Quarter 1 2014 Trading Results

March Trading Summary

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
6E $956(4), ZS $35(5), TF -$938(41)

RESULTS FOR MARCH
Contracts:	50
Net $P/L:	53
Wins:	13
Losses:	13
Win%:	50
$Commissions:	154
Avg$Win:	267
Avg$Loss:	-264

Mon. 3/31

12:15pm CDT - Early chop and lagging charts didn't help things today.  But only have myself to blame for not quitting earlier.  If you missed 60 Minutes last night check out: Is the U.S. stock market rigged?

RESULTS FOR DAY
TF Contracts:	31
Net $P/L:	-1792
Wins:	2
Losses:	9
Win%:	18
Avg$Win:	519
Avg$Loss:	-315

Fri. 3/28

2:10pm CDT - A quick bail out for BE after accidentally hitting "Buy Mkt" instead of "Go to Last" at the open. I was just trying to center my DOM. A long trade after that was enough for the day.

RESULTS FOR DAY
TF Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	205
Wins:	1
Losses:	1
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	207
Avg$Loss:	-3

Thurs. 3/27

2:35pm CDT -

RESULTS FOR DAY
TF Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	255
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	127
Avg$Loss:	0

Wed. 3/26

3:00pm CDT -

RESULTS FOR DAY
TF Contracts:	1
Net $P/L:	207
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	207
Avg$Loss:	0

Tues. 3/25

3:30pm CDT - Some testing today but I decided to start posting results every day I trade again.  I don't think it has any affect on my performance and is not a distraction to my trading as I do it after I'm finished for the day and it only takes me a few minutes at most.  Comments and feeling like I need to respond to them, on the other hand, can sometimes be a distraction so they will be off for the foreseeable future.  See #20: www.lifebuzz.com/just-stop.  :)

RESULTS FOR DAY
TF Contracts:	5
Net $P/L:	187
Wins:	3
Losses:	1
Win%:	75
Avg$Win:	156
Avg$Loss:	-283

Week 3/17 - 3/21

3:05pm CDT -

RESULTS FOR WEEK
6E Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	441
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	441
Avg$Loss:	0

Week 3/10 - 3/14

4:00pm CDT - Some testing on beans on crop report day is all to report this week.

RESULTS FOR WEEK
ZS Contracts:	5
Net $P/L:	35
Wins:	2
Losses:	2
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	173
Avg$Loss:	-155

23" Monitors

If you've been waiting for a deal, this is great for $100 after rebate with free shipping in the USA. Limit 5 so you can build that quad monitor setup!

Daytrading Millions

Several things spoke to me in this article and I'd bet they do to you too!

11 or 12 Things I Learned About Life While Daytrading Millions of Dollars

Week 3/03 - 3/07

2:50pm CST - Just 1 Euro trade this week.
And to ease the sound of crickets and cobwebs on this blog, here's some light reading for you:
http://tinybuddha.com/blog/10-invaluable-lessons-that-could-change-your-life

RESULTS FOR WEEK
6E Contracts:	2
Net $P/L:	516
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	516
Avg$Loss:	0

February Trading Summary

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
6E $806(4), ZS -$2045(29), ES -$2716(44)

RESULTS FOR FEBRUARY
Contracts:	77
Net $P/L:	-3955
Wins:	18
Losses:	15
Win%:	55
$Commissions:	293
Avg$Win:	143
Avg$Loss:	-435

Week 2/24 - 2/28

3:40pm CST - Not much to say other than it's tough to win when you don't follow your plan.  That big red opening bar on 2/25 got me to deviate from plan and I threw in towel on week after that.  Overall, beans had a huge week and most anyone could see places on this chart to make a killing.  I am now working on a more "fool-proof" trade plan as well as thinking of longer timeframe systems that I can incorporate into the plan, perhaps even more focus on swing trading.  I know I can follow my rules and I think I may just need more distance away from my recent months of discretionary trading to really put it out of my system for good.  At least that's what I'm thinking right now.

RESULTS FOR WEEK
ZS Contracts:	19
Net $P/L:	-2678
Wins:	1
Losses:	4
Win%:	20
Avg$Win:	239
Avg$Loss:	-729

Week 2/17 - 2/21

4:00pm CST - Would have been an okay week if the high print Friday on ES, 1844.00, had been 1 tick less.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $326(9), ES -$2973(42)

RESULTS FOR WEEK
Contracts:	51
Net $P/L:	-2647
Wins:	12
Losses:	11
Win%:	52
Avg$Win:	81
Avg$Loss:	-329

Week 2/10 - 2/14

3:10pm CST - A bean trade Monday and ES trade yesterday and today.  Nice of my broker to add VX data (CBOE Volatility Index).  I didn't have access to that before.  1-hr chart for past couple weeks shown.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $307(1), ES $257(2)

RESULTS FOR WEEK
Contracts:	3
Net $P/L:	564
Wins:	3
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	188
Avg$Loss:	0

Week 2/03 - 2/07

2:20pm CST - A couple Euro system trades gave me something to report. :)

RESULTS FOR WEEK
6E Contracts:	4
Net $P/L:	806
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	403
Avg$Loss:	0

For the Love of Money

A good read from the New York Times a couple weeks ago...

"IN my last year on Wall Street my bonus was $3.6 million — and I was angry because it wasn’t big enough. I was 30 years old, had no children to raise, no debts to pay, no philanthropic goal in mind. I wanted more money for exactly the same reason an alcoholic needs another drink: I was addicted...."

January Trading Summary

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$670(22), NQ -$3781(362)

RESULTS FOR JANUARY
Contracts:	384
Net $P/L:	-4450
Wins:	30
Losses:	51
Win%:	37
$Commissions:	1075
Avg$Win:	225
Avg$Loss:	-220

Fri. 1/31 - The Final Day

1:20pm CST - Okay, as alluded to yesterday, I'm changing plans. At start of this year I was still determined to give discretionary trading more time. But after this month, I am concluding once and for all, I'm done with discretion. Today was the final day! Reasons why I haven't been successful with discretionary trading are many and I'm not going into them all here.

Going forward, I will be mechanically trading any number of systems I come up with that I think have merit. I've been working on an emini system which I hope to trade soon but right now I just have my 6E system which had exactly one trade so far this year and I wasn't around the day that signaled.

It's funny, to me anyways, how much unsolicited advice an anonymous blogger can get. It seems to come in waves, particularly during drawdowns. I know I open myself up to this with my results transparency and allowing anonymous comments.  I do read everything even if I choose not to respond.

Regarding daily blogging, it is time for an experimental change, perhaps just for a month. Starting in Feb., I'm going to post once a week, assuming I traded that week. And anonymous comments are going away. Mostly because of the increased spam I am getting that nobody ever sees but blogger sees fit to email me. Registered commenters, as always, are more than welcome. Or you can email me.

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	30
Net $P/L:	-1479
Wins:	1
Losses:	5
Win%:	17
Avg$Win:	12
Avg$Loss:	-298

Thurs. 1/30

3:50pm CST - My two ZS shorts had potential but stopped out again. Change in plan coming soon! Nice Amazon move after regular close. Too bad we can't know the results of earnings releases just a minute early?

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$433(6), NQ -$47(50)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	56
Net $P/L:	-480
Wins:	5
Losses:	8
Win%:	38
Avg$Win:	254
Avg$Loss:	-219

Wed. 1/29

3:25pm CST - FOMC Day helped get me back to even but I continued trading and paid for it especially with some trades outside of my plan. Lesson learned.... Again.

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	65
Net $P/L:	-1737
Wins:	1
Losses:	11
Win%:	8
Avg$Win:	1112
Avg$Loss:	-259

Tues. 1/28

1:40pm CST - Yesterday repeated, but instead of taking 3:35 minutes it took 7:18 instead.  I decided to delete the "R:R" at the end of my daily table.  I will likely just add this in on the monthly summaries instead as it's too meaningless to look at daily.  Plus it's easy enough to just divide Avg$Win by Avg$Loss to get the ratio.

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	5
Net $P/L:	512
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	512
Avg$Loss:	0

Mon. 1/27

4:05pm CST -

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	5
Net $P/L:	512
Wins:	1
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	512
Avg$Loss:	0
R/R:	n/a

Fri. 1/24

1:50pm CST - Not sure if I should laugh or cry this week but I guess progress was made in my discretionary method as I made $329 net on the short week and had potential for so much more if I had been more patient with my trade management the past 3 days. More homework for the weekend to backtest the never ending flood of ideas I have to tweak things. I know, I know! You don't have to tell me the dangers and pitfalls of constant tweaking but it's in my nature.

Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS $14(2), NQ $10(15)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	17
Net $P/L:	25
Wins:	2
Losses:	2
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	350
Avg$Loss:	-338
R/R:	1.0

Thurs. 1/23

3:05pm CST - Perfect discipline today at taking trades but in hindsight, piss poor trade management. Again, trailing stops to soon cost me dearly. 

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	10
Net $P/L:	24
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	12
Avg$Loss:	0
R/R:	n/a

Wed. 1/22

2:25pm CST - Was almost a really nice day if not for my trailed stop being hit on first trade.

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	10
Net $P/L:	299
Wins:	2
Losses:	0
Win%:	100
Avg$Win:	149
Avg$Loss:	0
R/R:	n/a

Tues. 1/21

3:15pm CST - Retooled things a bit over weekend and added some filters to reduce overtrading.  Scratch day today.  Stats are a bit misleading today which isn't that unusual really.  2 of the 3 wins were BE for a tick and the other was $500. 

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	35
Net $P/L:	-17
Wins:	3
Losses:	3
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	174
Avg$Loss:	-180
R/R:	1.0

Fri. 1/17

3:35pm CST - Followed my plan perfectly today but that, of course, doesn't guarantee profits. Need to do some retooling over the long weekend.

RESULTS FOR DAY
NQ Contracts:	60
Net $P/L:	-468
Wins:	5
Losses:	5
Win%:	50
Avg$Win:	105
Avg$Loss:	-199
R/R:	0.5

Thurs. 1/16

2:55pm CST - Nothing like buying mostly at the highs and selling mostly at the lows to chalk up a red day!  I did over trade a bit too so still have some discipline issues to work on among other things...
Net breakdown (contracts traded):
ZS -$219(8), NQ -$1714(45)

RESULTS FOR DAY
Contracts:	53
Net $P/L:	-1932
Wins:	1
Losses:	10
Win%:	9
Avg$Win:	14
Avg$Loss:	-195
R/R:	0.1