Last Pieces of the Puzzle Journal

TUES 2/24

Hmm…

1st half of the day was going well. Although I was mostly in the red I was managing my trades really well and putting up a valiant battle. I give myself an -A up to what I’ll call the 2nd half of the day.

2nd half of the day…for some stupid reason I started trading outside of my plan, in large positions.
So, not only did I end with a loss, and larger than I would have otherwise. I also churned way too many shares for this strategy.

This is my biggest struggle. I have not had a “grey” day in…like a really long time, I don’t even remember when. It is either all or nothing. I think until I can conquer this dilemma my trading will not advance.

I may be one of the only traders out there wanting a losing day. I just don’t want to hit my daily stop.

-620.49 net (1/2 fees)
41,400 shares

Trade Summary:

NOT ATTACHED…too much @*#% to list
 
I haven't posted in this journal in almost 2 months...man have I been lost. The train got off of the tracks somewhere and I have been lost in the woods. Too many red days.

If you followed any of my previous posts I had a pretty good thing going. Trade a certain amount of shares on every trade, reach my goal and shut it down for the day. If my share size was 100 my goal for the day was $100. I built up the account 1 day at a time,

But I have been so far off of doing what I was doing. I've changed just about everything, lost my edge.

So, I am going back to the very basics that I started when I started this journal.

Let the fun begin...I had fun writing in this journal, I always worked the trades the best I could becuse I wanted to be able to report to you that I made the goal for the day.

Thursday's goal 100 shares - $100

Play Ball !
 
I have been seeing red so much.

To quote myself, I wrote this back in October “I got stopped and closed out yesterday, 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 still feel that way, but in the last couple of weeks I would wake up, say “It’s a new day, it starts here.” ….drive to the office, trade, maybe go up a few hundred or so, lose it all, get closed out for the day, or even worse get closed out in minutes.

I have been worn out with that routine and then I would spend the rest of the day and night plotting what I would do the following day just to ignore that plan and end up back in the same place…yes, Ground Hog’s Day…sitting, staring at the wall. When I was writing this journal last year, I wasn’t perfect by any means, I had some of those same demons, but I kept them at bay. I know that I can do this.

I will not be denied.

04/16/2009

Today I had 4 tag lines that I used to keep me in the right zone.

-go with the direction
(this may sound way to simple for those who base their trading set ups on candlesticks, moving averages and the such. I agree it does sound simple, but I’ve spent the last 4 months trying to be that kind of trader. Didn’t work so good. Back to being me.

-cut the loser
-lock the winner
-reach the goal…put it “in the books”

BAX 400 = + $18.00
HOG 1000 = + $44.00
NOK 600 = + $22.00
PLCM 600 = + $44.00

04/16
+ $106.98 net
9:49 a.m.
total shares = 2,600

Friday's goal $200 -- share size 200
 
Today I just wanted to stay focused on exiting any trade that went against me and move on to something else. I know that this can increase the commission & fees, but I didn’t want any 1 trade to put me in a big hole to start.

Unfortunately it caused me to exit my first trade (short DB) before the drop.
But I have always said that I do not like looking at a chart after I am out of the trade, because I feel that it makes me second quess why I chose to exit. (It is so hard not to look though=)
I also don’t believe in the saying “money left on the table”. You either are in a trade or you are not, live with your decisions.

I reached my goal today. (you can’t see but I am doing a Michael Jordan arm pump here)

You know when something is so sad and pitiful that you feel you just have to shake your head in disbelief and laugh…I could not make $2 over the last couple of weeks, then I put my “Last Pieces of the Puzzle Journal” hat on and the last 2 days were a 180 degree turn around.

DB 1400 = ( $112.00)
EOG 800 = + $70.00
MHP 1600 = + $302.25
SOHU 600 = ( $30.00)
TEL 400 = + 40.00

04/17
+ $229.67 net
10:00 a.m.
total shares = 4,800

Monday’s goal $300 -- share size 300 (to clarify I usually start a trade at 300 or whatever the # and then scale in/or out shares depending on how the trade progresses.)

And now for the paid subscribers to this thread (please continue to wire me your funds) here is your end-of-the-week entertainment:
I thought the title and words were fitting for today's post


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY1Pd8tV4a4
 
I haven't posted in just about 1 month. During that time I again decided that I needed to overhaul my trading style. I don't exactly remember why I decided that I needed to do it, except for the fact that I most likely had a day with a big draw down.

So for the last month I have been very conservative 1-2 trades per day. No draw downs, but no profits either...I'm about breakeven. Last night I decided that I need to trade much looser as I was in the past, but with a daily stop that wouldn't hurt the account so much.

Today I felt good about "trading" again...

HIG 1400 = + $ 241.00
NVS 600 = + $ 3.00
PFG 200 = + $ 19.00
TEL 600 = - (54.00)

05/15
+ $186.14 net
10:04 a.m.
total shares = 2,800
 
Your journal is epic. It has a lot of emotional meat. Congrats

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Over the weekend when I wasn’t busy, I spent my time telling myself that “I have control of my trading” If I have losing trades, that’s OK, it’s OK to have a trade where you don’t make money…but I can’t let 1 trade roll over me. “Be the bull” (not in regards to a market bull)…but, be an animal, don’t let it rule you, rule it.

With my trading, I also try to start with a quick scalp to lock in a profit. (1st trade = small share size, right now that is 100-200) Locking in a quick profit right at the start gives me a little positive reinforcement and it also softens the 1st loss a little.

Today that was a short of FCX….after it ran up at the open I went short 200 shares @ 46.64 covered 1 minute later at 46.24 a quick $80 and about half of what my daily goal was for the day(I was shooting for about $185)

Trading some of these stocks within the 1st 15 minutes is difficult, you need to either grab the profit or pull the plug on your loss...not now…right now.

I was then mostly watching HD, pulled a short, had a nice little profit going, but it came back to about breakeven, which was as high as I thought it would go, I loaded up on shares, I had 400 already, added another 1500, it immediately dropped .14 and I closed out for the day.

While I was watching HD I traded 4 other stocks, one hurt a little: ESV too many shares for the type of scalp I was attempting.

BA 400 = + $ 26.00
CCL 800 = - (17.00)
ESV 1,200 = - (145.00)
FCX 400 = + 80.00
HD 3,800 = + $ 300.00
IBN 400 = + $ 25.00

05/18
+ $209.43 net
10:27 a.m.
total shares = 7,000
 
I started the day off in the hole. I am not very good at deciphering news or how the market or a particular stock will react to news, or how a company’s results will move the stock…I think I am at my best when I am not thinking about any of those things, just reacting to the intraday charts and direction. I try to listen to as little news as possible. I do my worse trading when CNBC is on.

So I see HD on my screen this morning at 8:20am and decide to buy 200 shares. I don’t think it was a huge mistake. I added 600 more shares and at the open I dumped it for about a –($116). I wasn’t happy about starting the day in the hole, but pleased that I didn’t fight the trade and really do damage.

My goals today: were $87/$223 the $87 was what I still needed to make up for a few losses that I had last week, the $223 was my actual goal for the day.

Trade # 2 was green then red and I closed it out for another loss. I think I was down about –($215). Trade # 3 was going back and forth and I decided I needed to put a “W” in the books before I get closed down for the day. I then proceeded to chip away, $30, $13, $69, $7, $45, $12, $49. I got back to about break even (without fees).

I went back to HD and decided that the downward trend was about to reverse and hit it for about $150.00

I came across BEAT. I shorted it at about $19.90 for $244.
closed. done.

I was happy with chipping away at my loss and being patient, and then going for the jugular when I thought it was time. I was aware of the fact that the fees were adding up and I thought I needed to make a move.

BBL 400 = + $ 30.00
BEAT 2,400 = + $244.75
BHP 400 = + $13.00
DE 400 = - (6.00)
EMR 1,600 = + $ 69.00
GNK 200 = + $ 7.00
HD 5,600 = + $47.00
SI 1,200 = - (97.00)
SKS 2,000 = + $45.00
V 200 = + $12.00
WMI 1,000 = + $ 49.00

05/19
+ $284.04 net
10:45 a.m.
total shares = 15,400
 
"If you want to catch a tiger cub...you have to go into the tiger's den"

I got this in a fortune cookie about 6 years ago and taped it to the top of my computer screen.
 
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