My Trading Journal (January)

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NeedToSucceed

Hey guys,

I've been browsing this forum without contributing much in the last few months.

I have selfish interests in posting this journal. It is my hope that having to make it public, will make me feel more accountable. Feel free to criticize/comment on my journal. I will only quit posting the day I blow my account.

Here goes.....

Tried opening orders but didn't get filled. I don't trade with a professional firm for reasons that are not disclosable. I usually place limit orders at the open and cancel quickly.

I tried 4 stocks AOL, BM, GS and LLY and didn't get filled on any.

Looked like AOL was strong right from the open. Bought 1000 sh. AOL at 28.22 and got stopped at 27.97 .
-274 (includes commissions)

Shorted AXP 1000 sh at 35.91 and covered way too quickly at 35.81. + 76
(Still can't accept the risk.... got scared into covering quickly, this trade could have made my day) .


Shorted 2500 QQQ's at 37.80, wanted to cover at 37.70, but got too greedy and finally covered at 37.79 lost -25 after comissions.

Letting a profit turn into a loss. You are not supposed to do that right ? Well tell me about it.

As usual when I'm in a hole. I just go crazy and let my emotions takeover.

It looked like the market was selling off against, so shorted another 2500 shares and covered for a -500 loss.

Down -725 for the day.

Here are my problems:

Trading size
Not following a consistent strategy.
Can't quit trading when I'm in a hole and digging myself even further.

My PLan for tomorrow.

NO discretionary trades.
Will not trade size.
Accept the risk and try to hold a profitable position longer.
Wait for good entry points.

Cheers,

Jim
 
You seem to be disciplined enough in taking stops. I think you are right in that the size is hurting you combined with very short term set ups with high probability for failure. I trade the same way and the problem is, you have to be willing to keep pulling the trigger, sometimes after several losses in a row. When combined with trading size, this can be hard when your p & l shows minus $750 after a few small stops, and your head starts to mess with you and you hesitate, make stupid decisons etc. Back off on the size for now. Besides this market sucks and a 15 cent profit is nice these days so you have no choice but to take no more than 10 cent losses-which aint easy when it moves away right from the get go..
 
I tried to trade the Q's for a good six months.
Made money, lost money and above all paid a truck load commissions.
IMHO, it's not the best game in town.
Based on your trade log, looks like you are with a Prop Firm.
So if capital is not an issue, may I suggest using the SPY
higher price, less nervous, and you can usually get the same moves as in the Q's with much less stress.
Just ignore they Amex Speciliast, if he fills you, you will probably lose money.

RandomWalker
 
Started the day by placing 7 opening orders.

Got filled on 3 of therm.
Short IBM 1000 sh at 104.25, covered at 104.02
Long LLY 1000 sh at 73.09, sold at 73.17. (should have held a little longer since LLY moved higher but the futures were selling off...)
Short MRK at 57.98, covered at 57.99, since drug stocks were acting strong.

Short 1000 SPY at 110.71 , covered half at 110.57 and the rest at 110.30.

Shorted SPY again at 111.05 and covered at 111.13. Should have gone long when the market reversed on the 30 min. bars but with the whipsawing action, I stayed away.

+372 for the day

Cheers
 
Needtosucceed I'm a bit confused here. Did you posted two journals for the same day? Maybe we are both schizophrenia. Well that's one way to double up your money.
 
Well in your first post you said you tried several opening orders andthat din't get filled and then in another post you stated you got filled on 3 out of 7. That's why I'm confused.
 
By the way on the short of AXP which was very nice. Was there a reason why you had to cover the full 1000 shares as opposed to say 700 shares. Let the other 300 ride and possibly add onto that position since it's now going in your direction.
 
need-
i didn't really look on the charts at your trades...maybe you can put the reasons for each trade in future journals, it might help people in responding, and more importantly help you in learning whats working and what isn't.
One thing I do disagree with is you saying not letting a winner turn into a loser. Everyone has their one style on this, but for the most part if I enter a trade I immediately have a target and a stop. One of those are gonna get hit. So I try to make my target close to double my stop(risk/reward).
And like others have responded, your tendency for taking quick profits and being slow to pull the trigger might be alleviated by reducing size.
Best of luck. And keep posting.
uptik2000
 
uptik,

You are right. I will post the reasons for the trades going forward.

Shortee,

The previous journal was for the 29th, sorry I forgot to mention the date.

-Jim
 
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