A 70k bet that I can't make a 50% gain in 2009

Mike, thank you very much. After the mess I slogged through last year, I am very happy to share my journey. Now don't get me wrong; there was nothing wrong with the trades I put on last year. The problem was with my risk management.

I've adopted Geez as my discipline and risk management mentor! When I see someone whose losses outnumber their wins 2:1 and they STILL come out ahead, anything resembling fear and uncertainty has been removed from my psyche! People pay good money for seminars demonstrating this concept (cut your losses quickly, let your winners run), but there's nothing like seeing someone call his trades in real time, stick with his plan, and inevitably come out ahead.

As for how I trade, it is indeed very discretionary. Stochastics are my initial signal, then I look at near term and long term trend, near and long term S/R levels, news, even fundamentals affect my day trades (things like short interest, dividend dates, earnings, etc.)

I paper traded for a month or so before starting day trading. This gave me confidence in my setups.
 
WTG geez,

You have an off week and you still made money....that's how you win bets!

Its good to see you're cutting trades at b/e and not taking the loss. For me its extremely difficult to let a winning trade turn into a loser.
 
Geez,

Was wondering, since your account has been increasing steadily, have you put any thought into increasing the capital at risk for each trade? I would estimate you could add another 10% - 12% percent to each trade based on your account growth. I know you're just trying to win a bet, but at some point isn't there some temptation to increase the rate of this thing? You could be done by mid-year, or 100% by year end!

Anyway, still enjoying the ride, keep it up.
 
Quote from Scorpiano:

WTG geez,

You have an off week and you still made money....that's how you win bets!

Its good to see you're cutting trades at b/e and not taking the loss. For me its extremely difficult to let a winning trade turn into a loser.
More...
 
geez,

i have been following your journal for a while now and i find it amazing that you can still squeeze out a profit while having more then 50% of your trades go bad. I hope I can learn to discipline myself like this and stop giving money to the market. good luck for this week.

-One2
 
Quote from Scorpiano:

WTG geez,

You have an off week and you still made money....that's how you win bets!

Its good to see you're cutting trades at b/e and not taking the loss. For me its extremely difficult to let a winning trade turn into a loser.
More...


Thanks for stopping in again Scorpiano,
Here's my dilema:
Of the 8 trades I stopped out at b/e 7 actually turned and went to target. If I would have left the trades go to either stop or target I would be +2500 on those trades instead of -100.
This is (in my opinion) the hardest part of trading....when to move to b/e, or take a trade before target, or lock in a certain gain..etc.
A very good test for alot of traders is to go back and look at the trades they took and see how many they cut short or moved stops up, only to have th trades go to the original targets. This is why I let alot of my trades go to the Stop or the Target(also I am working fulltime and it's hard to monitor every tick of the trade). I try to find the best entries I can and then get out of the way....I take emotion out as a variable. Does it work everytime.....no, but I find that this is what works best for me.
 
Quote from mikea59:

Geez,

Was wondering, since your account has been increasing steadily, have you put any thought into increasing the capital at risk for each trade? I would estimate you could add another 10% - 12% percent to each trade based on your account growth. I know you're just trying to win a bet, but at some point isn't there some temptation to increase the rate of this thing? You could be done by mid-year, or 100% by year end!

Anyway, still enjoying the ride, keep it up.
More...

Hey Mike,
Of course I have thought about raising my risk/reward, but my worry is how it may change my exit strategies and ability to get over a losing trade quickly and move on. Also, I work fulltime (while trading) and having a lower risk I don't feel pressured to monitor a trade tick by tick, I just set alarms .10 from target and .10 from the stop and check in on the trade when I have time.
That being said....I always have the option to move up in risk/reward :)
 
Quote from One2:

geez,

i have been following your journal for a while now and i find it amazing that you can still squeeze out a profit while having more then 50% of your trades go bad. I hope I can learn to discipline myself like this and stop giving money to the market. good luck for this week.

-One2
More...

Hey One2,
I stay very strict with my stops and as long as I hit pretty close to a 2.0 ratio on each trade I can be under 50% and still make a profit.
That being said, I actually would have been in the red this past week if it wasn't for 1 FAZ trade taking off for me and rising a buck past my target!
 
03/23/09:

9:55 600 DIA BUY 74.41
STOP 74.11
TGT 75.01


Buying the first pullback on the 5 min charts on the gap up after a 2 day pullback on the daily charts,
 
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