Crossroads / Week Summary

Another week has come and gone. Not much new, pretty much same old story with the job.

This was my worst week for the month of July. I think I ended up the week positive around $1000. That is still nothing to frown about, but it isn't going to pay the bills in the long run. It was a lot tougher to trade the same style I had for the past couple of weeks. I wasn't getting filled as much and definitely didn't trade as many shares. I guess that is what makes this job so challenging ... it is constantly changing. What works for you one day, won't work for you the next. It is up to you to be sharp, make the changes, and find success. I still love the challenge and can't see myself going back to corporate America anytime soon.

However ....

I found something out this week that was a little frustrating for me. It appears that my group was the first starting group at the company that is being compensated under a new plan. As a result, I am getting 10% less of the profits I generate than what I had expected (up to $1 million :-) ). When I found this out this past week, I started looking for documentation I received from the company when I was first interviewing with them because I know I was told a different compensation structure. In fact, I think I was even given a sheet of paper with the compensation structure. However, I can't find it. I don't know whether it is lost, or I threw it away, but I don't have it.

I know I signed some papers when I joined and the payout percentages were in there. Unfortunately, with my attention to detail, I didn't pay attention to the numbers, and I don't think anyone else in my group did either. Also, I don't remember HR making an effort to point it out to us either, so I kind of feel that they were trying to slip one past us. That is pretty uncharacteristic of me to not go over something like that with a fine tooth comb, but it is what it is, and I can't change that. Besides, what would I have done anyway if I had found it? If I called them on it and raised a stink, they could have let me go. Then what would I have done? I had already quit my tech job, and, then, I would REALLY be unemployed.

Couple this situation above with some pretty steep trading fees and expenses, and I have seriously begun to doubt if I am going to be able to make it. I know I have said in the past that if I could make half as much as I did with my tech job, then I would be happy. However, after doing some number crunching this weekend, I would have to average making $500/day with trading just for that to be the case. There are traders in the firm who average $2k or $3k a day, but they have been doing this for a long time. I think during the month of July I have averaged a little over $300/day, and I feel I had a very good month. Honestly, I am going to really have to step up if I am going to average $500/day. Stepping up means assuming a lot more risk, and I guess I just need to say "screw it", it isn't my money anyway, right? I know I have been successful trading a default of 300 shares, now it is almost back to square one next week as I increase my default share size and see if I can take the next step forward.

So here we go again, the fear of doing something new. The fear of change. I have to step out of my comfort zone to make something happen. Tune in next week for the update.

Week 20 Summary

I did it!

By my calculations, on Thursday of this past week, I Super Yahtzeed. I have to admit ... I had a really good week by my standards. I ended up right around $2800 on the week which, frankly, I can't believe. Just when I think it is going to be harder and harder to perform better than the previous week, somehow, it happens. Once again, I feel very fortunate for some of the decisions and trades that I maded this week that helped put me over the top. So, with that said, considering I don't implode this week, I am working for myself. I will get a percentage of whatever I make, and then hopefully get a check sometime in early August.

The journey in this new career, however, is just starting. I have already cleared some significant hurdles, but now I have to push myself to do even better, and take more risk. Earlier in the week, my coach increased my default share size to 1000 shares. (He also increased my trading capital to $500K). This means I am allowed to trade 1000 shares on every trade I make. This could mean huge success or huge disaster. However, I chose for the rest of the week to remain trading a default of only 300 shares. The stocks I have been primarily trading are thin, which means they are not traded much. If I get in 1000 shares and the trade doesn't go my way, it will be much harder to get out of 1000 shares than it is to get out of 300. Frankly that is what has saved me from huge losses the last couple of days. I think next week I am going to try 500 shares and see how that goes.

So, there you have it. Last week, I threw my conservative "super yahtzee" target out there for the end of August. Little did I know one week later I would accomplish the task. It is pretty incredible when you think about it, and I definitely do not take it for granted. I only hope I can keep things going. I have to say, right now, I feel like I am living a dream ... I truly enjoy going to work every morning, I love the work I am doing, and I am starting to become relatively decent at it. I work for myself, so I don't have to take orders from any bosses. I like the people who I work with and the work environment. What more can I say ... I am thankful and I am blessed.

Random thought this week.
My wife and I stumbled upon the movie "Pay it Forward" Saturday morning on TBS. If you have never seen it, I suggest watching it. The message is very good. There is a part at the end of the movie where Haley Joel Osment's character gets interviewed. Check it out below, from youtube.com., particularly around the 2:00 area.



I keep thinking that is exactly what I was feeling for some time at my former job. But all of sudden, I wasn't scared anymore, so I ventured out, and tried to make something happen. I know ... Pay It Forward has to do with doing nice deeds for others, but sometimes doing nice deeds for someone else involves taking care of #1.

Once again, I hope everyone is doing well, and when is the next happy hour?

Week 19 Summary

This week had the makings to be something very good, but ended in a bit of fizzle.

On Monday and Tuesday, I had great trading days. There wasn't much happening on Monday with the stocks I normally trade, but I was still able to net around $400. On Tuesday, though, I set another personal best day with just a little over $700. I really seemed to be into a groove. I was mainly trading one stock, but started to branch out into one or two others. All of them were making money for me, and life was good.

Wednesday through Friday were different stories. Each one of those days, I started the day by making huge losing trades. Each day I put myself in a hole between $250 and $300. The good news is that, by the end of the day, I was able to dig my way out of the hole, and finished positive. The bad news is that between the 3 days, I think I only netted around $300.

I don't know what it was these past three days. I guess I was looking at the stock movement wrong or something. Forget the fact that the past three days were huge down days for the market, That should not have effected my performance the way it did. In fact, it should have helped. I think I was trying to be too aggressive in the morning in order to pick up early moves, and nothing worked. I also started to trade some new ETFs ... unsuccessfully. On Friday, I lost $200 in one trade of MVV, an ETF that tracks double the S&P 400 MidCap index. This happened in about 3-5 minutes. Strange thing is, if I had just held on a little longer, the stock would have turned the corner huge, and I would have made over $1000 on that trade alone. Woulda, coulda, shoulda ... but didn't.

Anyway, I need to regroup for next week. I strayed the last few days from trading Silver. I need to get back to doing that. If it ain't broke don't fix it, right? Not for me, I try to have the best of all possible worlds. I will focus on making some of these changes for next week and stick to it.

All in all, I am still on track to break even in August, and I still love the job. Honestly, it can't be beat, and again, I just hope I can continue my recent success, perhaps build upon it, and make it a career. I honestly can't imagine returning to corporate America. Still, though, no paycheck, and the savings continue to be drained. Sigh. One of these days.

In non-work-related news, I have started to become addicted to YouTube. I spent several hours on that site several nights within the past couple weeks, and keep going back for more. I don't really watch all the crazy homemade videos, although some of them are quite good. What I go for are the old obscure 80s music videos that I haven't seen in years. It is amazing how many of these videos people have actually kept over the years and decided to rip and place on YouTube. Within the past month, it seems that there has been a particular flood of old 80s Hair Band videos added and videos ripped from the WTBS series Night Tracks. It is wonderful. Really brings me back to my youth. (Does this constitute a midlife crisis or is it just nostalgic? :-) )

Week 18 Summary

I know I haven't done a "week" summary in a long time. In fact, I had to bring up iCal and count exactly how many weeks I have actually been at this trading thing. June was a busy month for me. Between trading and volleyball and vacations and weddings on the weekend, I really didn't have that much spare time. I kind of lost track, too, of how long I have been at this. Anyway, on to the summary.

In terms of trading, I have to say that I was truly blessed this past week. You may have already read about my new personal high on Wednesday in my last post. Well, believe it or not, I followed it up with another personal high on Thursday .. $610. Things just seemed to fall in place and I made a lot of good decisions. I was really proud of myself. Friday was no slouch of a day either for me. I ended up around $400. That means on the week, I had net profit of nearly $1700. I am really starting to feel pretty confident in the decisions I am making.

However, one thing still scares me and that is the majority of my profits are coming from 1 stock. If for some reason that stock changes the way it moves or more people start trading it, the gravy train could be over soon. Don't get me wrong, I am going to ride it out for as long as I can, but I am also spending this time trying to learn how to trade other stocks as well. At least now I have one place to go where I feel I have a reasonable chance for success. I can use that to fund my learning in other areas too.

Also, I still haven't received a paycheck, nor will I anytime soon. I still need to pay off all my variable costs, lunches, etc. I did some number crunching and figured out that if I can average $800/week net profit from here to the end of August, I will completely break even and start collecting a check. The term used by the company for this occurrence is "Super Yahtzee" (no ... not "Scrabble" ... sorry). I think this is a realistic goal for me. Hopefully, I can push myself toward this. And oh, if I happen to get to this point before the end of August, that will just be a bonus.

All in all, though, I am very pleased and very thankful I was able to stumble across this stock that I have been trading so well. My coach is pushing me to trade with more shares, up to 400 or 500 now at a time, and he has increased my trading capital to $200K. Theory is that I should become even more profitable. We will certainly see. This week might be pretty rough as I go through this growing pain, but hopefully, I will have some good news to share next week.

Thanks again, to everyone who reads and comments.

1 down ... 1 to go

So, it has been a little more than a week since I posted. During that time, I have been to Atlanta and back with volleyball and celebrated the 4th with some friends. Things have been going well with trading, but I will get to that second.

First up, volleyball. The season is finally over. Thank goodness! This was one of the most disappointing seasons I have ever coached. There was rarely a practice that went by that I didn't think I was wasting my time. The girls on the team struggled to make change, and I lacked the fortitude to force them to change. As a result, we finished the year-end tournament somewhere around 41st in the nation. The same basic team last year finished 11th. There were some players added/switched to the team from the year before and the chemistry wasn't as good this year. Hopefully, the "bad seeds" can be placed on a different team next year and the team will experience more success. However, the girls on the team were really nice.

Regardless, I am glad things are over. I still haven't decided whether I want to coach again next year. The time commitment is extensive and I just don't know if my heart is in it. I will have to make that decision in a couple of months, so until then, I am not going to think about it.

Now ... on to trading.

I have really been blessed to have some great days since the last time I posted. Last Monday, I made around $200, and I followed that up on Tuesday with a personal high of $350. Because of stupid volleyball, I missed Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday last week, but I called and talked to some trader friends about how the days went. They all said I would have made even more money than Monday and Tuesday because the stocks I have been trading trended really well the last part of the week. Great ... that is exactly something I wanted to hear. Just when I was starting to get on a roll, here comes volleyball getting in the way. Needless to say, I watched CNBC while in Atlanta, and was cursing at myself for having to coach rather than trade. I am over it now, but that feeling might definitely help me make my decision about whether or not to coach next year.

This week started off with a half day of trading on Monday. I came back and ended the day up about $125. Not bad considering I have been off for a while and the volume was very light. Tuesday was the 4th and the markets were closed, but today things were in full force. And I am proud to say, I achieved another personal best day today ... $590.

So what does this mean? This means that I finally dug myself out of the hole I dug when I first started back in March. The term the firm uses for this occasion is "Yahtzee." So, today, I yahtzeed. This is the first big step that a trader makes on his/her way to becoming profitable. In fact, once a trader "yahtzees", the odds of him/her "making it" in the long run increases from 30% to over 80%.

Where does this leave me? Well, I still have an enormous bill I have to pay back before I start receiving a check. Since March, I have been accumulating exchange fees, lunch fees, insurance premiums, etc. All of these I have to pay back before I get paid a dime. My monthly fees run somewhere in the neighborhood of $1100/month, so you can do the math and figure out how much more I need to make in order to really break even. Regardless, I feel good about where I am at right now. I am starting to see the big picture and hopefully can keep chipping away at all of my accumulated debt. Then, one of these days, I might even be lucky enough to get a paycheck .... oh to dream!

So, for right now .... one goal reached. The next one will be longer, but I am up for the challenge.