Total Newbie (self taught/punished) Tries to make it big. (No joke!)

T

taumeson

Disclaimer: I do *not* know what I'm doing.

I woke up one day, checked my companies ESPP and said to myself "Gee, the stock goes up and down, I bet if I buy low sell high I can outperform my ESPP" and thats where it started.

Since then, I've moved on to QQQ and am now trying to work on an active trading strategy but I'll post on that as developments occur ;)

I hope everyone can look at my cluster-f**k of a start and laugh and point their fingers at this foolish geek... go ahead and tell me to read a book or go thru a broker too.. I may heed your warnings... Oh who am I kidding, I wont listen to you.

So without further adeu...
 
Okay it's stupid using these guys for any type of trading. Big commissions, no tools... and other reasons you'll see:

========= Phase 1: XXX Stock
Date Type Stock Quanitity Fees Price Value Delta TOTAL PROFIT

22-Apr Mkt S XXX -828 $14.99 $25.50 $21,145.38 $(14.99) $(14.99)
7-May Mkt B XXX 810 $14.00 $26.02 $21,131.38 $(14.00) $(28.99)
9-May Lmt S XXX -810 $15.01 $26.30 $21,343.17 $211.79 $182.80
12-May Lmt B XXX 800 $14.00 $26.38 $21,329.17 $(14.00) $168.80
12-May Lmt S XXX -800 $14.99 $26.41 $21,338.18 $9.01 $177.81
12-May Lmt B XXX 810 $14.00 $26.11 $21,324.18 $(14.00) $163.81
19-May Mkt S XXX -810 $14.96 $25.15 $20,531.62 $(792.56) $(628.75)
19-May Mkt B qqq 725 $14.00 $28.12 $20,517.62 $(14.00) $(642.75)
21-May Mkt S qqq -725 $14.94 $27.53 $20,074.93 $(442.69) $(1,085.44)
21-May Mkt B XXX 829 $14.00 $24.15 $20,060.93 $(14.00) $(1,099.44)
28-May Lmt S XXX -829 $14.97 $24.78 $20,568.23 $507.30 $(592.14)
28-May Mkt B qqq 699 $14.00 $29.39 $20,554.23 $(14.00) $(606.14)
28-May Mkt S qqq -699 $14.97 $29.20 $20,406.45 $(147.78) $(753.92)
29-May Sht S qqq -500 $14.70 $29.65 $20,391.75 $(14.70) $(768.62)
29-May Sht S qqq -500 $14.69 $29.41 $20,497.06 $105.31 $(663.31)
29-May Cov B qqq 1000 $14.00 $29.30 $20,593.06 $96.00 $(567.31)
29-May Lmt B qqq 1000 $14.00 $29.26 $20,579.06 $(14.00) $(581.31)
29-May Lmt S qqq -1000 $15.38 $29.30 $20,603.68 $24.62 $(556.69)
30-May Mkt B qqq 1000 $16.00 $29.65 $20,587.68 $(16.00) $(572.69)
30-May Lmt S qqq -1000 $17.68 $29.70 $20,620.00 $32.32 $(540.37)
30-May Sht S qqq -1000 $14.00 $29.75 $20,606.00 $(14.00) $(554.37)
30-May Cov B qqq 1000 $15.40 $29.78 $20,560.60 $(45.40) $(599.77)
30-May Lmt B qqq 1200 $15.39 $29.78 $20,545.21 $(15.39) $(615.16)
30-May Mkt S qqq -1200 $16.00 $29.72 $20,457.21 $(88.00) $(703.16)
30-May Lmt B qqq 1200 $16.00 $29.64 $20,441.21 $(16.00) $(719.16)
30-May Lmt S qqq -1200 $16.00 $29.70 $20,497.21 $56.00 $(663.16)
30-May Sht S qqq -1200 $17.67 $29.80 $20,479.54 $(17.67) $(680.83)
30-May Cov B qqq 1200 $17.68 $29.70 $20,581.86 $102.32 $(578.51)
30-May Lmt B qqq 1200 $14.00 $29.70 $20,567.86 $(14.00) $(592.51)
30-May Lmt S qqq -1200 $17.68 $29.76 $20,622.18 $54.32 $(538.19)
??-Jun Mkt B qqq 680 $15.00 $30.07 $20,607.18 $(15.00) $(553.19)
17-Jun Mkt S qqq -680 $35.00 $30.88 $21,122.98 $515.80 $(37.39)

==============================
Rough ride up till now...

1) I decided to not do XXX stock because I wanted to get away from micro econ volitility (the less news I have to pay attention to the better)

2) Once I got a margin account I went crazy, and got a margin call put on me cuz i was trading with under 25k of equity. No sweat right? I should be able to trade on a cash avail basis... WRONG Fidelity doesnt allow that... so as of June 17th I was in search of another broker....

======================

Overall, I dont think I did that bad... I managed to turn around a 1k loss to basically a wash... even tho it's funny I made Fidelity about $500 in commisions off of me and they still locked my account.. I would have been lazy and still stayed there if they let me trade on cash avail basis.. oh well too bad for them.
 
Okay, so now a little wiser as to Margin Equity Calls, I gave the guys at Fidelity the finger and took my money to FreeTrade.com even tho I'm paranoid about the supposed free lunch (free trades)....

about 7 days later my money got xfered over (this time $25k so I had a good starting point for my hopefull day trading without equity calls). and I started again...

Date Type Stock Quanitity Fees Price Value Delta TOTAL PROFIT

25-Jun Mkt B qqq 700 $- $29.98 $25,000.00 $- $-
25-Jun Mkt B qqq 800 $- $29.99 $25,007.00 $7.00 $7.00
27-Jun Lmt S qqq -1500 $- $30.37 $25,577.00 $570.00 $577.00
27-Jun Lmt B qqq 800 $- $30.36 $25,577.00 $- $577.00
27-Jun Mkt B qqq 800 $- $30.27 $25,505.00 $(72.00) $505.00
27-Jun Mkt S qqq -1600 $- $29.99 $25,057.00 $(448.00) $57.00
27-Jun Lmt B qqq 800 $- $30.01 $25,057.00 $- $57.00
27-Jun Lmt S qqq -800 $- $30.03 $25,073.00 $16.00 $73.00
27-Jun Lmt B qqq 800 $- $30.02 $25,073.00 $- $73.00
27-Jun Lmt B qqq 800 $- $29.94 $25,009.00 $(64.00) $9.00
1-Jul Lmt S qqq -1600 $- $30.32 $25,617.00 $608.00 $617.00

=======================================

Okay, so I started on a good foot... unfortunatly three mistakes:

1) I set my Lmt Sell on June 27th to 31... and once I saw the price at 30.5 I decided to switch my Limit Sell to 30.5.. only then the price was at 30.48... so I waited... 15 minutes later the price dipped to 30.30 or so.. DOH.. serves me right for being greedy... get in, get out right?

2) I had the misfortune of using Ameritrade's Command Center app to perform trades... I ended up with a ghost transaction (I thought I bought, Command Center said I bought, but I actually didnt)... I bitched about this in another thread.. but I ended up not making about $150.. boo hoo. Cheap lesson to learn tho. At least I didnt *LOOSE* anything.

3) I started to try microtrading which again didnt work too well.. since I seem to have had okay luck swing trading in the past I think this is probably what I'll stick with right now until I get better tools and actually read some books and crap. Takes too much time and I have mediocre returns trying to microtrade.

==============================

So that catches me up to present-day.. I'll post my earnings daily.... and any lessons I learn.
 
1) Seems Ameritrade's Margin/Pattern Day trading requirements are less strict than Fidelities... I guess I can do $100k trades now instead of my $50k!!! woo woo! Tho I'm scared... maybe I'll stick with my $50k chump for now :)


2) I still cant stop accusing freetrade of taking commissions in 'other' ways... I need to find a better broker I think... naw, I'm lazy. I'll just find a better data feed than their streamer software.
 
not-this-again.jpg
 
Looks like you are off to a decent start. I know you are not listening per your first post, and that is fine, but if there is one thing I learned quickly when I started it was to use a per share commission direct access broker. Unless you are doing large blocks of stock, the ticket charges will eat you up. Not only will you save on commissions, but you will save the payment for order flow hidden charges that your "free" broker is getting out of you. (BTW, if the trades are free, why are you paying about $30 per trade?).

I don't trade retail anymore, so I am not promoting any particular broker, but you owe it to yourself to check out somewhere like Interactive Brokers. You would be paying a little under $8 instead of $30 plus you can control your orders for better fills. (Just be aware that this won't help your tendancy to microtrade, since its much easier to buy and sell quickly).
 
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