Dec 28, 2010: Net of sales: $81.99, Net of commissions: $54.45 % on capital used: 0.27% % index gain: -0.36% Trade size: 300 Improvement from last time! "Special" AM trade entered and exited beautifully. I had a $150 gain on 300 shares which is pretty good. Of course, as you see above that did not last. So why not? Instead of waiting for a signal, I got back in the market. So improvements over last time: * AM trade discipline is good Improvements for next time: * Wait for a signal Seems to me that discipline on entry is going to be my biggest challenge going forward. I am quite confident that I just need one trade a day to do pretty well. I'm going to make it a point to aim for that one trade. In other news, I wrote my own trading journal software over the holiday which was so much fun. Going to keep using it. All I have to do is export the day's trades from IB and the software picks it up, imports it and does all my analysis for me. I wonder if I can automate the export from IB. Till tomorrow...
do not ignore the phone. UNPLUG IT ! just another lame excuse to justify a losing day or missed opportunities. And yes, I did it too. When you are trading, it is a very serious job that requires all of your attention. No chatting, no surfing the net, no watching TeeVeeZ. Maybe you should consider a target for the day/week. Let say $100/day or $500/week you stop whenever target is reach. This way you can concentrate most of your attention usually for a shorter period of time, this way you'll stay sharp and focused. Just consider what I wrote down as possible add-on to your routine. You DA BoSS! Your trades your way. D
Sorry, no offence, but this is really not a good idea and I will try to explain why... First of all you should incorporate a Daily Max Loss (if you haven't already)... I can't stress how important this is. Everyone has a bad day and markets can be very difficult at times. Sometimes you really just need to walk away for the rest of the day and gather your thoughts. I have even taken the next day off just to make sure I'm in the right frame of mind. doijistarz is on the right track with setting limits but approaching it the wrong way. You should NEVER set a daily / weekly / target. I say this because the market gives opportunities and sometimes these opportunities are in abundance and its almost 'too easy' to make $$. However these times often only appear for a short period of time... I will give you an example... the flash crash earlier this year I made $10k in a matter of 5mins or less. I was averaging around $1k a day or so and if I had simply stopped trading when I reached say $2k then I would have left SO MUCH $$ on the table. When you are trading well and making a decent amount this is a time to capitalize and make more rather then to stop. When you are trading bad i.e. losing $$ that is a time to stop or reduce your size. What is a better idea then setting targets is to set a loss from top... i.e. if you give back 20% (only an example) of your peak maximum of your P&L of that day then stop trading. OR at the very least take a step back and reassess the situation This way you are giving yourself every chance to sting together a couple of huge days rather then limiting your opportunities. In my example I got to 10k and lost $1k... I then reduced my size and managed to make back that 1k and finished my day at that. If I had a daily target of $1k or $2k and I reached that then I would have left $8k on the table and believe me it was easy $$$ After a while of having a loss from top in place you will build up your own discipline and not need it any more. I used it for quite a while before building that discipline and trading without it. Big months are usually made up from a few large days and the majority of big year are from a few big months Hope this helps you (Sry for such a long post) Good luck in your trading
Just thought the following quote / idea from Jesse Livermoore helps explain what I mean... He states that "we should have hope in a winning trade and fear in a losing trade. That way you are able to let winners run and cut your losses short. The obstacle is the the human mind... which unfortunately works the other way round Think of your daily / monthly P&L as a trade...
400k doing software consulting huh? I've been getting burnt out trading lately, maybe I should try some software consulting on side.....
You are 100% correct. I am going to unplug the phone until I'm done for the day. Office door will be locked, etc. I have also been considering a daily target that I quit after. So I think $100 up, $50 down is pretty good, what do you think?
You're totally right. I think I'm recognizing it as a psychology thing. Thanks for your posts, they are very useful to me!
If you can solve problems at a magnitude or two of effectiveness better than other people, they keep coming back to you. You have to sell yourself although I just let my work speak for itself. Sometimes it backfires though It is pretty easy to get 3-4 repeat customers for $75-150K annually each that way. And they also recommend you to their buddies. However, I do not recall a single day since I started on my own where I have not worked past 6pm. Software is just like that, it's never done! The pay is good which helps if your wife thinks a budget is a rental car but mine is pretty good that way.
imagine your foray into trading as a walk to the creek to go fishing,take what you know in your regular job and try to be as smart about fishing, it will take a while since you can only see the top of the water at the creek, much the same as what you knew when you started programming.try to see the big picture, the larger moves,and don't get killed playing the chop,the large players sell here and buy back here,and vice versa,,,the house knows that they can churn 500 points out of a 100 point move,up 20 down 10 and on and on..recognize the chop because thats where you will eventually make your money,recognize the big picture so that you wil know whether the houses are playing the long or short side