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Last Pieces of the Puzzle Journal
- Thread starter ps0013
- Start date
Nice JournalQuote from ps0013:
Monday +4.13 [$413 div. 100 shares]
Tuesday +2.93 [$293 div. by 100 shares]
Daily Stop = -(5.0)
As my account balance has increased over the past two weeks I am going try and decide when I will increase my trade size from 100 shares to 200 shares
Try increasing your size when you increase your trading capital by the same factor.
Example:
You start your trading account with $10,000, and only trade 100 shares with this amount. Your trading proceeds successfully and you are able to build your account up to $20,000.
That is when you start trading 200 shares.
Good Luck.
Quote from MandelbrotSet:
Nice Journal
Try increasing your size when you increase your trading capital by the same factor.
Example:
You start your trading account with $10,000, and only trade 100 shares with this amount. Your trading proceeds successfully and you are able to build your account up to $20,000.
That is when you start trading 200 shares.
Good Luck.
Thank you for the suggestion...
I have traded large sizes before (2000-5000) but wasn't anywhere close to being consistent and suffered big losses.
I have found consistency.
Increasing trade size also increases my "Daily Stop"
The increase from 100 shares to 200 shares should be the hardest (100%) Then going from 200 to 300 shares the percentage starts to drop...
We'll the 8 day winning streak has come to an end.
I knew eventually I would have to post a red day.
So, what happened...
My success has been:
1) keeping my share size down. I did only trade in 100 share positions today, although I have been guilty of "sizing up" maybe 2-3 times this week(w/ tight stop & success)...this was not the problem.
2) Good stops. Letting 1-2 losers just keep running and not letting my mental stop trigger. I do use mental stops, and I do adjust them as the trade progresses. This has not been a problem over the past 2 weeks and it wasn't a problem today.
3) limiting the number of positions that I have open at once..aaahhhaaaaccct ! I have done really well with upto maybe 5 open positions...closing 2, adding 1, etc...but today I was up about +2.0 points (that's $200 / 100 shares for those not reading previous posts; and my daily goal is only +1.0) and then I started adding positions...I had about 9 positions open and they all started going against me at once. I have done well using very wide stops, but with so many positions going against me at once the DAILY STOP approached like a large man going down hill towards a buffet, but the POSITION STOP wasn't even close.
Lesson learned...I hope...If those trades went my way this journal entry would have had balloons and confetti...
Then after poking in-and-out of trades I hit my stop...called my broker to give me a little more rope...hung myself with it. Shut off my computer.
I'm not really upset about having a losing day, I know it will happen, or about calling for more rope, but....
I would like to have a losing day where I just battle and not hit my daily stop. I either have a winning day or I hit the stop.
still green for the week, barely, and capable of hitting the weekly goal
today -(6.78) [--$678 / 100 shares]
for the week +.28
daily goal +1.0
week goal +3.0
increase of trade size will have to wait a week or so
I knew eventually I would have to post a red day.
So, what happened...
My success has been:
1) keeping my share size down. I did only trade in 100 share positions today, although I have been guilty of "sizing up" maybe 2-3 times this week(w/ tight stop & success)...this was not the problem.
2) Good stops. Letting 1-2 losers just keep running and not letting my mental stop trigger. I do use mental stops, and I do adjust them as the trade progresses. This has not been a problem over the past 2 weeks and it wasn't a problem today.
3) limiting the number of positions that I have open at once..aaahhhaaaaccct ! I have done really well with upto maybe 5 open positions...closing 2, adding 1, etc...but today I was up about +2.0 points (that's $200 / 100 shares for those not reading previous posts; and my daily goal is only +1.0) and then I started adding positions...I had about 9 positions open and they all started going against me at once. I have done well using very wide stops, but with so many positions going against me at once the DAILY STOP approached like a large man going down hill towards a buffet, but the POSITION STOP wasn't even close.
Lesson learned...I hope...If those trades went my way this journal entry would have had balloons and confetti...
Then after poking in-and-out of trades I hit my stop...called my broker to give me a little more rope...hung myself with it. Shut off my computer.
I'm not really upset about having a losing day, I know it will happen, or about calling for more rope, but....
I would like to have a losing day where I just battle and not hit my daily stop. I either have a winning day or I hit the stop.
still green for the week, barely, and capable of hitting the weekly goal
today -(6.78) [--$678 / 100 shares]
for the week +.28
daily goal +1.0
week goal +3.0
increase of trade size will have to wait a week or so
After posting my loss in this journal last night I put a lot of thought into what I had been doing right the last few months...and also how I used to not learn from my mistakes-over-and-over-again....
I also stumbled across a few threads where some new guys were asking for advice, about should they try to become daytraders, how much $$ they needed, should they quit school/work..in the middle of a lot of garbage replies there were some really inspiring replys telling these guys to "go for it" and "do you have the passion?" we'll at least it inspired me.
I got stopped and closed out yesturday, but no matter how bad the beats have been, I always wake up the next day and realize trading is what I want to do more than anything else
I was refocused today...
trade 100 shares
don't have too many positions
don't let a few losers ruin me.
make +1.o
(For anyone that actually reads this journal everyday,...you may notice I repeat the same sh_t over and over, but that's 50% of the reason I bother writting here...to keep me focused.
SHAZAM !!!!
Today +7.38 [$738 / 100]
Week +7.67 [$767 / 100]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5Vi8o4hxOc
I also stumbled across a few threads where some new guys were asking for advice, about should they try to become daytraders, how much $$ they needed, should they quit school/work..in the middle of a lot of garbage replies there were some really inspiring replys telling these guys to "go for it" and "do you have the passion?" we'll at least it inspired me.
I got stopped and closed out yesturday, but no matter how bad the beats have been, I always wake up the next day and realize trading is what I want to do more than anything else
I was refocused today...
trade 100 shares
don't have too many positions
don't let a few losers ruin me.
make +1.o
(For anyone that actually reads this journal everyday,...you may notice I repeat the same sh_t over and over, but that's 50% of the reason I bother writting here...to keep me focused.
SHAZAM !!!!
Today +7.38 [$738 / 100]
Week +7.67 [$767 / 100]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5Vi8o4hxOc
Posting early today...
A very good and quick day again today. Done at 10:09am EST.
I try not to look at the charts too much after I have decided to quit for the day. I glance every once in a while, I left a little $ on the table, but I am still very pleased with today's results.
Today +5.03 [$503 / 100]
Week +12.70 [$1,270 / 100]
2 Week Total +39.84 [$3,984 / 100 shares]
Have a good weekend all...
A very good and quick day again today. Done at 10:09am EST.
I try not to look at the charts too much after I have decided to quit for the day. I glance every once in a while, I left a little $ on the table, but I am still very pleased with today's results.
Today +5.03 [$503 / 100]
Week +12.70 [$1,270 / 100]
2 Week Total +39.84 [$3,984 / 100 shares]
Have a good weekend all...
Unfocused and Unprepared, Self-destruction Mode.
I got smashed right from the get go. I didn't stick to keeping my trade size the same, I was just all over the place. I screwed up so quickly and hit my daily loss that I called and had it increased from $500[-5.0] to $1000[-10.0] . I again was all over with trade size and found myself teetering on hitting my daily loss again. This is exactly the way that I don't want to trade.
Daily Goal +1.0
Today -10.56 [-$1056 / 100]
I think that I've found myself trying to guess which way the market is going to go at open rather than trading what I see. I am going to try and take things a little slower on Tuesday.
I got smashed right from the get go. I didn't stick to keeping my trade size the same, I was just all over the place. I screwed up so quickly and hit my daily loss that I called and had it increased from $500[-5.0] to $1000[-10.0] . I again was all over with trade size and found myself teetering on hitting my daily loss again. This is exactly the way that I don't want to trade.
Daily Goal +1.0
Today -10.56 [-$1056 / 100]
I think that I've found myself trying to guess which way the market is going to go at open rather than trading what I see. I am going to try and take things a little slower on Tuesday.
In the last couple of weeks I have been trying to decide when to increase my trade size, from 100 to 200 shares. Generally after a bad day and a drawdawn I wouldn't have decided to do it on the following day. But I thought about it and feel that I have been able to easily reach my goal of taking a 1.0 profit per day. The only days that have been negative have been days that I have beat myself more than anything else.
Today I raised my stop loss/auto close to $2,500 which would be a loss of 12.5 points @ 200 shares and much higher that the previous loss/close of $500 for 100 shares or -5.0.
I started out the morning a little cautious, as I planned, and was able to lock in a profit of about $350 or +1.5 point. I was very pleased with myself as it is my first step up in this new account management plan. This day should have been in the books...
I went to lunch
When I returned Mr. Hyde turned on my computer started shorting and buying shares, had 2300 shares of somethng and within a short period of time that $350 was now a locked in loss of ($1,100) uggggg! I again got back in and was LUCKY to get almost all of it back with a little commish hit.
I will mark this day as a turning point in this journal, which direction it turns to we will have to see...
Today -($331) [ div 200 = -1.66]
Today I raised my stop loss/auto close to $2,500 which would be a loss of 12.5 points @ 200 shares and much higher that the previous loss/close of $500 for 100 shares or -5.0.
I started out the morning a little cautious, as I planned, and was able to lock in a profit of about $350 or +1.5 point. I was very pleased with myself as it is my first step up in this new account management plan. This day should have been in the books...
I went to lunch
When I returned Mr. Hyde turned on my computer started shorting and buying shares, had 2300 shares of somethng and within a short period of time that $350 was now a locked in loss of ($1,100) uggggg! I again got back in and was LUCKY to get almost all of it back with a little commish hit.
I will mark this day as a turning point in this journal, which direction it turns to we will have to see...
Today -($331) [ div 200 = -1.66]
ET traders journals don't die...they just fade away....
On 10/21 my last post, a loss -(331.02)
I said that I would mark that day as a turning point in the journal. It was...
On 10/22 a huge loss -(2900.61) I broke all my rules.
On 10/23 I was ready to get back on track of 200 share position size and just be slow and steady...but, I forgot that the previous day I changed my preferences to 600 shares when I was screwing up. I entered positions before I realized I was at 600 shares, but very luckily I hit all positive trades and ended with a great day of +3,389.53
10/24 +627.44
10/27 +633.43
10/28 +246.05
10/29 +276.43
10/30 +288.20
I'm closing in on increasing my share size to 300
On 10/21 my last post, a loss -(331.02)
I said that I would mark that day as a turning point in the journal. It was...
On 10/22 a huge loss -(2900.61) I broke all my rules.
On 10/23 I was ready to get back on track of 200 share position size and just be slow and steady...but, I forgot that the previous day I changed my preferences to 600 shares when I was screwing up. I entered positions before I realized I was at 600 shares, but very luckily I hit all positive trades and ended with a great day of +3,389.53
10/24 +627.44
10/27 +633.43
10/28 +246.05
10/29 +276.43
10/30 +288.20
I'm closing in on increasing my share size to 300