its one of the hardest things for people to understand, this concept of feeling like shit when every position on the portfolio gained. to everyone but the trader, it sounds purely like greed and bragging. but to the trader, its definitely something to be pissed off about. i definitely feel that way today.
i'll first explain by complaining about today's situation. market started off strong. well...fairly strong. seemed like a very short term bottomed might have formed. i felt this way going into the weekend and wanted much to sell 1/2 to 75% of my best performing positions on friday or on a gap up today. i decided to hold off selling on friday and instead decided that today would be good to take some profits, diversify, and take less risk in the portfolio. this is a new strategy for me that i have always preached is best for trading but never exercised...i want to sell into strength and let profits run with the other half or quarter position while looking for new trades elsewhere. all went well as i sold some position early in the day. then all of a sudden...towards the last 2 hours of trading, the market showed weakness especially in QQQQ and everything tanked. GOOG, VMW, FLR....great picks...some in my portfolio that should have been bought for puts or held if owned. so in the end...i made up my losses from the last few weeks but would have added another 10% to each of my portfolios if i had not touched anything today. i am trying to understand this lesson. in the end...i played it well...i have less risk...i still have a portion of my strongest assets, and good amount of cash to buy in more on a pullback or if new positions look good.
here is my situation...
VMW: bought, 3.86. sold, 8, last trade, 12.10 - difference of 4.10
FLR: bought, 7.06. sold 11.20, last trade, 13.70 - difference of 2.50
GRMN: bought, 8. sold, 6.3, last trade 7.80 - difference of 1.50
FXI: bought, 8.20, sold 6.20, last trade 9.92 - difference of 3.70
fuck!...if i was at school all day...profits would have been 11.80 more...$1180....horrible!
i'm mad and i'm pissed. i've always said that its worse to lose out on potential gains than to lose money in the market. i wanna get out there and make more money...i am kicking myself hard for selling so early...the trades were made for a day like today...it was handed to me and i was dumb enough not to take it...
new strategies to try to deal with the problem
1. buy in on a position before selling off an existing one.
2. for FXI, don't worry about volume...bid and ask is strong enough to make money
3. don't sell 75% of position. sell 50% if trade is still strong, which is most of them unless the overall market's trend is reversing.
4. when things are good...exploit it...at least wait til end of day to sell.
5. let it slide. be happy about having gains. thats the main goal anyway....mission accomplished...one day at a time
6. most importantly...look forward...look for the next big trade...so i will be even more pissed tomorrow...
"the market is like gambling to some...but to me, its a totally different monster. much crazier...much harder...and much more reliant on emotions. i give any consistently successful trader much respect."
note: i wanted to delete the numbers on this blog because i shouldn't think about it...its the past...future numbers are much more important...but i will leave it there..for moral reasons and for good bookkeeping..not so it can haunt and bother me forever...and into making bad trades...side note...one of the best things i ever did was stop making a journal of my wins and losses. keeping too close an eye on the past is bad...learn what u can and move on...
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