The Week that was Overdue

This week sucked. Sucked .... I tell you.

Monday and Tuesday weren't too bad. I was up about $400 each day, but it was all downhill from there.

On Wednesday, I was up about $400 at lunch and then I started trading OIH. I traded this stock early on with moderate success, but it is definitely not a stock to take lightly. It will have a 50 cent swing in the matter of a minute, so if you are on the wrong side of the trade with 400 shares, there is going to be some pain. Unfortunately, I let my emotions get the best of me a couple of times in that stock on Wednesday afternoon. By the time the day was over, I was only up $8. Sad.

On Thursday, I continued my bad luck. I did not have a winning trade in my "bread and butter" stock all day (SLV). My win percentage for all trades was 38%. Things sucked and I had my first losing day in almost 30 trading days. Down $160. I made some horrible decisions and just couldn't recover. I hate losing, and yesterday reminded me just how hard I am on myself when things go wrong.

Today ... I had my second losing day in a row. Although I was only down $15 on the day, I did not have a winning trade in SLV again. Needless to say my confidence is shaken, and here I am again, doubting myself.

I have said all along that I am worried that I am so dependent on one stock to make my money. The last two days proved my point. I missed all the big moves in SLV for one reason or another. Yesterday I was too busy babysitting a losing position in another volatile stock. Today, I stepped away for 3 minutes to grab some food for lunch. Of course, there were also times when I was on the wrong side of the move and lost money. This has definitely got me concerned. I need to figure something out.

I also think I am getting a little burned out on trading. I have been working extremely hard since the beginning of March trying to be a better trader. I come home after the day is over and study charts to no end. I read books and magazines and try to absorb as much as possible. I dream about it when I sleep at night. I have become completely obsessed with trading and being successful. There is no doubt, I have learned a lot and gotten better, but frankly, I think it is starting to take its toll on me. I need to take a break. I was going to take one today, but I felt guilty. After all, I am paying the exchange fees, lunch fees, user fees, etc. every day. I might as well try to go in and make money. I think I may need to force myself to take a day off here sometime soon to refresh myself.

One thing that I have definitely missed since starting to trade has been being able to buy myself things -- as a reward for all the hard work I have been doing. I probably made 2 to 3 purchases a year when I worked at my other job, and there was something about it that made me feel good. Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury to do that at all these days. Heck, I can't even really afford to go out to eat these days, and that is something Kim and I loved to do. Things like that are tough, and when I have a week like I had this week, I wonder whether I wouldn't be better off having a steady paycheck and being able to enjoy the things I want to enjoy in my time away from work. Uggghhh ... I don't know.

In other news, I got a part-time job offer presented to me at work this week doing ... of all things ... software testing. One of the software managers came up to me and said that they were looking for some extra QA people, had heard that I had QA experience, and wanted to offer me a part-time position. I would be ... get this ... writing and exectuting test cases along with managing a group of other non-technical traders who would be testing as well. The pay would probably be around $20/hour which is pretty decent. Anyway, I think I am going to do it because the cash will certainly help. Plus, I will still be working with the trading platform and that could help in the long run as well. I can work from home in the evenings and on the weekends as necessary, so it seems like a pretty good situation. So here I am ... back to software testing ... wow.

All in all, I know I need to count my blessings. I still like what I am doing and I don't have a boss telling me I HAVE to work this weekend, but I could use a vacation. I haven't really had one of those in a long time. I suppose Labor Day weekend will suffice for now. Sigh.

Two Milestones (a "1st" and a "33rd")

It's been a little while since my last post, but that is mainly because there really hasn't been anything exciting going on in my life.

Work is still the same, although this week has been kind of crappy for me. I haven't made more than $200 any day this week, and of course that will hinder my paycheck next month. I have tried to step up and trade more shares, but have been getting burned more than I would like. I guess this is all part of the growing process. I have been trying to use some different techniques in my trading this week, but have not been able to consistently pull profits. This is kind of discouraging since it makes me feel like I am back to square one. Who knows ... maybe one of these weeks I will figure something out which is bigger and better.

So, what are my milestones? Well, I received my first paycheck this month. A whopping $500. Yippee! Let me see, that paid for the gas in my car for the past couple of months. I guess something is better than nothing, but it is a little frustrating to have still not turned that bigger corner to bigger profits. Yeah, I am bitchin' a little, but I know I have no one else to blame but myself. So, I have got to find a way to get it together. My goal is to make over $1000 in one day. The stars will have to align for me to do it the way I have been trading lately, but that is my new goal. By the way, a trader in the office made $89,000 yesterday alone! In one day! Absolutely ridiculuos. The potential is there for me ... I just need to step up.

The other milestone .... today is my birthday. I am really starting to feel older and out of touch with what is hip today. I spend my spare time listening to "classic" rock from the 80s, searching YouTube for 80s music videos, and watching VH1 Classic. I couldn't tell you a Top 40 song that is being played on the radio these days. Pretty pathetic and something that is much different than a few years ago. When I was teaching school and coaching, I knew what was hot and what wasn't. Now, my wife complains that I dress like an old-fogie and I like it. She has bought me several trendy shirts to wear to work recently, but I think I look goofy in them. Give me my old Stryper Tour T-shirt and a pair of flip-flops anyday. I guess I just know what I like. Change baaaadddd!

Soapbox Time

What is this? A post midweek. Yeah. I figured, "What the heck".

Not much new trading-wise. Monday and Today were lame. I made some big mistakes each day that cost me hundreds of dollars. I guess that is the nature of the game. I ended up around $150 each day, though, so I will take it. Yesterday, I made some good money with the Fed announcement. At first after the announcement, the market took off, so I was able to get in a couple of stocks long. Then about 5 minutes later, it went straight down. I was able to sell for a profit and reverse my position short. All in all, I made around $700 yesterday. Not bad considering that I was in the hole at lunch time. I am still trying to find a way to break out though and consistently profit $500/day. That is my goal. Stay tuned for the progress.

So, the title of this post is "Soapbox Time". I figured I would rant a little about schools and education. For those of you who don't know, my wife decided to coach and teach again this year. NO ... she is not quitting real estate, but considering the market was slowing down, and I switched jobs, the decision was the best one for us. At least we would have 1 stable income in the family :-). She is still going to maintain her real estate license and practice in her spare time for family and friends, so in case anyone is in need for a realtor ... hint, hint ... just let me know. Anyway, I digress.

One of the things my wife is very good at is motivation. She definitely has kept me going through my hard times with my former employer and early on with my trading. She always seems to know the right thing to say to make me want to do better, and for that, I am greatful. This year, the motto she created for her volleyball team was "Army of One". She had some camouflage shirts printed up with several of the lines from the Army's "Soldier's Creed". All the girls were really pumped up about it, but ... guess what? The administration got wind of it, and nixed the idea of the girls every wearing the shirts when representing the school. The excuse: " Given the current conditions in the world, we feel it would be inappropriate to have our kids representing the school in such attire."

Honestly, give me a break!

What is the school's mascot? Crusaders

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:
The Crusades were expeditions undertaken, in fulfilment of a solemn vow, to deliver the Holy Places from Mohammedan tyranny. Since the Middle Ages the meaning of the word crusade has been extended to include all wars undertaken in pursuance of a vow, and directed against infidels, i.e. against Mohammedans, pagans, heretics, or those under the ban of excommunication.

The crusades themselves were wars, and by having such a mascot, is the school not glorifying violence and war (allbeit for the sake of Christ)? Seems like a little bit of hypocrisy to me.

And as for the shirts potentially mocking the current situation in the world. Sure I could see that. I can also see that it is a constant reminder of what we are facing and the everyday struggles that exist in the world. It totally depends on how you spin it. It could have given the girls on her team a new respect for the freedom they have and the sacrifices others are making to protect those freedoms. But, instead, like almost everything that is presented to ANY school administrations, the worst possible scenario is always played out and good ideas are always suppressed. ALWAYS.

We wonder why our school systems underperform? Simple, it is because administrations stifle creativity in order to be politically correct. As a result, innovation is discouraged. You can only be told "NO" so many times before you quit bringing up ideas anymore, and then you become part of the system. I tried to be a teacher, but it didn't work. I got sick of all the B.S. which is 10 times worse than what exists in Corporate America. Not only do you have to answer to the administration, but you are also a servant to the parents. Often times, the best interests of the two are conflicting. Oh ... and don't forget the kids because that is who you are really doing this for ... yeah right. That is who you should be focusing on, but the administration will rarely ever let you. Maybe this is another reason deep down inside that I don't want to have kids ... I have no faith in America's education system. Public or Private.

If I ever had to leave trading and I had to choose between returning to my former employer and going back to teaching, the decision would be easy! Hands down! The tech job ... because of situations like I described above.

OK ... that is enough preaching from me this evening. I will leave it at that.

5 Month Anniversary

Today marks my 5 month anniversary of starting my new job. It really is hard to believe I have come as far as I have in this amount of time. I feel blessed for what I have already experienced, and I feel excited about what the future holds. Hopefully, the next 5 months are as rewarding as the last 5.

Last week included the end of the month of July and the first couple of days of August. Monday was a pretty ugly day for me. I think I ended up only around $50 that day which put me net positive for the month of July. I think my coach said that for July I was up a little over $7K. I am definitely happy with that, but I know my last few days of trading in July just stunk. So, as I mentioned several posts ago, I should have all of my variable expenses paid off, and I will be getting a very small check in a couple of weeks. (Paychecks only come once a month at this job). The rest of the week turned out pretty good. I had a couple of solid positive days, and I believe that on Friday I already paid off all of my variable expenses for the month of August. For the rest of the month, I am working for myself. That is kind of a good feeling, but now it is up to me to really expand myself for the rest of the month. Assume more risk and really try to take my trading to the next level. We'll see how it goes this week.

Other than that, it has pretty much been "same ol', same ol'" for me. I still love the job and going in every morning. I guess there are only two other things I want to comment on this week.

1. I spoke to a former colleague of mine this past week. I asked him what he knew about the status of the project that I would have been working on had I still been with my former company. He hadn't heard much, he said, but after talking to him about how my current job was going, he told me to not even think about it anymore .... I made the right decision. I think I already knew that, but for some strange reason I was looking for justification. Is that a lack of self-confidence on my part?
2. I realized how much I REALLY loved my new job on Friday. I mean ... I knew I liked it, but Friday was the icing on the cake. It just doesn't get any better. I didn't make a lot of money ... only up $500 or so by the end of the day ... but everything else seemed too good to be true. By noon, the markets were slowing down, so the CEO asked one of the traders to make a beer run. By 1pm, we were drinking beer and playing a massive game of Quake. Every once in a while the markets would surge so people would get out of the game to trade, but then come right back in. Not much later, somebody on my trading row started playing the 80s hair metal station from Yahoo radio, and we all started rocking out. So ... here I was on a Friday afternoon ... drinking beer, playing Quake, and jamming out ... at work. Somebody made the comment, "Man ... I love this job." I thought to myself, "Yeah ... I really do love this job." Then, I turned off my computer, and left for the week in order to catch the 3pm showing of Talladega Nights at the Alamo Drafthouse. I know .. I know ... I still don't have a steady paycheck ... but I'm hoping that will change soon. I am keeping my fingers crossed.