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Weekly Update for week 3 ended 02/02/2008 Flattish week, up 1K (1%). Overtraded quite a bit. I should watch it. Lost on Thursay shorting AMZN. Looks like they could find nothing wrong even with the margin pressure. I have been somewhat cautious, as I seek to bring the balance back to...

Graph is attached. A little divergence appearing to the downside, but good to know it is still quite early.

Weekly Update for week 2 ended 01/26/2008 Bad result, down 10K (10%). Not a very promising start, trying to fade the bounce on Tuesday with SPY put, thinking we should surely test the lows, not to be (although it was close to that on Wed), losing 6K. Next day, tried to fade the bounce on...

Hahaha. You certainly sound funny. Your paper math might be great, but you haven't laid down the scenarios where you can make +50% or -20% with equal or higher odds. Not trading? Recommend paper-trading? What a combo! The funniest is that your thread will disappear because it is too good to be free!

Looks like a well-rehearsed recording opportunity. How many of you have a live cam of their trading room? And why would he get wrecked by a 26K loss? In any case, whether real or not, it is funny.

Was that in cents or in dollars?

Quote from newguy05: Hi, i am looking for suggestions on resources for daytrading, basically to get started. Have been doing long term (1-12months holding period) stock/option trading for a while and made some money, but they have always bugged me. After much thought, i think my...

It is normally the near month expiration. Occasionally, I do two months away, especially if it is a swing trade lasting many days. I do not think the Day Trading Buying Power is a limitation. I use less than the maximum most of the time. If I am tempted to do more than the limit, most likely...

Yes, I will keep posting a review of the key trades each week.

Below is the expected rate of growth of balance on my account to attain the target of 1.2million, starting with the 103K at the start of the thread (2008-01-12). The implied rate is 5.04% per week without withdrawals. Week End Date Opening Bal. Closing Bal. 1 19/01/2008 102614 107788 2...

I guess there were some that did lose 15% and recovered later to less than 10%. But on the whole, I should think they impacted my account less than the run-away losers that never rebounded. The important thing is to preserve capital to fight another day.

Weekly Update for week 1 ended 01/18/2008 A mildly positive week, up 1K (1%). The emphasis has been sitting and waiting for the trade, making only 13 trades. It nearly paid off handsomely, making 20K on Wednesday buying the follow-on sell-off. Closed off the trades by late afternoon before...

I said compounded average, and I meant it

Last year, started with 76K, and withdrew 82K before end of journal, with another 30K after the end. That means the original investment was already out. I stagger the withdrawals: I guess that is the difference.

No, I do not envisage stringing 50 weeks of 5% each. What I said is an average of 5%. If you followed last years figures, it ranged from minus 50% week to +70% week. I shall try to manage the volatility, but no it is not possible to have 5% steady returns like a CD deposit (0.06% a week)...

Just a repeat of what I wrote in some other place: I learnt to trade by of course trying and failing over the four years from end 1999 to November 2004 when I bottomed. It was after I started keeping detailed records and analysing things I began to develop strategies I thought could work...

I have a position monitor that automatically closes my excess positions, limiting my exposure, and also stops out my losing trades. I have not yet found an automated way to help me press when the odds are in my favour; It is what I am still trying to do on my own.

The automated trading is only stocks. The principal strategy AUTOTRADE1 that I used for a long time was long stock only. It delivered impressive returns in 2005, 2006, and the first part of 2007. However, when the deep volatility started in the market from July, I suffered serious drawdown until...

The risk tolerance is developed over time. It basically involves looking at your "edge": list of trades, and asking yourself the question: could I have increased returns by taking on more risk/more leverage. The answer in some cases is yes, but with greater expectation of drawdown.

The 5% is an average: it is not an absolute target. The maximum drawdown expected (which could last more than a week) is 40%. I calculate risk on a per-trade basis. For stocks, the maximum that could be allowed per trade is 10% loss of account (not all trades, only the higher reward ones could...