Weekly Update for week 40/50 ended 10/17/2009 An OK week, up 28K (5%). Lots of moves up/down. It is interesting one or two trades could have made the difference between an OK week and a stellar one. Managed to stay alive on Tues, when it could have been either a disastrous day or a very nice one. Bought 2000 ISRG @ 256.50, betting on a good appreciation after the upgrade. Added extra 2000 shares as the stock pulled back to 255. Watched till about 11am and could have closed it out as it was not confirming my expectation, decided to give some more time. To my horror, checked about 15 minutes later, and the stock was down to 246 and cruising down fast. Exited for a loss of 38K. (The stock later bounced back some within the day). Fortunately I bough 200 BIDU 410 calls earlier on when it went down at the open. It later shot up significantly and I closed it for a 49K gain. Friday, was careful to avoid anything stupid on expiration day. Put in a trigger to get some GOOG calls if the stock price drops below 544 at the open after th earnings. It didn't happen as I watched the stock go up. Finally, bought the 550 CALL ( 100 car @ 4.00) when the stock was about 553.4 (almost the top) at 12.30pm, another 100 car @ 3.50, and watched the reward for my stupidity as the market makers started plunging that stock to pin it back to the 550 strike. Got out at 2.10, losing 33K. Can't believe it was the same GOOG that hit me last month on expiration. More caution as we go into the avalanche of earnings next week. Got more than 10K from my automated trades. Code: Opening Balance: 534,697 Net gain for the week 27,619 ------------------------------------------------ Net Balance: 562,316 Number of Trades 31 Number of Profitable Trades 22 Since Inception of Thread 01/10/2009 - 10/17/2009 Opening Balance: 320,064 Net gain (Less Margin Interest) 242,252 (Up 75.7%) ------------------------------------------------ Net Balance 562,316 Number of Trades 1050 Number of Profitable Trades 665 TICKER ENTRY DATE/TIME EXIT DATE/TIME QTY PURCHASE AMT SOLD AMT GAIN/LOSS TYPE BPJJB 2009-10-13-09-51-46 2009-10-13-11-38-52 20000 137000 186000 48714 BIDU CALL GPYJR 2009-10-14-09-41-25 2009-10-14-11-35-29 20000 92000 115000 22723 GS CALL DRIV 2009-10-12-12-24-11 2009-10-12-14-10-53 20000 513000 527047 14012 LONG ------------------------------------------------------ GOPJY 2009-10-16-12-29-40 2009-10-16-13-28-54 20000 75000 42640 -32656 GOOG CALL ISRG 2009-10-13-09-33-36 2009-10-13-11-13-21 4000 1023000 984700 -38346 LONG
you are doing what all on ET want to do...great trading!!!...have you ever successfully traded a smaller account...say $3,000 to $5,000?
neke, how could you take such a loss? How could you do such a thing? I would never take a loss until the market closes. I would never allow a loss to happen during the market hours, never, a loss can only happen over my dead body. Actually, a loss and a dead body happen at the same time, at least in my case. You are a master trader, neke. I would rank you at the same level as Red_Ink, Dustin and Anekdoten.
Need to go back to 2004 and earlier for a size that small. But yes, I once traded that size. I remember when I ran my account below 2K. Could no more use margin on Ameritrade, so could not short, was not cost-effective to trade stocks (given the $20 round-trip commission) and I had to wait for some option set-ups. Of course could only do 3 day-trades a week, trying to avoid the day-trader designation. (When I eventually ran foul, opened an IB account for a while and served the 3-month ban )