July 21st

It was about 2:00 pm before I could get into the markets after day-job activities. I was quite non-chalant about my trading today... I couldn't get the theme song to "The Brady Bunch" out of my head and I found myself singing it all the time I was watching my trades! Very strange... really.

Anyway, with my reduced position size of 200 shares per buy-in, I continue to be undisciplined; fading big moves in anticipation of reversals and not cutting losers short with stops. I haven't resigned myself to the fact that this is how I am destined to trade but for now, I go with it.

Tried to fade that last move down in SKF at EOD looking for a last-second pop but it didn't work... I got out with only two seconds left; closing the session for my only loser of the day; a whopping $1.98 loss! Ha. There goes that Coca-Cola I was going to buy tomorrow (Not the stock, the beverage).

I still find that fading strong market emotion is a very high-probability winning trade; triggered by big price moves coupled with big volume and strong diversion from the mean. Today, I was just a bit too early on both multi-trade positions, leaving me to add to losers to keep the trades viable. Patient entries are really the difference between having to add to a loser and catching a reversal at the right time when choosing to play for reversals. They all reverse at some point... patience, patience patience.

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7 for 8, an 88% win rate. Gain of $70 in 2 hours of live trading.

July 20th - No Trades

No trades today, day-job finished too late to have a try at the markets.

The day-job gave a nice return today so it worked out fine but I would much rather have been in the markets just the same.

Weekly Stats - July 13 to 17th

I worked in some trading when I could this week, faced with the passing of our dog and increased day-job activity. I was able to get into the market for 11.25 hours of the 32.50 available; about 35%. I reduced my position size from 300 shares to 200 shares, initially because I was trading Potash, a relatively expensive stock for me, but decided I liked the smaller position size so I'll stick with it for a while. Eventually, I will end up trading in 1000 share lots. I consider that a benchmark for me so I now refer to 200-share trades as 1/5 of a position. Yes, I am still in practice mode even though I mostly trade my live account. I see big-boy trading in my future, though!
I was a bit sloppy, adding to losing positions on a number of occasions. I will eventually beat this bad habit. I'm sure of it. Discipline, discipline.
My success rate was over 90% this week, a testament to the fact that I was averaging in on losers instead of setting stops. As such, I traded more hours this week compared to last week yet made less money even with a much better win rate. There's the lesson about adding to losers. More show, less "go." (That is: Nice stats, Less take-home). Adding to losers means you are fading in on the wrong side of a winning move and when the reversal takes place (if it takes place in time), the gains are muted by the averaged cost basis.
Smart trading and the real money is in taking the losses on stop-outs and eventually catching a decent percentage of a nice move to offset them. Not to mention, preventing exposure to the disastrous big move from which you cannot recover.
I also need to formulate an exit plan that makes sense. For so long, I have worked on entries and ignored exits. I get out of far too many of my trades too soon. I am tired of leaving money on the table. It is not as easy as flipping a switch to do it, but it is my goal to take a higher percentage of the moves I am in. After all, I cannot live on $300- $500 per week... $300 to $500 per day is more to my liking! Ha!
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30 for 33, a 91% win rate. Gain of $357 in 11.25 hours of live trading this week. Average of $31.73 per hour.