2nd quarter is in the books. It’s crazy to think the year is halfway over. Zoinks. 180 days until Christmas!!
I just did a quick calculation and for Q2 2013 I am up +13% in my trading account. I say once again not too shabby at all. Sadly, I would have been up more if we ended the quarter at the end of May but that’s my fault. Ugh. But again keeping in mind that my trading account is small as I consider it more of my gambling/learning/shopping account. And through May we have had a great bull run.
My biggest win by far for the quarter was trading TSLA. Sadly I wanted to buy and hold in my 401k as well as trade it but never did. When it was in the low 30s! Doh. Oh well. I day traded it with everyone else so it’s not like I was genius. Sure was as a fun run though :) I’m still holding a 1/4 position. Second biggest win was definitely in solar. Mostly SCTY calls before earnings, but then trading in and out of FSLR and SCTY. Again…sadly though…I am still holding 1/2 positions from higher prices in both so they might be my sad face positions next quarter. Also did very well with NUGT and DUST. Consolation trades for my physical gold. But that’s a long term holding and like Uncle Scrooge, I will just keep hoarding! ;) I know most people hate gold. Maybe that’s the reason I like it.
Ironically my biggest loser was DUST. Sold my last bit of it for a loss right before it skyrocketed. Dope. But I’ve learned my lesson there. Other big losers were all option ER plays. While I’ve apparently not learned some lessons, I have learned to limit downside risk if deciding to gamble on ER.
Like the 1st Q, besides my TSLA and ER trades, I am still basically following trades in the 12631 trading room made by chessNwine and RaginCajun and a few other ideas thrown out by other traders in the room. I have way, way more winners than losers by doing this.
But my biggest mistake, that I KEEP making and ***really*** need to deprogram myself of, is the feeling that I will miss a run so don’t sell when I have a winner. Then some stupid headline comes out or some bad economic data point and the market tanks taking my wins with it. I am really, really, really, not being very disciplined and I think I would cry if I looked at what I *could* have made but let go due to greed/stupidity/whatever. Now, true, sometimes I do get the wins and they do run further but I am determined to make myself learn this lesson. I keep a spreadsheet of all my trades and mark the ones that I feel were failed whether they turn to losses, flat or even still positive but not as much as they were. I label them *stupid*.
My gut ends up being right a lot, but I don’t listen to it enough. Sigh.
Yesterday I went over my trading account portfolio for the year. Up 21% for 2012. I’ll take that. I also put some long-term ideas into my 401k that Chess had profiled in his blog posts but I did not count those in the 21% (if I did, I would be up more as they are up nicely as well :) )
I left my full-time job in April (YAY! I liked you guys but YAY!!!) and have been working from home on a part-time basis since then. So after I left work, I also signed up for a premium trading service (had never done that before.) I had been following chessNwine and TheFly on twitter since mid-2011 but with my work schedule I didn’t have a lot of extra time to devote to trading other than my “gut” feelings (which is how I typically trade AND gamble :).) But I knew that once I left my job, and could devote some more time to trading, I wanted to try out their premium service(s).
I keep a chunk of my money in more conservative investments. And physical gold/silver in my quest to become Scrooge McDuck. And Star Wars collectibles (doh!) But I wanted to use my trading account as a learning tool. Also, my shopping fund. So I signed up in April 2012 and while I still don’t spend enough time on it (I need to do MOAR studying!), I have done pretty OK following on trades discussed in the 12631 trading room.
I’m usually pretty quiet in the trading room and don’t post much. LURKER! But it’s a pretty great group of guys (I say guys because I don’t see many names that indicate there are other girls but maybe they are quiet like me) and I am VERY glad that I signed up.
I typically just follow on Chess’ trades but also some of RaginCajun and The Fly’s. And also a few based on other traders in the room mentioning them or me finding them. But mostly – follower. I hope to be more of a contributor to the room this year but will still follow on the trades because #1 Rule: Don’t change successful actions!
So a big thank you to Chess, RC and The Fly for creating fantastic content, great products and a fun, interactive place for traders. Oh yeah…and profitable trades :)
Go here if you want join in the fun: http://ibankcoin.com/
Watching CNBC this morning and they start talking about a company/stock – HK. It’s a US gas/oil exploration company (I only knew that by searching for them.) The stock was up $0.33 on the day as they talked about it and I was looking at what the heck they do. Sure enough, starts jumping up and up once they were done to + $0.75 (this isn’t AAPL, it’s a $10 stock so that’s a decent jump.) Made me laugh to see that happen…again.
When I worked at a hedge fund and sat right outside the trading room, I would listen to CNBC all day. This was during the internet stock craziness and it was pretty much 100% guaranteed the minute CNBC mentioned a stock, the sucker would launch. I had access to instant execution on trades so I would buy and sell small lots in my account. This is basically how I paid for my wedding/Hawaii elopement & reception. That and some options trading.
I remember calling a friend and asking if she wanted me to trade her account on a stock I was getting into that day AS they were talking about it on CNBC. She was stressed but did it. We both had a great day. She went into trading soon after that and ended up being a trader for a fund. She just left that to work on a stock newsletter. Good times. The stories she and I have about our old jobs would put the Nanny Diaries & Devil Wears Prada to shame. But we’ll never tell :)
Good to see the CNBC effect is still in place. The sheep are still there and you can profit from it (just like in ZNGA!)
