Ok, time for an update on the year after the first quarter. Basically the year sucks for me. I'm out of the hole and up a little over $100k, but putting this in context, things aren't great. I'm running below my historical average and the bad days are more numerous than I'd like. This market just isn't well suited to my main strategy. Too many gaps that don't revert and too many steady grinding trends. The volatility spike in mid-March was great, I made $50k in three days. But then the vix set a record for the largest weekly percentage drop ever and things were right back to boring under performance.
Some pluses- my intraday trading is holding up with great consistency. Historically it's my most consistent strategy, but also has the largest losses relative to avg win size, and mentally that's kept me from ever trading very much size on it. It's probably the area I need to focus more on. Better risk control and tweaking the entry parameters to find more trades should pay off.
None of my strategies are red for the year. They each have their hot and cold streaks, but strategy diversification is still the thing that keeps the equity curve relatively smooth. And it gives me a number of areas to look at for improvement.
The group of traders I converse with daily are still doing very well. A diverse range of strategies and trading styles, yet everyone is still having at least a mediocre year. Some are putting up near record numbers. I'm pretty much the laggard of the group. It's a good reinforcement that no matter what the market conditions are, there is always a way to make money and there are always traders who are killing it.
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