Tuesday, July 10, 2007

The Books, "Take Time"

Learn From My Mistakes

I have only 5 minutes but let me share my "blotter" with you today.

CF $225
VMC $95
UBB $49
DE $41
BTJ -$5
MOS -$14
POT -$56
AAPL -$61
IOC -$85
FSLR -$110
CMI -$3857




I started buying CMI at $114.50 and I really didn't "let go" of those shares until $111.

I broke every "trading rule" I generally have followed in the last couple of weeks, most notably, adding to a losing position.

So I paid.

You cannot trade if you don't follow your rules.

It was like I entered an alternate universe while I was involved in the trade and I could only see clearly again now.

Basically, you cannot be successful at this job making small money here and there in between gigantic losses.

Math comes back to bite you in the ass in that matter. Math doesn't lie.

Virtual Office, $2156. Dow, -151.77, 13498.55.

Misstrade, $4033 on 5000 shares traded.
HPT, $2025 on 72 contracts traded.
Bubs, $159 on 1200 shares traded.
Evolution, $21 on 22,500 shares traded.
Denarii, no trades.
OBAT, -$305 on 8400 shares traded.
Me, -$3900 on 13,800 shares traded.

A pretty good day for most of the office today with one explosive exception.

The market itself got smoked today but that didn't stop Misstrade and HPT from putting up some excellent numbers. And Bubs, our new member, got off to a green start here in the VO.

Evolution and Denarii were flat while OBAT had some trouble. OBAT may still be on vacation!

As for me, well, I pretty much had the perfect blowup. Break your rules, pay the price.

Welcome Trader Bubs!

We will have a new member of the VO today, Trader Bubs.

Be sure to check out his new blog which recently changed domains.

Also, Dehtrader will no longer be posting his daily numbers with the VO.

This is partly my fault. In the beginning, I told him that posting his numbers with the VO would help him score more chicks and make better trades. This was a lie. Posting your numbers on the VO really gets you nothing other than "mad respect" from those who understand that while it's cool to post your winning days, it really sucks to post your losers.

Anyway, best wishes to Dehtrader. Perhaps he'll be back someday.