The journal of steady, dull and uninteresting trading

themickey said:
You'll need to crack the whip as great opportunities are right around the corner. :)
Will you have a short term or long term exposure bias?
We have 2 months to go before "Sell in May and go away".
I'm hoping the bear mkt is not a very short term affair as one which may last a few months creates these 'lifetime opportunities'.
I tend to hold due to circumstance usually months to years, but I'm also prone to sell out in 1 to 2 days if a trade I place doesn't behave a breakout as I expect.
Last week for example I bought Friday morning and I sold following Monday morning.
More...

Right, I'm working on it : - )

Things could get hairy for the next while or calm down again. I have no clue.

I'm a day trader rather than a swinger (only on weekends) or investor. Volatility usually is a good thing.

I like the portfolio approach even for day trading. So long as there is an intra-day trend happening, it can be worthwhile.
 
qlai said:
You are trading your own money now? Is it different?
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The big advantage of prop trading is the access to capital.

Some places provide training.

Others have the benefit of having other traders in the same office, which can be great for sharing ideas and observations.
 
Account fully setup by late afternoon. Bit of a surprise as I thought it would take til end of the week.

Made a few small trades to 'get it out of the system'.

The early mornings is when I'll have to do most of my prep work as I'm a reluctant socialite in the evenings.

With the gaps, a lot of ideas no longer become valid.
 
First full day complete. Successful? Not so much.

Tuned into a live trading broadcast...had to stop. It was too exciting.
I prefer calm peacefulness and concentrate on generating ideas.
I was slightly better after that.

Keystroke error created an unwelcome loss. I didn't try to flat out the extra shares which is a mistake.

No real follow through today.

Back at it tomorrow.
 
Second full day complete. Much better day.

Lot of notes and ideas during the day. Nearly three pages in my book.

No external distractions allowed for focus and concentration.

I need more buying power to work the trades.

S&P down 9% today. I try not to predict what will happen, just work with what's in front of me.
 
Third full day complete. (Will I keep counting the days?)

I was overly active and had a lot of whipsaw trades occur.

3 1/2 pages of notes and ideas.

Found a simple scanner which has a lot of potential from what I saw in a couple hours of using it.

Trading larger size, observing if I am trading correctly. I need to be able to scale up in a manageable way.

Buying power is an issue, need a few days to figure it out.

My tape reading skills are starting to come back.

Lot of learning. Lot to learn. It helps that I have contacts that know portions of the market much better than I do.

Kinda liking this journal here on ET.

A way to flush out some thoughts.
 
Fourth full day complete.

Trading larger position size and it needs to get bigger - responsibly.

4 pages of notes and ideas.

Been working more on adding to winning positions. It's helping.

Need to be in the right sectors. Energy and Gold it seems.

I have to remove liquidity more often than adding as stocks will whip against fast.

With these gappy days, I can't really find trade ideas after hours, but I can find potentially clean trading stocks.

When I'm in a stock and I know I have no edge, I need to be super defensive and move on.

Trading my ideas and picking my spots. Not trying to do too much. Much to learn. Room for growth.
 
Fifth full day complete.

Emotionally tougher day. Was not with it for a bit - recognized it and had to straighten myself out.

Very active day. A bit too active. Need to pick spots better and play defense with gains.

Grinding it out, nevertheless.
 
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