Today's market felt like an All-You-Can-Eat-Buffet, and I was trying to eat everything, and instead, I ended up losing my appetite and ate very little. While I am glad that I have won 4 games in a row and finally had a decent week (+$1800), I have missed too many opportunities last a couple of days to be happy.
My size and aggression has not been there. I have played the opens very well and those half baked 400 share positions won't get it done. I think I am too content about $500-600 a day after going scoreless for a month and half, that's why I have underperformed because once I hit that number, psychologically I wanted to stop trading. It is almost as if I set a ceiling for myself, that once I see "decent money" I stopped.
That said, it is pretty damn hard to make serious money trading 1200 shares a day, which is exactly what I did today. 2 of 3 shooting, +224 before commissions, +194.13 after . . . I MUST STEP UP MY SIZE . . . I have definitely been SUPER SELECTIVE about my positions, I am shooting 55% for the month which is higher than even my best months this year, yet I am making a fraction of the money I used to make. Why? Because I have been trigger shy, and when I do pull the trigger I don't use enough ammo. This MUST change. This summer market has a strange nature that it let me shoot the light out when I am trading 400-500 shares but punishes me hard whenever I decide go aggressive next day . . . But there is no alternative, if I want to play this game at a high level, I need to step up my size.
I also must be willing to put up bullets on short days. This morning bad news plagued DRG sector and everyone on my team put up their bullets and shorted AGN (an awesome call by Mrs. D.), 2-3 points off even a minimum 1500 share bullet is a nice chunk of change, she told me to put it up this morning, why did I say no to a few thousand dollars? AGN is like her number 1 stock and she is RARELY wrong with it even on a choppy day.
Fortunately, she will most likely be signing a 3 year contract with our firm as the head of a new trading desk. With less than a year's trading experience, this is incredible. She is among the very few traders at my firm who did not cut down their sizes in summer time and doing just fine. Now with her own desk, sky is the limit, and I am very happy that she asked me to work on her desk (which translates into getting my fourth monitor, a slightly higher payout and lower commissions), but perhaps more importantly, as a trading desk manager my performance will be of more importance to her and she will undoubtly be making more calls and tips . . . Hope it all works out and she signs the contract next week, and passes that S24 exam . . . EXCEPTIONAL, that's the only word I can use for her.
Pre-Market: Wow, what a nice list of downgrades. AFL double downgrade (IUX), MRK big downgrade (open indication showed 5 points lower), and BA double downgrade (GD, NOC, PCP aerospace sector). The problem with the short side is that it is best done via bullets, and I don't understand why didn't I put up a few.
9:30: Couldn't get my shorts filled and really tried to do too much. Everything I anticipated before the open worked, yet I only got MRX filled (DRG), covered for a 25 cents profit. Early morning XNG rally and I caught EOG for a 30 cents profit. Had I focused on just a few stocks and sectors, I could have got more positions, but then I saw the Nasdaq rally and I took CLS but sold for flat just before it went up 1 point. There were so many opportunities today, I felt quite disoriented, had I sticked to my plan (Short DRG/IUX/Aerospace) and ignored all the noises I would have came out with a huge day. But all of the other sector moves I spotted would have worked very well too. I think there is still fear lingering in my heart and a total lack of confidence, if I see something I like, just take the damn shot. Emotionally I feel drained this week, so I called it quit after the first hour as usual when Mrs. D. and others left with a huge day . . .
I would say that more than enough covers it.