March 11th

12 for 15, 80% win rate. $3.26 per share gain while paper-trading the SKF and GS.

On humility as a trader...

About 10,000 years ago, glacial ice covered this very land on which I live. It scoured and mutilated the earth, grinding it and shaping it without pattern. When the glaciers melted back toward the north pole, what remained was a rough, torn up land mass met by a rising sea of melt water. The Maine coastline has quite a reputation as a coarse, jagged stretch of land. It is often quoted that our coastline, from Kittery to Eastport, if stretched out from its many inlets and coves, would reach from Maine to Florida! As I drank my coffee this am, I thought of the Maine coast as a great analogy for stocks/etf's in their daily movement. Looking at yesterday's chart of SKF, I couldn't help but note the opportunity present to make money as a trader. At 9:30 am it opened at HOD $221 per share (rounded) and closed at its LOD, $182; a move of $39 (18%). One trade short at the open, shares were available at that point, with a cover at close would have yielded $39 per share! I traded this stock yesterday and struggled to make 4 cents; a .001% of the ADR. Then consider the profits available to a skilled trader if he/she had traded near the highs and lows of the major moves as its value sunk through the day. Like the Maine coastline, if you were to stretch out the SKF just so that the 7 largest moves could be measured in one line, the opportunity would have been $85.61 per share by days end.
That's a one trade yield of $ 39 per share gain and an $85.61 yield with a 7 trade day.
Now you tell me that isn't a humbling thought. I certainly have a long way to go...