Trading for a Living - the journey to self discovery

T

Th3UglyTruth

Ever watched the movie "Office Space?" and is there truth behind if "you loved what you do; it won't feel like work?". What if the answer to this was to "trade". How does one do it and and can one do it consistently over time?

My Goal for this journal is to post my trades over 2011. The journal should provide me (and others) an opportunity to benefit from what transpires over time. I am grateful for any feedback so I may be able to learn from and be a consistent trader over time.

My only request? We keep it civil. I'm not here to hype stocks, systems or anything. My only goal is to consistently extract money from the market over time like my personal bank machine!

I will trade trend lines and breakouts. My style? Don't think I have one but I really admired the work of a fellow Elite Trader poster that goes by the name Spydertrader.

Just like Religion, everyone has their opinion on which one is the "right" one (or..is there really even one!). I believe, in trading, you have to find one that is "right" for you...

Happy trails!
 

Attachments

I was contemplating of holding on or stick with my self imposed 10% rule. Using $76.78 average cost = 11% return over two weeks.

Was so tempted to add to the position; didn't as MACD turned red at about 9am PST and I have to head out. We will take $3400 and move on to the next bus.
 
Talk about issues! My PC showed the blue screen of death and practically wiped out everything and I mean everything on my drive!:mad: Start from scratch! The bad part? I'm using Ubuntu and it goes without saying that not everything works with it....like no Silverlight! Yup, there is moonlight but it doesn't work properly!

I digress. Discipline...

Well, three great trades (I can only post two) happened that I will most likely close on Monday if there is no price improvement.

ERX - stop at $84.75; your mileage may vary.

Dang; how do I do multiple attachments? crap!

SRZ - stop at $10.25; 10% achieved; letting it ride.

I'm happy with the two....

Now, the other 2 trades that was not on the plan but I took as soon as AAPL announced better than expected results...

TNA - $87.37 entry; $86.60 stop, 10% profit target
TYH - $48.97 entry; $47.75 stop, 10% profit target

Of course, your mileage may vary
 

Attachments

Talk about issues! My PC showed the blue screen of death and practically wiped out everything and I mean everything on my drive!:mad: Start from scratch! The bad part? I'm using Ubuntu and it goes without saying that not everything works with it....like no Silverlight! Yup, there is moonlight but it doesn't work properly!

I digress. Discipline...

Well, three great trades (I can only post two) happened that I will most likely close on Monday if there is no price improvement.

ERX - stop at $84.75; your mileage may vary.
SRZ - stop at $10.25; 10% achieved; letting it ride.

Dang; how do I do multiple attachments? crap!

I'm happy with the two....

Now, the other 2 trades that was not on the plan but I took as soon as AAPL announced better than expected results...Definitely was NOT disciplined on these two

TNA - $87.37 entry; $86.60 stop, 10% profit target
TYH - $48.97 entry; $47.75 stop, 10% profit target

Of course, your mileage may vary
 
How do you know where you are going? Gotta have a plan.

1. Plan the trade; trade the plan.
2. Trade what you see; not what you believe.
3. There will always be another trade; conserving capital should always be top of mind.

Big hairy audacious goal for 2011 = $100k or $10K/month
Starting capital: $100,000; $25,000 per position or 4 streams. We will scale down depending on the situation. 10% per stream = $2,500 x 4 = $10,000.

Why post? Good way to learn from the experience and a way to keep me honest with my introspection and trade execution!

Biggest challenge? Discipline to stick with the plan (already broke it twice with the TNA and TYH trades) and to post it on this journal!

So far:
Feb 2011 = $3400; 1 trade
Mar 2011 = no trades; PC crashed lol!
Apr 2011 =
 
if you don't mind me asking, how do you pick the stocks to trade? Any details you can share would be appreciated. I'm in the process of learning about trading, so totally green at this point. Getting books and looking up software on line.
 
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