This was my worst week since starting this website. My portfolio ended up down $228 on the week, putting the total so far at $10,831.06. I had two more trades close for a loss this week, including one that had been nicely profitable just last week. However, I think this is just a manifestation of the randomness inherent in trading. I don’t think any of the trades that I’ve lost money on were bad trades, and they were all valid according to my plan.
I did make two mistakes this week in not taking trades that I should have taken. Both of those would have been profitable and in fact I may have even been up on the week had I entered those trades.
Despite being in a losing streak over the past two weeks, I’ve been able to control my urge to make some quick profits and trading on hunches, which was a big problem for me in the past. However, I’ve realized that I have a new emotional hurdle to deal with: apathy. I’ve noticed that I haven’t been that eager to go over my watchlists the last few days and just kind of rush through it (I think that may be why I missed those two profitable trades). It does make sense though – losing is much less exciting than winning. I keep reminding myself that a good system can only produce consistent results if it is applied consistently.
Another point to take away from those missed trades is that I know I must have looked at those trades on the day that I should have entered them, but can’t remember now why I didn’t get in. This website has been a great tool for keeping track of the trades that I have taken, but I also need to come up with a system for keeping a journal for my day-to-day analysis. I don’t want it to take up a lot of my time, but I would like to be able to look back on a trade that I didn’t take and remember what my analysis was at the time. I think I will start taking notes on any stocks that I spend more time analysing (i.e. because they’re are close to showing a buy signal), even if I don’t end up trading them. I’ll see if it also makes sense to publish those notes here.
So I am completely out of all trades right now for the first time since starting this website. There have not been many opportunities for trades in the past couple of weeks, aside from the ones I skipped, of course. I definitely want to get into more positions as soon as possible, but I will be careful not to rush it. I will only take trades that fit my trading plan, regardless of the fact that it’s hard to make money while sitting on the sidelines.
Week ending 12/14/2007
December 15, 2007 — SaeedThis was my worst week since starting this website. My portfolio ended up down $228 on the week, putting the total so far at $10,831.06. I had two more trades close for a loss this week, including one that had been nicely profitable just last week. However, I think this is just a manifestation of the randomness inherent in trading. I don’t think any of the trades that I’ve lost money on were bad trades, and they were all valid according to my plan.
I did make two mistakes this week in not taking trades that I should have taken. Both of those would have been profitable and in fact I may have even been up on the week had I entered those trades.
Despite being in a losing streak over the past two weeks, I’ve been able to control my urge to make some quick profits and trading on hunches, which was a big problem for me in the past. However, I’ve realized that I have a new emotional hurdle to deal with: apathy. I’ve noticed that I haven’t been that eager to go over my watchlists the last few days and just kind of rush through it (I think that may be why I missed those two profitable trades). It does make sense though – losing is much less exciting than winning. I keep reminding myself that a good system can only produce consistent results if it is applied consistently.
Another point to take away from those missed trades is that I know I must have looked at those trades on the day that I should have entered them, but can’t remember now why I didn’t get in. This website has been a great tool for keeping track of the trades that I have taken, but I also need to come up with a system for keeping a journal for my day-to-day analysis. I don’t want it to take up a lot of my time, but I would like to be able to look back on a trade that I didn’t take and remember what my analysis was at the time. I think I will start taking notes on any stocks that I spend more time analysing (i.e. because they’re are close to showing a buy signal), even if I don’t end up trading them. I’ll see if it also makes sense to publish those notes here.
So I am completely out of all trades right now for the first time since starting this website. There have not been many opportunities for trades in the past couple of weeks, aside from the ones I skipped, of course. I definitely want to get into more positions as soon as possible, but I will be careful not to rush it. I will only take trades that fit my trading plan, regardless of the fact that it’s hard to make money while sitting on the sidelines.