Daily P/L - Page 14

Great day today! Kicked ass in my margin account, increased total value by about 25% since yesterday. For some reason the daily gain doesn't include the overnight increase in value of my FAZ short position, today's gain was over $800. My $2700 is now knocking on $4000.



My Roth isn't doing quite as well. I tried to average down on AEA and DOW, my intent is to ease out of both those positions without a loss. I don't mind keeping the AEA if I have to, good dividend. DOW is turning into a stinker. Of course if I sell it at a loss then it will skyrocket the next day (like FCX).
I would prefer using the DOW proceeds to increase my NLY and TNK holdings.

Trading like a moron lately, I have no idea why I still have KERX moral of story is cut ur losses, quick


By clearrip at 2009-01-28

Made 170 off NVDA or 1.7 percent on my account. Pretty much quit trading, and am trying to learn forex in the meantime, but figure there was some free $ today. Could of held for more but was afraid obama would say something ppl didn't want to hear, and I'd be in the - and also tired, would not of made me happy. edit so tired I typed in NVDA when I meant ETFC;P

Dont feel bad.. i lost 70% and 80% on a 3 stocks..
Im still holding onto one, which is 3/4th down, and well ya i iwas stupid on that one. Low vol and just lame.

Gain today 330.00

Wow im in awwwwe on how you have 700k in gnta.. whats ur avg?

glad I'm not the only one

you have no idea, i have blown away over 25% of my account the last 2-3 weeks.

but did you have a good time, lol

I trade options and I don't hedge my positions. One day I lost 20,000$ before.
I lost 1300$ today by going short yesterday, then afterhours that bad bank thing came out. Ouch

Thats tough I hate when that happens, FAZ and SKF are insane, you wake up and its down like 30% on that bs news. Cant really hold anything overnight but then how do u gain trading momentuem when you have to start from scratch everyday, wild times

Sold URE after hours yesterday at $4.82 for a net profit of $82. I could have made another $200 if I had held onto it until today, but profit is profit.
Sold SOHU today at $42.16 for a net profit of $84.

When I lost 20k, I was holding half my account in FAS out of the money calls, and FAS stock, and maxed out my margin. The stock tanked like 40%, options worthless, margin called, game over.

If I had guessed the right direction, I probably would have made like 50k

crazy man lol, sometimes wish I had more balls though.....

Don't feel like you need more 'balls' when trading... trading should not be such an emotional pursuit... if you are having huge portfolio swings and are on margin etc etc, then it is just a matter of time until your portfolio takes a hit that it cannot recover from... No matter how big your portfolio is, always remember that overleveraging/margining can destroy your portfolio... I have blown up my portfolio before, and it taught me valuable lessons about money management that I have never forgotten.

1) No margin
2) No over-allocation
3) Cut and run, sell your losers unemotionally, same with selling your winners.

4)-1000) would take too long to type out.

g

Nah you are right, but seriously I do need "some" more balls I think. I keep missing some seriously good opportunities because I'm afraid to hold anything even remotely shaky overnight. I think I am just trading with more then I am comfortable with, but I feel basically trapped in that regard. I pay 30 bucks round trip, meaning if I put down 3k to invest with, I'm paying 1 percent off the bat. To me this is the absolutely MOST I want to pay in commision, and if I were to pay anymore, I'd feel like the odds are to stacked against me. Because of this often I'm trading between 3k-6k, and the good opportunity stocks, are usually the scary ones, which makes it even harder. I have basically given up on trading on the US markets (not to mention getting up at 6:30 blows) because of this, at least until I have more $s. Hopefully FX will get me trading properly.

Yes, keep balls out of this. At the end of the day, you want to be as mechanical as possible with your trades and your stops. Cut losses, take profits. Set targets, or have an idea of what you want to happen. If it doesn't happen, what is your exit strategy? I am at fault at not keeping my emotions under check too. We all are from time to time. But, the more you keep your emotions and trading separate, the better off you'll be in the long run. It's ok to be excited about making money. It's what drives us or we wouldn't do it. Just remember there are millions more trades and opportunities out there waiting to get hung up on a single trade.

I'm not going to say that you shouldn't be afraid to lose money, but the first time I lost money, I felt a sense of calm overcome me. I thrive off of worst case scenarios though and while I love my money, I'm not entirely afraid to lose it all at the same time. It's the nature of the game. You'll win some and you'll lose some. There is no way to bypass that. Just try to make it a habit to win more than you lose!

You need to look at this as an education and growing experience. You're trading far too much equity when accounting for your skill and emotional control level. Commish is a cost of doing business and it shouldn't come into play when you're learning. Now that said $30 round trip is insane!!! Find a cheaper damn broker for christ sake.

Also trade high dollar picks so each tick doesn't kill you. This way you won't make a fortune but you also won't lose a fortune and can work on emotion control as you learn to tame yourself. Balance of fear and greed is a must and it's probably one of the hardest things most of us can try and do.

Good luck

First time I lost on a trade I felt like an idiot. It did help me to work harder though, so I suppose its not all bad. I think overall I just need to work harder, if I felt more confident, I don't think I would be so scared. I just feel more then 50 percent of the $ in the market is likely smarter $ then my own, so by me trading and losing, I'm just being careless and stupid. Man I need to loosen up, ty for the responses.

I've been trading for 2+ years now and I still feel like an idiot many times a month if not more often even.

The key is keeping most your money safe while you learn. Ramp up the amount risked as you're skills and confidence grow.

You're thinking about things rather than just bitching about the market makers shaking out etc... That's a very productive attitude to have, keep at it and you'll get there.

Thats good advice ty. Really should just focus on making solid trades rather then making solid bucks. Sucks to be out of a job, hopefully when I get another one and some $ coming back in, it'll be a lot easier to accomplish this. Ty for the input guys, appreciate it.