GoodPunk6's Trading Journal

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Hi GP6,

I'm new to daytrading myself. Here is what I realize. Most traders don't have goals. Trading without specific and achievable goals is like trading with no purpose. I ask myself "why do I trade?" "Do I trade for excitement, for entertainment, or to lose?" No, "I trade to win, to make money." Now I have a goal - to win.
I break my performance down to three key numbers: (1) average net profit on a winning day, (2) average net loss for a losing day, and (3) percentage of winning days.
Everyday I have three goals:
(1) To make more than the average for winning days, if it is a winning day. This goal prevents me from getting too greedy, but it also encourages me to ride winners.
(2) To lose less than the average for losing days, if it is a losing day. This goal prevents me from riding losses. Its basically a stop loss for the day - it prevents those huge losing days that can take a long time to recover from.
(3) Make sure that the the percentage of winning days is greater than 50% for the past ten trading days. This goal prevents losing steaks, because a trader is most dangerous towards his account during a losing streak.

I have other goals too but these three are the most important. I try to go at least 2 for 3 in accomplishing these goals everyday. I superimpose these goals and other goals onto my trendfollowing strategy. As long as I stick to these goals and to my strategy then at worst you lose a little but never enough to not recover from easily. This is a slow and steady approach, the only way you can make it to the 10 year anniversery, which probably only 1% of traders make it to.
 
Quote from TooL:


Everyday I have three goals:
(1) To make more than the average for winning days, if it is a winning day.
(2) To lose less than the average for losing days
(3) Make sure that the the percentage of winning days is greater than 50% for the past ten trading days.
More...

These are good goals but you cannot "try" to accomplish them every day any more than a fat woman can "try" to lose a pound a week. They are diagnostics. You follow your methodology perfectly every day then look at the results monthly. If the dieter is not losing a pound a week then she needs to make more changes. If you haven't met your goals (1)-(3) then a methodology tweak might be in order. Trading decisions based on P/L are almost always wrong.
 
Okay, I don't like the word "try" either. I just tell myself that if I don't accomplish 2 out of the 3 goals every day then I risk being an unprofitable trader if I continue to trade like that. To calculate now what your P/L will probably be like a year from now is simple, take the average for a winning day times the winning day ratio and add your average for a losing day times your losing day ratio....if you get a negative number then you will not make money in trading a year from now if you don't change anything. Ask yourself if you really want to lose money a year from now and if you don't then you might want to set reasonable and accomplishable goals to make money. Of course this applies mainly to discretionary traders.
If you want to "try" to follow your methodology perfectly every day and look at the results monthly, then you might want to just automate your strategy and spare yourself that unnessary effort.
For me a goal has to reasonable and accomplishable. Trying to lose one pound a week is niether and it can be downright dangerous because losing weight too fast can be just as unhealthy as putting it on too fast. A more reasonable and accomplishable goal in regards to weight loss is to hit the gym at least 3 times a week and subtitute apples for twinkies...and you get the idea.
"Trading decisions based on P/L are almost always wrong" - I disagree would you allow a 10% profit on a trade to turn into a 20% loss? Most distcretionary traders wouldn't, if you take profit at +8% and have a stop loss of -2%, then that's an example of trading decisions based on P/L...I see nothing wrong with that.



Quote from peterfigliozzi:

These are good goals but you cannot "try" to accomplish them every day any more than a fat woman can "try" to lose a pound a week. They are diagnostics. You follow your methodology perfectly every day then look at the results monthly. If the dieter is not losing a pound a week then she needs to make more changes. If you haven't met your goals (1)-(3) then a methodology tweak might be in order. Trading decisions based on P/L are almost always wrong.
More...
 
Quote from TooL:

Okay, I don't like the word "try" either. I just tell myself that if I don't accomplish 2 out of the 3 goals every day then I risk being an unprofitable trader if I continue to trade like that.
More...

http://www.clicklive.com/NYMEX/symposium_2003/

Ari Kiev talks about having actual monetary goals in his presentation. I thought it was on interesting contrast to my current plan which is simply to trade a certain setup successfully, which is what I usually hear as the best way to go. This link has been posted here a lot it's where I found it, but really worth a look.
 
Hey guys!

I got to trade from home today!!!

I made $35.74 and made $35 making it. Gotta love those rebates.

I had 9 buy fills, 7 sell fills, and had 27,482 shares traded.

Tomorrow will be a better day!
 
Well, today is the day.....

Over the past 6 months I have learned a couple things about myself. Trading is what it took to reveal these lessons to me. But unfortunately, I have decided that I can no longer afford to not make an income. I believe that for the first time in my life, I'm going to have to quit something I was so sure about. So a big thank you goes out to all the people who gave me solid advice. Thank you all for your PMs, posts, and emails.

Trading has kicked my ass and brought me to a world of poverty that I have to dig myself out of. Those of you who have gotten to know me know that I will probably still refuse to work for someone else. Tonight I'm going to brainstorm a few ideas and tomorrow I will begin working towards one of them. Either way, I'm only working for myself.

Once again, Thank you all.

I lost $507.49 and spent $75 losing it. I've only been trading my own money for a few days and have lost well over $700.

I had 15 buy fills, 17 sell fills, and 96,702 shares traded.
 
Its not you kid it’s your style. Why are you trading your own money now? If you want to trade find a place that will let you trade 70 dollar stocks. They will start you at 100 shares and overtime you will learn. It will take time so maybe try it once you have money to live on.

Good Luck
 
Goodpunk.. u are a good man.. i went through this before.. and next time u put on a trade make sure u have a solid edge.

In the meantime.. get a real job and build yourself a career.. u will not be disappointed because you are still young and have your future ahead of u.


Good Luck
 
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