ehh…. it’s a fact that I’ve never had a losing month in my daytrading career, but November was the closest I’ve ever come to it. I totaled a measly 0.32 R.
You can see on the StockTickr calendar view, that a couple things went wrong this month. First off, I only seemed to find trades on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I made very few trades total. Secondly, the last week of November I had nothing but losses (3 whole trades), which severely cut into my profits.
The main thing about November that stands out to me, besides not making many trades, is that for the majority of my losers, I was right about the stock direction, but stopped out anyway. I’ve come to the conclusion that the last two months were not a good match for my particular style of trading. I’ve noted based on feedback I get from folks that they are getting better results from my own watchlists than I am! :-) So, the big question is: is it a temporary thing, or do I need to be adjusting my style? hmmm… I think the constant new highs new highs everyday has just made the action at breakout levels much more choppy than it had been before. I may need to execute my trades slightly differently until that changes.
So, two profitable but unspectacular months in a row. That’s why I think it’s funny that I got a comment today saying something like, “it’s all fine and good that you post your trades after the fact, but I wonder if you have the guts to post a screenshot of your broker! No one will believe you otherwise.” Maybe I’m not the best liar in the world, but I think if I were lying I would have at least made up a more successful story. :-) But, anyway, ask and ye shall receive…
They didn’t say what they wanted in the screenshot, but I assume they just want my broker’s homepage, right? ;-)
You may or may not have noticed I’ve stopped with the weekly review posts, and I was considering stopping the monthly review posts. The reason is, I always say the same thing in them, and the statistics are right out of StockTickr (just ask for the last 30 days, or whatever… it’s been on my list to add a way to pick start/end dates for that report). Anyone can look at that, and the aforementioned calendar review page, anytime they want. Plus, no one seemed to notice that I stopped, or if they did, they didn’t care enough to ask about it.
Now go re-read Zoomie’s November review, and I bet it will sound even more impressive than it did the first time!
December 1st, 2006 at 1:21 pm
Richard,
I feel ya, man. HighChartPatterns said that November was brutal to them as well, so it might just be a bad time. I was lucky to squeak buy with a positive month, but it was a near thing. With your usual discipline, I’m sure you can make December a return to glory.
Luck.
December 1st, 2006 at 2:39 pm
lol…loved the screenshot
December 1st, 2006 at 2:44 pm
I’m just glad that all the doubters will believe me, now that I’ve shown I have the guts to post a screenshot of my broker. It’s good to have taken care of that issue once and for all.
I guess there are people out there that think it’s impossible to doctor a screenshot… gullible.
December 1st, 2006 at 3:38 pm
Good job with Nov.
And ignore the doubters. The people that get something from your trading/writing will stay, the doubters will move on and find something else to whine about. Some people just live miserable lives, and always will. It is the way they prefer it, beleive it or not.
December 1st, 2006 at 6:35 pm
Richard:
X is right. I work with at least 5 other people who love to say “Stop daytrading, fool!” to me every chance they get. But they’ll be working there for 40 more years, and I won’t.
As for your broker, that’s the guy that’s rolling around in my commission money! I’m switching from them for now, but I would go back later with more capital for $7 unlimited size trades.
December 1st, 2006 at 8:08 pm
X: Thanks
Ex: I have had good luck with scottrade, even though their platform has like 0 frills. I get decent fills, and they seem to have more shortable shares than places like cyber or tradestation, for whatever reason. And, if I’m trading big enough, and not scaling in and out of trades, it’s actually cheaper than cyber or tradestation.
December 1st, 2006 at 8:08 pm
“I’ve stopped with the weekly review posts, and I was considering stopping the monthly review posts.”
Richard, I am not sure posting results helps others much either. Posting results may help really new newbies get a feel what to expect, and how long it may take to become consistently profitable at this. I have gained 99% of my insight from looking at other pros’ charts, such as Trader X’s, Tom C.’s, Estocastica, and Wall Street Warrior. These guys are established pros whose charts should be studied IMHO. I was just telling my wife that it was almost 2 years ago since I discovered Maoxian’s site, and started on my quest to become a daytrader. It has been a long haul. The key for me has been studying charts, charts, and more charts.
(The rest of the blogs not linked are on Richard’s blog roll).
December 1st, 2006 at 8:13 pm
@Zoomie: like you mentioned, I want the info to be available to newbies so they have an idea of what really happens. But, I’d like people to get used to browsing my performance numbers on StockTickr, if they want to see them.
Other than that, I was just saying “I should really make more trades” every week, which I would think bores my readers, at best.
So, I think I’ll highlight the StockTickr links once a month, and let the weekly reviews die.
December 1st, 2006 at 8:21 pm
@Richard: Ya, I kinda went off on a tangent. I do that. Must be genetic.
December 2nd, 2006 at 9:54 am
Richard, i was having a decent (actually pretty darn good) November, till the last week of trading. I entered couple of positions with a large share size. The two are under $5 stocks (not my favorite), my stop was below the 5ma and the low of the previous candle, and literally 5 cents away. With Scottrade my stops have to be at least 15 cents away, so i did not put a stop, and instead decided to watch closely…
naturally, i got an important phone call, that turned into a conference call, that turned into a low 4 figure draw-down. instead of closing the position, i “hoped” for a better day next day, and ended up closing for a bigger loss next day… it is mostly my doing, and i was still up for the month, but none the less, i decided to blame the broker :)
i put in an application at TradeStation on the spot.
December 2nd, 2006 at 10:28 am
Sami,
I’ve done the EXACT same thing with Scottrade’s $0.15 stop restriction. And I’ve also held on, hoping for a turnaround. And then sold at a bottom. And hopped back in to get my money back (revenge trade). And lost more. It’s easy for one mistake to blossom into another, and another. I’ve learned the hard way to not trade when faced with any kind of restriction if it interferes with your particular trading system! If a trader’s broker is Scottrade, then the minimum risk spread should be $0.15, and if it doesn’t fit, then pass on the trade, change trading systems or change brokers. My application with MB is in. :)
December 2nd, 2006 at 1:43 pm
Since I rarely use actual stops, I never even noticed this restriction until another trader pointed it out to me. They figured out that if you ever really need a stop for less than 0.15 you can call your branch and have them enter it for you (for free). It’s a pain, I know.
Let me know how you like TS… I’ve considered switching to them multiple times, but it seems like their short share inventory and reliability might be lacking.
December 2nd, 2006 at 6:46 pm
Richard-
One frill with a Scottrade account is free access to Trade Ideas.