2014: The Battle for Survival

guy990opl said:
First of all I really admire you for continuing to write the best journal on the website and for having big cojones to keep posting your performance regardless of what the market throws at you.

I am a better than average trader in the sense that I have been trading for 8 years (selling option spreads on the SP500 futures ) and have had from a flat to modestly positive performance. I have been following all your journals for many years. I have no idea how you can possibly go through such rollercoasters. Obviously everyone has his own way to trade, but if I had to go trough the kind of gains and losses you have I would be emotionally and financially drained. Let's forget the financial aspect hoping that before the end of they year you can make some gains again. Let's stay with the mental/psychological part. How can you possibly see yourself trading AND keep your cool, be always in control for many years to come with such ups and downs ?

Just for the records this year I am up 10% and losing money is part of my job. My goal is about 1% each month, but you were up 58% by the end of February !!! Who makes 30% each month, isn't that something unusual and very special ?!

Last thing I want to do is to twist the knife into the wounds, we have all been there yet YOU ARE STILL TRADING while the vast majority of people isn't. The market messed up their head and bank account. There are people who used to make $100s or $1000s in 1 day but after losing it all had to stop trading. Now they work for $20 x hour and have hard time doing it.

If I have a month where instead of making/ losing 1%- 2% I make 10% the very first thing I would do is to take a little time off. Not to be lazy per se but to let it sink in, to pause a little before going back. Making a lot of money and making it fast it is not normal ( your 58% ). We have to find what suits us best to maintain some sanity so that we can continue and hopefully make money for the long run while trading -one the most ferocious environments to make a living.

You have been in this game long enough and you know what is best for you, but in my humble opinion after losing almost all your gains some time off would help you. In 2008 I took time off when the very same thing happened to me. To survive I had to come back psychologically sound. I am still trading.

Good Luck,

guy
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Thanks. Seems volatility of account is part of my game - although it does not have to be as violent as it has been recently. This month up big so far - unfortunately won't be able to trade next 10-12 days as I am on vacation: counting my lost earnings :)
 
neke said:
Thanks. Seems volatility of account is part of my game - although it does not have to be as violent as it has been recently. This month up big so far - unfortunately won't be able to trade next 10-12 days as I am on vacation: counting my lost earnings :)
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Just coming back from vacation and saw the volatility I missed (SPY plunging 12% over the period before rebounding). Can't be certain what would have happened, but I believe it should have been positive for my account.
 
Period Update for August (8/1/2015 - 9/5/2015) (5 weeks)

Monstrous month, up 254K (107%). The memories of last month quite forgotten.

After last months disaster (7/20/2015), and some initial flat lining, began a steady climb that carried into August and lasted all month. Yes I used leverage, and yes I averaged down - it is not really the averaging down that was the problem: it was the recklessness of the averaging.

The early uptick in volatility after the China devaluation was the catalyst for some early gains for the month. Unfortunately was away on vacation for nearly two weeks of the month when the monster volatility happened - I can only imagine what could have happened.

Took out 17K for the months of July/Aug.

Code: 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Opening Balance:                	237,582
Net gain for period 		        253,863
Cash Withdrawal				(17,000)
------------------------------------------------
Net Balance:                   		474,445


For the Thread YTD  2015 (1/3/2015 - 9/5/2015)

Opening Balance:                       256,099
Net gain   	    	               263,346 (Up 103%)
Cash Withdrawal			       (55,000)
------------------------------------------------
Net Balance			       474,445
----------------------

TRADES

TYPE	Exit Date/Time		P/L

OPTION	2015-08-03-11-27-25	10092.1
STOCK	2015-08-03-10-31-35	784.5
STOCK	2015-08-03-15-50-44	-524.5
STOCK	2015-08-03-15-55-14	-966.4
STOCK	2015-08-04-10-05-31	23136.6
STOCK	2015-08-04-10-01-13	3327.5
STOCK	2015-08-04-10-21-54	-2145.9
OPTION	2015-08-04-15-58-08	-13297.3
STOCK	2015-08-04-15-07-24	-799.7
OPTION	2015-08-04-12-07-13	5680.6
STOCK	2015-08-04-15-49-11	10.4
STOCK	2015-08-04-15-49-10	2305.8
STOCK	2015-08-05-11-08-14	5100.8
STOCK	2015-08-05-09-57-52	2407.1
OPTION	2015-08-05-11-14-48	11612.6
OPTION	2015-08-05-11-07-46	-6068.7
STOCK	2015-08-06-10-15-41	2143.6
STOCK	2015-08-06-10-45-18	1532
OPTION	2015-08-06-11-35-37	32122.5
OPTION	2015-08-06-15-59-47	-1788.3
STOCK	2015-08-07-12-02-37	1086.7
STOCK	2015-08-07-12-43-10	2668.1
STOCK	2015-08-10-15-50-15	1311.3
OPTION	2015-08-10-15-51-48	8849.4
OPTION	2015-08-12-15-13-03	6521.6
OPTION	2015-08-11-09-54-56	290
STOCK	2015-08-12-12-41-34	849.3
OPTION	2015-08-12-15-39-30	16088.7
OPTION	2015-08-12-13-44-08	2952.4
STOCK	2015-08-12-09-52-31	-939.6
OPTION	2015-08-12-12-41-19	22339.6
OPTION	2015-08-13-11-37-48	-45783.5
OPTION	2015-08-12-14-48-16	2848.9
OPTION	2015-08-12-15-26-12	21297.8
STOCK	2015-08-13-10-06-47	33.8
STOCK	2015-08-14-10-57-00	184.8
STOCK	2015-08-14-14-40-14	2855.3
STOCK	2015-08-14-15-51-59	-1416.5
STOCK	2015-08-17-12-08-17	5115
STOCK	2015-08-17-11-20-20	1698.5
STOCK	2015-08-17-15-49-54	6315
OPTION	2015-08-17-11-34-43	9104.2
STOCK	2015-08-17-11-22-54	1641.1
OPTION	2015-08-17-12-04-19	-5087.3
STOCK	2015-08-18-14-29-46	17462.4
OPTION	2015-08-18-10-52-06	4078.3
OPTION	2015-08-18-11-55-36	29041.1
OPTION	2015-08-18-10-34-29	1642.1
OPTION	2015-09-01-15-39-40	48544.6
STOCK	2015-09-02-13-41-46	9822.8
OPTION	2015-09-02-15-20-15	7934.4
STOCK	2015-09-03-15-55-15	-4758
OPTION	2015-09-03-09-32-43	-1596.4
STOCK	2015-09-03-14-46-50	5198.1
STOCK	2015-09-03-15-55-14	-17996.3
STOCK	2015-09-04-10-17-26	11335.2
OPTION	2015-09-04-10-50-49	-6151
OPTION	2015-09-04-10-52-22	-2469.7
OPTION	2015-09-04-10-52-58	16279.9
 

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Holy crap you have balls of steel. Well done neke. I for one am rooting for you man. Keep it going. I know you are going to have up and down months ( and so do you I'm sure), but your ability to keep rising from the canvas is admirable.
 
Would you mind telling us about your health? How is the stress effecting you? Ulcer, high BP, depression,etc? How is your sleep?
 
Pekelo said:
Would you mind telling us about your health? How is the stress effecting you? Ulcer, high BP, depression,etc? How is your sleep?
More...

Even with the drawdown, he is up huge over the past two months. Why would he be depressed?
 
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