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When I said earlier had I stuck to my two top strategies (out of more than a dozen) my account would have been up more than 100%, I said so using actual trade results. As of the end of last week, my top strategy made $54,795 (53.4%) while the next made $26,737 (26%). My computation of greater...

My trades are normally based on the premise that over a given time-frame (normally till end of day) the reward/risk justifies the trade. I only put a hard stop for stock when my account is threatened (10% rule). Otherwise I judge the situation and take action when I think my initial expectation...

There are certainly too many of my losing trades that went down 2K and still came back up. I meet that a lot in my contrarian plays. To me it still boils down to reward/risk over the expected time-frame. I have a hard 10% (of account) limit on my stock trades. I know that is way more than most...

At last check, my condo (rented out) is down 30% in value in the last 2 years.

Lets not confuse trading with investing. The people mentioned are mostly investors, who probably only go long and can't be nimbe because of the amount they are managing. It is to be expected they could be down if the market is down so much in a short time. On the other hand, traders who go long...

Cytropic, Sarvise: Thanks for your analysis. I think now it is possible my target is having some negative effect on my action. I have over a dozen different ways of playing the market, that I call "Strategies". Each week I analyse the performance by strategies. Looking at the break-down since...

Weekly Update for week 26 ended 07/12/2008 When it rains, it pours! Awful week, down 24K (17%). I am sick. On Monday capitulated and closed out the losing option position from last week (MA CALL) for a loss of 9.5K. The same day made a silly trade in ANR, buying near the high and...

Yes, it is amazing how the market keeps dropping without support. I abstain from shorting, thinking this is overdone, and we could have a violent reversal any time. So far it hasn't happened, and I have missed out on the gains on the short side.

I normally go for the next strike price (from current price). In this case, yes, 260 strike could have made for faster appreciation, but it is not always the case (bearing in mind how much the stock appreciates, the bid-ask spread, and time to expiration - The closer to expiration, the faster...

I guess this is a general problem. It would not be so bad if you exited the trade to enter another incipient opportunity. Unfortunately for me, it is simply exiting for the sake of locking in a little gain, which is not the right thing. Ideally one should let the profits run for a while (average...

Weekly Update for week 25 ended 07/05/2008 Should be a good week, up 17.6K, (14.0%), but for an unrealised loss of 8K I am carrying on an open position. Really hit a good run rate (15 winners vs. 4 losers), even though there were no stand-out trades except FSLR on Friday. I really regret...

Have you considered the software could be compiling statistics from all the major exchanges (NYSE+Nasdaq+Amex)? Nasdaq has more than 3000 companies

Weekly Update for week 24 ended 06/27/2008 Sober week, up 12.8K (11.3%). No huge gainer, but a collection of good trades (70% win-rate) accounted for the performance, as I sought to look well before leaping this week. Nice way to end the month, even though I am still down for the...

if we assume that for any quick profit taken, there are probably some you are lucky to take the quick profit (the position never gets to your intended target), overall your win ratio should rise, from say 65% to 75%. Whether it reduces your long-term profitability cannot be determined merely by...

I trade both stock and stock options. I do swing trade options as well (multiple days): Truth though is that recently, I haven't got the fortitude to hold overnight on almost anything.

Oh sure I would allow 10% loss of my account for a trade that has 20% upside with the same chance over a short time frame (say a day). The truth though is that when I suffer a draw-down or losing streak, I lower my risk tolerance. This is because I do not want to end the year lower that what I...

You are right. There are some trades I would not mention to someone I am taking at the point of entry... because there is no sound reason for the entry, probably vengeance or something...that happened in POT. As for system, yes I have a system I SHOULD follow. I have given that in broad...

The target was based on what I thought was feasible. Yes, there have been lots of deviation from plan, and the target is way off at the moment. I don't think it is playing a negative impact on my decision.

Fine analogy. Hopefully will get over that kind of temptation, and try not to swing for the fence to offset a normal loss.

Weekly Update for week 23 ended 06/20/2008 Awful week, down 21K (15.6%). One giant step backward. Blame it on Potash (POT) and insane exposure decision. As you can see from the bottom three trades, its all POT for a total loss of 31K. Started on the 17th, when I decided to buy puts to...