Day of stops I think I was stopped out in more trades today than any other day this year. This was somewhat tough but part of the day in order to avoid large losses. I did try to get large with GMCR and it moved against me and I covered my short around 79.85 which ended up to be the right choice as it moved well above 80 after. That trade did kill my day though but none of my trades today went that well. I missed two trades by a penny which as fate would have it would have been great trades. Both trades would have been from the WW signal. No gap up or overbought signals today. Pretty flat day for the most part. No volume either. All WW trades GMCR â 316 Traded it at the open and made some but then the second time I was stopped out. (took my stop late but I took it) XOM â 90 traded it back and forth but stopped out several times. CF â 90 frustrating as I sold near the bottom of the bar and hit my stop loss just below the top of the move higher only to watch it fall back down again ) FDX â 87 started out well but then stopped out RIMM â 14, stopped out on first trade but then made most of it back on the second trade. RMBS + 78 Was a good trade and added as it went my way but stopped out with a gain. SNDK â 37 XOM â 91 - 552 with over 10% of it commissions -4507 Month
wrapping up early to go snow tubing with my family. I had one gap up today and several WW trades. SEED WW was stopped out before it moved anywhere. + 8 RIMM WW â 33 OSIS gap up and then a WW trade. I donât feel I traded this one well. I allowed myself to get stopped out before I should have. On the final cover I should have covered half of my shares (200 at the time) at the 27 level but covered all 200 shares. Had I waited I would have been stopped out at 26.85 for the last 100 shares and made a few more dollars. Of course covering before the even number is a lot safer so maybe I am being over critical. + 397 FDX WW + 3 DSX WW + 3 AMED WW dropped the ball on this one as well. stopped out way too soon. Was busy working the OSIS trade and more or less just wanted to flatten out. + 18 Pretty tired from lack of sleep. Looking forward to a long weekend and maybe a full nights rest : o ) + 397 - 4110 Month
Robert.. curious where were you for the year.. looks like you took some hits here in teh end of the year
Less than working at McDonalds. : o ) Around 15K for the year but I will not know until IB gives me my report for Dec. Your right, I did take some serious hits including about a 120K hit with HAR one Monday morning in July. This completes my first full year of full time trading (although I did start taking classes again this fall full time). I did better last year in 08 and I started officially in April. I have been trading for about 25 years and I feel very optimistic for next year.
Last trading day of the year. Today I hit more opening order trades than any other with my WW signal. It was about as many as I could handle as I had 8 fills all at once. all WW trades today XLI + 4 WMB + 212 SNDK + 2 NVS + 3 NOV + 193 LVS + 27 LLL shorted and stopped out and then it fell. ââ¬â 82 HES + 125 COF ââ¬â 12 AMX + 27 OSIS + 13 (closed out early due to the lack of liquidity and getting close to the final hour) I shorted GMCR JAN 85 calls at ~1.76 each. I was planning on holding them until at least Monday. GMCR dies in the last hour and with 30 mins to go I covered with a small gain. half were basically sold to a market maker and the second half I was able to get the spread. I really donââ¬â¢t think much of the options houses and their total manipulations with who and who can not make a market. Seems criminal to me. + 61 Happy New Year Everyone !! + 576 - 3534 Month
Robert, you should seriously think about trade automation. Computers do have nerve of steel (or say silicon) and will not have emotional issues like we all have. Fading is very dangerous setup specially when we keep adding to a losing position. You fade from top and I try to fade from bottom. Like you, I'm also facing only few drawdowns but they are big enough to breaks my P&L. Something is really wrong with the strategy... Please check this blog article if you need more convincing statement about automation. http://marketsci.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/wasting-a-good-life-trading/
The market is back from vacation Well at least the volume was back again today. I hope that the volume continues to climb. Some of my signals donât give off any trades when the volume dries up and that has been the case with the B8 signal for the last few weeks. Today was different and while I was not able to make a lot in gains I was able to make some nice trades. NBR never retraced as expected and so I closed out near BE just to close it out. If it gaps up tomorrow I will short into it again. + 15 CAAS + 34 CAL â 69 still holding some over near BE MGA + 250 great trade and even made better than target for the ending cover. I did stay very small though as it was exploding in volume today. OSIS â 7 WW signal that was stopped out quickly UAUA WW signal that was stopped out + 224 - 800 Month (ran out of time yday. Not sure what the actual number is but I believe its better than this one)
Hi TraderSU, Yes thanks. I am currently looking at Ninja for automation. Probably will take a couple of months to get going and really know either way. Thanks Robert
The âBâ is back and not a minute to soon! Yesterday gave me a few B series setups and I was glad to see that after going so long without any. I was checking to make sure my computer was working correctly as I normally get at least two or three a day and I donât think I had 5 for the whole month of December. The CAL carryover worked out well. + 146 to give me a net of about + 85ish including yesterday I had one WW signal with AA and it was a failure but I was able to get out at BE. It appears that once the WW line is broke a fast stoploss is needed as they can really move further. AA was a great stock to scalp and get some liquidity rebates though as it moved very slowly and had nice retracements. The retracements allowed me to exit without a cost. The rest are B8 signals and they worked out well. I did keep my size very small though and I was hitting the tops on most of them. Very little pain in any of the trades. I was even able to short one ABOVE the HOD although I didnât get a full fill. ARB + 371 CIT + 111 CLNE shorted at 18.60 above the HOD but only 77 shares filled. Ended up taking a quick exit as I didnât want to work with 77 shares. I think in the future I will just trade an odd lot as the same as a full lot with a smaller target to account for slippage on the exit. + 3 FAST + 284 SWC + 204 + 1122 + 322 Month