I'm about to work for a large fund. Now I work at a small company that manages seggregated accounts. The fund will require me to make reports not only on the trades, but on the analysis made to decide to trade. a. It all will start with fundamental analysis which gives the general direction of the long term trend. b. Sentiment analysis will give good idea if the expected long term trend is not too advanced. c. Technical analysis is only used to pinpoint good entry and exit points. d. I may exit a trade by TA only, but enter it only by fundamental analysis. Now I only see good, high probaility long term trades in indices. Currency and commodity fundamental analysis is not conclusive, I'll detail this later. For now, my main strategy in my personal account was expected to be a buy and hold of stock indices ETFs. We'll get some extra dollars trading it more actively while the market chops around.
Long SSO at $60.12 (without margin for a 2:1 leverage) I usually only buy/sell just before the close but today I'm in a hurry. By the way this is a strategy that give you both money and free time. Only swing-trading and position-trading. Absolutely no daytrading here. Have a meeting and its a long drive in midday traffic. Later will give more details.
Added position. SSO (this time on margin to get 4:1 leverage) at $57.44 So my average is $58.78 I don't like averaging down, but yesterday I was in a meeting and couldn't watch the market closing bell. If I did, I would not had gone long, as the chart doesn't showed up a clear red candle. Today it does. Yesterday it was a Doji Star with quite a short range, not a clear buying opportunity.
Looking forward to your journal. I'm trying to focus on a strategy that will afford me some free time as well. I just can't spend all day glued in front of a screen.
Just sold, Sep 8 2008 3:39 ET at $59.19 As usual, I like to trade just before the close. Profits: $59.19 - $58.78 = $0.41 per share , about 1.25% including margin interest. Could have been much better if I was able to watch the market and not make the not optimum entry.
Long again, just before the close. SSO at $56.94 As a reference, the S&P was at 1227. This time without margin, as I'm not convinced if the market will plunge further. If this is the case, I may average down, as this is an enhancement to a long term buy-and-hold index strategy, not a strategy expecting a home-run in the short term (markets aren't clear, right now). Wednesday we'll have only the oil inventories report. Thursday we'll have initial claims and trade balance which may be ugly. Friday the PPI may not be that bad. It appears just chopping around, without going anywhere.
Just sold, but at $56.60 What a bad fill!!!, the S&P was at 1227 when I bought, now at 1243. Or perhaps when the S&P chops around, the SSO doesn't follow the movement quite well, since this is double the DAILY movement. Shouldn't had lost, Arrrgh!
Wow, what a plung, fortunately I was in cash, altought the market is going down, it is oversold short term, so I'm looking for a bounce. Long SSO on margin for 4:1 leverage Filled at $54.47 Sep 15,2008; 3:55 PM
Still holding positions, wow!, that's volatility! Altough I was awed seeing the S&P at 1275 last night, I didn't panicked. Still the market is quite oversold, let's wait for a bounce to 1275.