Since this question is directed at me, let me try and give a brief summary before someone speculates too far. I mentioned that I started my trading in Dec 1999, opening my account with Datek Online (now part of Ameritrade) with deposit of 16K (6K+10K), basically my whole savings from my job, and within 2 weeks I lost 50% of that. A screen shot of those initial balance and trades are attached (good thing Ameritrade keep their online history as far back as that). Through the years till Nov 2004 I lost a cummulative of 54K (account goes down, replenish, get the next drawdown, and so on). By that point in time I had also opened an IB account with a little over 2K which I was trading as well. At that time, the balance in the two accounts came to 5.3K. Every thing in the account now sprung from that balance with some additional deposits, and lots of withdrawals as follows: Code: Balance Nov 12, 2004 5.3K Deposit 3.2K P/L 8.7K Withdrawal -2.2K ------- Balance Dec 31, 2004 15K Deposits 13K (made the deposits Mar/Apr after a drawdown that brought the balance below 25K, after being tagged a PDTrader) P/L 2005 132K Withdrawals -25K (Aug thru Dec) ---- Balance Dec 31, 2005 135K (transferred my balance in IB to Ameritrade in january 2006, and closed the account) P/L 2006 125K Withdrawals -169K (taxes and funding a project) ---- Balance Dec 31, 2006 91K Jan 2007 P/L -30K Feb P/L 20K Withdrawal -5K --------------------------- Balance 28 Feb 2007 76K The rest of the story is in my first thread (Taking 76K to 500K by Year End) and subsequent ones.
Proper trading, with a trading plan, rules for entry and exits, pre-calcularted PL ratios, scans based on technical or fundamental for stock selection, etc. etc, i.e. a system for trading is only like gambling if you are a pro, you count cards, or have some other system to beat the house. If you go long or short a stock because "it looks cheap" or "it feels right" or "a friend (analyst) told me to buy (particularly free advice)", it's like the amateur at the roulette/poker/BJ table whos there for the fun of it, and hits based on gut or bets on the black cause his friend next to him told him to. It is clear neke isn't a gambler, he has his own system which choses not to disclose which is great. I wish someday I could develop such a system myself! But if you're sharing a jornal with others and write that "you bet on XYZ stock because of it's upgrade" it gives the impression you are making bets and not trades, that's all and that if you made a profit it's because the wind was behind your sails! Not because you planned it. J
If I hear one more person say "too much leverage...too much risk" I will blow my top.. THE GUY IS TRYING FOR A 10 BAGGER IN 1 YEAR OF COURSE HIS RISK/MAX DRAWDOWN IS GOING TO BE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THAN YOURS, WE AIN"T LOOKING AT A NICE COMFY 25% Ontop of that he's openly accepted he can and will go broke for taking a shot at the target. If your buddy walked into a casino (assuming he is also +ev) with a $100 note, and said "I want this to turn into $1000, i'm prepared to go bust"...Would you suggest he start betting $3 per hand??.... Don't get me wrong, Neke's appetite for risk is well beyond what I could ever cope with... But he needs to assume this risk to have any shot at the objective.. Love it/Hate it/Agree/Disagree this has got to be the most entertaining journal on ET... my 2c
Weekly Update for week 41/50 ended 10/24/2009 A nice week, up 72K (13%). Decent win rate (34 out of 48) made up for lack of home runs. Missed the big action in AMZN for the most part on Friday. Stayed away as it did not pull-back at the open to my target. Finally entered in the afternoon after a minor pull-back from 117.40 to 116.50, getting 200 NOV 115 calls @ 6.4, sold later for 7.30. Astonishing to see the size of the move for a big company like AMZN after earnings. Looks so much like the dotcom days. Need to strive to hold up the uptrend as we approach the final part of the year. Code: Opening Balance: 562,316 Net gain for the week 72,675 ------------------------------------------------ Net Balance: 634,991 Number of Trades 48 Number of Profitable Trades 34 Since Inception of Thread 01/10/2009 - 10/24/2009 Opening Balance: 320,064 Net gain (Less Margin Interest) 314,927 (Up 98.4%) ------------------------------------------------ Net Balance 634,991 Number of Trades 1098 Number of Profitable Trades 699 TICKER ENTRY DATE/TIME EXIT DATE/TIME QTY PURCHASE AMT SOLD AMT GAIN/LOSS TYPE QZNKC 2009-10-23-13-57-56 2009-10-23-15-13-20 20000 128000 146200 17915 AMZN CALL FHZWQ 2009-10-23-09-43-31 2009-10-23-11-00-49 20000 86000 103000 16723 FCX PUT ISRG 2009-10-21-09-35-11 2009-10-21-10-29-50 6000 1503758 1519509 15670 SHORT APVKT 2009-10-20-10-17-46 2009-10-20-10-46-32 15000 81600 90000 8189 AAPL CALL AAPL 2009-10-21-13-37-36 2009-10-21-15-34-19 6000 1233024 1240734 7643 SHORT ------------------------------------------------------------ APVWT 2009-10-21-10-47-08 2009-10-21-15-33-18 40000 159000 150000 -9545 AAPL PUT PENN 2009-10-21-09-42-13 2009-10-21-11-00-36 10394 301409 291536 -9902 SHORT LXK 2009-10-21-09-56-05 2009-10-21-12-46-14 11000 314301 303886 -10458 SHORT
Congrats mate. I still can't believe that after 3+ years some people round here don't think you know what you are doing. Fk em and keep up the good work. Looking forward your next journal - 1m to 10m! pneuma
Neke was an offshore coke smuggler who met up with a girl while on vacation in Panama and fell in love. He later found out her father was one of the largest dealers out of South America and got intertwined in the family business. 200 helicopter shipments later off the Florida keys and he netted a nice sum of 320k that he'd like to move to 3.5 million by year end. Why 3.5 million? Some triads out of Hong Kong put a hit on him and have kidnapped his girlfriend. The only way to get her back and remove the hit is to pay them 3.5 million dollars or him and all his friends and family will die. Will he succeed, or will the he fail? Stay tuned folks.
LoL Sub0. Good job Neke. Double again and you will have made your target, despite the worrisome tribulations you experienced that made you better. Wilt