He saw my Ameritrade screens a number of times. Your figure is OK. I believe you want to finish deep in the money!
the very fact that you replied probably means you made some money this week so far or today. If this was poker you gave yourself away I would fold.
Trading has nothing to do with the returns from the S&P, it is a completely inappropriate benchmark. Trading is about absolute return relative to risk, not relative return compared to an index. Benchmarking to index returns is only arguably relevant for buy & hold or other longer-term investment strategies.
But plucking a large number out of thin air literally does nothing whatsoever to help you achieve that goal. If it did, then surely you should be gunning for $1 trillion not $4 million? Why don't you make your goals to improve your trading tactics and strategies, or your personal discipline, or your amount of time and effort spent on trading and research? Those are the things which actually create returns, after all.
neke, haven't followed your postings and trades from the past. Is this a real money trading account as opposed to a simulated account? Thanks
Weekly Update for week 1/50 ended 01/16/2010 A disastrous start to the year. Down 99.5K (24%). It all happened on Thursday. Saw the follow-up rally on BIDU on Thursday, and thought it was overdone at 449. Forgot all the harm I have suffered in BIDU on previous occasions, and that this was just a day to expiration. Bought 50 JAN 450 PUTS @ 6.50, as well as shorting 500 shares. Then came another surge and I added another 60 contracts @ 5.80, and extra 500 in shares. Watched all morning for exit point, but instead came another surge by noon, and in vengeance bought 200 contracts @ 4.00. That was the last act of desperation. Watched as the stock climbed and did not look back, while the premiums kept eroding. Finally closed all 310 contracts at prices from 1.80 down to 1.30 as the bids kept disappearing when I put in my limit order to get out. Lost 102K in stock and 14K in options. Looking for ways to overcome this inability to accept a loss. Right now, I am putting in place an auto-closure of any position that loses 6% of my account AT THE MARKET. Maybe I will learn to adjust my size accordingly and resist the temptation to average down. Other that the above, the vast majority of the trades were automated trades made with low size -- and too small to appear on the top/bottom trades. I am looking forward to doing more of the automation. So much for my sad story. Code: Opening Balance: 410,000 Net loss for the week -99,486 ------------------------------------------------ Net Balance: 310,514 Number of Trades 57 Number of Profitable Trades 29 Since Inception of Thread 01/10/2010 - 01/16/2010 Opening Balance: 410,000 Net loss(Less Margin Interest) -99,486 (Down 24.3%) ------------------------------------------------ Net Balance 310,514 Number of Trades 57 Number of Profitable Trades 29 Top/Bottom Discretionary Trades for the week TICKER ENTRY DATE/TIME EXIT DATE/TIME QTY PURCHASE AMT SOLD AMT GAIN/LOSS TYPE PCLN 2010-01-13-10-30-04 2010-01-13-12-38-20 2500 522375 531799 9390 LONG ------------------------------------------------------- BIDU 2010-01-14-10-07-59 2010-01-14-15-22-18 1000 465000 450605 -14422 LONG BPJMX 2010-01-14-10-07-26 2010-01-14-15-57-53 31000 147300 46080 -101666 BIDU PUT