Quote from CharlesTrader:
1. Keep a journal.
Yep, doing this
Yeah, this is actually what I'm doing for market timing. Usually I'm looking at the charts after I'm doing some research on fundamental analysis
3. Do you see any commonalities among your successful trades and your unsuccessful trades?
And that's what I can't figured it out! On a successful trading, I have a 'hunch' that it will succeed. Of course on the long run I can't just rely on this 'hunch' alone.
Probably I have to do more trades and analyse it thoroughly, but just to short time if possible, what is usually went wrong for an unsuccessful trades? Is there any kind of patterns? Fundamental thingy? Anything?
4. Do your stocks correlate well with the overall market (S&P 500 or NASDAQ Index)?
I usually went against the market. Like the last time when NASDAQ on a strong rally just before DJIA makes a new high, I shorted AMD and comes out on a good profit (on options... I think the return is 50%-ish).
Yes I know that most of the market move is heavily correlated with the sector and index moves, but it's easier for me to 'spot' anomalities
5. Was the overall market in a downtrend, uptrend or sideways range?
Same as above
6. Were your stocks in a strong uptrend, downtrend or tight range?
Well, I'm usually hold it for 1-2 weeks. It can be short or long range. I rarely trade a tight range stock (since it represents a limited volatility, bad for options)
7. Did you enter a trade just before an earnings release and betting on the market reaction to the earnings release?
Yeah I sometimes do that but with a strong fundamentals behind it. I'm not keen on getting into positions before earnings date when I don't know where the fundamentals will go (for example, I got long on AAPL on the last 2 years because of their strong iPod sales). And since I'm mainly trades options, the downside is pretty much limited (I use straddle).
Thanks Charles
