Honestly I have no interest in plotting a weekly equity chart, much less a DAILY one. Been really busy lately , worked late friday some saturday and some today. I hate holidays all it means is I have to work more. oh yeah did I mention I haven't been paid yet for that 2weeks on the road crap. That's it for me I'm never doing this company another favor again.
I did get a chance to work on/evaluate the historicity of my system or approach on sunday. Worked on my journal,Took some notes and have come to the conclusion that I need to reduce risk by about 30% over the long term, improve my (home) journal note taking for later study. I have a lot of stuff I want to work on, primarily stress reduction and mental training. It has been obseverd that traders have a tendency for very high levels of stress in their system, which can adversely affect trading. eventually I would like to study options trading but am skeptical of costs outweighing benefits and I don't like American style options. http://www.economist.com/node/21530111 In an effort to combat this and do mental training for trading I'm investigating: meditation/visualization positive affirmations brainwave entrainment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainwave_entrainment I plan to make my own brainwave entrainment cd's and do real time EEG-Driven Stimulation. I'm sure at first there is going to be a large learning curve /time investment but I think trading profitable requires unique psychological strengths and attributes.
btw, you should know that I keep what goes on up here and what goes on down there completely separate, so I will be respectful when I post here.
I would if i could. Quite frankly most of my stress is coming as an adjunct to dealing with my day job. Also I don't trade like most people here (with the belief in expectancy , bet sizing etc etc as if all trades are independent events). I'm either in the market or I'm not. When I'm in I either get gains or losses. Right now what has been grinding me up is volatility due to the european political and financial mess. Rather large gains to the upside are possible until the day of reckoning is upon us. when that will be nobody knows but i'm not likely to hold open positions during the next greek elections (6/17) my account would be back around 800K if i had held my short futures positions counting on a banking crisis in europe. Unfortunately 3 months too early is the same as being wrong in this game.
The gut wrenching part is due to the circumstances of my day job inhibiting me from executing my plan cost me more from friday close to tuesday close than I will gross in the year. Seems to me, my job owes me by random chance the exclusion of a 100K losing trade just to make things fair/random.
Sounds like you need to pick one or the other (day job or trading). What is the point of the day job if it's killing you that you won't be able to look at the screen and get in and out of positions? On the other hand, you need capital yet trading is costing you. Pick one or the other and stick with it for a while. Doesn't make sense that you are trying to do both at the same time especially when one doesn't allow for the other. It has costed you so far and will continue to cost you unless you make a change. Maybe you need to ask people at your job to work in the office and in front of a computer. Otherwise, put your money in stocks with dividends and focus on your job until you have enough to leave it and do trading afterwards.
I work healthcare, in a rural area. I don't mind the core that consists of direct patient care the other 80% of the time I hate the f'n BS. I can/do trade on my blackberry but that's just based on price as my information. The real direct conflict with work and trading was when I was temporarily moved to another area. Otherwise as far as direct conflicts are concerned they have been rare because I already have my trading plans mapped out before I start my day. Indirect conflicts of too much time devoted to day job for quality life and trading is rampant. I make pretty good money for what I do and no need to walk away completely, besides I do need some semblance of stable cash flow. As I have mentioned it before (barring a complete blow up) I plan to trade under a business entity next year as a part time securities trader designation with the IRS. I intend to cut my day job back to 2 days a week and trade the rest. The first 3 years will be the riskiest as I tap my IRA for trading/ living expenses. After that trading should be able to provide at or near 100% of my income needs or I need to come up with a different plan.