that's a cool car...but this is more my style: 2002 Porsche carrera 4...all wheel drive..'cause its snowing like a mother up here in Albany,NY!
"I am up $595 now, I am going to take it easy for the rest of the day as I didn't want to give back any of my profit. I am in the black for the year, just barely, but I am happy after what happened Friday." I wonder about this philosophy of quitting to protect the day's profits. It seems to me that several times you have been down for the day in the morning and have then done a good job of clawing your way back. Why not adopt the same trading mode when you have had a profitable day to start with in the hopes of building on your gains? I noticed that today you posted your results at 2:02 p.m. This means you are missing half of the day's active period.
Do you get charged commission once, or each time you trade a certain stock? If the former, then a churn strategy makes perfect sense... if the latter, then you should reduce trade frequency for sure!
Duff, this was what I was getting at in my previous post. I read a lot on ET about traders quitting or taking it light when they are up so that they can have consecutive profitable days. I recognize the confidence that goes along with consecutive days profit, especially for pure discretionary traders. Personally, however, I prefer to place my confidence in my methodology and realize that consecutive days winners or losers is just a part of the natural ebb & flow of probability. I believe that when you have confidence in your methodology, it much easier to continue trading after a large loss or continue trading after several consecutive winners without the fear of "giving some back to the market." I.e. it's easier to keep your composure at all times because you know that your method works.
What if you know for a fact that you are a much better morning trader than afternoon based on your own journals? Why NOT go bigger in the morning and go light in the afternoon? Why NOT skip afternoon trading if you made your money in the morning and DO NOT sense a serious move in broad market? Regardless of how much confidence you have in your own method, you still need volume and momentum to make any profit, which the afternoon lacks. There are a million variations to every bread and butter set-up I have, and the lack of broad market move hurts them all.
Hitman, if your strategy does better during the day than afternoon, then by all means it makes more sense to trade more size in the morning than afternoon, or perhaps to not trade the afternoon at all. Using different strategies for different times of day is a known concept. You've mentioned several times on how Mondays are difficult days for you. Why not just trade 4 days a week, mornings only? Also, nowhere in Stockk's journals does he say "volume & momentum will probably be light this afternoon, plus I am a better morning than afternoon trader, so I'm going to take it easy". What he does say is "I am up $595 now, I am going to take it easy for the rest of the day as I didn't want to give back any of my profit." Regarding volume & momentum in the afternoon, I feel there is plenty of volume & momentum in the afternoon for most trading strategies. How many times have you been bailed out in the afternoon. Like on 11/19 when "Horrendous open bailed out by solid afternoon market movement". What if you decided to cut your size on that day? Also, both you and Stockk have mentioned trading less size after consecutive days losses. My comment is that if you have confidence in your method, then each day is a new day and the it doesn't matter if you've won 10-in-a-row or loss 10-in-a-row, unless you're doing something different (i.e. not following your method). I've also seen you post that you will trade less size or play more defense than usual (i.e. use tighter stop losses) if you are approaching the end of a pay period. Again, why not just trade your method whatever it is regardless of external factors such as how much you are up or down that day, week, pay period, month. If your method works, it works. It your method requires a certain about of momentum & volume then don't trade during periods where those factors are not satisfactory. But to simply pack up for the day or trade very small size doesn't make sense to me, which is why I am asking stockk these questions regarding psychology & methodology in his trading.