Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Evening Wrap Up

-$6816.00

Well I think that number says it all. My account is now five figures for the first time this year.

I'm going to continue blogging, but I will be trading less until I get my confidence back.

I'm now listening to the MVIS conference call. Every time I hear footsteps coming down the hall, I have to turn the speakers down...I hope I don't miss something critical.

9 comments:

matte351 said...

Now is the time to watch from the sidelines as far as I'm concerned. Right there with you on bad RIMM and ICE trades. Started the year with 100k in my trading account and lost 2.85% on the year so far.

Paul Currington said...

I agree. Time to rent some movies and clean out the closet. Maybe sell some stuff on eBay. I would have made more money holding a garage sale than I did trading the last couple weeks.

MissTrade said...

Time to continue selling rallies boys and girls and making money. Volatility is a trader's delight. Hit em and play hard. The game is full on. It's easier to make money with a full plate of volatility then the slow drip up we have seen since the onset of shock and awe. Step up the plate and take some swings, we are only beginning the fun!!

Jeff said...

Hey guys and gals...thanks for the comments. Angry, I stop by your place regularly to forget about my losses. I'm sure we will all have good profits yet this year. I remember in 2005, at one point I was down 13.5%, and came roaring back to have a great year.

Missy, I'm glad you are enjoying the volatility. I just need some time to get my head screwed back on straight and then I will jump back in. It seems that the recent volatility is going to take the indexes down to retest their lows. Should be plenty of opportunities over the next couple of weeks.

MyFriendFate said...

wow, you must have a pretty good paying full time job to be so glib about a $6K loss. I'm glad to see you can keep such a positive attitude and regard it as a challenge, but I hope you don't lose sight of reality. Have you considered that the market just might not come back this year?... or next? Just make sure to keep an open mind and take it one day at a time. Make managing risk the primary focus. If you go for the home runs too much you also end up striking out a lot. Good luck.

Jeff said...

Thanks iio. My trading account is money that I would hate to lose, but would not seriously impact my life if I did lose it. The only stock I'm holding is MVIS. Even if the market continues to tank, I feel strongly that one contract announcement from MVIS will get me out at the very least of breakeven. Even if MVIS goes to zero from here, I will still have ~80K.

MyFriendFate said...

Thats good. I'd hate to see one of my favorite blogs be discontinued.

I'm not an expert by any means, but have you ever considered continuing your trading and blogging but with very small position sizes?

That has been what I am doing. Don't laugh, but I put a measly $700 into each trade I make. Sometimes I only get 20 shares, but I feel like I am learning just as much as if I were putting $5K into each trade. Fortunately 2 of my 6 holdings are short and I am only down about $175 for the year. Someday when I am confident of my methods, I will go full on. But I have quite long way to go first.

Jeff said...

iio, I have considered that. When I start trading more again (Which may be this week, who knows, I just need to feel "it" again) I will likely start with small sizes. For me, that is around 4K per position.

What's hard for me to reconcile is that I've had 3 banner years trading. What I'm trying to figure out is what I'm doing differently. I was telling my wife about losing 6K last night (she stayed calm. she's seen me lose before) and she mentioned everything I have going on with my life a.promotion to new job. b. new baby c. buying new house. d. I have another time consuming hobby I won't mention here for fear of losing anonymity. Long story short, I am so busy these last 5-6 months that I think that I'm trying to do too much, and everything is suffering.

What I am considering, and what I will detail on this blog if I decide to do it, is to find a chart with a techinical picture that has been profitable for me in the past, buy it, set a stop based on technical reasons, and forget about it other than that. That might allow me to spend less time discretionary trading, more time to focus at work and home. I am also getting ready to start backtesting ideas and strategies. I will post those here as well once they get underway.

MyFriendFate said...

Wow, if trading from work isn't hard enough already, sounds like you got alot going on. Best of luck to you. Glad to hear your wife is supportive. Thats always nice.