I'm always amazed how short the lifespan is of these starter accounts. I feel like everyone and his brother is publicly posting his $1k trading account plans. It's not that the smart money beats these guys; the undisciplined, risk-blind traders always beat themselves.
I call it the "hitting the lotto" mentality. Everyone is in a rush to become a millionaire. If you can just earn 25% a year you will be able to double your account every 3 years. If you can do this while you are young you will have plenty of money.
Nice that atleast this guy said he blew up his account and made a mistake of not taking stop loss. Many other people just went hiding after starting the journal. Good luck next time.
Personally, I like the idea of 'over-edge-goals' - especially when it's with money that you can afford to lose (although this one is a pretty insane goal) :eek: They can: - push you to a higher level of performance - get you out of a rut / change thought patterns. That being said, it was pretty obvious that the op didn't really have any intention to push himself. He was ready to fold as soon as the 1st few people weren't helpful (what was he expecting from ET'ers - support???). This was then confirmed on his 1st day as he broke the same rule he had previously - and blew up. In addition, he really needs to work on his chart analysis. Entering a short play when a stock has already had a huge decline - and 'hoping' that it will continue is not my idea of a good risk/reward.... R
Hi, It is very attractive to calculate compound interest on paper, nice exponenta. But reality is different. Even if you are able to earn 50% monthly, it does not mean you will not experience a drawdown. Your state can be: +20% +80% +30% +70% +100% -100% In average it is ~50%, but you lost your account Even if you do not experience -100% month, you can meet -80%. Are you going to diminish the number of trading positions here? My advice for you to greatly diminish leverage. It will HELP you to strict to your own rules regarding stop loss. It will HELP you to be calm. I either do not recommend you to target 20% per year, too small for your personality. Better to calculate optimal criteria (optimal f) based on your trading results and reduce result a bit. May be targeting 20% per month will be good for you. Read about Vince optimal f, Kelly criteria. First couple of links from Google: http://www.trader-soft.com/money-management/optimal-f.html http://www.tradelabstrategies.com/optimalrisk/optimalf/optf.htm http://thefountainhead.typepad.com/contango/2006/03/backtesting_i.html
Basically my problem is that I can not be trusted to follow my rules. I will follow them for a while and then become complacent and decide to hold overnight just this one time and or not take my stop or cancel my stop. I believe that the ideal solution would be to find a broker who won't allow me to do this. I would like to find a broker who will automatically set a 12% stop for me immediately upon entry and not allow the stop to be canceled and who will automatically close out my position if it has not already been closed before the close. Maybe this is asking too much but it would be nice to put a final end to this problem of mine.
I'm still holding my puts. They reached a high of $0.90 today. If we get a nice sell off I might be able to get $2 in a few days, or we might head back up in which case they will become worthless. Either way I will re-fund my account and give it another shot. This time however I will not set any monetary goals. My goal is to follow my rules. If you do the right thing profits take care of themselves. I will keep a personal journal to record my thoughts and progress towards becoming a disciplined trader. I hope that you found my journal both entertaining and educational. Best wishes to all of you.