A New Hope?

So .... for all the "doom and gloom" and "woe is me" postings the past couple of weeks regarding my career switch, I actually have some good news this week.

The last three days this past week were my first, second, and fourth best days ever.

I was able to completely erase the deficit I created for myself the week before (the one I was belly-aching about in my last post), and actually started cutting into my deficit from the previous months.

I am not going to say that I am starting to see the big picture and understand what is going on because I'm not. But, I was able to come up with a strategy that I was comfortable executing. I got in a few "lucky" trades as well that really made my days and sometimes that is all that it takes.

The biggest difference for me was that I was finally able to get my strategy with the Amibroker application up and running live on Wednesday. This allowed me to scan several stocks (5 to be exact) every minute, and if the conditions I wanted to see appeared, the application would alert me with a pop-up window. This popup window would contain the name of the stock and either buy or sell. I felt confident in executing these signals because I had backtested them on 1-minute charts for the past 30 days or so. I knew what my stop losses needed to be and what the chart looked like when the setup was failing. I was able to get out with relatively small losses and let my winners run ... well, maybe not the second part entirely. My winning percentage the last three days had to have been somewhere in the 65% range. My only problem was getting out of positions too early. but I was still able to lock in profits. This has started to give me a little bit of confidence which will hopefully carry over into next week. By no means, is the strategy perfect, but I am going to continue to spend time to refine it and see where it leads. All those week night evenings really seemed to have paid off. (At least momentarily).

On another positive note (non-trading related), I checked my mail yesterday and found a check from from my former employer! Without going into details, I would like to send out a major "Thank You" to my former co-worker, DK. If you read this, you went well out of your way to help me out with this situation, and I definitely owe you dinner and drinks .. big time! You are a great guy with a great heart! Also, a "Thank you" goes to my former manager. I was only an employee working for her for two months and didn't even really know her that well, but she spent the time and effort on me to make this happen even though I was no longer with the company. Once again, big "Thanks" to the two of you and helpng me out!

In other news, I have some rather large expenses lurking on the horizon which are going to further deplete the savings. First, there is Sasha's yearly shot and check-up at the vet. I am pretty sure this is going to end up running $150-$200. Then, there is the 22K mile maintenance on the Honda Pilot. That will be right at $200. Kim and I are going on a mini-vacation next week with two other couples to Port Aransas. That should be fun to actually get away. We haven't taken a vacation in well over a year, since Kim left teaching and I began saving for my career change. However, I am sure that will easily run $600 for the weekend. Then there is the June 15th estimated tax bill. Since Kim sold a house this past quarter, we have to pay that. That will run about $800. So ... easy come ... easy go .. with the money, but I am still thankful for the thoughtfulness and generosity that has been shown to me.

Oh ... one more thing. Thanks to everyone who has posted comments and keeps encouraging me. Your support is greatly appreciated. I know I have a hard time accepting encouragement and "positivity" at times, but that is something I am definitely starting to focus on and trying to change.

Well, that about does it for this week. I hope everyone has a great week and wish me luck for another productive week!