secure job (as far as secure can be), a little money in the bank. I am throwing my hat back in the ring purely because "I like day trading". So, I am putting together the criteria for me...strategy, means-and-methods, SL's, goals, etc. which will be a little different this time around.
9/24/18 ($191.) Trade #1 Only moved horizontally, had to leave trade desk; exited trade (2.00) Trade #2 Moved quickly against me. exited (76) Trade #3 Trade didn't develop, end of day (113) I am OK with exiting trade when I had to leave trade desk. In the past I would have just crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. I don't place stops. Satisfied with my exiting the two other trades when I was on the wrong side. Goal is to have the winning trades 2-3 times larger than these losses.