2012: The Battle for Survival

mastacoli71 · Jun 2, 2012

Code:
Quote from neke:

Weekly Update for week 20/50 ended 6/2/2012

Negative week, down 2K. gave back last week's moderate gain. Too much interference with my automation - closing out positions manually out of fear of losing. Not good for performance. There is some kind of vicious cycle when there is no buffer of gains to play with. Took out 4K for the month ended 5/31/2012.

For the four weeks 5/5/2012 - 6/2/2012, lost 10K against a target of +6K. Dismal performance no doubt capped by the loss on uncovered option two weeks ago. Sizing for the next four weeks (6/3/2012 - 7/1/2012) will be reduced by 33% - max option size now set at 2%. Target will be a measly 3K. The emphasis now is to turn a profitable month no matter how small. Need some steadying of the ship and some shot of confidence.

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Opening Balance: 149,462 Net loss for the week (2,042) Cash Withdrawal (4,000) ------------------------------------------------ Net Balance: 143,420 Since Inception of Thread 01/18/2012 - 06/02/2012 Opening Balance: 203,729 Net loss (33,309)(Down 16%) Cash Withdrawal (27,000) ------------------------------------------------ Net Balance 143,420

I hate to see you go through what you are going through. It is singles that will get you back to profitability.

mastacoli71 · Jun 3, 2012

Quote from lescor:

Let's see how fast you can break your own rules, for the 100th time. You're like a broken record, "I got my ass handed to me on discretionary trades, I'm going to stop doing this". Next week, same thing.

You know, you can use stops on options too. Sell .70, cover at 10.00? Really?

Didn't take very long again. Painful to watch.

neke · Jun 3, 2012

Quote from nonlinear5:

Here is what you said just two weeks ago:
"So finally I am putting a complete STOP on ALL DISCRETIONARY trading during the trading day.".

If you have a problem interfering with your automation, make it impossible to interfere. That's how I run it: there is no option to initiate or close the trades.

When I talked about stopping all discretionary trades during the trading day, I was referring to having my system close all discretionary positions initiated during the trading day. That can be checked by my automation (if any discretionary trade is initiated, it is closed out immediately at market). Still possible to close entries manually - the automation can do nothing about that I don't have a proprietary order entry system.

Second there is still a strategy that I have excluded (right the week-end of that post) because it has been profitable even in the last two years. There is no need throwing out the baby with the bath water. The system knows how to identify a trade based on that strategy.

nonlinear5 · Jun 3, 2012

Quote from neke:

When I talked about stopping all discretionary trades during the trading day, I was referring to having my system close all discretionary positions initiated during the trading day. That can be checked by my automation (if any discretionary trade is initiated, it is closed out immediately at market). Still possible to close entries manually - the automation can do nothing about that I don't have a proprietary order entry system.

Second there is still a strategy that I have excluded (right the week-end of that post) because it has been profitable even in the last two years. There is no need throwing out the baby with the bath water. The system knows how to identify a trade based on that strategy.

Ok, it sounds like your idea of automation is different from mine. In my case, it's what I call "full automation", which means that everything is controlled by the ATS, which includes placing orders. In your case, it looks like it's "one-quarter-automated". Nothing wrong with it if that blend helps the performance, but by your own admission, your interference makes it worse. Thus it seems rather obvious what you should do. Automation of order placement is not difficult compared to designing a consistently profitable strategy which has a good risk/reward profile.

Pita · Jun 4, 2012

Quote from mastacoli71:

Didn't take very long again. Painful to watch.

All what it takes is a change of the title, like taking 150k to 300k by end of the calendar year. That's very doable for him.
Battle for survival is screaming for being just that. Don't use the stars for your trading but don't program your mind to lazy hopes.

tenthousandmen · Jun 4, 2012

neke, what has made you think you can become a profitable trader starting today (monday) and all of your troubles will finally be over?

It's not going to happen by banging your fist while you are still live. Seek the mountain of info that has been given to you ...you will get through this, only persistence does. I think most would hate to see you lose your money in a few very short months from today after your withdrawals. What will happen to your family's living standard? Backup plans? It will be a waste to get help after the fact... start now and avoid trying to source new principle.

mastacoli71 · Jun 4, 2012

Quote from Pita:

All what it takes is a change of the title, like taking 150k to 300k by end of the calendar year. That's very doable for him.
Battle for survival is screaming for being just that. Don't use the stars for your trading but don't program your mind to lazy hopes.

Doable with the correct mindset, plenty of leverage, and good risk control.

mastacoli71 · Jun 4, 2012

Quote from neke:

Second there is still a strategy that I have excluded (right the week-end of that post) because it has been profitable even in the last two years. There is no need throwing out the baby with the bath water. The system knows how to identify a trade based on that strategy.

You r not trading a strategy that has been profitable the last 2 years

Optionpro007 · Jun 5, 2012

neke · Jun 8, 2012

Weekly Update for week 21/50 ended 6/8/2012

Awful week, down 5.3K (3.7%).

Code:

Opening Balance:                	143,420
Net loss for the week 		         (5,310)
------------------------------------------------
Net Balance:                   		138,110


Since Inception of Thread   01/18/2012 - 06/08/2012

Opening Balance:                   	203,729
Net loss 			        (38,619)(Down 19%)
Cash Withdrawal				(27,000)
------------------------------------------------
Net Balance				138,110