October 5th

Seems like forever since I was able to sit in front of a live market.

After so much time I actually get a bit apprehensive; nervous energy flowing through me as I sign in. My results since the beginning of August have been mixed at best and ambivalence would be the best word for it.

Today though, I decided to try to ride the crazy train once I signed in around 3:20 pm: FAS, the 3x financial bull. It was consolidating after its big run from 2:20 to 2:25-ish and had hit a near doji at 3:20pm. I waited until the start of the 3:25 candle then went short, sensing that the market and FAS were going to break support and drop. Well, it didn't! It went the opposite and jumped while doing it. Man, it sure is hard to anticipate these moves. Afterward, they seem so easy to see why they happen. In this case, the near-doji was an indicator of reversal, as it often is. Why didn't I play it that way? I just had a hunch it would drop... I was guessing instead of reading the candles and playing the probabilities as I've outlined them for myself here many times. I stuck with the trade and was rewarded three candles later with the drop I had sensed was coming. However, I had let the stock go well beyond an acceptable stop... in fact, it went to HOD before reversing. Definitely a no-no. My gut told me there was weakness, but common sense still should have prevailed. Anyway, it is just practice... I've been out of the markets for most of a month and I jumped in on one of the most volatile big-cap runners out there. Today was just to get the feel back. Much is still crazy here in my real-life so my time will be limited for much of this month too. I'll try to get in as often as I can and post as much as possible. As I've mentioned before, I ignored my work so much over the past 8-9 months that I must get back on track by putting it first and stop treating stock trading as if it pays the bills. I believe it will one day but not in the forseeable future. I don't yet have the time required to properly learn it.

Mine is the life of a real person with responsibilities and daily matters to attend to, just like many of you. If anything, this blog is about all of us and the struggles we face every day to try to learn this frustrating and fickle craft.

Good trading to everyone this week!

September 29th

It felt pretty great to get back into the markets, if even for 45 minutes this afternoon. I haven't had much time to give to my stock market studies through the month of September. I truly do miss it... mainly because I know that trading is my future. I just have no idea when this will take place. There's a lot of swirling chaos around me which is detracting from my trading education; it eats up my day hours. That's the way life works sometime... I still study charts and blogs in the early mornings and in the early evenings. Mornings are best because I am an early riser and I'm fresh in my thinking.

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HESS was pretty squirrely at the days end so I was looking to scalp a little from it. I took $64 paper-trade bucks out of it with a 3 for 4 win rate. I know that scalping is not my goal, but for now it gives me gains and may be my ticket "into the game." Being able to scrape out some gains from the market is my starting point if I want to leave my old work life behind.

Right now, I am trying to build/prepare my small business for eventual sale. I don't have a buyer but I am focused on putting it where it needs to be to attract a buyer. If and when it does sell, I am going to try trading full-time. It's a big risk for me and Mrs. Bluecollar but it will have to be done eventually. My trading progress and my ability to position my business for sale are the determining factors in this life change. It could take years, who knows. But one thing is clear to me, it will happen eventually.

September 22nd

Up $49 paper trading today, when I could take a moment to look at the screen. No chance at undisturbed focus today. There was just too much going on. These days, just 15 minutes of concentration on the markets is hard to generate. My training is suffering because of day-job concerns and real-life. A perfect world would allow me to trade in peace so I could learn this. Sadly, I am not grasping this trading art quickly enough to stay on this track. As time goes forward, I must dedicate less time to trading. I have to focus instead on my business, the object of my neglect since I started trying to trade.
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Started slow today but finished with some strength. Best trade was pegging the 3:00 pm peak in FAS and letting it ride down some. I got out too soon but I'm glad at the choice I made to short there. At the same time, I was playing ERX the same way, which actually yielded more gain than the FAS.