November Trading Journals

Hitman,

Have you analysed WHY you can't step up your size? Attack the roots of your fear and prosper. Out of curiosity, what is currently your average size?

Candle

 

Hitman

I think the reason you are doing so well is because, unconciously maybe, your instincts are keeping you in trades you are comfortable with. Don't knock it. Those are the kinds of instincts you need to survive.

 

Hitman, thanks for the advice. Makes sense to ask for the moon. I asked for a 2'nd monitor and got that right away. I blew some trades my first week because i couldn't keep everything organized on one screen. That is nearly impossible.

I will work on getting my commissions lowered next. I've been trading about 8-10 stocks a day so thats $80-$100 in ticket charges. Getting that cut in half would help the bottom line.

But i can't complain, I'm very happy with Worldco so far. Considering i brought only a few thousand dollars with me and they sponsored me for my liscenses and all. Eugene is helpful and we have training lectures every week or so.

As for my style, i have a few basic strategies. I play laggards in sectors that are moving. I also watch for the large bids and asks for scalps. And i play support/ resistance on the chart.

Although i've been trading full time from my home for past 3 years, NYSE trading is very new to me. I started out concentrating on oil drillers and technology sector. And have slowly been adding sectors that i follow. Recently i've added defense sector and generic drugs and home builders.

I worried at first when going to Worldco that they trade primarily NYSE. But after a few weeks of watching NYSE stocks and trading them, i think it may be easier. Fills are more fair on NYSE for sure.

 

Silk

I hope you will start your own thread and let us follow your progress along with Hitman and Stockkbroker. I find these posts very interesting. Prop trading is not an option for me at this stage of the game but I enjoy doing it vicariously with you guys.

 

Surprisingly easy as pie game on what should have been a very tough day. Market just ran hard on light volume and almost everything was tradable. I stopped at 11:30 and watched market ran up 60 points and did not take a single position during the run. Still a solid game but it was a lackluster effort as I missed some critical plays that would have made this my best game of the month, 4200 shares on 4 of 7 shooting, +1028 before commissions, +834 after, 1 bullet.

Pre-Market: Felt like a ghost town, but the Russia production cut on oil was far below what OPEC was looking for, and at first it seemed to be negative news, but a cut is a cut and I expected an oil rally, but I misjudged the strength of the move and really sold myself short. A batch of downgrades on drugs

9:30: Felt like the dead zone, with very low volume, and each BID and ASK felt like thin ice. DRG seemed to be the most vulnerable (actually energy was weak too but I wanted to go long in it), bulleted AGN and he had a big buyer at 76.05 not showing the true size, eventually the offer at 76.06 was hit and I flipped, and made 15 cents on the long side, then the stock ran up 1 point. I need to be willing to hold on to something like this, he was extremely strong when DRG tanked and as soon as DRG came back I should have bought more. Took some LM on XBD strength for 60 cents, again, missed the second leg up. CEX strength, took some EMN and here is how the lack of liquidity can kill you, I picked it up at 38.45 and the BID was hit, in just a few prints he went to 38 and I took a 50 cents loss. Took a little bit LOW on RLX strength but the futures looked life less so got out for flat and missed a half point move.

10:17: Our primary order entry went down and I had to use the backup software which I am not very proficient with. Started to sense an energy bottom and eventually bought EOG, EPG, AHC, and missed the fills on a few critical plays, scored 50-70 cents a piece but left at least 30-40 cents a piece on the table, I was too aggressive with stops and on a light volume day like today it doesn't take much volume to push stuff up.

11:30: The "dead zone" turned out to be a big rally, and I did not do anything, I can't be happy with $800, I need to push myself a little harder when I am in the money, would have easily made this a four digit game.

Swept the week 4 and 0 with $1700, can't wait for Monday . . .

Candle:

Back in March/April I was trading much bigger positions, and at the time there were many hidden flaws in my game bailed out by a very high volatility market. In April I opened the month with 12K in less than two weeks, then took a serious hit as I lost 10 out of that 12K. Then I continued the slide for the first half of May, when I was getting blown out, before I cut my size down significantly and ended the month down a few hundred dollars.

In the depth of my heart there is something wrong, I can't tell what it is but every time I see something good I always make an excuse to take a half lot, then the stock would go up 20-30 cents and I would refuse to pyramid into a full lot.

Along with the inability to hold on to winners, this is the biggest weakness in my game right now, for some reason there is fear in my blood despite of the recent winning streak, is it a lack of confidence in my calls? I do know that I have been shooting a very high percentage this month, and I should be having a much bigger month (see today's game versus SBK for example, I would bet he traded more shares than me and that was the difference of the game, and of course, the big hit I took in EMN, and there is just no excuse for someone like me to go lighter than someone who has been trading for just a few months, SBK if you are reading this, great game!).

This is precisely why everyday I tell myself that I can not be happy with what I have and I need to push up the size, but at gun point I end up taking 500 instead of 1000 shares to "test the water", turns out to be a great shot and then I pack $250 instead of $500 on a half point move . . .

I can't fully explain it, it is a weakness in my character to be conservative, but I must overcome it.

Silk:

I didn't realize you have 3 year's full time trading experience on your belt, with a few grand's worth of capital contribution (believe me a lot of people start with little to no capital, I started with only one grand and no experience), you are a walking ATM machine for the firm, guaranteed money with zero risk, you should ask for as much as possible.

 

Hitman, yeah, same here, except I took the day off. I usually sit out on low volume holiday days like today. My system executed a buy signal on the opening bar and rode all trades straight into the close. Would've been easiest, low stress trades in a while but I was on the bench.

Would-of, could-of, should-of. Damn!

 

This might be a surprise to all, but I traded 9200 shares today! I usually traded much more, but my not having a big loser today saved me a lot of churning and that cut down on my size and gave me a cleaner day.

Hitman,
Maybe you could set a minimum bar for your winners, for example don't let yourself take a winner less than $200 dollars. This way you will not be too eager to just book any profit, and get out too soon. The minimum bar is set by yourself, and to work towards raising it in every game, and before you know it, you will feel more comfortable taking on size, because you feel comfortable taking good profit.
Of course it is easier said than done, but it is doable and a good challenge for all of us.

 

Is it 9200 shares each way or 9200 shares total? Even if it is 9200 shares combined it still beats mine by 800 shares, that's two extra shots which was probably the difference of the game on a day like today, where it is pretty hard to miss after say first 30 minutes or so. Also I stopped at 11:30 since I had a friend coming over, but still, not going to make any lame excuses since I choked on that EMN trade, didn't get out in time, you played a much more aggressive game with more diversified sector selection (I did not think of the airline connection at all, which was obvious, and if energy didn't rip as hard as it did you would have probably blew me out like rest of your crew

Very impressive, I am proud of your performance today, hope you get that first (and the most important one in our career) check soon. Be careful about Monday, I am sure today was a big day for you (hell I would gladly take it anyday) but there is the tendency-to-get-smoked-syndrome after big games.

Last but not least, there is no such thing as beginner's luck, the style I trade is extremely flexible and there are probably a million variations given sector/stock preference, when used in right hands it can be extremely powerful. If you survive the initial learning curve then experience becomes less and less of a factor, individual talent (the ability to take and hold size with a head cool as ice) will eventually take over, as the most profitable traders at my firm are far from ones trading most number of years.

Among professional traders with equivalent experience who have survived their learning curve and are consistently profitable, I am far from the top tier, but I will be a good benchmark once you get your size up

 

Hitman,

That's very light considering your size limit to be 3000 shares, but as you put it yourself, it is better to make $500 everyday and be consistent than to have big up and down days.

Thanks for the warning, this is my second best day ever, and I know how I can carried away (MOC day). I have learned my lesson. I will try to be careful.

As far as being consistent, I still a lot to learn from you.
Just out of curiosity , do you still post on MSN, if yes what is the link.