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P/L for this week: -4,700 on 433k shares traded. -6, +4, +8, -4, -6 This week was typical in the volatility of day to day p/l for me; not so typical was how it was arrived. I concentrated on cutting losers short, as my losing days usually come from one or two positions going very...

Although some of what I wrote was tongue-in-cheek, the point I was trying to make was to find trades that work even if all the conspiracies were true. In a well-timed trade there won't be any time or desire for "them" to hit your stops -- they'll be too busy pushing the market in your favor to...

On the topic of paranoia: Anyone who has traded long enough will undoubtedly develop a nagging suspicion that the markets aren't exactly "friendly". Highs/lows tend to be bought/sold, protective stops serve as magnetic trampolines, the list goes on and on. For the more optimistic (typically...

Same here, traded at the main branch in Montvale NJ. Did you take the boot camp classes with Jay and Manny?

I'd first say that I'm not a big believer in blaming psychological issues when it comes to trading; I think 8 times out of 10 one needs to deal with a flawed methodology or market view first before looking under the mental hood. At least if one is flailing, make sure it's above break even for a...

I've always wanted to keep a running record of my experiences and thoughts on becoming a trader; I posted a rather spare blog for a couple of years but it was just too easy to let go whenever I felt lazy or uninspired. Since deciding upon my own personal goal of greater accountability to myself...

For me my ego really shows it's ugly face during the losses/givebacks, refusing to take the first small loss or worse yet watching a good winner fall all the way back to negative, I'll tend to take things personal. Which is natural -- hey it's zero-sum after all -- but what is dead wrong is...

I'd like to appease the audience but I'm gonna take a page from neke and lescor and just post p/l weekly. We can try selling refreshments before we go NC-17 :)

If the first post came off sounding like I'll be lecturing you all from behind some exalted podium, let's nip that in the bud right here and now. Instead, what you have here is a trader on the cusp of becoming a consistent and confident trader, but has yet to cross that line for any appreciable...

Okay, another journal for you all. More introspective, less nuts-and-bolts, but complete with weekly P/L for all you voyeuristic pervs out there :) Bit of background: I'm a completely self-taught trader. I took one econ course in college and became a studio art major, mostly because I...

You will never learn enough following rules like a robot. That's the catch-22.

I called them yesterday about this and they actually said that the ability to convert your IRA at IB into roth will be an option on the website in a few weeks. At no point during the conversation did he state that a conversion was "not possible" so I think the info here is old.

It's pretty evident that "pairs trading" as an edge is deteriorating, why on earth would you teach or give away anything for free unless it's broken?

One of the best lines from market wizards was from Bruce Kovner, who spoke about a fellow trader: "Intellectually, he knew markets much better than I did, yet I was keeping money and he was not. He traded much too big. For every one contract I traded, he traded ten. He would double his...

Automate what? His automated trades aren't what got him here. It'll take another 9-month-60% straight line up for the markets for him to possibly replicate his performance last year. Not to be harsh but don't confuse brains with a bear market retracement.

The truth is, for the most part, all you see on level 2 and time & sales is designed to part you from your money (or stock) at exactly the wrong time. Sure once in a while you'll catch a runner and take a few hundred shares of a stock that never looks back. But for about 90% of my trades...

SWM anyone?

I don't think the point was being smug. More than once after seeing neke's results have I said to myself "no wonder that trade worked out so smoothly." :)

You are completely clueless, do you know that? Have you ever tried trading oh, say 3000 share positions intraday in stocks like MA, GS, IBM? These stocks have 30, 80, 160 billion market caps respectively. But trust me, 3K shares will NOT yield 10x the profit that you had made with 300 shares...

News for you: if you've ever had to depend on your own trading p/l, day in, day out, to put food on the table and pay the rent, you'd realize % return, ROE, any friggin acronym you can think of, is entirely BULLSHIT. It all comes down to how much you pull out of the markets, each and every...