Saw what looked like a reversal (it was) but i got scared and pocketed about another +$80 net instead of pocketing an extra $500 as of this writing(its moving) ...so my new adjusted profit for the day is +$ 934.
WOW...I just calculated my commissions & SEC fees for last month....I paid about $2,850 in commissions and about another $500 in SEC fees. At least I know i will get my $200 desk fee back for the month
Tuesday Dec 2. Opening orders were pretty good....grossed +$270 GE +100 KO + 70 JWN +100 then traded VLO, LEH and GS....i didnt want to trade GS but LEH was really going against me ( i was short) It kept going up and i kept shorting more. Was up to 2000 shares then after being in the red $1000 decided i better hedge with GS....so i bought about 1000 and GS went against me about $200....LEH started coming back so i just decided to get rid of GS but accidently bought another 1000 shares instead of selling 1000. DOH!!! Eventually LEH came back but I spent the next hour trying to find a good exit for GS. VLO +315 LEH +380 GS - 325 The kicker is if i had held GS 4 minutes longer i wouldve been flat in it and had a gross profit of +965 for the day. My signals even said to hold a bit longer but i just got scared thinking my signals were going to lie to me today Gross profit $640/ net profit...around 400. I'll still take it for 2 hours work.
ive noticed that you keep changing the share size. It seems to me you might want to go back to the drawing board and re evaluate your money management plan and trading plan. I suggest to allocate the same dollar amount to each trade and not the same share amount. That way you won´t whipe yourself out with one bad trade. You have alot of days where 3 stocks make like $40 profit each and then you have one thats a $500 loss. By allocating the same $ amount to each trade and having a good entry and exit plan, it might help you become a more mentally stable trader that wont overreact emotionally as you will learn to ride the profits and cut the losses short.
Had alot of opening orders today...7 total. I even moved my envelope from .3 to .4 because i didnt want to be getting alot of orders that i couldnt navigate through. Anyway here are my openings MRK +50 JNJ +100 (almost didnt add this because of all that news) BJS +90 TXN +110 MO +120 XOM - 40 APA -200 (couldnt get out of this fast enough) Then i traded VLO for 15 minutes. VLO +690 Then GS for 1 hour and 10 minutes...I could not understand how it kept going down so far...but i bought it all the way down. Got a little nervous when it came back (didnt let my profits run) But profit is profit i guess. GS +238 (as of this writing i couldve picked up another $450 if i listned to my signals) Gross for the day $1,158...after commissions/fees about $930.
After breakfast I noticed GS looked like it was about to reverse so i shorted it. It didnt reverse like i wanted it to...it went sideways for about an hour, but a kind of downwards sideways...anyway...picked up an extra $300+ in GS so my net for today is just over $1200 ($1450 gross) This was my best day today since i started trading.
Ok...took a beating with my opening orders...even moved the envelope to .5 today from .4 Got 2 fills both losers....one was a normal loss and i got raped on the other one. TXN -30 ADI -358 Traded 2 stocks after openings VLO (as usual) and LEH VLO + $1,360 LEH + $428 Gross $1,400/Net $1,260 Now to sound like a broken record... This was my best day since i started trading! Best "net" day anyway...Best Gross day was yesterday.... OH one other thing...as of today I have made back all the money I lost the first week and then some....My account is now past the 25k mark for the first time. I somehow managed to make $5,400+ in the last 2 weeks of trading. If i can keep this mindset right, I should be able to make a nice living.
actually i have only taken the 3 day class. If i took the boot camp class...i might have bought out bright trading already HAHA.
I got humbled today. First off...i raised my opening orders from 1000 to 1500 shares. 2 fills both losers BJS -93 APA -60 Not too bad of a loss...but then I started trading VLO. I was expecting it to go down today so I shorted 1000 shares...it went up and i shorted another 500. Up some more another 500...up some more another 500. It kind of went a sort of downwards sideways so i figure it was going to take a good 15 or 20 minutes to start really heading down. Keep in mind at this time im down around 1700. So i got to take a quick shower...i come back and the stock dropped a buck...so im up about 1300 now and i start to cover....the stock starts to go up...this is where i made the mistake...without looking at any charts or anything i said "hey why not ride the wave back up?" WTF was i thinking??? I bought 1500 shares and the stock dropped a buck..bought about another 1500 and the stock dropped another buck...bought 400 more shares...and it dropped some more....ok...im down about 4k now and i realize i threw all my reason out the window along with my profit. So now im just trying to figure out an exit point. I start buying and selling buying and selling now a few hundred shares at a time. I manage to make a little bit back but its hard to make money when your stock is going sideways. VLO -$2,183 (yes profit wiped out for the last 2 days.) To think that if i good a shower for about 10 minutes longer...i wouldve been up about 4k and with that kind of profit i definately wouldve quit for the day. Trades 2 other stocks for minimal gains COP +61 SLB +290 Gross loss $1985 (i hate that song 1985) Net loss between $2300 and $2400. Before anyone posts about my losing trades being bigger than wins keep in mind I was trading as much as 3 times my normal shares. So figuring i stayed with the same amount of shares my loss wouldve been around $700 give or take.