Last year, I set out to take 410K to 4 million by Year End 2010, sustaining a loss of 11% during the period ending Jan 8 2011. At the worst part of that draw-down (Oct 2010, with the loss nearly 50%), I thought of shutting down the thread and starting a new one with the current title. However, I decided to see the old thread through year end.
The purpose of this thread is to record my journey towards recovering what was lost, and moving on to new equity highs. The battle will address the following:
A) Recover the remaining loss from last year. That would be +45K (+13%) from here. That is the immediate target/milestone.
B) Set new cumulative equity highs. The last one on a week-end basis was set in Oct 2009 (+635K). Since then I have pulled out 150K cash from the account. Adjusting for that, the current balance will have to go to 485K (+149K or +44% from here). This is the next milestone.
C) Set new cash balance high. That would require going to 635K (+299 or +89%) from here. This is the third milestone.
D) Get the cash balance to hit 7 digits ($1million). That would be +664K (198%) from here. This will be the fourth milestone
E) Bonus: Establish such a buffer that 7 digits ($1million) should be the new floor. How much buffer is enough? I'm not sure, but given a history of 50% draw-downs (hoping that does not happen again), I think taking the account to $2.5million before tax could give such assurance. Once again, this (E) would be a big bonus. It is not an immediate aim.
As in prior threads, I will seek not to trade too frequently (average was 25 trades a week last year, I should be OK with 10 quality trades per week), but will seek to maximize each opportunity by putting on a decent size. Still holding down my full-time job (so glad to have that after a year like 2010).
PRIOR THREADS
Taking 410K to 4million by Year End 2010
Taking 320K to 3.5million by Year End 2009
Taking 103K to 1.2million by Year End 2008
Taking 76K to 500K by Year End (2007)
QUICK RECAP
Here is a quite recap of my past trading. Opened an account and placed my first trade with Datek Online in Dec 1999 at the height of the dotcom bubble, starting with 16K (basically my whole savings) and within 2 weeks I lost 50% of that. Through the years till Nov 2004 I lost a cummulative of 54K (account goes down, let the account idle for sometime until I can save some more money, and then replenish, get the next drawdown, and so on). At that low point, the balance in my account was 5.3K. Every thing in the account now sprung from that balance with some additional deposits, and lots of withdrawals as follows (The figures here are for full year, and not just period covered by thread):
Notes
* Closing Balance = StartingBalance + Net P &L - Net Cash Movement
* Net Cash Movement is total of deposits less withdrawals. From Jan 2006 up, there has never been a deposit (just cash withdrawals).
* Return% is percentage based on P/L over the starting balance, with no regard to the timing of deposits or withdrawals.
* The periods listed here for 2007 onwards is from start of thread to start of next thread for completeness, including the 2 or 3 weeks before the next thread. So may differ a bit from the figures at the end of the 50-weeks of each yearly thread.
The purpose of this thread is to record my journey towards recovering what was lost, and moving on to new equity highs. The battle will address the following:
A) Recover the remaining loss from last year. That would be +45K (+13%) from here. That is the immediate target/milestone.
B) Set new cumulative equity highs. The last one on a week-end basis was set in Oct 2009 (+635K). Since then I have pulled out 150K cash from the account. Adjusting for that, the current balance will have to go to 485K (+149K or +44% from here). This is the next milestone.
C) Set new cash balance high. That would require going to 635K (+299 or +89%) from here. This is the third milestone.
D) Get the cash balance to hit 7 digits ($1million). That would be +664K (198%) from here. This will be the fourth milestone
E) Bonus: Establish such a buffer that 7 digits ($1million) should be the new floor. How much buffer is enough? I'm not sure, but given a history of 50% draw-downs (hoping that does not happen again), I think taking the account to $2.5million before tax could give such assurance. Once again, this (E) would be a big bonus. It is not an immediate aim.
As in prior threads, I will seek not to trade too frequently (average was 25 trades a week last year, I should be OK with 10 quality trades per week), but will seek to maximize each opportunity by putting on a decent size. Still holding down my full-time job (so glad to have that after a year like 2010).
PRIOR THREADS
Taking 410K to 4million by Year End 2010
Taking 320K to 3.5million by Year End 2009
Taking 103K to 1.2million by Year End 2008
Taking 76K to 500K by Year End (2007)
QUICK RECAP
Here is a quite recap of my past trading. Opened an account and placed my first trade with Datek Online in Dec 1999 at the height of the dotcom bubble, starting with 16K (basically my whole savings) and within 2 weeks I lost 50% of that. Through the years till Nov 2004 I lost a cummulative of 54K (account goes down, let the account idle for sometime until I can save some more money, and then replenish, get the next drawdown, and so on). At that low point, the balance in my account was 5.3K. Every thing in the account now sprung from that balance with some additional deposits, and lots of withdrawals as follows (The figures here are for full year, and not just period covered by thread):
Code:
From To StartingBalance Net P&L Return% Net Cash Movement Closing Balance
=========== =========== =============== =============== ======= ================= ==============
Nov 2004 Dec 2004 5,300 8,700 164 1,000 15,000
Jan 2005 Dec 2005 15,000 132,000 880 (12,000) 135,000
Jan 2006 Feb 28 2007 135,000 115,000 85 (174,000) 76,000
Feb 28 2007 Jan 12 2008 76,000 138,000 182 (111,000) 103,000
Jan 12 2008 Jan 11 2009 103,000 377,000 366 (160,000) 320,000
Jan 11 2009 Jan 10 2010 320,000 210,000 65 (120,000) 410,000
Jan 10 2010 Jan 9 2011 410,000 (44,000) (11) (30,000) 336,000Notes
* Closing Balance = StartingBalance + Net P &L - Net Cash Movement
* Net Cash Movement is total of deposits less withdrawals. From Jan 2006 up, there has never been a deposit (just cash withdrawals).
* Return% is percentage based on P/L over the starting balance, with no regard to the timing of deposits or withdrawals.
* The periods listed here for 2007 onwards is from start of thread to start of next thread for completeness, including the 2 or 3 weeks before the next thread. So may differ a bit from the figures at the end of the 50-weeks of each yearly thread.
