Fast's Journal ($3,000 to $300,000) OR ($3,000 to $30). We'll see! - Page 2

I’m still working on putting the pieces together, and it’s taking a bit of time.  Meanwhile, I’m in the process of funding my account.  I will start with $1,000.  Yes, I know; I said I’d start with $3,000, and I still have it in my mind that I’ll start working my plan with $3,000, but for the time being, I’m thinking about doing something rather dumb.  I’m seriously thinking about jumping on the FB bandwagon—eaten up and swallowed whole maybe, but hey, it’s a shot in the dark, and who knows, I might find that I won’t need to pull more funds out of pocket if all goes well.  I don’t particularly have my hopes up on this gamble with FB.  If there’s any room for hope at all in trading (and I know there isn’t much, as hope has no big place in trading), I won’t lose more than half.

Anyhoots, there’s still a sliver of hope for you guys to talk me out of it.  I’ve never traded an IPO before, and God help me, I’m thinking about jumping in day one, but if it’s any consolation, I’ll probably scale in at $250 a pop.

Just for the record, this gamble isn’t remotely representative of how I’ll be trading when I put the finishing touches on my trading plan.  Even though my trading plan will probably still be a work-in-progress when I do begin, it’ll still be far different than shots in the dark.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oldelectronic 

    Good to hear!

    After all the talk and thinking you are a gambler at heart!  All the info and charts can show you 100% what happened yesterday but if anybody says they can predict tomorrow they are lying. Stocks are about the fun, if you want predictible buy a GIC.

    Facebook is a good a player as anyone, and well worth a $1000 to take a chance. Hell, I have minimum wage neighbors that smoke that much in a month.

Good luck!

Lol!

I guess I do have a little gambler in me tucked away after all!  Interestingly, I did play a little online Blackjack for a short spell, and when I went to Vegas, I did gamble a tad bit.  The problem with gambling is that I don't have what it takes for it pay off over the long haul (no edge that'll keep me on top), but that's not to say I don't think I might can get in a win here or there when Mr. and Mrs. fun start eyeing me.

At any rate, a $1,000 isn't going to break me, but $5,000 gone in one fell swoop wouldn't have me grinnin'--that's for sure, so I'll do just what I'd advise others to do, and that is to not trade risky with what you're not willing to lose.  For example, and this comes up during discussions of risk tolerance.  My risk tolerance is across the board, meaning that I'm sometimes very tolerant of risk whereas other times I'm as scared as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs.  Would I invest life savings on a gamble?  Heck no!  I think it's important for people to understand and accept that if being risky is apart of their nature, then that's fine, but be risky only with what's worth risking, else one may find themselves going broke a bit too fast.  We must temper that little extremist voice inside us that says "oh, what the hell!"  On the flip side, the person that shivers at the prospect of losing anything needs to understand and appreciate the concept that reflects the fact that a position of no risk is very unlikely to yield any meaningful reward at all, so to those that fear the market and remain shielded inside their savings accounts will not be making a killin'.

Speaking of savings accounts, I decided to create a link between my savings account and my brokerage account.  I figured I'd just transfer some funds over instead of figuring out how to do it by mail like I did a couple years ago.  My broker wanted me to give them my username and passcode to my bank account.  Yeah right, so I opted for what they refer to as micro-deposits.  See, instead of transferring money out of my account (essentially a withdrawal), they instead made two very small deposits into (instead of out of) my account.  I, in turn, reported back to the broker what those micro-deposits were, yet even though the link is now officially created, they're still taking their sweet time funding my account.

Just to give a quick summary of my plan, I will be trend trading over the short-term. I will be identifying whether stocks are trending or not trending, and if trending, I will be identifying the direction of the trend. Furthermore, I will be figuring out how far along the stock is in the trend; hence, is it near the first or second retrace of the trend, or is it further along?

I will be doing my damndest to identify cycle lows (as I will be biased to the long side until I feel it’s worth the added risk to trade on margin). I have figured out where my stops will be, and I understand how I will be triggered into trades.

I am still trying to figure out how to incorporate momentum into my trading strategy, but right now, I’m battling back and forth between the need to be simplistic and the extent to which I will use multiple timeframes for added confirmation.

Although I have an exit plan, I’m sure it’ll change as I become more comfortable with its execution.

Lately, in my spare time, I have been researching (and trying to appreciate) the common mistakes traders make. I think I better take heed.

At this very moment, I’m caught between a strong desire to jump in on FB and listening to Bermudan Option. Self-discipline is very important, and I’m afraid that I’m just caught up in the hype. I know what I want to do, and what I want to do is place a limit order to buy 25 shares of FB at $39.80 a share. However, I suspect that I shouldn’t do it.

Sure, many of us might see that I am indeed cognizant of the fact that I am departing from what should be a well-thought out plan and therefore think that my knowledge that it’s probably a dumb idea somehow makes things okay since it won’t be apart of the plan, but the truth is that I might just be justifying my behavior and not willing to refrain from giving in to the temptations later—it’s hard to say.

If I can’t control myself now, then exactly what will I be doing when I do start trading with a plan? Will I deviate a little here and deviate a little there? Well, maybe that’s just what’ll happen unless I make a commitment to be true to the plan.

I don’t think jumping in on the FB stock will spell doom, but it might stir a little gloom in those that are following this. I need to do what’s best for me, and jumping in probably isn’t what’s best.

I need to think about this some more.

Just a quick note to mention that the account is now funded.  'bout time!

Actual numbers:

Total Account Equity has changed from $14.46 to $1,000 because of the $985.54 transfer I made.

I tried to order yesterday but they weren't accepting FB.  This morning they accepted it--or least they allowed me to submit it.  It's still under review.  At any rate, my buying power is now $0.05.  So much for scaling in.  Heck, I might not even get it, and if not, maybe that'll be a good thing.

And so now I sit back and imagine the experts as they roll their eyes (with a sideways grin as they chuckle) and mumble the word, "idiot."  Well, what can I say?  That's the consequence of ignorance--which can be do to nothing short of the lack of effort I put in researching how to properly approach the techniques in trading IPO's.  To put it another way, my order was rejected.  I saw a note about the security "not trading."  Yeah, well, the possibility that I would be getting in line for when it did start trading had a little something to do with why I placed it when I did.  At any rate, I guess I'll look again Thursday and try again early Friday.

At it again but with different numbers:

FB Buy 20 Shares @ $49.75 Limit

Thank you.

It's a suicide mission, so I'll need all the luck I can get.

Even Wile E. Coyote could depend on his rocket to not fail before barreling head on into the rocky side of a mountain.

I placed a limit order to buy 25 shares at $39.80 Wednesday morning, but it was rejected since it wasn’t trading yet, but a little after 10:00 Thursday evening, I learned that orders could have been placed as early as 4:17 that day.  By this time, the anticipated IPO price rose, and I placed a limit order to buy 20 shares at $49.75.

I noticed that trading started near 11:30 today—I’m using Zecco’s platform.  I knew there might be some delays in getting a fill, but after an hour and a half later with no readily apparent reason for why I wasn’t getting a fill, I made three unsuccessful attempts to contact Zecco.  At 1:03, I attempted to cancel my order.

To make a long story short, my broker nor I know if my order was filled; furthermore, my broker nor I know if my order was cancelled.  My main reason for attempting the cancellation was in fear of needlessly getting a fill near my limit order price subsequent to the price action at that time.

My order was cancelled.

Well, that was fun.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheShortLife 

Fast, you've wasted BermudanOption's time and your own because it seems like he truly was interested in you succeeding and offered you solid advice. Your problem is simple - you have a raging battle taking place inside your mind. How do I know? I don't even need to see you trade, all I need to see is your writing. Sometimes it is one font and other times it's different. There is no consistency. When Bermudan questioned you about something, you immediately went on the defensive and tried to justify yourself as if Bermudan cared about you proving yourself to him.

 

Your mind is very troubled. At times, it seems that you have a grasp of some concepts to put you on the right path, but your mind is all over the place. The lack of discipline coupled with an inability to control your self is toxic. The road your setting on is one of failure. When you tried to buy Facebook, irrespective of that fact that you would have overpaid for it, you acted undisciplined. You wanted an "easy thing" and you wanted to make money fast. Also, Zecco's commission is going to eat you alive.

The correct mindset you should have had was this:

• I have never traded an IPO in my life so I have nothing to prepare me for this
• I just funded my account, why am I rushing into buying Facebook?
• Is it because I want money fast, is it because I believe the hype or just because I don't (fear/afraid) want to miss out?

 

If you didn't ask yourself that third question before hitting the buy order, then you don't belong in trading stocks. Have you even paper traded? Go and do that, then come back later on when your mind is less turbulent. The stock market has existed for several centuries, it has eaten and spit out people like you and me hundreds of thousands of times over - it will be here when you are better prepared. 

TheShortLife,

First and foremost, I want to thank you for taking the time to offer your assistance.  It has not gone unappreciated.

I don't want to come across as if I'm trying to rationalize my behavior in this post.  Given the manner in which you have voiced your opinion, I'm afraid that even an attempt to offer some halfway sensible explanation will be regarded as nothing less than an attempt to further justify what I have done.  Instead of trying to explain, what I will do instead is openly admit that I have made a mistake, and I will do that despite my belief that you have miscast me.  I've been in and out of the market for years, and I've learned a lot about some of the things I shouldn't do, but on rare occasions, I do depart from the rigidity of what I've learned and let loose.  I feel as though I am well capable of compartmentalizing issues ... but I might have carelessly and seriously jeopardized anyone's sincere desire to see me succeed.

Looking forward, my intentions are to stay on track and not behave as a blooming idiot looking for excitement.  I ask that you remain open minded to the possibility that I can turn this around and not disappoint those that have made a genuine attempt to offer sound advice.

As to the different fonts, that frustrates me.  Over the years, I have gotten into the habit of partially composing posts and transferring them to Word to make it easier to edit for various structural and grammar reasons, but the fonts are somehow becoming altered in the transfer.  I have taken the time to edit, edit, and edit again trying to fix the issue, but it just doesn't work out all the time--on this particular site.  For this post, I simply typed it and used the above spell checker.  After all, I wasn't about to take a chance on that happening in this post, as I genuinely want to ensure that you understand that I am appreciative of your insight.

With kindest regards, I am and remain,

fast 

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobK 

 

Sometimes I use Word and I never have a problem. Do all of you editing in Word. Fonts, colors, spell check. When the document is complete do a  'select all', then use the ctrl + c to copy and on HSM use ctrl + v to paste. After you've finished go to the bottom and hit the 'preview' button.

 

You should be good to go.

Thank you.

Here's a little more insight:  Although it does happen on this site, it has happened on another site before as well.  I rarely have a reason to alter the font type, font size, or font color.  Some people may on occasion do that for emphasis, but it's not something I do with any meaningful frequency.  For that matter, I rarely use emoticons.  I've spent a great deal of time on a philosophy site, and though it may take me a couple posts or so to ensure that what I'm saying is being understood, I try my darndest to communicate without such distractions.  I believe there's a coding issue that underlies the problem.  I have in the past reformatted my computer back to its original factory settings and completed all updates (a few more times than once) in an effort to put a stop to this, but all my efforts have been in vain, as the problem persists.  I've done all but get another computer.  Well, that's not exactly true.  I have done that, and I haven't noticed an issue, but my other half uses that computer, and if I switch computers with her, I may never eat anything with any taste again.

As to your suggestion, I have tried that (and then some) multiple times.  The idea that this seemingly simple problem should go away by taking some care when posting isn't lost on me.  It doesn't happen all the time, and sometimes, I am able to solve the issue, but for now, I'm just going to try and break my habit of typing outside of this site, as I have done for the past two posts.

Thanks again

Ratio’s between charts

I prefer to have a three to one ratio between charts.  For example, I might use a 200 tick chart for my short term chart, a 600 tick chart for my medium term chart, and an 1800 tick chart for my long term chart.  Or, I might use a 3 minute chart, a 9 minute chart, and an 27 minute chart.  Another example would be a 1000 tick chart, a 3000 tick chart, and a 9000 tick chart.  For me, the key is to have a three to one ratio between them.  It’s tight but not too tight.  If I’m only using two charts, then I’ll still maintain the same ratio.  For example, I might use a 200 tick chart and a 600 tick chart.  However, that’s for daytrading.

For swing trading, I’m only using two charts, and they are the daily and weekly charts.  Should I decide to take some position trades, I’d use the weekly chart and monthly chart.  The issue, of course, is that the ratio is much looser.  For swing trading, I’d be using a five to one ratio instead of a three to one ratio—a bit too loose for my trading methodology—doable, yes, but not ideal.

I’m considering something I’ve never done before, and I’m worried that I might be shooting myself in the foot.  I’m thinking about swing trading using a three to one ratio.  For example, I want to use a one day chart (i.e. daily chart) and a three day chart.  I have access to them, and I know how to appropriately alter my settings on my indicators, but I can’t help but wonder that even though I feel the tighter correlation between them will be beneficial, I’m not sure about the negative consequences.

Many people trade the weekly charts, but not many people (at least not nearly as many) trade three day charts, so I’ll be seeing things that others aren’t seeing and thus not reacting to them; plus, I’ll probably lose out on some of the advantages that trading what others typically trade bring—the weekly chart.

This isn’t something I can backtest since my trading methodology is not conducive to backtesting, yet I don’t want to endure the expenditure of the time and energy it’s going to take to test this idea for the next six months without at least inquiring about it.  I could (and probably should) begin testing, but first, I wanted to throw this out there to see if by chance other “swing traders” have wrestled with the issue of altering the ratio’s between charts and see what their thoughts on the issue is.

On a different note, I have made significant progress in fine tuning my methodology.  There’s still some obstacles, but it’s coming together.