April Recap

APRIL TOTALS:
Gain: $7.15 per share, net of commissions
Trades: 250 for 396; a win rate of 63.1%
Ave Gain Per Day Traded: 39.7 cents per share
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Days Traded in April: 18 days out of 21; 85.7%
Days Traded with a Gain: 15 out of 18; 83.3%
Days Traded with a Loss: 3 out of 18; 16.7%
Largest Daily Loss: -$4.37 per share on April 14th
Smallest Daily Loss: -.86 cents per share on April 9th
Average Daily Loss: -$2.34 per share
Largest Daily Gain: $2.78 per share on April 2nd
Smallest Daily Gain: $.05 cents per share on April 13th; also my least active day.
Average Daily Gain: $.397 cents per share
Most active day: 34 for 63 on April 23rd for a gain of $.98 cents per share
Least active day: 2 for 2 on April 13th for a gain of $.05 cents
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Notable: Missed one day of trading because the IB paper trading platform was down. One day was closed for Good Friday.

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Footnote - In the Interest of Disclosure:
Regular readers will note that my overnight postion of April 23rd to April 24th is not listed in any of the data. I chose to remove it altogether. It was the day where I carried a large position of SKF into the next day but was unable to be online to close it out. In the early morning before leaving for my day-job, I posted that my intent would be to sell when it went positive gain. When I returned later in the day, it was down a lot ($ 27 per share) but the chart stated that it went positive for a few minutes during the morning. So, with that in mind, I choose not to count the loss or the gain I would certainly have had. I try to be as open and forthright about what I do here. I think this a fair decision... if you have any input, I am surely open to it. Feel free to post.

I'm done early in the markets today. I had a great day paper-trading SKF and GS. It was not my highest dollar gain since beginning the blog on Jan 31st, but it felt as though it was my best day; at least in a long time. From the start, it seemed as if I was "dialed in" to the market and the stocks I was playing. Indeed, I never had the sense that I was not in control of my positions. As I scaled in to fade strong market emotion, I had confidence in my entry points. I took profits when they presented themselves and didn't try to cash the "big lottery ticket" on any positions. All my positions were winners today, although a few of my scale-in trades were not winners. I did have one trade error when I clicked on "SELL" when I meant to click "BUY" to cover my position, adding one losing trade to my tally today. Fortunately, it lost less than one penny per share. That hasn't happened in a while, which means I was over-due for it!
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Some days are just a bust and make you feel lousy even if you finish the day with a gain (days where you are scrambling and playing from behind). Today was just the opposite. It feels good to leave April on a high note, considering I closed March with a losing session. I intend to recap April with a separate post as I did at the end of March. That will likely come tomorrow night or Saturday, as I must now prepare for my class tonight and I have a busy "Day-Job" schedule tomorrow. No trades on May 1st for that reason.
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10 for 15, a 67% win rate. Gain of 95 cents per share.

April 29th

I was able to take a couple hours to watch the markets, and found a couple opportunities to paper-trade. Four trades, three for winners. All four long on SKF. I'd really like to stay in for the closing but there is simply too much to do outside the stock market. My day-job appointment postponed until Friday leaving the day available for projects/chores here at home. Life requires balance and today, my bro-in-law and I are preparing a bigger herb and vegetable garden for Mrs. Blue Collar. Also on the list: replacing burned out flourescent lights in the garage so the old ones can go to the upcoming annual recycling day in my town, lawn tractor fluids and filters, thinning the "forest" around my house with the chain saw before the truly hot weather rolls in, lawn treatments, etc... The list is too long to go on. Here's the rub: if I could make decent money trading, I could pay people to do most of what I must do myself! To make decent money, I must practice the craft of trading. But I can't spend all my time practice-trading because I must do the projects!

Maybe I can squeeze in some time to wash and wax my Harley, Ha! That would be the only fun thing on the list.

I'm happy for my gain today, small as it is.

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3 for 4 winners, 75% success rate. Gain of 38 cents.