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Weekly Update for week 15 ended 06/08/2007 Spent a significant amount of time automating an extra strategy. That brings to two the number of automated strategies I have. The first one (let's call it AUTOTRADE1) is expected to add 10% per month to my account, while this second one (AUTOTRADE2)...

Thanks for the advice, mschey. However, I think a journal makes me realise my wrongdoings faster, not magnify them. The sense of having a goal, and having people watch me on that journey, keeps me constantly evaluating what I am doing on a weekly basis. The only pressure I feel is the sense of...

Any long-term investor will always be bullish. In the long run, the markets will continue even after you are dead. Bullish/Bearish arguments only make sense in the short-term (you pick your time-frame: one hr, one day, a week, month, year, decade). In the long-run "so long as the earth remains...

Weekly Update for week 14 ended 06/01/2007 Pathetic. My resolve to hold to rules lasted less than two weeks. Really bad trading lately. Shorted 2000 JOYG on Tuesday at 49.20 on cursory look at earnings release, added 2000 more at 50.80 and covered at 53.80. Total loss nearly 16K. Need to do a...

I work full time as an IT professional. 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 will not...

Verbotenlaandia, Thanks for your questions. First off, I have never claimed I will be able to duplicate my recent trading history indefinitely. Moreover, I do not know how you came to 126billion starting from 76K. Over how many years? I did set a target for 2/25/2007-12/31/2007 based on my...

What are your objections to using Ameritrade? I have used them from when they were Datek Online. I do not see a compelling reason to use IB, trading only stocks and stock options. Commissionwise I am better at AMTD. I know IB charges 0.005c/share, but once you start trading more than 2000 shares...

Yes, I mean being able to generate nearly 400% gain from now to year-end, without withdrawals, and have a balance of at least 500K on Dec 31, 2007 from trading profits. I could adjust for withdrawals in due course. (A) At the end of week 11 (ended 5/11/2007) my gains were 126K after 2.5...

Sorry about that. It was a profit

5/25/2007 Weekly Update for week 13 ended 5/25/2007 A little relief after last week's blow. No trade delivering a super-size return, but pleased to report I played according to plan. There was no violation of any of the two commandments (adding to a losing position, or playing a whipsaw...

Those are some of the best pieces of analysis I have seen here for a while. Thanks for informing all (including myself) of the need to look at the bigger picture, and the longer time perspective, instead of self-destructing in the here and now!

1. I would say the probability of hitting 500K before 0 is close to 100%. Even in the bubble days of Nasdaq (at 5000+) the chance it will hit 20000 before 0 is still amost 100% (as long as the index is still alive). If it is hitting it this year, sure the last update has brought down the...

After much thought I have decided to define some rules to help me avoid a repeat of those bad trades. I have defined them as two commandments by which I will have to measure myself at the end of each week. These will be critical if my profit objective is to be met: I cannot afford to throw away...

Thanks to all who gave feedback and advice after the last update. At a time like this, there is normally a lot of introspection and a new resolve to be disciplined and address the harmful tendencies. I am reactivating my automated checks on my leverage, and also revising my stop loss policy...

Weekly Update for week 12 ended 5/18/2007 Awful! Awful!! Awful!!! I am still trying to figure out what hit me this week. Never did I expect this type of drawdown and this sudden. Made all the mistakes I have warned myself against: averaging on losses, chasing stocks, subjecting myself to...

Wow, you must be under a lot of financial pressure. Wish you could get a loan to solve your immediate financial problems. It seems even 5K a month at this time is not sufficient. You certainly look capable of repaying everything in due course based on your trading records, but having to scale up...

OK I decided to review my stock trades since the thread started. In general I do not place a hard stop loss. If it is intrad-day, I watch and determine when I give up on the trade and exit. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, my commitment on each intra-day stock could range anything from 25%...

Weekly Update for week 11 ended 5/11/2007 I made a modest 9K this week, albeit with much volatility. Got whipsawed on Monday trading AL after the bid from Alcoa. Shorted at 79.2 covered at 81.74 for a loss of 10K, then bought at 82.27, sold at 80.95 for another loss of 5K. I should know...

I scale down on a method (like OPTIONS) when I have severe losses. But I do not give up entirely, since I still feel it is a potentially profitable strategy: I just need to find the way to play it right. Until then, reducing my size is my way of controlling the risk.

The good thing is that in USA and other developed countries, the chance is there to break out of poverty by trying. It is not so in every other country. Do you think the Mexicans willing to risk their lives crossing the border are doing it for fun? When the rate of unemployment is 60%, and you...