Ok my first day of trading even though markets not closed yet I was doing horrible so decided to quit for the day. Traded 3 stocks MO, IBM and COP. First off my indicators were not working. (found out they wont be turned on until tommorrow) Then my program crashes while i am long COP and it just spiraled downward. I then had to re-install my software (twice) while COP is dropping before i could get out of it. Plus i made a mistake in MO today. I tried to buy another stock but forgot to change the symbol and ended up getting back into MO after i had already made a profit...then i ended up at a loss in MO Lucky i didnt trade too big but now i think i shouldve traded even smaller. MO -147 IBM +70 COP -392 If I didnt have all that bad luck happen with crashes and careless mistakes today i figure I would be down less than 100 dollars. Tommorrow is a new day...lets see how that goes.
Finger got itchy so traded 2 more stocks thinking i could make a comeback...not a good idea when having a bad day but it worked out for me a bit. D -136 WGR +333
Wednesday. Couldnt even post yeserday, i was so pissed. I dropped over 10% of my account. My emotions were all over the place and i really lost control. I was trading way too many stocks at once and too large a share volume. 3k really hurts when you only have a 25k account. Today didnt start off so great either. Started trading with my emotions right off the bat again and was down 500 bucks only trading 500 share lots. Was trying to do 3 stocks at once then said...i better stick to just one stock because i suck at multiple stocks. That seemed to help alot. Im even right now and still over 2 hours till close. Lets see if I might even make a small profit today and i can put away those want ads from the newspaper.
Ok done for today. +15 dollar profit. I felt my emotions starting to take over so i am going to quit. Leaving the house now just so i dont get tempted to do anything stupid.
Tried to play it easy today. Trading in 100 share lots except for 1 stock that i ended up trading 300 shares in. Big mistake. 7 winners today and 4 losers the biggest loser being VLO losing 244 dollars. Here is what i traded. IBM +8 SLB +21 AIG +10 JNJ +15 ABT +9 FRO +11 WGR +9 VLO - 244 BAC -19 COP -84 WMT -5 I chased my money in VLO, COP, WMT, & SLB. I guess that was fear sitting next to me at that time. If I hadnt chased those stocks, My losses would have been cut by around 60% (still wouldve had a loss though) And if i hadnt traded the more volitile stocks like VLO, COP, FRO, SLB, and WGR , combined with not chasing money i would have had a profit of about 34 dollars. I find that the less volitile stocks i have time to think instead of that rush of panic when i would see VLO drop a buck and then start chasing it. I believe i am going to need some more dicipline in my trading. Once i get profitable consistantly with 100 share lots I can increase. I just hope im around long enough before my account it gone.
Stepped up trading a bit. Average trade was 200 shares...biggest trade was 300 shares. Profit today +100 or so after commissions
Wednesday Nov. 16 Picked 7 winners out of 8 picks. But as usual my loser was bigger than my biggest winner. WGR +34 /200 shares AIG +45 /500 shares/opening order JNJ +55 /500 shares/opening order VLO +174 /300 to 500 shares/in and out until 10am IBM +113 /1000 shares HOV +25 /300 shares COP +21 /300 shares MO - 194 /500 shares long for opening order then another 200 shares trying to dollar cost average. Luckily i got out/gave up because its gone down another 30 cents. Thought about shorting it but decided i better just quit while i am ahead. Looks like a mistake. Oh well. After commissions Im up around 155 dollars for the day.
Ok Im trading in the 500 share range. Went up to 900 but panic struck me in that trade so im going to keep at 500 for awhile. Picked 8 winners out of 9 but today 2 of my winners were twice that of my losers. I actually couldve made more but im still learning opening orders and seem to jump out of the trades as soon as i see a 30 dollar profit. If i held all my opening orders about 3 or 4 minutes longer it would have been an extra 400 dollars or so I made today. Also did some pairs trading today that netted me $34 dollars. Made $471 - $144 for commissions equals net profit of $327 for today. I also quit trading at 8:30am arizona time. It seems I hit my profit goal and I am scared to trade the rest of the day. Actually my profit goal was $200 today but i stopped looking at my P&L. I also notice my emotions were very much in check today...only paniced once, had my finger on the sell button but decided not to click it....instantly the stock turned around. It seems as long as i trust myself not to panic i make more money. I still feel a bit emotional about that 4k+ net loss my first week where i traded on pure emotion... But in a way I think its good i lost that money right off the bat. If i had made a few grand my first week, I wouldve thought i was invincible and probably blown my whole account this week
Wow Opening orders was awesome today. 6 winners out of 6. Got out of IBM a little early but was trying to keep a profit in it. Total for today. +$1220 - 60 commissions for a profit of $1160. I was thinking about pairs trading today but after this win...im done.