Taking 103K to 1.2million by Year End 2008

[JoeTitzer]

These are tough market conditions and preservation of capital should be #1. Very few people can make consistent (day-to-day) profits in such bear markets. Friday was no exception... however, CNBC talked as though it was all very well planned.

I was up Tues, Weds, and Fri, but down on Mon and Thurs... in all, lost about $300. Very frustrating especially given my short bias.

Anyway... Neke you are off to a good start in 2008 all things considered. Keep it up and good luck.

 

[neke]

Weekly Update for week 9 ended 03/15/2008

Ugly week, down 12.3K (10.5%). Two days of madness on Wednesday and Thursday wiped out almost all the gains for the last several weeks.

On Wednesday, shorted BIDU and bought puts on the same stock - too leveraged, as I thought the market would come down. The market indeed came down, but not BIDU which continued to climb. Finally after getting out by 3.20pm, it pulled back a bit at the end of the day. Lost 9K in option and 4K in stock. On Thursday was suckered into buying puts on the SPY, and watched in horror as the market rebounded from the lows. Also whipsawed on SIGM the same day.

Tough to see several weeks of baby steps forward wiped out with one step backward. I am going to jettison some strategies that have proven a drag on my performance, while giving attention to what works.

Balance B/F:                   	    	118,371
Net Gain for the week 		        -12,271
------------------------------------------------
Balance C/F:                   		106,100
Number of Trades	            	 19
Number of Profitable Trades    	    	  9

Since Inception of Thread   01/13/2008 - 03/14/2008

Balance B/F:                   		102,615
Net Gain (Less Margin Interest)		  3,485
------------------------------------------------
Balance C/F:                   		106,100  (Up 3.4%)
Number of Trades	           	175
Number of Profitable Trades        	102

Expected Balance at this time to be on track for Year-End Target : 
			       159,762

Status:			       Behind Target		(Based on adjusted balance before withdrawals)

Top/Bottom Discretionary Trades for the week

TICKER	ENTRY DATE/TIME		EXIT DATE/TIME		QTY	PURCHASE AMT	SOLD AMT	GAINS/LOSS	TYPE

TTHI	2008-03-14-08-15-12	2008-03-14-11-14-51	4000	43747		50600		6823		SHORT
WLP	2008-03-10-16-51-47	2008-03-11-12-25-06	1000	47610		54100		6469		SHORT
------------------------------------------------------------------
SPYOY	2008-03-13-10-26-40	2008-03-13-12-41-38	10000	24800		16400		-8570		PUT OPTION
BDUOV	2008-03-12-09-52-27	2008-03-12-15-20-05	2500	21750		13000		-8808		PUT OPTION

 

[4DTrader]

Quote from neke:

Weekly Update for week 9 ended 03/15/2008

Ugly week, down 12.3K (10.5%). Two days of madness on Wednesday and Thursday wiped out almost all the gains for the last several weeks.

On Wednesday, shorted BIDU and bought puts on the same stock - too leveraged, as I thought the market would come down. The market indeed came down, but not BIDU which continued to climb. Finally after getting out by 3.20pm, it pulled back a bit at the end of the day. Lost 9K in option and 4K in stock. On Thursday was suckered into buying puts on the SPY, and watched in horror as the market rebounded from the lows. Also whipsawed on SIGM the same day.

Tough to see several weeks of baby steps forward wiped out with one step backward. I am going to jettison some strategies that have proven a drag on my performance, while giving attention to what works.

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neke,

You have been trading since 1999, but you are still making amateur's mistakes. Your performance is disappointing. I cannot imagine that after 8 years a trader still behaves like this. If a trader does stupid things in the first three years, it's forgivable, but not beyond three years. I think any mistakes a trader can possibly make are made and repeated in the first three years.

 

[Grandeur]

Human nature is hard to change, I really hope this thing will turn around soon, I am almost getting the sense that you are afraid to loose money which in turn accumulates to the performance of this week.

 

[H30]

I want to agree that neke is 'trading scared'. I followed his thread last year and his trades were much better. I dont know if the wife has him on a short string or something but he is scared of losing money.

 

[neke]

Quote from H30:

I want to agree that neke is 'trading scared'. I followed his thread last year and his trades were much better. I dont know if the wife has him on a short string or something but he is scared of losing money.

Yes at these levels I am a bit scared of going below $100K. That has dictated some extreme caution in prior weeks. On wednesday took too much position in BIDU (short and options), losing 13k. I believe that had a hand in my sizing and poor trading on Thursday which again turned out to be a big loss. Inability to accept that it could indeed be a losing week on Wed precipitated another loss on Thursday. Too bad.

 

[neke]

Quote from 4DTrader:

neke,

You have been trading since 1999, but you are still making amateur's mistakes. Your performance is disappointing. I cannot imagine that after 8 years a trader still behaves like this. If a trader does stupid things in the first three years, it's forgivable, but not beyond three years. I think any mistakes a trader can possibly make are made and repeated in the first three years.

What is magical about three years? I am perhaps too slow, it is taking me longer than that to overcome all bad habits. Glad to know though it does not take perfection to be profitable: it takes getting better at overcoming the bad things.

 

[Intelinvestor]

Don't be too harsh to yourself. You are doing fine. Everybody has a down time.

Quote from neke:

Yes at these levels I am a bit scared of going below $100K. That has dictated some extreme caution in prior weeks. On wednesday took too much position in BIDU (short and options), losing 13k. I believe that had a hand in my sizing and poor trading on Thursday which again turned out to be a big loss. Inability to accept that it could indeed be a losing week on Wed precipitated another loss on Thursday. Too bad.

 

[sunggong]

Quote from neke:

What is magical about three years? I am perhaps too slow, it is taking me longer than that to overcome all bad habits. Glad to know though it does not take perfection to be profitable: it takes getting better at overcoming the bad things.

Neke,

Don't worry about the doubters. You had a sub-par week; every trader has one once in a while. It's not like you blew up. Looking at your track record, this is just a minor setback for you.

Keep going at it!

Sunggong

 

[4DTrader]

Quote from neke:

What is magical about three years? I am perhaps too slow, it is taking me longer than that to overcome all bad habits. Glad to know though it does not take perfection to be profitable: it takes getting better at overcoming the bad things.

To give three years is to be lenient, due to several factors:
1. part time efforts of many traders who have a full time job,
2. lack of guidance from a mentor,
3. funding restriction,
4. family interference,
5. lack of interaction with other traders,
6. misleading information causing confusion,
7. other.

To a full time active trader who trades a single intrument, I would give one year. All mistakes can be made, reflected on, and corrected during one year.