Trading Journal, November

I must realize that as long as there is a market, there will be traders, and while the market will change, so will the traders. Every day, there will be opportunities, it is just a matter of finding them. A lot of trading is pure psychological, top traders at my firm always believe in their ability, in their NEXT TRADE, no matter how much they were down the previous trade/day/week/month . . . It is the NEXT TRADE that matters, and a trader who doesn't believe in himself is destined to fail.

Excerpt from Hitman's Journal
 
130.79 AMR
Bought it when XAL rallied in the morning, should have picked a couple more airline stocks, as they ripped in the morning. Got out way too soon on this one HAVE TO TRUST my moving averages as a guide for stops!!

-20.75 BJS
Bought it too soon, before the XNG really took off. Got shaken out with a little wiggle!! Again, I should have used my 20 EMA!!! and put in wider stops!

87.93 CAM
Same story as BJS, bought it when I saw big bids come in but I couldn't hang on through the shake out!!!!!
My game was not sharp today, feel like I put in stupid stops hold day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-43.66 COH
The stock is too weak today and didn't want to move!

87.00 DNA
Did pretty good on this, when BTK rallied later in the day!! Got out when he did a spread up, tried it a couple more times and lost some of my profit.

-106.86 DYN
Unbelievable, put in the wrong order to buy after the stock gapped up 65c, of course all the bid disappeared after I bought it a $43.00 and offer came in at $43.00!!! Shit.

7.42 HIG
Didn't move early on, but missed it when IUX rallied later in the day!! WAKE UP!!


-52.49 IBC
Stock was too thin, gapped up $1.25 to $25.50, didn't get my shorts off until the stock was printing $24.75!! I covered it with a loss but the stock did tank after that!

-16.48 KMI
Stayed at the low of the day and didn't participate when XNG rallied.


73.69 LAB
A good pick in the morning, got in a little late but the stock is too thin, could not get out where I wanted. Lost some profit, when he triggered my stop and printed 10c lower.

73.68 MON
Same story as LAB, the stock moves and I got out 20c too soon.

-55.55 RYL
Bad gap play, the stock gapped down 50c and printed new low 3 times, got shaken out, and the stock retraced $2 afterwards!!!! SHIT!!!!!

25.72 SPG
Sold too soon, got the low of the day and yet I didn't hold it, why? The guy sitting next to me said REIT's are the worst stock to trade. I listened to him and covered! the stock went up another 50c after that ! TRUST YOURSELF!

-46.67 STJ
Bad gap play, the stock gapped down and printed new low 3 times, got shaken out, and the stock retraced $1 afterwards!!!!
Just my luck.

-70.35 TLB
Strongest stock in the sector, didn't want to much, lost money trying to churn.

-81.95 WFT
BOUGHT TOO SOON and didn't get it enough room to trade the stock ripped with the XNG sector.

-172.00 YUM
Worst trade of the day, stock gapped down 75c from $50, and got filled at 89c, and immediately the bid disappeared and the stock prints 55c, thinking that the stock was going lower, I bulleted it and got printed at 55c, but that was a temporary low aand the stock ripped back up to 80c!! totally lost my composure and covered at the market, the stock drifted lower, to $49.00 before doing a U turn and rallied to close at $49.50


I didn't feel that I was trading well today. Especially after the loss with YUM, I totally lost my composure and went into one trade after another trying to make some grounds back, instead i should have taken a break and some fresh air and come back 15 minutes later!!

Did feel that I am getting a better feel with sector trading. have to be more aggressive and go with a couple of stocks in each sectors instead of just one.

Today was a rough day for gaps, which usually works decently.

Have to be really sharp tomorrow, and make my money in this shortened week.

Lost $250 on this frustrating day!! But it will be better tomorrow!!
 
I went home yesterday more upset than before and I couldn't understand why!!??

I was down, but not a devastating amount and I also churned away all my profit on 3 bad trades but that's not something to be mad about.

I thought it over last night, and I think I finally figured out why. In my firm I share trading ideas with a few people that I trust. One of them is Mr. V, he and I traded at another firm before we jumped ship. He came in about 2 weeks later than I did and he's doing well, he is up over $3000 at least by now, $2000 last week and $1000 yesterday. He didn't get blown up like I did on that MOC day, he even told me not to go crazy, but I was a rookie, what do I know.

So I think I was mad because I gave him some good energy plays and while he made money I didn't, and he was up and I wasn't!!!
That was eating me inside and I felt that I have to get it out on the open to make me feel better.

In my own defense, Mr. V traded for over a year at our old firm, ( I traded for 2 months ) losing over 20K, I guess he has learned how to not lose now because it is very rare for him to have a tipple digit loser!! (trading 600 shares).

There I have said it, I am very competitive and I want to be better than anyone else so I am more frustrated than usual on a day like yesterday when I could have made money, I didn't and Mr.V did prove that it was a very winnable day.

Well I have to stop babbling and focus on today. It is the next trade that matters!!

Mr.V 1 Stockk 0

Not for long, Not for long , Not for long!
 
As far as being competitive... While it is interesting to compare your results with others on a monthly basis on a daily basis I find it very dangerous. Some mkt environments suit one traders strategy and other environments suit others.Making sure you follow your rules taking planned entrys and exits and only comparing your performance to your own trading has been beneficial to me.In the past comparing myself to other traders tended to make me cheat and violate entry and exit criteria.
Just something that works for me
 
Monee,

While I understand your point, I think I lost on execution more than anything else, we trade similar stocks and have some what a same trading style.
If he is doing some thing really different, maybe I can learn something from him.

thanks for your kind concern
 
It's a mistake to compare your trading to others. You can always find someone to make you look bad, or good for that matter. Causes emotional ups and downs, either one will adversely effect your performance.
 
I totally disagree with the above comments, it is VERY important that you have a benchmark to compare to, this way you can be very critical of your own performance. Obviously you can not compare yourself against someone who is making seven figures, but you need to have a few benchmarks if you work for a professional firm. It is a huge advantage as you can see how different styles work in different market environments and continue to refine and tweak your own style.

I keep three benchmarks at my firm, I compare my consistency against F, whose trading size is much bigger than mine but every bit as consistent, she is up 100K and I don't think I can catch up this year, but next year I will be looking to compare actual P&L's as I pick up my size. I also compare myself against P, who I used to work with and showed me 10/20 EMA (which I no longer use), he was up a lot earlier in the year but blew up and now I am just 10K away from catching up, I have a huge edge in him in consistency but I don't make nearly as much size on big day's, my goal is to be consistent and eventually pick up my size so I will totally destroy him, but as of now I have a hard time beating him on good week's but destroy him on bad week's. Last but not least, I use M, a newer trader as an "alarm", if any week I lose to him I have to be very very critical of my own performance as he is newer and trades essentially the same way I do, even the way we manage trades is similar.

The key is to find people who trade your style, and not too far ahead of you, so you always have someone to catch-up to and push yourself further. All of my benchmarks trade more or less a variation of my own style, and competitive spirit never hurts.

SBK:

Trust me, no matter how badly the guy traded for a year, he has that extra year's worth of experience on you and is more comfortable with size, that is a huge edge, not to mention looking at all those stocks and tapes and familiarize himself with it. Mrs F has 4 month's worth of experience on me and I feel like there is a substantial barrier. Unless the guy is total garbage (and if so, why would you even compare yourself against him?), you are not supposed to beat him when he has almost an extra year's worth of experience on you.

Take your time, but DO compare consistency, I am flattered that you are trading my style despite of the fact that I put up small potato numbers, and I can tell you my strength is in defense (supremely tight stops and aggressive pare in/out's) and consistency, and my ability to hit big game's is still lacking. Work on your consistency first, then bigger day's . . .

P.S. As of now, you too are a benchmark I use to determine how well I traded, as if you beat me on any given week I will be very upset (and I should be with more size and experience), but the day I don't feel that way will be the day I give you my IM and we will start sharing trades together :-)
 
-31.20 AMR
Bought close to the low, thought that XAL would bounce, but there were no buyers!! Couldn't break the 20 EMA. Got out with a small loss.

-20.66 BDX
DRG was rallying, this stock just couldn't move, got tired of watching it and took a small loss. It actually went up 30c but in like 3 hours.

-28.27 BLS
Bought it when I thought XTC was bouncing, turned out just some program buying and the stock got knocked around, should have shorted it, stock went down 50c when market sold off later in the day.

44.19 BSC
I could have made a lot of money on this stock. It just wiggles too much and I got in and out several times and lost some of my profits! have to be more discipline and use technical stops that I know works. Didn't do it yesterday and didn't do it today!! What is wrong?

-37.05 CB
Bought it a couple of times and the stock just didn't want to move. Offer keep refreshing and bids kept getting hit, on 100, 200 shares. I think he was just chasing stops, I got out of it after a while and the stock ripped 50c. Just my luck!!

72.25 CI
The stock gapped down, when IUX was ripping. Bought it at $87.21, 20c from the low. Next print $87.00 !! 90c, 80c, no bid till 65c. I held a little bit and covered at 80c. Of course that turned out to be the low of the day, the stock immediately prints the fig. I was down $180, trust my sector strength, bought again at 05.
The stock ended up retracing all the way up to $88.25!! I got out at $87.80. While I didn't make much, I am glad I didn't panic and got back into the stock.

220.48 CPN
What a give this stock was, OSX, XNG and UTY all gapped up in the open and the stock opened down 80c. Bought it at $25.15 and just watch with amazement how the 60K offer was taken slowly, the stock did wiggle a little bit and I got out at $25.65. Why I don't know, maybe I was just too happy with the profit, watched it a little longer and the stock just sliced through the fig. at $26, bought it again at $26.05 and sold it at the top when a lot of size printed at 40c. Well I had a decent profit, I should have just kept my cool and let the sock trade. Left at least $100 on the table.

-24.19 CRA
Thought BTK was turning around, just a little squeeze.

-72.69 FTE
Worst trade of the day! I was lucky to escape with not too big a loss. The whole firm was in this stock and they just didn't realize that the stock was offering a 3 billion dollars convertible!!! Big offer came in and hammered the stock down, I didn't touch it until I saw 48K bid at 50c, which is big for the stock but not today, and no offer I tried to put in an offer at 60c. Bam! 48K hit and I got filled at 50c, offer stepped down to 50c, shit more sellers. 40K offer at 48c, no bid, luckily I saw a 300 share bid at 26c, took it and lost $85 , in less than one minute. how nice. I bought it again and tried to make some of the money back the stock was just all over the place. didn't want to make it any worse and I gave up.

-22.46 PHA
Last ditch effort towards the close, though the stock was going to go, after a 10K offer was taken but no luck.

69.42 PPG
What a good stock to trade and some how I messed it up, the stock moves up slowly but tanks really fast when CEX retraced, got in few times and churned my profit away. Should have kept with technical stops, could have saved a lot of commissions.

1.72 SHW
can't believe it, this stock just doesn't want to move.

36.96 STT
Again churning is the name!! Had to go back in several times to make some money on this stock. It just wiggles too much and I paid too much attention to BKX. Looks like it is going to go, then comes back down over and over again.

28.79 VVI
A decent size gapped down, but there was just no buyers today!

All in all, a very tough, very dead day !! Could not get into any rhythm at all, should have stop myself from trading in the afternoon, there was just nothing going on.
Ended up the day with $300 profit. Nothing to brag about, but I
will take it.

Mr.V ended down $250 today. I feel better knowing that he struggles today! Well he would have been up if he would have gotten my message on CPN. Oh well GOD works in mysterious way!!

Feel a little better about my trading today but my stop loss still leave a lot to be desired and my executions have to be a lot cleaner.

I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be dead also, but there is still opportunities!!

Mr. V 1 Stockk 1
 
SB,

Besides Hitman's sector trading strategy you also seemed to inherit his trading and writing skills! Very good trading, particularly for someone relatively new, and an excellent journal that goes into more detail than Hitman's. I've enjoyed reading it, keep up the good work.
 
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