Week 10 Summary (and 9)

Yeah .. I know ... you can't go from 8 to 10 without a "9" in there somewhere. So, I am going to include a Week 9 summary in here as well.

The past two weeks have been encouraging ... except for this past Wednesday. I am starting to see the market much better. I am making better decisions about entering and exiting trades. In fact, I have turned a profit 7 out of the last 10 days. Not too bad, except for the trainwreck this past Wednesday.

I probably should have left at noon, but decided to trade the FOMC rate hike announcement that day. Let's just say I won't be doing that again anytime soon. I got in a couple of trades that went against me hard and ended up losing the most I have ever lost in one day ... $180. Actually, it could have been much worse and am thankful I was able to get out when I did.

I think I am actually about even the last two weeks, maybe down a little. I know I looked at my cumulative deficit on Friday and saw that so far, within the past 10 weeks, I am down about $1300 (not including other expenses). So, if I do the math that comes out to losing right around $35/day for the 8 weeks I have been trading with real money. I guess if I look at it that way, things aren't too bad. If I can average making $35/day for the next 2 months, I will be even. But $1300 every 8 weeks is not going to replace the income from my old job.

Regardless, I need to stop worrying about making money, and keep learning. I have been reading a VERY good book called "Trading for a Living" by Alexander Elder. I highly suggest anyone interested in trading to read this book. There are tons of books and reading materials about trading out there, but I have to believe this is absolutely one of the best. Anyway, he talks about the right mindset to have when trading. He says a person cannot get focused on the monetary aspect of trading. This is the same way that any doctor. lawyer, or engineer doesn't ponder how much he/she made the past 10 minutes, 2 hours, etc. It is so true. I believe I will really see the big picture when I quit focusing on my P&L screen, and start judging each trade solely by my entry and exit criteria. However, this is a personal struggle, which no one can ever really teach you, but yourself! It is absolutely amazing how much of a personal challenge this has become.

I am still only trading 100 shares at a time, but really starting to trade more times each day. I think the past couple of days I have traded between 7k and 8k shares (which comes out to 35-40 trades per day). I am a lot happier about this and really not becoming too concerned about my losses. Hopefully, I can continue this.

So, for everyone who is wondering if I am making the big bucks yet, the answer is "Not Even". However, I feel like I am continuing to make progress, albeit a little bit slower than I had hoped. I need to continue to be patient with myself and keep learning. If I had to make a prediction, it will probably be another 3-4 months before I break even, but that all depends on me.

A couple of notable events the past couple of weeks:
1. Our office is now using eSignal. At first, I wasn't too fired up about the additional $100/month charge, but I have really started to like what it offers. Plus, this tool is available to anyone/anywhere so I could even go out on my own one day if that is my primary trading idea platform. Not to mention it ties in great with my backtesting program, Amibroker. I have really been doing a lot of work in the evenings trying to enhance my trading strategies. I think continuing to learn eSignal will be a great skill to have down the road.
2. Thursday was a brutal day for some of the office's best traders. Most of these guys are scalpers who try to take advantage of the NYSE and AMEX specialists and their inefficiencies. On Thursday, it was the other way around. A couple of the guys traded ERS and got slapped around pretty good. In fact, 2 of the traders lost as much as $35K/each in one day. These same traders probably average $6K to $7K profit each day, so this set them back a week or so. But you know what? They took it in stride, came back on Friday, and each made back $10K. Unbelievable.
3. I met with a former colleague of mine to sign some patent paperwork for the old company I used to work for. We had submitted a patent a couple of years ago that is just now being filed. So, what does this mean? Well, since I don't work for the company anymore, I am not entitled to the patent award money. That kind of sucks, as I could definitely use it. However, I will have my name on a patent if it is awarded to us. Oh well, I guess that is what happens in a big corporation. In all honesty, this patent should have been submitted over a year ago, but there was a delay in some of the patent proceedings within the company. Big bummer. Nonetheless, I will see what becomes of all this, and a big "Thank you" to the colleague for helping me out!

Well, that about does it for me this week. As always, I will try to post during the week, but I get so focused on trading plans, etc. that I honestly forget to do it. I can definitely do it on the weekends, though, as long as I don't have a volleyball tournament. I hope everyone is doing well, and I will post again soon!