Argh! 2 day losing streak to start my Da-Trading career...

it's a bit like me. I paprer traded for 3 weeks and results were superb then when I went in with real $$'s I lost. I was chasing cents and my stops were too tight.

so I went back to the drawing board and now have a method that only trades 1 or 2 a day and the results are great. Often I make $1+ on 500 shares. So it's ok for now. Making money and very low stress.

I found scalping to be far too quick and exciting for me. And it lost me money and made my broker rich.

Go back to paper trading and correct it. Then trade so small it doesn't matter. I found once I put real money in my heart started pounding and I was counting $$$'s all the time...weird.. Then I cut right back so worse case it didn't matter. Now I am fine.

Good luck.
 
Quote from NoDoji:
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AMT - if you entered at 36.69, how could you have lost $$? The 2 times today it traded at that price it went straight up.

CMCSA - 19.95 was near the top of the morning run up. Both times in the morning it traded at 19.95 it was in an overbought condition and therefore a poor long entry point.

DIS - 32.88 was the high of the day and extremely overbought at that point. Why not short?

ARO - same problem - high of day, overbought, time to short.

PL - At 32.55 it moved up. Not sure how you lost $ unless your stop was too tight.

MYGN - 68.63 near high of the day
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OK, here goes:

AMT: I have lost because I used a Trailing Stop of 1.5% and it knocked me out. I did not have the guts to re-enter.

CMCSA: I was so bent on using my 'pricing entry' system that I ignored RSI

DIS, ARO, MYGN: same as CMCSA

PL: Actually it was also the same as DIS, ARO, MYGN and CMCSA - just made a typo: I entered at 33.25, not 32.25. Quiet the difference.

Quote from NoDoji:I suggest you use a stochastic indicator in your charts to help you locate overbought and oversold conditions. If you go long when oversold is indicated and it pivots up you can set a tight stop and limit your loss with a high reward opportunity. The opposite applies for going short.

I attached my chart of the day so you can see how the stochs give you fairly solid signals. (my chart says "oversold" when it should say "overbought" ) [/B]
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My problem here (among many others) is that I can't read Stochastic indicator. I read your trading blog and I seem to recall that you also took a little time mastering it.

Domo :)
 
Quote from TrueRange:

What does 2 days results have to do with the rest of your career?
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Oh, nothing. However, it's was just a little discouraging to start right (1 good day) and than have 11(!) losers in a row, without realizing my stupidity. So, as I said I needed to ventilate and get back to the drawing board.

I haven't traded today. I am back-testing right now and it seems like it wouldn't have worked today either. Time to reinvent myself :)
 
Quote from BostonKiller:

I read your trading blog and I seem to recall that you also took a little time mastering it.

Domo :)
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It's not something you can master, because it's used in tandem with other factors (support/resistance, market and sector trends, volume, etc.). But I've found it to be a great help with entries and exits.
 
Quote from antincedo:

11 losers in a row seems kind of harsh, how are you doing now?
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I took a break Friday and will paper-trade couple of days next week. See what happens.

THank you again to those who replied! I will keep posting.
 
Quote from BostonKiller:

The title is pretty self-explainatory.

But short story first: Got interested in day-trading 2 yrs ago, traded a little in 07 (mixed results), decided to go at it this year. Needless to say the results have been, erm disappointing.

So far this year I am down about $4,200 just day-trading. But what's worse is that the system that I have developed in response to my earlier losses is not working outside my Excel spreadsheet.

The system seemed almost 'bulletproof' during paper-trading. I figured that I'd just take signals from Stock Picker RT, enter above 10:00 High (by $0.10-0.50 depending on the price of the stock) and set a 1.5% Trailing Stop. Since the SPRT stocks could go either way after 10AM, I would also set Short Buy Orders and set Trailing Stops on the Short side. Throw in some ProShares (also buying over 10AM High) and I'm golden I thought.

Not quiet.
This Monday (9/22) I have made $100 on 3 small positions (about $6000 each, about half of what I anticipated I'd do), and sky seemed the limit. However, I have skipped Tuesday (which according to my spreadhseet would have been hugely profitable) and yesterday and today...well, nothing works.

I have opened a total of 11 positions in those 2 days and none was a winner.
NOT A SINGLE ONE.

This is just from today (all Long):

AMT. Entered at 36.69, lost $24
CMCSA. Entered at 19.95, lost $60
DIS. Entered at 32.88, lost $75
ARO. Entered at 31.83, lost $70
PL. Entered at 32.55, lost $132
MYGN. Entered at 68,63, lost $61

And it goes on.

I can only blame lack of preparation and overconfidence. Right now I feel like I am on a raft that is falling apart in the middle of the storm that is getting fiercer.

I am skipping again tomorrow and I guess it's back to the drawing board if next week keeps going like this...

Thanks for reading. I seriously needed to ventilate this.
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You started with the left foot: daytrading.

Start with longer time frames, which have a higher probability of success.
 
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