My Pattern Day Trading Journey

Illini Trader said:
My first attempt at a Journal lasted 12 days earlier this month so I have looked through several pages of Journals and I did not see anything on PDT for stocks. It seems like most people trade Futures, Options, or Forex markets.

With the elimination of stock commissions and the SEC cutting its transaction fee on sales by 80% earlier this year it seems like day-trading stocks is the most fertile area available in the trading arena. People went ape over the smaller macro futures contracts but stocks not only have zero commissions but you can scale down to any level that you want and even trade 1 share to make it like paper trading only in the real market with real money. You just have to conquer the spread.

I call this a Journey rather than a Journal because this is an experiment. I will try different styles and different stocks. I am not out to prove my expertise which does not exist or show an attitude of overconfidence because the market has kicked my butt over and over during my trading career that began after I retired 18 years ago. I trade for fun and the challenge. I dabble at golf but I can't play Augusta but here I can go head to head in the same arena with the best traders in the world.

I did start trading 30 shares of Apple on Tuesday and have attached the Friday TOS cash record to prove I am trading real money and to show my end of week cash balance. I have also attached my spreadsheet that shows the daily trading results. (Which was a small profit for all four days)

In four days I had 319 day trades so my strategy must be to shoot anything that moves. My TOS sheet gives you the flavor of my trading as you can see the time stamps for my last couple of hours of trading.

This coming week I think I will trade 15 shares of Microsoft which will keep my per trade risk at about that same 4K that I was risking with Apple. Any ideas on which stocks are the best for daytrading for those that trade in this arena?

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How much were fees reduced by? I don't see a big difference in comms for Interactive Brokers
 
CyJackX said:
Probably very doable to put into any spreadsheet software?
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I have talked with TOS to see if they have any third party analysis programs that would give similar data like Sierra Charts gives but they do not. I have a personal spreadsheet like the one I posted on a daily basis (that would give W/L and Ave Profit to Ave Loss) but I would have to enter each trade entry and exit price. Doable but takes time with this many trades.

If this experiment should become long term profitable (highly improbable) and I gradually increase trade size to the point that I am trading at maximum PDT levels (even more highly improbable) then I might make a project of it and create this per trade spreadsheet. But using my golf analogy earlier that kind of success is like saying I will play in the PGA -- not going to happen. Just thought I would admit that before it comes back to me from one of you. :)

But hey, last week I took a few pennies from the pros and that was fun. Well maybe it wasn't from the pros but from the few traders out there that are worse than me.:)
 
traider said:
How much were fees reduced by? I don't see a big difference in comms for Interactive Brokers
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They reduced fees to $5.10 per million in sales I think it was like $22.20 per million before. So you can see on my TOS cash sheet that I posted, it cost me 2 cents in fees to sell 4K in Apple stock and zero to buy 4K. They said trading volume increase so much during the pandemic that they did not need to charge so much. Can you imagine that? A government agency saying Whoa, you are paying me too much.

With my 319 trades at 4K a whack I traded $1,276,000 worth of Apple. So fees would have been $28.32. But I paid $6.38. So $22 of my $49 profit on the week came from that fee reduction.

That is how thin my trading margins are. I averaged about 15 cents in profits per trade last week so that just illustrates how unlikely I am to have long term success at this but as I said earlier. This is for fun and the challenge.
 
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Illini Trader said:
They reduced fees to $5.10 per million in sales I think it was like $22.20 per million before. So you can see on my TOS cash sheet that I posted, it cost me 2 cents in fees to sell 4K in Apple stock and zero to buy 4K. They said trading volume increase so much during the pandemic that they did not need to charge so much. Can you imagine that? A government agency saying Whoa, you are paying me too much.

With my 319 trades at 4K a whack I traded $1,276,000 worth of Apple. So fees would have been $28.32. But I paid $6.38. So $22 of my $49 profit on the week came from that fee reduction.

That is how thin my trading margins are. I averaged about 15 cents in profits per trade last week so that just illustrates how unlikely I am to have long term success at this but as I said earlier. This is for fun and the challenge.
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Does it make a difference if you are trading 100 vs odd lots
 
No difference at all. In fact if you are trading very small they will charge you a minimum of 1 cent per trade but if you have a lot of trades you have overpaid and you will get a courtesy credit the next day for the overpayment. At least that is the way TOS does it.
 
Well, MSFT was a disaster. Lost $30. It felt so different than trading AAPL or maybe it was a different feeling because I started this Journal. Even though I am playing with coffee money I felt like a fish out of water today. I will go back to trading AAPL tomorrow and see if the fun returns. Spreadsheet attached.

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Spreadsheet

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traider said:
I don't know what your strategy was but it wasn't a good day for a mean reverting strategy. Just one giant move up
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In the case of MSFT, it had its move in the first 20 minutes then stayed in a 75 cent range until the last 5 minutes. I guess that individual stocks have their own trading feel as MSFT did not behave and trade like AAPL. I believe I need to commit to AAPL and learn it with all its nuances and forget trying to trade any other stock.
 
Illini Trader said:
I have talked with TOS to see if they have any third party analysis programs that would give similar data like Sierra Charts gives but they do not. I have a personal spreadsheet like the one I posted on a daily basis (that would give W/L and Ave Profit to Ave Loss) but I would have to enter each trade entry and exit price. Doable but takes time with this many trades.

If this experiment should become long term profitable (highly improbable) and I gradually increase trade size to the point that I am trading at maximum PDT levels (even more highly improbable) then I might make a project of it and create this per trade spreadsheet. But using my golf analogy earlier that kind of success is like saying I will play in the PGA -- not going to happen. Just thought I would admit that before it comes back to me from one of you. :)

But hey, last week I took a few pennies from the pros and that was fun. Well maybe it wasn't from the pros but from the few traders out there that are worse than me.:)
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Hm, I'd be surprised if TOS doesn't give you just a spreadsheet of exits and entries. I know IBKR I can find it.

Sorry your MSFT didn't work out today.
 
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