I have recently transitioned to trading full-time. The last several months have been spent getting my systems, hot keys, etc. set up the way I want and establishing a basic comfortable level since it has been over 7 years since I last traded full-time. I also have been adjusting to the differences in the market today versus the specialist-based system of trading I used to use predecimilization. I am starting this journal to track my progress and formalize the process of assessing my trading and continuing to enhance my performance. Today, market action this morning was quite chaotic in the stocks I was trading, and I do not want to be involved in any positions going into the fed meeting, so I have flattened out my positions and am calling it a day. Analysis of Daily Trading. Action was very chaotic this morning with huge spreads in the symbols I was trading. I did well maintaining my discipline and waiting for things to settle down, even though there were a few trades that I could have been involved with. I made a few higher risk trades with very small size to test the waters a bit, and then had a great setup and loaded up and took a nice profit on it which made my day. Up 654 gross on 12,000 shares.
would that be one of the 'after the fact ' journals where you discuss more or less random distribution? if so, is it really necessary to make it public??
This journal is for my purposes to track my progression, mistakes, lessons learned, etc. It is primarily to help me reflect on my daily trading and track my own development. Hopefully, it will also help others who are also striving to learn and grow as a trader. If you do not see any value, by all means ignore this thread.
Today, the stocks I was watching really did not have much trend, so there were only a few opportunities. Unfortunately, I hesitated every time instead of just reacting to what I was seeing, and by the time I was ready to pull the trigger, the stocks had already moved away from my target entry area. As a result, I did not put any trades on today. I need to react faster to what I am seeing, and also not be scared to put on a trade 5-10 cents off my desired entry price if the profit potential is 50+ cents. A little upsetting to not have capitalized on the opportunities that were available to me today, but I walk away with out any losses and survive to fight another day.
Was out on Friday and not feeling well today so calling it a day early. Again, hesitated too long today and missed some good moves and easy money. However, I did not get as frustrated, and was able to continue to trade putting on a few good trades with smaller size. I did not hold a few of my winners long enough, which is also something I need to continue to work on. I need to continue to make the link from my brain to my fingers on the keyboard more instantaneous, so that I can start to capitalize more on everything I am seeing. Trading is about probabilities. In order to be consistently profitable, I need to take every trade I see so that the over the course of the day and week my profits will far outweigh my losses. Up for the day 312 on 7200 shares.
Have an appointment today, so no trades. Watched FOSL for a few minutes this morning before i had to leave. Wish i had just pulled the trigger under 84 when i first saw it start gaining strength. But, i had to leave and didn't want to risk it when i wouldn't have any other daily trades to help offset the potential loss from a morning trade in a volatile earnings stock like FOSL. Will be back firing on all cylinders tomorrow.
Up 152 on 4400 shares. Dropped my size, since I have missed a few days and wanted to get comfortable. Overall, I missed several trades that I should have taken, but I did take enough trades in which I let my winners run that the probabilities worked in my favor leading to a net positive result. I still need to work on taking every trade that presents itself. One thing I have noticed is that when stock gaps up on the open, I have been extremely hesitant to get involved on the short side even when it is clearly a short with a good setup for a high probability risk/reward trade. While it is true that stocks that gap up on the open tend to gap up for a reason due to buying and can continue to run, frequently stocks gap up and then fill that gap and I need to be able to react when I see that happening. Also, when I am in a trade and take a profit or a loss, I need to continue to pay close attention for opportunities to reopen a position, because frequently the stock pulls back and then continues to move in the direction of my trade.
Today was a very frustrating day. I put on a short too soon and got squeezed for a big loss. Then went long by bottom picking a stock i thought was ready for a turn around and did not react quick enough when the bottom fell out taking another big loss. Started out the day down 1200+. Then i made back a lot of the losses by a great short, but didn't put on enough size. I then made two trades that were not the highest probability, while neglecting others that were better set ups. I then was scared of digging a deeper whole and did not capitalize on two excellent moves that would have made me net positive for the day. I really have to trust myself more and keep grinding out the trades and trust the end result even if i am in the whole. Keep the losers small and let the winners run, trade high probability setups, and the profits will take care of themselves in the long run. End result down 597 on 9200 shares.
Up 90 on 2800 shares yesterday Missed the morning, and took a few smaller trades in the afternoon. Should have put on a few additional trades, but felt like the easy money had already been made. The stocks continued to move though. Need to get my head in the game and stay in the game the whole day.