A Newbie Trading Journal

Originally posted by AAAintheBeltway
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Hello, AAAintheBeltway

Its good to know someone is actually reading my journal. :)

Now I realize that real trading is 20000000000 times scarier than paper-trading. When I was paper-trading I could enter any setup that looked good. However, in real trading, I froze up....

There is a problem entering trade right now.

I keep getting a message followed....

"Order rejected= Your order is not accepted
In order to obtain the desired position your Equity with margin
Value [0 USD] from the preivous day's close of business must exceed the initial Margin [2500 USD]"

is this because my balance from the yesterday's close was 0?

thank you

ojo
 
hi,
I think the reason is that your account is cash account,
in cash account when you buy something and then sell it, the broker has 3 days to make the selling amount available to you again. What you want is margin account , in margin account the broker will let you borrow up to the amount you have in cash. it is not easy to understand but think of it this way, the broker want you to open margin account so that they can lent you money, if you don't want their money they will make you wait for your money :D
http://www.sec.gov/answers/freeride.htm
 
Originally posted by nkhoi
hi,
I think the reason is that your account is cash account,
in cash account when you buy something and then sell it, the broker has 3 days to make the selling amount available to you again. What you want is margin account
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Thanks nkhoi

I just talked (via chat from their website) to IB representitive and the person said that I need to wait another day to trade more often....

He/she said that my account status is sufficient to be qualified pattern day trader status(?) which I really didnt understand but then he/she explained very well. So far I am very satisfied with my broker :>
 
Originally posted by nkhoi
see if you understand this, if you don't don't worry, me neither http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/ny9947n.htm
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What I really dont understand in this website is that

for example if a person have 50,000 USD in his margin account, will he be able to trade when the cost of all trades exceed 50k(200k?since its 25% of total cost during that day?)?

(condition : this person above exits the previous position everytime before he makes another.)

thank you

ojo
 
Hello

Today I made some trades. Mostly, I tried to scalp since I had missed entering a good setup because I had headiche ajd couldnit stand watching the monitors. So I took medichine and rested about 4 hours.

The first an hour from 13:30 to 14:30 after I woke up, I was trying to catch up with the market reviewing the action earlier...but when I realized there was huge oppotunity, I'd already missed it. So, I decided to practice scalping. *Now I think it was a bad idea. I shouldnt have changed my strategy*

I put my execution records below
I wanted to post my screenshot but right now I only know how to make the shot in the form of .bmp
so i just type it for now....

SLD 500 INTC 16.185 USD ISLAND 20021024 04:17:19
BOT 500 INTC 15.92 USD BTRADE 20021024 04:30:14

BOT 500 INTC 15.84 USD ARCA 20021024 04:32:58
SLD 500 INTC 16.03 USD TMBR 20021024 04:39:49

SLD 500 INTC 16.08 USD INSTINET 20021024 04:41:28
BOT 500 INTC 16.15 USD TMBR 20021024 04:43:07

SLD 500 INTC 16.12 USD TMBR 20021024 04:44:22
BOT 500 INTC 16.08 USD TMBR 20021024 04:50:46

BOT 500 INTC 16.06 USD TMBR 20021024 04:51:33
SLD 500 INTC 16.09 USD ISLAND 20021024 04:52:44

BOT 500 INTC 16.10 USD ISLAND 20021024 04:53:49
SLD 500 INTC 16.15 USD ISLAND 20021024 04:56:25

****the date&time is set at Japanese Standard Time and I dont know how to fix it yet :<*****

the 2nd trades from the last trade, I could exit pretty well even though the price went against me. (+0.03)

there was a trade I really failed. and I took a painful -0.07 loss.

thank you for viewing

ojo
 
Ojo -

Im also reading your journal - I'll try to help if you have any questions.

What timeframe do you work off of, the 1-minute bar? Have you tried the 5-minute? It's a little slower, and less noisy. This way you can let your winners run a bit longer.

Just a suggestion.
 
Today I made 0.5 per a share out of 6 trades. However, I think it is not efficient enough to make money. since my trading size is 500shares.

Even though I made $250 on these trades I end up paying about $75 in commission.

But actually I am very happy that I made some money. :>

In japan there is a term saying that "you must be more careful when you are winning." (the direct translation is "tighten your helm, after you won" or something like that)

Now I had 2 winning days....and I am going to tell myself these words before I sleep.

thank you

ojo
 
Ojo -

In America we also have a saying: " You can never go broke taking small profits." :D

As you get more experienced you can give the winners a little more leash; just always cut those losers fast!
 
Thank you for reading my journal :>

Yes I use 3 minutes chart and 60 minutes chart
I used to use 1 min chart but it was too busy and noisy

and yes that is the problem I have *I cant let my winners run*
I think I am going to review my charts past 5 or 10 days and try to see if 5 mins chart is better

Thank you for the advice...:>

ojo

Originally posted by Tech Analysis
Ojo -

Im also reading your journal - I'll try to help if you have any questions.

What timeframe do you work off of, the 1-minute bar? Have you tried the 5-minute? It's a little slower, and less noisy. This way you can let your winners run a bit longer.

Just a suggestion.
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