Taking 320K to 3.5million by Year End 2009

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Quote from neke:

Actually when I mentioned historical or recent performance, I am actually looking at the optimal fraction for the strategy over given time frames, which depends in some ways on volatility. Example options have lower optimal fraction than stocks, because the percentage moves in the positions are much bigger. (You could buy an option at $3 and easily sell at 0.30 one day later (90% move): that is hard to come by in stocks.). Now I am analysing the optimal fraction by strategies (several option strategies and several stock strategies).

Thanks for the response. I'd be interested in seeing your thought process as you work through this issue.
 
It was a rocky start for most people. You did something truly amazing last year I believe you will do it again.
 
After some thought, the fraction, f, to use on a trade shall be a function of 3 variables for stocks, and 4 variables for options:

f = g(cratio, histf(strategy), recentf(strategy)) --stock
f = g(cratio, histf(strategy), recentf(strategy), daystoexp) --options

The meaning of each variable is below:

cratio

This is the ratio of current account value at the time of the trade to the starting value of the thread (320K). The idea is to increase fraction used as the buffer increases, subject to not exceeding the optimal. So at the start of the thread, cratio was 1 for the first trade. At the moment it is about 0.94. The methods calls for extra-conservatism when the fraction is low.

histf(strategy)

This is the historical optimizing fraction for the strategy, which is recalculated after each trade using the strategy. (Example if a strategy has two trades: bought at 10, sold at 12 in the first trade, and then bought at 120, sold at 102 for the second trade, that is 20% gain followed by 15% loss in the underlying, the optimal fraction - what maximizes the total return compounded - is 0.83. This means total return is maximized by using 83% of account value per trade). There is an absolute maximum of 3.0 for stocks and 0.80 for options (arbitrarily chosen). If optimal fraction is negative, a value of 0 will be used. Adjustments will be made where there are not enough historical data (10 is my minimum) for a credible fraction. Fortunately almost all my strategies have enough historical trades to pass that test. The higher this value, the higher the value of f and vice versa.

recentf(strategy)

This is the recent optimizing fraction for the strategy, also recalculated after each trade based on the strategy. This only takes into account recent trades (I am leaning on using only the three most recent trades). If the most recent trade reveal a 0 optimal (negative or zero edge), the value of f will go down. Conversely the higher the value. The absolute maximum imposed by the prior paragraph applies here too.

daystoexp

For options the days to expiration determines what fraction that can be used. The closer to expiration of the option, the faster the percentage moves on the option premium, consequently the smaller shall be the value of f.

Next I shall look at my results for last year,and try to figure out a good formula for the function g as a combination of the above variables.
 
Its time to get out now. Your down 18 grand and next week might be another 18 grand. Next thing you know you will be like Lenny Dykstra getting sued by the brokerages because you blew the account and couldnt repay the margin loan.

Quote from neke:

Weekly Update for week 1/50 ended 1/17/2009

Ugly week, down 19K (6%). Not exactly how I wanted to start the year.

The major setback was on Monday when I tried to fade the sell off. Too leveraged: kind of forgot I have no buffer, as I was starting with a fresh capital base. Tried to come back later in the week on reduced leverage. Really putting in a lot of work into deriving a formula that should govern my leverage. It should depend on strategy, historical performance of strategy, buffer above starting capital, and recent performance of strategy.

Code:
Opening Balance:               	    	320,064
Net gain for the week 		        -18,534
------------------------------------------------
Net Balance:                   		301,530
Number of Trades	            	 23
Number of Profitable Trades    	    	 11


Top/Bottom Discretionary Trades for the week

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

POT	2009-01-15-10-33-35	2009-01-15-14-01-38	3000	195480		206279		10784		LONG
SZCAD	2009-01-15-10-36-40	2009-01-15-14-02-34	10000	15400		22500		6936		SPY CALL
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SPY	2009-01-12-09-45-51	2009-01-12-15-43-09	7000	616843		606830		-10030		LONG
SZCAJ	2009-01-12-10-08-27	2009-01-12-15-42-35	35000	58138		38500		-20191		SPY CALL

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Quote from Port1385:

Its time to get out now. Your down 18 grand and next week might be another 18 grand. Next thing you know you will be like Lenny Dykstra getting sued by the brokerages because you blew the account and couldnt repay the margin loan.
Why do you insist on trolling every single thread on ET? You're pathetic.
 
Hi neke,

Just a reminder. You owe IRS $4063.58 transaction tax for the week ended 1/17/2009 based on your trading amount (not including your option trading) of $1,625,432.00.

Hope this will never happen to you and to every traders. But it looks like the current situation is in favor of this new tax. It will be interesting to see how you can survive while this new law is passed. I will stop trading immediately and close my brokerage account when this happens.

Gook luck
 
Quote from aqtrader:

Hi neke,

Just a reminder. You owe IRS $4063.58 transaction tax for the week ended 1/17/2009 based on your trading amount (not including your option trading) of $1,625,432.00.

Hope this will never happen to you and to every traders. But it looks like the current situation is in favor of this new tax. It will be interesting to see how you can survive while this new law is passed. I will stop trading immediately and close my brokerage account when this happens.

Gook luck

While most are dismissing the above, it really should be cause for concern for everyone, even those who think it won't apply to them.
 
Quote from aqtrader:

Hi neke,

Just a reminder. You owe IRS $4063.58 transaction tax for the week ended 1/17/2009 based on your trading amount (not including your option trading) of $1,625,432.00.

Hope this will never happen to you and to every traders. But it looks like the current situation is in favor of this new tax. It will be interesting to see how you can survive while this new law is passed. I will stop trading immediately and close my brokerage account when this happens.

Gook luck

dude...quit jumping to conclusions. just because some op-ed proposed it doesn't mean lawmakers are voting on its passage right now.
 
Quote from Trader KGB:

Why do you insist on trolling every single thread on ET? You're pathetic.

Put the idiot on ignore. Stop quoting him - so that *I* won't have to be subjected to his drivel.
 
Quote from aqtrader:

Hi neke,

Just a reminder. You owe IRS $4063.58 transaction tax for the week ended 1/17/2009 based on your trading amount (not including your option trading) of $1,625,432.00.

Hope this will never happen to you and to every traders. But it looks like the current situation is in favor of this new tax. It will be interesting to see how you can survive while this new law is passed. I will stop trading immediately and close my brokerage account when this happens.

Gook luck

Actually that is for only 4 trades out of 23. The total figure would be much higher. Let's just hope they let the sleeping dog lie. The loss of jobs/income tax from traders and brokerage houses should be much (Last year my commissions was $64K, enough to pay an Ameritrade staffer). If anyone should think of any rational reason for such a tax, it should be imposed when the economy is hot, not when it is dithering on the edge!
 
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