At least it's nice to see you just smear your BS on only my threads. Do you ever plan on writing anything useful ?
Weekly Update for week 32 ended 10/05/2007 Another good week. Once again kept the number of trades low, focusing only on what I thought were good potentials, with not too big a leverage; will step up as the good results roll in. The keynote trades were in BIDU and RIMM playing on their strong momentum days. On Tuesday, BIDU was upgraded with a lofty target after coming down in prior sessions. Bought 20 contracts of the OCT 310 calls, stayed with it all day and overnight, closing it on Wednesday morning for gain of 19K. Then on friday, after the good earnings from RIMM, bought 30 contracts of the OCT 100 calls, again netting 12K. The positives were tempered by losing trades in some china plays. LDK: Bought the calls on Wednesday afternoon hoping to do a swing trade after the pull-back. Was hit by a precipitous sell-off one hour after I entered. Searched in vain for the news. Only discovered after the close of potential accounting issues. Was able to get out the following morning after losing 50% of the premium. Glad the exposure was small. EFUT: That silly china play fooled me into stopping out with a loss of 5K, before going on to close the day at fresh highs. Withdrew 10K for the month ended September 30. It is still a long way from the trend line, but it is important to keep disciplined and trading those high probability set-ups. I am in the process of adding an extra automated strategy. For some time now I have de-emphasised / hardly traded the automated. AUTOTRADE1 used to be good until a big drawdown in the July/August time-frame when the market tanked, taking that long-only strategy with it, and I shut it down. I could probably have gained from the the re-bound, but until I work out modifications to the strategy, it will remain closed. AUTOTRADE2 is a short-only strategy, the market recently hasn't lent itself to profitable shorting, even as I tightened the conditions to be met before shorting: so no trade has executed in several weeks. AUTOTRADE3 failed right from the start, and I wont trade it until appropriate modifications are made. Looking forward to next week, and to the start of earnings season. I hope there could be some more action, and profitable opportunities. (The gainskeeper statement in the attachment does not include my 13K gain from friday) Code: Balance B/F: 121,689 Gain for the week 38,255 Cash Withdrawal -10,000 ------------------------------------------------ Balance C/F: 149,944 Number of Trades 21 Number of Profitable Trades 11 Since Inception of Thread 2/25/2007 - 10/05/2007 Balance B/F: 76,636 Net Gain (Less Margin Interest) 134,308 Cash Withdrawal -61,000 ------------------------------------------------ Balance C/F: 149,944 (Adjusted balance before withdrawals is 210944, up 175% ) Number of Trades 843 Number of Profitable Trades 484 Expected Balance at this time to be on track for Year-End Target : 299,799 Status: Behind Target (Based on adjusted balance before withdrawals) Top/Bottom Discretionary Trades for the week TICKER ENTRY DATE/TIME EXIT DATE/TIME QTY PURCHASE AMT SOLD AMT GAINS/LOSS TYPE BDUJA 2007-10-02-09-36-41 2007-10-03-10-15-32 2000 30000 49400 19339 BIDU OCT 310 CALL RULJT 2007-10-05-09-43-39 2007-10-05-15-52-36 3000 29700 42150 12384 RIMM OCT 100 CALL --------------------------------------------------- LDKJM 2007-10-03-14-38-10 2007-10-04-09-31-22 2500 9650 5040 -4678 LDK OCT 65 CALL EFUT 2007-10-03-12-58-54 2007-10-03-14-07-47 2000 59200 53900 -5321 LONG (Before Interest and Other charges) TRANSACTIONS ANALYSIS FROM 2007-02-25 TO 2007-10-06 Current Week | Since Inception of Thread | Method Gains/Loss No Of Profitable | Gains/Loss No Of Profitable Trades Trades | Trades Trades Automated AutoTrade1 0 0 0 | 5548 207 115 AutoTrade2 0 0 0 | 3372 12 8 AutoTrade3 0 0 0 | -4523 3 0 ----------- -------- ------------ | ----------- ------ ------------ Total Automated 0 0 0 | 4397 222 123 ----------- -------- ------------ | ----------- ------ ------------ Discretionary Long -5693 10 5 | -34611 229 134 Short 397 2 1 | -49991 218 126 Options(long) 43372 9 5 | 215383 184 101 ----------- -------- ------------ | ----------- ------ ------------ Total Discretionary 38075 21 11 | 130781 631 361 =========== ======== ============ | =========== ====== ============ Net Totals 38075 21 11 | 135177 853 484 =========== ======== ============ | =========== ====== ============
Glad to see you are winning again. Keep an eye on some of these China stocks...CDS, KONG, RCH, CBAK. They really move. I cannot believe how fast the weeks go by.
Thank Neke... I cannot tell you how much I value and appreciate this thread of yours. Your courage to keep at it in spite of all the swings, slings and arrows is admirable. I also want to thank your critics as well for their comments too are of value. The most important thing.... you are "in the game", you are surviving and even flourishing while you learn. The goal you set for the year was a lofty one, perhaps unrealistic, but I will let that one go. The point is: you set a high goal for yourself and you have worked hard to reach that goal. Whether you reach your target in 3 months or 3 years is not important. Keep after it!!! All the best to you and your family.
Thanks for your feedback and your best wishes. I believe we are all still in a learning process, and should have an open mind towards all constructive criticism.
I've read this journal from the beginning and would like to commemorate your honestly and taking the time for each reply. Regardless of the end goal, this journal has served a valuable function, I hope you carry it forward to 2008.
Thanks for your feedback as well. I remember you recommended turning my discretionary trades to mechanical, and to react instead of predicting. Although I do not think I can automate all the discretionary components out of my trade (like picking a stock or option and determining entry point - much of that depends on my experience), I am on the path to making the other elements automated (position sizing, loss control, etc)
Neke, Good Job!.... I had a 40% portfolio gain (mostly from Long DRYS from 72 to 85 and Long TSL 47 to 55 - GREAT triangle.. managed to forget to trade a similar but ultimately bigger one in CSUN from 7.55) in September which has almost always resulted in a 5 to 10% give back before another great run .. Have done this usually by trying to impose my will on the markets.. you know October should be weak.. everything looks overbought etc.. 80% of give backs have been on the short side as lately markets are rigged to burn shorts and inflate something no matter what.. Hardest is to wait for the setups.. THEY WILL COME.. ALWAYS WILL... and override that silly negative feeling your account isn't rising every single day.. (cured by long-term thinking and confidence)..
Glad to see you had a strong September. I also had a strong one (I think about +50%) in the account I maintain for my wife at IB. It is a long stock only account I trade on a swing-style (average duration one week). At any point in time I have two or three stocks, using normal overnight leverage (2X account value). Like you as well, I surrendered about 8% in October. At some point you might look at incorporating options. Although it is too early for me to make a conclusion on the long-term profitability of the swing trades, I think if it continues being good, I might start doing options swing on my own Ameritrade account on the same stocks I am buying for her. Like you know the option spread costs and the premium decay are key considerations for options. I still need several months through many market environments (strong trend like september, flat-line, and downtrend) before concluding options on those trades will be good. Right now I hardly ever hold beyond a single overnight on options. After that bottom on August 16, I found it was a big mistake closing my position the following day (August 17), as some of those stocks really took off and returned sustantial gains in the ensuing weeks. Had I bought and held to one-month options, I could have been singing a victory song now on my target.
In order to get 72 I assume you got in on 17 or 18 September. Just curious what gave you the conviction to jump in given the uncertainty? Great trade by the way. Can you elaborate a little more on your entry?