Diary of an LSE stock trader

Summary Week Ended Friday 6th June 2014

12 Stock Trades:

4 AAL + 81.36 BPS
3 BARC + 78.53 BPS
3 EZJ + 91.51 BPS
1 SBRY + 22.99 BPS
1 STAN + 4.53 BPS

Stocks net + 278.92 BPS

Long and short trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 4 days this week.

Return on account for the week + 2.90 % net.

P:L ratio was N/A as there were no losing trades.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.

Thoughts

A volatile week, which I like to see.

Above my 2.5% weekly benchmark, which is good.

Most of my watch list stocks finished the week higher.


Looking forward to more opportunities next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.
 
Summary Week Ended Friday 13th June 2014

19 Stock Trades:

6 AAL + 77.71 BPS
4 BLT + 33.93 BPS
3 EZJ + 144.43 BPS
1 SBRY + 5.54 BPS
5 STAN + 34.23 BPS

Stocks net + 295.84 BPS

All long trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 4.5 days this week.
Return on account for the week + 3.32 % net.
P:L ratio N/A as there were no losing trades.
No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.

Thoughts

Another fairly volatile week, which I like to see. Volatility picked up on Thursday and Friday, after a quiet start to the week.

Over my 2.5% weekly benchmark again this week.

Miners were volatile on thursday, with AAL and BLT gapping down - see chart.
Both AAL, BLT and RIO made 30 day lows this week.
BP made a new 52 week high on Friday, crude was also strong following the events in Iraq.

A couple of poor exits, and a few missed opportunities. That's trading.
I remain cautious on the equity markets for now.
Looking forward to more opportunities next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.
 
Summary Week Ended Friday 20th June 2014

17 Stock Trades:

3 AAL + 94.94 BPS
3 BLT + 25.09 BPS
6 SBRY + 96.59 BPS
5 STAN + 106.66 BPS

Stocks net + 323.28 BPS

All long trades, all intraday.
I traded 4.5 days this week.
Return on account for the week + 4.87 % net.
P:L ratio was 13.1:1 - I had one losing trade....
No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.

Thoughts

Another fairly volatile week, which I like to see.

A decent return, well above my 2.5% weekly benchmark.

A couple of poor exits, and a few missed opportunities. Frustrating that I practically caught the lows of the week on BLT on Tuesday in the low 1830s, but didn't ride it into the highs on Thursday. Same on AAL.

I guess I didn't fancy the risk of a gap down overnight. Of course, both AAL and BLT gapped up on Thursday morning after the FOMC.

BLT high back on 9th June was 1918, then on Thursday (the 19th) it peaked at 1917.5 before falling below 1900... who says price doesn't have memory ?

STAN was weak, making a new 30 day low on Friday. BARC remained weak too.

BP and RDSA/B made new 52 week highs.

Although the Fed continues to swamp the financial markets with cash, I remain cautious on the equity markets for now. Not sure how this is all going to end, but it will probably surprise a lot of market participants.

Friday lunchtime here, and I'm probably done for the week. (Last weeks net gain was slightly higher than reported here as I got in another trade before Friday's close).

Looking forward to more opportunities next week. I'm up a decent percentage on the month, and I will be cautious in what remains of June.

Besides, lots of quality football to be enjoyed....:cool:

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.
 
Summary Week Ended Friday 27th June 2014

26 Stock Trades:

2 AAL + 69.43 BPS
9 BARC + 315.22 BPS
5 BLT + 75.46 BPS
2 BP + 31.71 BPS
4 SBRY + 90.95 BPS
4 STAN + 74.15 BPS

Stocks net + 656.92 BPS

22 long, 4 short trades, intraday and overnight.
I traded 4.5 days this week.
Return on account for the week + 11.04 % net.
P:L ratio 8.63:1.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.

Thoughts

Another fairly volatile week, which I like to see. I was pretty busy, I even traded my old friend BP for the first time for months.

A decent return, well north of my 2.5% weekly benchmark. Would be nice to acheive this every week, but rather unlikely I think.

The benchmark has been exceeded for all four weeks of June (so far), which is good. The equity market has been a very friendly place recently, but I have no idea how long this will continue. July is normally a quieter month, I believe some people take holidays at this time of year.

We saw a bit of a sell - off on Wednesday after the US dropped.

BARC and STAN were down sharply on Thursday on news. I caught some of the move, but some exits were poor.

Stock changes on the week shown.

Looking forward to more opportunities next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.
 
When looking through this thread I would have liked to know the approximate account size and leverage / instruments used. The weekly % gains you quote are impressive if just straight stock trades (no options, warrants etc).

If you have posted this already then sorry for not seeing it.

Have a good weekend.
 
Summary Week Ended Friday 4th July 2014

12 Stock Trades:

8 AAL + 88.80 BPS
3 BARC + 79.44 BPS
1 STAN + 11.00 BPS
Stocks net + 179.24 BPS

4 long, 8 short trades, intraday and overnight.
I traded 5 days this week.
Return on account for the week + 2.75 % net.
P:L ratio was 8.22:1.

No Index trades.

Thoughts

A decent week.
A profit, just scraped past my 2.5% weekly benchmark. Trades were difficult to find.
Miners were strong after an upgrade on RIO.
Friday is a holiday in the US (for some obscure reason) so London was pretty quiet.
The month of June was a decent period for me, with a total of 76 trades completed.
BARC was the star performer for the month. Over the course of June, BARC declined just under 14%. I hope to continue to find decent trades.

Going forward, I remain cautious on the equity markets for now, although the US market remains very bullish with new highs made on the SPX500 this week.

Now we have completed the second quarter, I will be looking for signs of a possible reversal in the equity market, although most of the shares on my watch list are still well off the highs of the year.

Changes for watchlist stocks on the week shown.

Looking forward to more opportunities during the rest of the month, as well as more World cup drama and the Tour de France which kicks off this weekend.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.
 
Summary Week Ended Friday 11th July 2014

13 Stock Trades:

5 AAL + 53.04 BPS
5 BARC + 66.69 BPS
1 BP + 9.92 BPS
2 EZJ + 188.48 BPS
Stocks net + 318.13 BPS

10 long, 3 short trades, intraday and overnight.
I traded 4 days this week.
Return on account for the week + 3.3 % net.
P:L ratio was 5.36:1.

No Index trades.

Thoughts

A difficult week. We saw quite a bit of volatility after worries about a Portuguese bank on Thursday. The market finished the weak lower (see table):

I caught a bounce on EZJ, unfortunately I got stopped out at a poor price due to slippage on half my position.

Miners were volatile again, as were the banks. BARC made a new 52 week low.

I took a loss on Thursday (on BARC), which was my first losing day since early February. I realise that losing days are part of the business, but I'd rather not have too many of them. I am due a losing week soon I feel.

Above my 2.5% weekly benchmark anyway.

Looking forward to more opportunities next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.
 
Summary Week Ended Friday 18th July 2014

11 Stock Trades:

3 AAL + 291.83 BPS
5 BARC + 175.90 BPS
3 STAN + 45.03 BPS
Stocks net + 512.77 BPS

8 long, 3 short trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 4 days this week.
Return on account for the week + 7.18 % net.
P:L ratio was N/A (no losing trades).

No Index trades.

Thoughts

A decent week, exceeded my 2.5% benchmark comfortably.

I caught a nice short in AAL on Wednesday. Scalped a few points on STAN and BARC.

I missed lots of trades, and had some poor exits. Had connection problems at the open on Thursday morning, not what you need when short overnight. But thankfully the connection was back up in time for me to lower my stop orders and get out for a decent return on the position.

I hope these recent excellent trading conditions persist. I'm due a negative week soon I feel.

The market finished the weak mostly higher, despite falling late on Thursday after news emerged of an airliner having been brought down over Ukraine. What a terrible tragedy, really shocking.

Changes on stocks for the week attached.

Looking forward to more opportunities next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.
 
Summary Week Ended Friday 25th July 2014

22 Stock Trades:

16 AAL + 251.58 BPS
4 BARC + 79.68 BPS
1 BLT + 2.44 BPS
1 BP + 3.05 BPS
Stocks net + 336.75 BPS

12 long trades: + 213.25 BPS.
10 short trades: + 123.50 BPS.
21 intraday trades, 1 overnight trade.

I traded 5 days this week.
Return on account for the week + 4.42 % net.
P:L ratio was 24.9:1.
No Index trades.

Thoughts

A busy week.

I shorted AAL a tad early, I was long BARC and again my exits were pretty poor, and closed a long trade on BP criminally early, but that's the trading business.

This week I was reminded of a golden rule regarding trading:
"It's all about exits !!"
With this volatility, it's so easy to let a profit turn into a loss.

North of my 2.5% benchmark, which is good.

Overall, markets were strong this week. Miners were bid up, with BLT and GLEN made new 52 week highs. Oils were weaker, with BP making a 30 day low on Monday, before rebounding sharply.

AAL was volatile, so far this month I have scalped 685 BPS on it, and so far this year AAL has netted me a tad over 2000 BPS.

I feel the need for a break from the markets, and therefore I may take some time off in the next few weeks.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.
 
Summary Week Ended Friday 1st August 2014

18 Stock Trades:

9 AAL + 145.70 BPS
2 BARC - 190.10 BPS
4 BP + 66.36 BPS
2 SBRY + 24.31 BPS
1 STAN + 34.02 BPS
Stocks net + 80.31 BPS

17 long trades: + 46.30 BPS.
1 short trades: + 34.02 BPS.
16 intraday trades, 2 overnight trades.

I traded 5 days this week.
Return on account for the week + 0.45 % net.
P:L ratio was 1.14:1.
No Index trades.

Thoughts

A poor week's trading. I held onto a BARC long, sold it early into the rally on Wednesday morning, a poor entry and poor exit, although it could have been a lot worse.
Thursday and Friday saw a lot of volatility after the sell off in New York, prior to the US payrolls data release on Friday.
I caught a few moves on AAL and BP.
Short of my 2.5% benchmark.
Still well positive for the month of July, which is something I suppose.

Hoping for a better week next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.
 
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