OK, so I have been trading for little over a year now, and for that entire time I have been a part of the 3SOF trading community. This place has been a fantastic place to learn from people with much more experience than myself, to discuss trading ideas, and to come up with new ones. I have to extend my appreciation to Ramsburg and David of course (good to see you back by the way!!) and especially to Melf Elf, who I have had so many productive discussions with here, also to Setravis, Fous, Calven, Aussie, Terliso, Wrangler, La-Onda and many others here at 3SOF... the list goes on and on....
Anyway, in my year's trading I have seen my total portfolio value decrease by approximately 30%, which obviously is not a very good start, but I have a feeling I am not the only trader who has ended up down significantly in their first year. However, during this time I also feel that I have learned a lot about TA and chart reading (am still not too hot on fundamental analysis) and consider this an expensive, but necessary education. In fact, I firmly believe that I have the skills to be successful at this game, however, on reflection, in this first year I have also fallen prey to just about every pitfall of the beginning trader (In no particular order):
1. Feeling like I HAVE to have all my money invested all the time, otherwise its not working for me
2. Trading reactively instead of predictively – i.e. buying a stock because I see it going up, with only the most cursory glance as to WHY its going up. How many times have I found that by the time I manage to place my order, the stock has peaked and then reverses??
3. Buying with market orders and selling with limit orders – it should be the other way round!!! (well.. mostly) Better to get out and miss a couple pennies than to miss your execution because you were holding out for that little bit extra.
4. Analysing stocks and then not following my game plan – e.g., buying where it is because I have to be in instead of setting a limit buy where I want (near perceived support) and waiting for the price to come to me.
5. Related to 4, not selling (or at least taking partial profits) when targets get MADE
6. Related to both 4 and 5, simply not setting targets!!
7. NOT SETTING STOPS!!!
8. Over trading – on analysis, to date, I have spent over $9000 in trading fees!!!!
9. Poor (or simply no) risk management – not appropriately analysing risk:reward profiles and not implementing an appropriate risk management strategy, including not maintaining sufficient portfolio diversity
10. A tendency to be attracted to "story stocks" and then not selling when the technicals tell me to because I like the story.
11. Holding through earnings when I don't fully understand the fundamental picture.
OK, so that is probably my top 11 trading follies – I can think of several instances in which I have done each and every one of them, to my portfolio's detriment. I am also very aware that most of these issues fall into one of 2 camps: psychological issues and technical issues.
On the psychological front, for me it is very much about the excitement of being in on the action, which as most of us know is very addictive. It is far too easy to get out of a position because it isn't exciting enough, even though it has not violated your trading plan, especially if it is because you want to throw your money into a stock that is exciting. The other main issue is trading with, and essentially being at the whims of, the herd psychological mentality, and not treating every trade with objective critical analysis. I have realised that these issues require a major psychological re-evaluation of my trading style and habits, which I am currently undertaking.
The other side of things are what I have referred to as technical issues, which mainly come down to my broker. I have realised (in fact I realised a long time ago, but just never did anything about it) that my current broker is totally inappropriate for the way in which I trade. As a UK based trader, I have been using a UK broker that allows me to trade US stocks. However, the number of stock that I can actually trade is woefully insufficient, my trading fees are exhorbitant (£15 or over $25 per trade!!, plus exchange rate fees both ways because my account is maintained in pounds), and I have been unable to utilise stops on my trading positions, and I now know that "psychological stops" simply do not work.
To this effect I am currently transferring my funds to a new broker (Interactive Brokers) which gives me a US$ account with low fees, and far more technical tools at my disposal. At the same time, I am taking this opportunity to completely revise my trading philosophy and strategy which I will detail in the next post. I know this is a bit long, but I feel that it is important for me to write all of this down and put it on a public board so I can return to it in future and make sure that I actually AM following my strategy (which of course is open to modification), and that I am not still falling into the same pitfalls of the previous year. In this respect, I will be using this board as my personal trading log. But feel free to post (constructive) comments here too!
OK, so on with the trading philosophy.
1. First of all, I have to know and set out explicitly when to call it quits. I expect to have just under $12,000 in my trading account (depending on the exchange rate when my funds get cleared). I am going to give myself an absolute floor of $9500, which will represent approximately a 20% decline in total portfolio value from my current level. If I breach this level, I will have to accept that despite my beliefs to the contrary, and my current attempts to revise my trading strategies, I am simply not a successful trader, and my money would be better off in the bank. I will liquidate my portfolio, close up shop, and say goodbye to all the good people here. This is and has to be rule no. 1.
2. My medium term goal is to raise my portfolio value to $25,000 over the next year.
3. Initially I will maintain 5 positions. While this is not at the level I would like for risk management purposes, considering my total asset value it feels appropriate. As my portfolio value grow, I anticipate adding a position for every $2500 increase.
4. Of these 5 positions, I will reserve 3 for medium term trades, i.e. 2 weeks to 2 months or longer, and 2 for short term trades, i.e. anything from 1 day to 2 weeks.
5. I will primarily trade Nasdaq, NYSE and Amex stock (in that order). I will also consider OTCBB or penny stocks, but only at a half position, to limit risk. No Pinks.
6. Stocks with under 100k average daily volume don't get a look in. I like liquidity.
7. I intend to primarily trade long, however, I will have a margin account, so am looking to short stocks as well. In future I may consider options too. At least initially, margin will not be used for leverage until I feel that my trading strategy is working successfully, and if I do, it will only be used to leverage already successful trades. No averaging down on margin!!!
8. I may buy into a full position immediately or average into a position, depending on the circumstances. I intend to use an averaging strategy to trade breakouts, buying half on the initial breakout and saving the other half for re-test of that breakout/confirmation. If it means averaging up, so be it, but this should hopefully limit my exposure to failed breakouts.
9. My intention is to trade primarily based on technical analysis, and by that I mean my TA. I am open to and will actively use other people's trading ideas, but as they say, you live and die by your decisions in trading, so make sure those decisions are your own.
10. Related to that, I aim to have each trading plan set out BEFORE I initiate a trade, be that on the basis of daily or intra-day charts. If I have not set down a plan before the trade, I will do so as soon as the trade is made. I will do my best to update the relevant threads on 3SOF with these trading plans, and provide updates and links to them from this thread.
11. Plan the trade... and trade the plan – stick with trading plans once initiated. Of course it is ok to modify trading plans as a trade progresses and sell bearish formations or candles on a daily or intraday basis, but "I'm bored with this stock", or "my money would be better off in that stock" are not acceptable reasons to close a trade.
12. As far as technical trading methods go, I will primarily be trading pattern breakouts, but I am also going to try and make more low-risk trades near support using gtc limit orders for reasonable swing trades. As far as technical indicators, I intend to primarily make use of RSI, MACD and CCI, coupled with a moving average system to support buying and selling decisions. In particular, I like the 13ema as a short term indicator of trend support/resistance. Also Terliso's "3 magic lines". I will detail specifics in further posts.
13. I am also going to make more use of candlestick patterns, and where possible, aim to implement a doji pivot reversal strategy (i.e. using doji's as potential reversal indicators where the long/short pivot is a print beyond the legs of the doji, with a stop set beyond the opposite leg).
14. I will set stops for ALL trades upon or shortly after trade initiation. I have lost far too much money because of a lack of stops, and even if this results in me getting whipsawed out of positions, I would prefer to maintain an acceptable level of risk than run the risk of large losses.
15. Earnings... hmmm, I still haven't figured out an earnings strategy as they are often so tricky to play. Hopefully by the time I start trading again, earnings will be mostly over, and I can consider/develop this one over the next quarter. Probably the best rule for now is "if you don't have an earnings strategy, don't make earnings plays".
So, these are the basics of what I am setting out to do. I may add some other trading rules as they come to me, and will continue to update this thread with trades and trade ideas as I go along, as well as overall portfolio statistics (probably on a weekly basis). This is primarily a resource for myself to keep track of my progress, but I hope it will also be of use to the rest of the 3SOF community, and as always, I would be happy to discuss things more if anyone is interested.
Good trading!!
ScottishTrader
Kudos Scotsman,
Nice plan you have worked out here. All my best to ya, and i will be watching and sharing as time permits. This week take a look at TGC, metals are hot, as are canadian mining companys. I may enter tommorrow if i can get some at .90 or if it breaks 1.00, with a stop around .85.
GNBT is a fav of mine, Support at 2.00, Stop at 1.85, i believe we will see 3 before the first of the year... hmmm
good night and good trading to ya. Cheers Joe
Good for you Scots. You have just taken a major step towards being succesful.
Good Luck man.
Aussie
Alright, well seeing as I am still waiting for my funds to clear, I thought I would give a play by play worked example TA-wise that highlights some of the trading strategies I intend to implement. I thought I would use GIGM, as it is a stock I have traded several times, and one that is very well known here. There has been a lot of TA on the GIGM boards, which also makes it a nice way to compare different styles of analysis, and of course I'd be interested to hear what others think. I should also say that while I have traded GIGM several times, this is a historical worked example and I did not make all (or even most) of these trades - it is much easier to identify these things when you can see how they worked out. Identifying patterns and using them to effectively judge what will happen next is always much harder....
So we all know the long term pattern on GIGM over the last year - basically super-bullish 500% gain in the last year or so. Easily one of the stocks of the year. However that crazy bullish run peaked in the spring at 10.78, and then pulled back very sharply, all the way down to the low 6s in may and June. The first thing to note is that while it was a dizzying fall, the indicators (particularly the positive divergence in the MACD histo) indicated that it was overdone, and after the long red june candle, we had an immediate 2-day reversal and it started a short consolidation just below 7.25. This consolidation identified this area as resistance and set up an initial buy pivot. The CCI crossed back over the -100 line during this consolidation, which gives us a buy indicator, now all we are looking for is confirmation.
A bit about Commodity hannel Index (CCI) - you can read about it here: http://stockcharts.com/help/doku.php?id=chart_school:technical_indicators_and_overlays:commodity_channel_index_cci
I've started using it on my charts as the reversals back over the +100/-100 signal lines seem to give fairly robust reversal signals, and while it is still a lagging indicator, it seems to pinpoint buys and sells much more closely timewise than other indicators I have looked at. Pull up some charts on stockcharts.com with the CCI visible and have a look for yourself to get a feel for it.
Anyway, CCI had reversed, RSI had also bottomed, tagging 30, and when price broke above 7.25 resistance we have a clear buy. A stop buy order at say 7.28 would have worked well here. When the CCI tags the 100 line at the end of June and pulls back, we have a short term swings sell indicator. We also have confirmed resistance just above 9.00, from the May gap down that hasn't been fully filled yet and has already had one failed test, so a re-test and failure at this level confirms our swing sell. Price reverses and by mid july we get a subsequent re-test of our 7.25 support, which doesn't get breached on a closing basis, and is confirmed by a tag of -100 on CCI. This provides an ideal op to get back in where we started with a nice healthy gain. At this stage we can clearly see both the inverse H&S developing, as well as a symmetrical triangle. Anticipating an upside break of both of these patterns while holding a stop around 7.10 seems reasonable here. Reversal confirmation and a subsequent intraday re-test gives us an idea of our new ascending trendline.
This rally looks good, breaking out of the symmetrical triangle and inverse H&S and busting through 9.00-9.10 resistance on solid volume on the run-up to earnings. Stop is raised to around 7.60, still below our new ascending trendline, and as 8.00 looks like a clear pivot area. Earnings produce a big gap that then gets killed. Its real ugly "sell the news" and hopefully we are smart enough to take the hint and get out with our gains (or even go with the momo, reverse and go short). 3 days of selling brings us back to our trendline, at the confluence of the sym triangle's two trendlines, and we get a bounce there, with the 50SMA holding on a closing basis. This would be another low risk area to get a good buy, with a stop around 7.80. However, we may also want to see what it does when it gets back to 9.10 resistance, which it breaks through at the end of august giving us another buy signal.
Also note that by this stage the 50SMA (blue), 20SMA(red) and 13EMA (green) are all pointing up (as a side note, I keep thinking that moving average derivatives (i.e., rate of change) would be a useful trend indicator) suggesting we could be moving into a breakout trend here. Price gaps above 9.50 (also previously identified as potential resistance) and it looks like things are cooking. Then we get the monster candle on HUGE volume to new highs and things start to go crazy. We can bring our stop up to around 9.40, or a slightly more aggressive 9.80 - a long way from where the price is, but there is also a lot of volatility up there.
When price breaks to the upside again, (if we are hanging on by the seat of our pants) we sould probably be looking for signs of a top and reversal. RSI is teetering around 70 and the CCI heads back below 100. At this point (2 days after the high) we also get a doji candle. This sets up our doji reversal pivot strategy - i.e. take the legs of the doji as buy/sell inidcators on a closing basis. The low of the doji is 11.88, the next day the price closes at 11.87, giving us our signal. If this isn't enough, the day after opens at 11.85, and despite a move back above 12.00, closes again below our pivot. This is all the confirmation we need. As Melf Elf has pointed out elsewhere, we also have a great short setup here as things start to turn bearish, with a stop set just above recent highs of 12.55.
The US gaming news gives us a big gap down and price action gets very hairy. we know this shouldn't affect GIGM as they have no US operations, but the gaming sector as a whole is getting killed (Partygaming in the UK just got a 70% haircut). If we are short, we're licking our chops and may even cover on this breakdown, especially as 9.00-9.10 support holds once again. If we are looking for a buy op (as I was at the time) things are probably a bit too hairy unless we are REALLY confident that fundamentally this is overblown. However, we can use the legs of this long-legged high wave candle as pivot points again (on an opening/closing basis). A couple days later, the CCI pops back up above -100 (buy indicator) and we get our open above our buy pivot, giving us confirmation. This turns into only a 3 day move, at which point we get another doji/hi wave, which we can use to implement our doji reversal strategy. the low is 11.01 and the next day gives us a slightly more bearish hi wave candle, but it closes bang on 11.01. Now we can also see the beginnings of a descending trendline, which suggests this move may not bust through 11.25-27 resistance (the high of the big september candle and of our recent doji pivot). The next day gives us a clear sell signal and we are out for now.
Now the last couple weeks have been fairly bearish in tone, and GIGM broke thrrough our old ascending trendline, while respecting the new descending trendline. It could easily break down further, but personally, I think we have a good buying op now or very soon. Again, we have a positive divergence in the MACD histo, price has already tested 9.10 support, and the CCI just pulled back above -100 again, giving us another buy indicator. The last 8 trading sessions have marked 10.00 as resistance, and a move above here would break this and descending resistance. A nice strategy here would be to enter a limit buy just a bit above 9.50, maybe 9.56, with a stop just below 9.00. If this doesn't get filled, we buy a breakout above 10.00 (same stop for now). Earnings are on Thursday, which represents some uncertainty as we could easily get a gap either way. However, considering we have already had a decent pullback from recent highs, indicators look good, and we already know that GIGM is producing good numbers, it may be a risk we want to take. That call is only one each individual can make based on their confidence in the fundamentals and the markets potential reaction to them.
Anyway, I just wanted to post this to both give an idea (and cement in my head) the sort of signals I am and will be looking for in future trades. Of course it is much easir to see all of this in hindsight, and much harder to respond to and respect the signals given when you don't know the outcome. Looking at GIGM's chart now it seems very obvious to me that if I had paid attention, all the signals were there. However, while I caught some of the runs just detailed, I cerrtainly didn't catch them all, or even most of the value of the runs. My entries were late and my exits were often mis-timed. For example, after riding through a good chunk of the 'house of pain" June reversal, finally getting shaken out just above 7.00, (because it hurt too much), only to see the share price reverse and consolidate, I completely failed to buy the 7.25 June breakout. Instead I bought the lower end of the red candle whcih I failed to sell when it hit 9.00 resistance and rode right through the pullback. I finally sold in August before earnings, after the sym triangle break, but while it was right on the inverse H&S neckline, thinking "whew!! after a month and a half of being in the red, at least I got out with a small profit". I didn't get round to buying GIGM again until the big volume candle day in September (mostly for "my money is busy elsewhere" reasons).
My point is that while I'm always doing TA on charts, most of my trades have been psychological - i.e. "buy because its running", "sell because it hurts too much". Simply put, trading reactively. If I actually used my TA to identify buy targets and buy pivots, and then actually acted upon them I could have made some very successful trades on GIGM in the last 6 months. Another thing on this - When you are checking your stocks (or potential stocks) after you have done initial TA, always go back to the chart and keep identifying patterns/candles as they develop It simply is not enough to check on Yahoo Finance or whatever to see what went on that day. Too many times I have not paid attention to chart development and then suddenly a stock I should be in (because I monitor it regularly and "like" it) is running away without me and I go "whoa nelly" and chase it to get a poor execution.
All of this I'm saying as much to myself as to anyone else who is reading this. I'm hoping that by writing this down and repeating it over and over, it will go in and get cemented. Trade predicitvely, not reactively otherwise while you may get lucky, you will probably just get creamed
Cheers,
ST
OK, so my funds cleared this afternoon, which was great, except that I missed the open, so missed my anticipated entry in GIGM - didn't expect it to react so violently to my analysis!!! As soon as it hit 10.00, volume just went crazy and it was up at 10.40 in no time. Looks like GIGM wants an earnings run this week!
Picked up 4 stocks today -
ESLR, 2/3 position at 8.57, as per my analysis on the eslr board, stop at 8.17
http://www.3stocksonfire.org/trading/index.php?topic=3373.msg75971#msg75971
GIGM, late in the day, full position at 10.25 (was holding out for a re-test of 10.00 area but didn't get it), stop at 9.92.
PCU, one of David's suggestions that looks great, full position, at its highs at 56.35, stop 52.95
OMNI, after earnings killed it, looking for a bounce, in at 8.86, stop at 8.42.
http://www.3stocksonfire.org/trading/index.php?topic=5343.msg76081#msg76081
Nice to be back in again, but I have got to get a handle on IBs trading system, very different to what I'm used to!!
Good trading
ST
Scotsman,
Great posts on your trading philosophy! Applause.
Cheers Melf, Aussie, and Joet,
Am still getting settled into my new trading routine, it is harder than I thought!!! I find it very hard to fight the temptation to trade obsessively... and hold off, looking for those breakouts and good buys... having low trading fees and fast execution really makes it that much easier, which is dangerous! (Even though it is definitely a good thing!).
Picked up some CNXT this morning when it printed 2.03 - thought it was ready to break out of that triangle, but it sold off later in the day - still looking positive though. Nice triangle pattern, good volume, obviously wanting to break to the upside.
Pretty hapy with my OMNI pruchase, which I thought was possibly a bit risky, but todays reversal candle suggests that yesterdays reaction was overblown - will maintain a stop at 8.74 and look for continuation this week.
Cumulina mentioned that ESLR got pumped by cramer as a "buy monday, sell wednesday" play - hence yesterday's gap up. I didn't like this so I set me stop just below th bottom of yesterdays gap. was acting well in the morning, but stalled and then tanked, taking out my stop and leaving an ugly engulfing candle - might be a good quick short set up if it takes out this low again tomorrow (will have a look at it...)
GIGM was ripping today, but also reversed heavily and gave up all its gains. Leaves a long legged doji on the chart, so I will see what tomorrows pre-earnings action suggests.
Also picked up some DNDN this afternoon - it was looking positive late in the day as it played with 5.20-22 area, and lucky me, I caught the top at 5.25, but I think that DNDNs chart is looking much more positive, so I am willing to give it a bit of leeway. Symmetrical target is 6.25, initial stop will be set at 4.73.
PCU also looked good, but gapped up a little high, leaving a bit of a toppy candle. Is looking a little dangerous after a 15 point run, but I like David's analysis and will hold for now.
Quote from: ScottishTrader on November 05, 2006, 06:37:41 PM
4. Of these 5 positions, I will reserve 3 for medium term trades, i.e. 2 weeks to 2 months or longer, and 2 for short term trades, i.e. anything from 1 day to 2 weeks.
I see you have opened 6 positions in 2 days, based on rule #4 that looks like over trading to me.
Good luck
Good luck with your new trading philosophy/strategy ScottishTrader! :)
Quote from: ScottishTrader on November 07, 2006, 07:57:39 PM
Also picked up some DNDN this afternoon - it was looking positive late in the day as it played with 5.20-22 area, and lucky me, I caught the top at 5.25, but I think that DNDNs chart is looking much more positive, so I am willing to give it a bit of leeway. Symmetrical target is 6.25, initial stop will be set at 4.73.
Scotty, I just want to remind you that DNDN will make earnings announcement tomorrow. DNDN chart surely looking good but earnings makes me nervous sometimes so I sold my position today.
Good luck!
Quote from: AussieTrader on November 07, 2006, 08:18:14 PM
I see you have opened 6 positions in 2 days, based on rule #4 that looks like over trading to me.
True - I was looking to get going and got stopped out of ESLR this afternoon, so moved into DNDN at the EOD. As Terliso pointed out, they are reporting tomorrow, and I will see how this is reflected in the PM. It does seem like overtrading to me too, but as I said, I'm having a little trouble settling into positions that I want to hold/feel attractive to me.
OK,
So after my first week of trading with my new account/philosophy I have already learned several lessons that I will try and incorporate into my trading strategy. As Aussie pointed out, I think I got a little bit trigger happy with the trades early on, in fact I made 17 trades this week(including partial buys/sells)!!! Now that IS overtrading (for me anyway) I hit my pattern day trade limit on Wednesday, which meant I couldn't buy anything on Thursday or Friday (serves me right) so I was left to manage the positions I was holding.
So first rule, I have to watch the pattern daytraing rule, I only have 3 day trades per week (including getting stopped out), and I lost 2 of these from getting stopped out of positions early. From now on, I will put in my stop the day after I have entered my position, saving those day trades for either quick profit taking on an intraday rally, or if a position I have entered suddenly turns really sour on me. I will avoid day trades where possible as it seriously affects my ability to trade later in the week.
Second thing I learned regarding stops. Twice this week I set my stops too agressively. In fact, in both those cases, I set a reasonable stop and then brought it up (into the danger zone) when I thought it was "safe". This happened for both ESLR and GIGM, and I got stopped out at the lows (in fact I think I got THE low on GIGM on Wednesday, as it bottomed at 10.12, taking out my 10.15 stop and then reversed.) It may add a bit more risk, but stops should be placed clearly below (about 4 ticks?) significant support to avoid being kicked out of a position.
And I still managed to succumb to the "buy it because its going up!" mentality once or twice (neither of which worked out for me. Have to be very careful about these, as often thay can really hurt you. Will keep an eye out for speculative penny rippers on the 3sof board, where I can get in EARLY, and not end up catching the top of the move.
Finally, as I now have very low trading fees (my average fees for a position seem to be between $1 and $4) I need to be more aggressive about taking profits (or at least partial profits) on strong positive moves, and then aim to buy back close to my cost average. Pretty much every stock I played this week (OMNI, GIGM, ESLR, DNDN, PCU, NVAX, CNXT) made strong moves, up at least 5% and then pulled back significantly, wiping out these paper gains. If I can do this while maintaining my day trade rules, I will be able to at least lock in some profits, protecting against reversals. This sounds easy, but from experience I know it is not, and I will start working towards setting short term targets for partial profits before-hand, so I don't have to watch the intraday charts like a hawk.
Anyway, here is my weekly portfolio breakdown:
Starting Portfolio Value: $12325.55
Net value end of week: $12241.09
Total % P/L: -0.69%
% P/L on closed trades: -1.87%
Current holdings:
OMNI 300@ 8.86 +0.85%
DNDN 500@ 5.25 +0.27%
NVAX 500@ 4.75 -1.16%
CNXT 900@ 2.03 +7.83%
hi scottishtrader,
applause on your honesty with this thread.
trading, while on the surface looks extremely easy, is probably the most difficult thing i have done and for me it is all based on discipline, which i am not very good at, but i am learning.
i have been through and still go through all the things you talk about in your posts. ( i think i may have stopped chasing stocks :D we'll see.) over trading , holding losers, impulsive trades, getting in at the high right at the reversal point etc. etc. and yet my analysis of a stock is often right., and when it is not , i have been able to see it very quickly yet unable to pull the trigger. which for me is an issue of trusting my desicion making. too many techniques and indicators have sometimes paralized me , (melf elf's mind is far more advanced in this department and can utilize a lot of indicators and methods well).
which brings me to my point of finding my own trading style and sticking to one method that will make me a better trader , because after all that is the goal right? to become a good trader . the money will come with that.
recently i had a period of loses that made me take another look at what i was doing .
here is how i approached it.
1. i cut back on my trading . i only hold one or two, or three positions at a time . this works for me. one is often plenty. ( exept i am holding a bag of ptsc, but so small a position that i ain't gonna let it go unless they go bankrupt!)
2. instead of paper trading i decided to trade very small amounts , 100 shares etc. ( i pay 1 dollar commision) so that a 10% loss would be finacially minimal. it is amazing how much more comfortable it is to not have too much on the line. if the stock moves $1 in your direction you only made 100 bucks but you have the satisfaction of a good trade. if it moves against you and you get stopped out on a down turn you have a managable loss .
3. i take small profits 5% 10% at key resistances or just below. i try not to wait for the exact number. if resistance is $5 and it hits $4.98 that is well close enough for me. this is one of the harder thing for me because that is where greed steps in. the mind ticks over .
4. i try to always wait for the pullback to key resistance or 9 ma 13ma 50ma etc.. it always comes , always . if i miss it and it goes to the moon without me i move on , there is always another oportunity in the market. ( this goes back to chasing)
5. don't be in a hurry and go easy on yourself
anyway i could write more but i have to go. i hope this helps .
good trading,
maxi
Quote from: rickjust on November 11, 2006, 09:57:46 AM
hi scottishtrader,
applause on your honesty with this thread.
Maxi and Scotsman,
Applause to both of you for your honesty on this thread, and for the great discussion. I've been wanting to comment on your posts, line by line, I can relate so much to all of what you've said, but I'd probably end up typing for days. :D
So, just a few comments...
Quote
trading, while on the surface looks extremely easy, is probably the most difficult thing i have done and for me it is all based on discipline, which i am not very good at, but i am learning.
I laughed out loud when I read that, Maxi, I related so much. ;D
The discipline really easy the key, I think. That's why I try so hard to "objectify" my trading as much as possible, stay focused on the plan, and BE DISCIPLINED about executing it.
Specifically, "Here's the pattern...there's the breakout...here's my stop...there's my target...that's my risk: reward....this is trendline support....etc."
That still doesn't make trading "easy," but I know what you mean. It sure makes it "easier." It removes the uncertainty that we feel, sitting in a trade wondering where support is...how much risk we should take...where we should exit the trade, and take profits.
"Having a plan," and knowing the answers to those questions
in advance of the trade makes trading
a lot easier.
There still are the problems, like false breakouts and pattern morphs, that we have to deal with, which is why it isn't a "slam dunk" easy, but again, trading doesn't have to be as difficult as we make it.
Quote
i have been through and still go through all the things you talk about in your posts.
I still do, too. I don't think that there's a day that I'm not tempted by one of my "demons." >:D
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( i think i may have stopped chasing stocks :D we'll see.)
Good for you! That isn't one of my demons. But,
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over trading
That one sure is! :D ;D
Quote
holding losers
Get thee behind me, Satan! That is SUCH a demon for me! >:D >:D >:D
"Darn! I just got stopped out. I'm pretty sure that I'm being faked out. I'm NOT selling!"
The stock ticks lower...lower...lower...
"Aw, CRAP! Now I have a 7% loss instead of a 3% loss. Maybe if I "hang on," it will rally into the close, and I can get back to only a 3% loss."
That demon is EVIL..EVIL...EVIL
It's one of my "Damned if you do...damned if you don't" demons.
More often than not, if I "feel" that it's a quick downside fakeout, but I "honor my stop" and sell it, the stock rallies. If I
don't "honor my stop," and sell it, the stock goes lower...lower...lower...
That's one of the NOT EASY aspects of trading that we all face from time to time, and we probably always will. The way that I handle it, is that MOST of the time, by far, I "honor my stop," and sell. If the stock rallies after that, I call it a "GOTCHA!" but I forget about it as quickly as possible, and move on.
In the long run, I know that I've saved myself a lot of headaches by "honoring thy stop."
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impulsive trades,
Total demon.
I see something during the day that looks really interesting. I know that I haven't done enough homework to prepare for the trade, but I jump on it anyway.
After I own it, the stock starts down, and you wouldn't believe how fast I can
then do my homework, only to find out that I have no business being in that trade. :(
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getting in at the high right at the reversal point etc. etc
I HATE THAT!!!
Those false breakouts! On those, I sometimes will buy just about the EXACT high tick, then the stock goes back below the breakout, then below my stop. Grrr-rr....
Happened to me in ESLR on July 7. Ascending Triangle breakout. FAKEOUT. Went right back down below the breakout, then it knocked out my stop.
ARRRGGGHHHHH.
"&^%$ happens!" I've come to view that as a "cost of doing business." It's going to happen from time to time. Don't get upset (which I do). Move on.
Quote
and yet my analysis of a stock is often right., and when it is not , i have been able to see it very quickly yet unable to pull the trigger.
One of my most costly demons.
The analysis was fine. Like my ESLR example. I recognized fairly quickly that it was a fakeout breakout. Nothing that I can do about that. Except SELL when I see it. I sold the break of the ascending line, which was my stop. I think I've conquered that "unable to pull the trigger" demon, but geez, it took me a long, long time to get over battling that temptation to "hang on."
If anything, I might have gone overboard in the other direction (
another demon >:D). I'm pretty ruthless about cutting out losers. Too much so, I think, but that's my IMPATIENCE demon at work. >:D
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which for me is an issue of trusting my desicion making. too many techniques and indicators have sometimes paralized me , (melf elf's mind is far more advanced in this department and can utilize a lot of indicators and methods well).
Actually, Maxi, I use relatively few indicators. RSI, MACD, Ichimoku, a glance at volume and the 50/200DMAs, and that's about it. Your mind probably is ten times more advanced than mine. I've only had a little more practice at this than you have..
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which brings me to my point of finding my own trading style and sticking to one method that will make me a better trader , because after all that is the goal right? to become a good trader . the money will come with that.
Yep! You guys
reall-ly are on the right track with your thinking here. With some discipline and determination, you guys are going to do fine. It can be a lot "easier," but it also is hard work studying the charts, preparing for the trade, then executing it.
If you dedicate yourselves to creating success for yourselves, you will achieve it.
Best of luck in all of your trades!
Thanks Melf,
Great comments as always. Oh those little demons, they continue to plague me >:D >:D >:D
Well I am late to updating my trading log here, but it is an important part of my new trading startegy, and is useful to take the time to have a look back on the week and see what went right, what went wrong and why.
Well, this week didn't really go that well, I think I am working my way through breaking every rule that I've made - maybe i need to do that to learn each one the hard way, I don't know. After not being able to trade on Monday (the ol' pattern day trading rule), on Tuesday I jumped into a whole slew of stocks. Most of them were half positions, but I felt like there was so much going on that I didn't want to miss out (why do I always break this one???). Picked up some HSOA, AVNX, SIGA, CHINA, INSM, MOVI and CHDT - all pretty speculatively. Basically I realised the wonders of margin, and if stocks look good you can just keep on buying them, it doesn't matter if you are out of money(another rule broken!! :-[ and a surefire way to lose even more money I'm not careful!).
HSOA was trading up in the pre-market before earnings were released, it had just made a symmetrical triangle pattern breakout and I was expecting things to be good, but when earnings came out the stock got killed. And me, being the fool that I am decided to average down as I only had a small position (brekaing yet another rule). Of course, to spite me, HSOA went lower. In the end I closed the entire position that day for about an 11% loss. Really not very pretty. And another broken rule: if you are not sure about an earnings play, then don't play it!!!
Stops have been giving me trouble as well - several times already since I have been using them I have been stopped out literally at the low of a particular move. Often this has happened because I have raised my original stop because I feel nervous about the level of risk that I am taking in a trade. Lesson: if you are not happy with the level of risk that your entry would give you, DON'T MAKE THE TRADE. OMNI was acting weak last week, and after an extended discusson with Melf Elf, I decided to be more aggressive in protecting against a loss, and raised my stop from 8.69, below what I saw as clear support, up to 8.80, right in the danger zone. My buy price was 8.86, so the lower stop level wasn't exposing me to too much risk, but I still felt I should be more aggressive. Of course, first thing, OMNI dipped, putting in a low of 8.76 and taking my stop out, only to rally all the way up to 9.74 later in the week. Did much the same thing with MOVI, which gapped up on higher than expected revenues (they delayed releasing their ER though). I bought the gap up thinking it could run big having been killed so hard after the last ER, but it spent the rest of the day acting fairly weak but holding above 2.50. My stop was set at 2.39, just below the high of the day on the pre-gap day, however, because I was nervous about the level of risk I was taking with that (logical) stop, I raised it the next morning to 2.45, which was MOVIs low of the day, took out my stop and has rallied to a high of 2.89 in the days since. Dare I say it, but this also happened with AVNX as well this week - this time I raised my stop from 1.89 to 1.95, my buy price on Friday as AVNX had had a precipitous drop the day before and "I didn't want to let a profit turn into a loss". On Friday AVNX tagged 1.94, broke my stop which was executed at 1.94, then reversed and rallied above 2 to finish the day. Now it looks like a successful re-test of support, just without me in it. However, having said all that, my stop did work with DNDN, which was doing so well until they announced the sale of a bunch of stock, completely out of the blue. My stop saved a bit there (although it could have been higher), and most importantly took my decision as to whether or not to sell out of my hands. I like that, as I have a tendency to hang on hoping that it will rebound.
So there are definitely things to learn from here, mainly that while it is alright to adjust a trading plan as the trade evolves, doing so for reasons that your emotions are telling you but that are outside of what the chart is telling you is only going to get yourself in trouble. Also that stops are there for a reason - they are your get-out mechanism when your trading plan breaks down. Therefore they should be significantly below percieved support (several ticks, even if this exposes you to more risk).
Overall my new portfolio is somewhat down this week. I have an overall loss of 4.77% including open trades. However, my real concern is that on closed trades only I am down 8.5%, so right now my real problem is closing trades while they are successful and minimising the losers by not making trades that assume higher risk of ending up in a losing situation. I need to be much less impulsive, and really stick to making trades that I have planned in advance and that I am very confident in. This is what I'm going to work on this week. Potential buys that I am looking at are SNE, AAPL, both for plays until January. Some others that I quite liked the look of are PRFT, MRVL and NFLD. Will see how things go.
Current holdings:
CNXT 900 @ 2.03 +6.85%
NVAX 500 @ 4.75 +11.4%
CHINA 300 @ 7.34 +2.6%
INSM 1500 @ 1.45 -1.6%
AMKR 250 @ 9.29 +4%
Starting value: $12,325.55
Net value at 17/11: $11,737.90
P/L: -$588.15 %P/L: -4.77%
P/L on closed trades: -$1047.36 %P/L: -8.5%
Good trading all ;)
ST
Just wanted to update my trading log with links to some of the stocks I have going on at the moment. Things this week are going very well - I'm up on pretty much everything I'm in on and my portfolio is up over 11% since Friday. My only concern right now is I have been buying stocks left right and centre and am now margined up to the hilt (which I originally said I wouldn't do, but the temptaion is too much sometimes). Smaller positions in all of them, but still, I need to scale back on this before it turns around and bites me.
One thing that seems to be working well for me is taking partial profits, either when I remeber, when a stock gaps up, or when I am nervous about protecting a profit. Takign at least some profit off the table really frees me up from the nerves of hanging on to the rest of it (and I get pretty nervy), stopping me from doing silly things like raising stops or impulse selling, and leaves me happier to let the rest run. At least I know I have that much in the bag, and if I can raise my stop for the remainder to above my brekaeven point, I'll be up on the trade. I could never do that before, as it cost too much to make each trade, but now I am becoming more comfortable with more little trades to get myself in and out of positions.
Anyway, I have been posting like a demon all over the place, so I thought I would leave some links to the trades I'm in on right now. I'll do my best to update them regularly with my actions.
AAPL: http://www.3stocksonfire.org/trading/index.php?topic=7545.msg78253#msg78253
AMKR: http://www.3stocksonfire.org/trading/index.php?topic=4527.msg78032#msg78032
CNXT: http://www.3stocksonfire.org/trading/index.php?topic=1207.msg78029#msg78029
CRDC: http://www.3stocksonfire.org/trading/index.php?topic=7418.msg78026#msg78026
CHINA: http://www.3stocksonfire.org/trading/index.php?topic=7458.msg78003#msg78003
ERS: http://www.3stocksonfire.org/trading/index.php?topic=1482.msg77797#msg77797
INSM: http://www.3stocksonfire.org/trading/index.php?topic=6858.msg78018#msg78018
NFLD: http://www.3stocksonfire.org/trading/index.php?topic=7386.msg78023#msg78023
NWACQ: http://www.3stocksonfire.org/trading/index.php?topic=6915.msg78012#msg78012
SPWR: http://www.3stocksonfire.org/trading/index.php?topic=7420.msg78002#msg78002
SUF: http://www.3stocksonfire.org/trading/index.php?topic=2852.msg77802#msg77802
Wow :o :o That's a lot of stocks!! (for me anyway)
Hey Scots, Let me play devils advocate here.
You seem to have thrown away your revised and well worded trading plan :o You are up 11% thats great for now. A quick question for you though, money management wise, if all your open positions were to hit your protective stops (possibly unlikely but risk is there) what would that do to you portfolio? And is that risk level something you are comfortable with.
Good Trading
AND I HAVE TO APOLOGIZE!!!! When you said you had no more money to invest ... I didn't realize you were a recovering tradaholic....read you're trading plan.
DO NOT FOLLOW ME INTO ANOTHER GOOFY TRADING IDEA!!!!! I will slit my wrists if I am your downfall.
I do wish I had a little of that so I could just "pull the trigger" ...
You're brilliant ... I can't wait to see your portfolio double, so I don't have to worry about losing you as a resource ... no pressure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I applaud you for posting, your plan and your account tallies. You're honest ... that's rare.
It's awesome ... you're awesone.
Love you man!
-Sam
Aussie,
Thanks for paying devil's advocate here, and you are right (in fact I know it full well) I am playing a somewhat dangerous game right now, and it is most certainly not what you (or David) would call "risk averse money management". It is also not playing by my rules either.
However, I do have a game plan for each and every one of the stocks that I own right now, and that game plan includes a reasonable limit of risk per trade. In all of my trades I am risking less than 6% of equity, however, the leveraged nature of my current trading leaves me open to substantially more risk, and it is appropriate to look at this in detail. When I look at the total risk on my present portfolio vallue, as of yesterdays close, if all of my stops were hit, I am risking 11.3% of my total current portfolio value. If this were to happen, my portfolio would be down approximately 6% from its opening value. I am working very hard to get myself to a position where my total risk would still leave my portfolio net positive from its initial value.
To this effect I am looking to take partial profits on my positions when possible, to limit the risk per trade. I am also looking to raise my stops when appropriate, although I have had some difficulty with this, being too aggressive with my stops and getting triggered within normal range trading (Quite a few times, my stop has ben triggered right at the LOD, so I have to be careful with this). Anyway, thanks for bringing this up, and making me think more seriously about the risks I am taking here. It really needs to be done, and I will keep ongoing track of this, as it is very important. But the market is very strong right now and I am looking to grow my portfolio quickly, I'm young, somewhat risk tolerant (maybe a bit foolish too), and want to prove to myself that I can be a successful trader. Most of these are short term trades and I will be looking to scale down my overall positions - and risk - as and when I can.
Well this week was a very good week for me, trading wise, my portfolio is up 14% from last weeks close, and I am now up over 8% on my original value when I started this new portfolio. As I mentioned in a previous post, a lot of this has to do with heavy leveraging of my account using margin, which has worked well for me so far as almost every single one of my holdings is up, some substantially. However, I am also aware that this can be very dangerous if I do not apply very rigorous trading rules to each and every one of these trades, to minimise any compounded losses that may arise from margin trading. As AussieTrader mentioned, it is important to really keep an eye on your total exposed risk, and make sure if things turn bad that you aren't burnt too badly. Currently I have a total exposed risk of 13.8% on my open trades from yesterdays closing value. (this is up from what I posted previously as I have seen further gains since then). This is large, but I can only reduce this by raising my stops and/or closing positions. Currently, if all my stops got hit, I would be down 6.7% on my initial equity. As I stated previously, I want to bring this up to a position where worst case I will be breakeven on my initial portfolio value, and this may be a useful rule for me to determine how much leverage I will let myself use in my portfolio. I'll be having a closer look at stops on my open positions over the weekend, to see if I can safely reduce this risk level. I am also considering implementing a trailing stoploss on positions in which I have a substantial gain, to protect these gains, but right now I would rather use identifiable support levels as stops (although, as I have mentioned, I have had mixed results with them so far) as volatile stocks can easily swing more than 8% or so, even during a sustained uptrend.
Last week I was primarily concerned with the fact that I was down heavily on my closed trades, despite some strong performance on my open positions. So this week I made sure that I started locking in gains where I needed to, and I have also been paying close attention to any signs of bearishness in my open positions. If I think a stock is looking bearish, even on intraday charts, it seems better to me to close my position, protecting any profits I have gained and keep an eye on it for re-entry, if it looks like it was just a short term blip. As david mentioned in the AMKR thread, trading this way, I may be unlikely to see any really big gains on stocks unless it is in full-on crazy bull mode, as all stocks will have pullbacks in any uptrend, it is just the way things go. AMKR was a case in point, in which I had a pretty nice entry, at 9.29, and it was looking very strong, building nested ascending triangles on the intraday charts. I got nervy when it broke down out of one of them (light blue ascending trendline) that I was following on a 5min chart, and raised my stop to 9.65 to protect my position, as other indicators were suggesting to me that AMKR could be due for a correction. I got stopped out, basically at the LOD (again!!) and it reversed on what turned out to be a perfect tag of the much more significant ascending trendline (dark blue). I didn't even see this because I was only looking at the 5min chart at the time!! Anyway, I rectified the situation the next day, buying AMKR back at 8.89, when it made another successful re-test of that trendline, and I'm glad I did too, as wee had a major breakout above 9.92 resistance yesterday, and AMKR looks to be on fire after this little bullish consolidation in the 9s. I was too aggressive, and short term in my perspective on the stock, but I also realised immediately afterwards that I was wrong, and acted on this, so I fortunately only lost out on 25c or 3% from my original position. On the other side of this coin, careful analysis and an appropriate sell after a bearish intraday breakdown got me out of my NVAX position with a nice 12% profit, before it broke down heavily the other day. So I don't mind a little bit of nerviness, provided it is based on objective analysis as opposed to emotional reacitvity.
(http://www.3stocksonfire.org/trading/index.php?action=dlattach;attach=28953/Picture7.png)
Taking partial profits in my winners (as I mentioned previously) has helped a lot and left me feeling more comofrtable about letting them run with a reasonable stop. I have brought my loss on closed trades down to 3.5%, and I anticipate turning this positive next week. While I have sold some of my position in my biggest gainers so far this feels like a good thing, and in fact I have then gone on to add more (doubling my position in INSM yesterday) from continued indicators of strength. By the way, I really think INSM is going to make a huge move next week when the trial announcement comes out, and I have positioned myself accordingly. Having read some of the court transcripts and court submissions, it really seems like they have a very strong case for outright dismissal, and there is no doubt in my mind that the heavy trading this week directly reflects that. I mean c'mon!! INSM has traded aver 14M shares and it is up 32% for the week, while TRCA has traded less than 500k and is down around 1%. Which side do you think the market is hedging here???
Finally, a comment on ZVUE - it has been a fickle little beast to me, having made some money on it last week, I traded it twice this week, once short, once long, both for a small loss. It was only small positions and I kept my stops tight, but it reminded me that sometimes if you haven't traded a stock well, maybe you should just steer clear of it, even if it is absolutley on fire. That kind of volatility can swing you in and out of positions faster than you know, normally for a loss, and there are a whole lot of other stocks out there, so just because it has crazy volume, is up like 500% in the last week or 2, doesn't mean you HAVE to be in it. Stick with what you know, what you are comfortable with and what WORKS.
Current Holdings:
CHINA 200 @ 7.34 +21.7%
INSM 2000 @ 1.64 (avg) +15.6%
AAPL 50 @ 87.49 +4.7%
CRDC 300 @ 6.86 -1.97%
ERS 200 @ 10.66 +1.64%
SUF 400 @ 5.17 +2.13%
NWACQ 300 @ 3.30 +20.4%
SPWR 60 @ 38.13 +2%
NFLD 150 @ 15.28 +3.66%
AMKR 200 @ 9.89 +4.4%
Starting value: $12,325.55
Last weeks close: $11,737.90
Net Value at 24/11: $13,392.07
P/L this week: $1654.17 P/L%: 14.1%
Total Portfolio P/L: $1071.53 P/L%: 8.69%
P/L on closed trades: -$423.72 P/L% -3.44%.
Good trading all and I hope you are having a nice weekend!
the Scotsman
Hello!!!
Well, I haven't been around in a while, (at least posting) as the week after that last post, all of Aussie's warnings came absoultely true, I made a series of very bad decisions and saw a significant portion of my port get wiped out. Mostly due to overtrading on margin and some bad decisions :P
Basically I decided that I need to take some time out from trading, I find it too stressful and need to do other things with my life. So I'm thinking about that right now. But I will be back in the new year, hopefully to take up the mantle in a more restrained way. Having read back over my tradig philosophy, I realise that every point I made there is still valid, and I am still breaking every rule. So back to the drawing board. Maybe I will run with the 3SOF port for a while, just to get back into calm collected objective trading, I'll see.
Anyway, to any and all reading this, I hope it is a bountiful holidy season and Merry Christmas all!!
As always, good trading,
ST
Oh no, this for sure is an occasion when I am sorry I was right :(
Enjoy Christmas, away from trading / ticker / temptation etc.
I look forward to you coming back refreshed and positive, your contributions to the 3SoF community have been great and I am sure will be again soon.
Cheers
Merry Christmas Scottish Trader !!!
I can highly recommend the 3SOF trading style for a 'break'. Day trading literally wore me out and I had to quit. I still hover over the ticker too much. I'm also suffering from a case of 'pink hypercovetosis' and some bad decisions that still have me in a hole. The group therapy sessions for failed traders is standing room only.
PS. Being a Newman, I believe I have Scottish roots. We supposedly came to America in the early 1700's and settled in Mississippi in the early 1800's. It's still family tradition to hate the English! ;) ;D
Scottish Trader -
I totally hear you on this... if only because I too have a list of bad trading issues I need to work through. I like to think you're my dark evil twin ... who has just as many bad habits ... but a completely different list of demons to deal with. You trade to much ... I can't pull the trigger... You trade on margin ... I can't buy if I don't have the money. WE ARE YING AND YANG. :)
Your plan is solid. At least in theory... and on computer screen...it looks brilliant.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you.
2007 ... may it bring us all a bit of discipline and ... perspective.
hohohohHohohohhooo
-Sam
Quote from: ScottishTrader on January 21, 2007, 09:08:41 AM
P.S. Didn't mean to call you "old". After all we are all as young as we feel!!
Scotsman,
Yes, add insult to injury! I
feel about 98. ;D
QuoteP.P.S. Can I suggest you have a wee look at FRPT? I know its already run 3000% but I think it has another 50% move or so in the works. Big things cookin. ;)
We're going to try to catch the
last 50% of a 3,000% Parabolic Rally? ???
Quote from: Melf Elf on January 21, 2007, 04:49:54 AM
I can see that I'm going to have to wrestle you to the ground, to protect you from your Impatient Demon.
I'm not going to bother with wrestling you to the ground, to protect you from your Impatient Demon. It's apparent now that I'm going to have to roll up my sleeves, and perform an exorcism on
all of your demons.
>:D >:D >:D
I'll be interested to see what this FRPT Demon calls himself, when I yank him outta you.
I'm going to guess that he's called, "The Financial Suicide" Demon. :D >:D
If this exorcism doesn't work, I don't know what I'm going to do with you. I guess I'll have to turn you over to Setravis, and we both know...
It won't be pretty! ;D >:D
Hi Scottish trader,
After reading this thread, I feel a little relieved to find out I was not the only one who broke my own trading plan.
I like the idea of those doji pivot points.
I'm just wondering if you always use automatic stops.
When Daytrading, I've seen so many times how those stops were triggered by 1 to 100 shares. (This would turn out looking as a false breakdown on a chart - breakdown from a tight bollinger band with small volume - stock tanks(automatic stops triggered) - followed by selling volume capitulation(sellers exhausted - some bulls that panicked and sold to the market maker that was waiting at the bid - for that current time frame).
These Market Makers purposely trigger those stops so that they could buy at a lower price.
Your stop is triggered, next thing you know, the stock flies.
The most recent example is CYTR.
You may want to check out my notes (under "CYTR moving up and out" at the stock picking forum - reply #50) and compare it with your Hourly and minute charts.
Just something to think about.
Ares
Yeah, I eased up on using stops because I was so sick and tired of constantly getting stopped out of positions right near intraday lows which pierced my perceived support values, only to see the stock rally back up without me. I think this is the problem with more easily manipulated small caps that don't have huge $ trading volumes, and stops (if used should be set accordingly. Of course this means more risk. I have also been using them to some success to protect intraday gains on partial positions against pattern breakdowns, but because my account isn't large enough to allow me to daytrade (I'm restricted to the pattern daytrade limit) I often can't re-enter the stock. There are so many recent stocks that I have made solid gains on, that I got out because I saw a pattern breakdown and was concerned about a reversal, which are now much higher. David is so right when he says buy and hold is the key. Its all about finding the right stocks to buy and hold though - my recent posiitons in XING, GIGM, SYX, ONXX, AOB and many others would be worth much more if I took a more relaxed approach and let stocks have their down days. Sometims it feels like a risk, and you think you "could have" bought back lower if you observed that intraday pattern breakdown/sell signal, but how often do you actually do it? Not nearly as often as you wish you had, thats for sure.
I need to resurrect my trading log, and will look to do so. I'm still about where I started dollar-wise having made over 200 trades (which is a real shame, and goes to show exactly how hard it is to trade so aggressively). But am completely at cash right now, so it may be time to do that, and get serious about moving my protfolio to where I want it to be. I still have a target of $25k by the summer. David has proved that you can make big gains on a small protfolio in a short amount of time if you play it right, so thats what I have to do. Take my trades more carefully and play them right. Time to bring it on.