Week 1: Day 4

Week 1: Day 4, originally uploaded by 10k10weeks.

The S&P 500 retreated before tomorrow's unemployment rate news. Too bad I didn't have any signals to get on this one.

I can't expect to catch all the big moves all the time. That would simply be unrealistic. I'd be happy if I would just catch 30% of those!

Anyway, I waited and waited for my setup, and ended up with only 1 trade for today. I would have loved to make a little more on it, but it just wasn't to be.

Tomorrow morning, I have some personal stuff to handle, so I called it an early night.

Up by $212.50 today!

This is more like the kind of progress I am expecting.

Week 1: Day 3

Week 1: Day 3, originally uploaded by 10k10weeks.

A pretty uneventful trading day for me despite the huge market move right after opening bell.

Anyway, just 1 winner and 2 losers, so we're up just $12.50.

Week 1: Day 2

Week 1: Day 2, originally uploaded by 10k10weeks.

The S&P finishes at day high of 1005.00 points!

Wow! The bulls rule despite many thinking the early run up was just a rally in a bear market. However, I was long baised for much of the day.

I'd say this was a a good day for my new strategy, but I just didn't do my job right. Made an error trade yet again.. still getting myself used to executing the strategy.

But the worst part was missing the big runner in the last moments of the day. It was a bumper 7.5 pointer ($375)! And the reason? I was trying to save a tick and didnt get my order filled!

I have heard from many gurus and read from many good books that the entry should be the least of my concerns. Yet, here I am, guilty as charged again for trying to beat my system's entry prices. If I'd keep doing it, in the long run my actual performance will not live up to the expectancy numbers calculated in my backtests. And that wouldn't be any good.

Moving forward, I'll have this be my last of such mistakes.

So, we're up for the day with just $37.50.

Try This Card Game!

I got this game idea by recently reading the book called Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom by Dr. Van K Tharp (in my Great Stuff list). I thought it was an interesting bit, and would be fun to really experience what the author was saying. I learnt something profound and real by playing. I thought you might want to try it too!

Here's what you need to get started:

1. A friend / partner
2. A deck of cards (randomly pick 6 black cards and 4 red cards)
   
3. A calculator (the bigger the better)
   
4. A watch (to time yourselves, if needed)
   

So, this game is a "Who Can Make The Most Profit!" competition between you and your friend. And the odds of winning is 60%!

Setup:

1. Take turns being "The Player" and "The Dealer"
2. You each get to play for 10 minutes per turn (or 100 bets if you prefer)
   
3. The Player starts every turn with fresh money! So punch a cool $100 it into that calculator
   

How to Play:

1. The Dealer starts by shuffling/jumbling/spreading out the 10 cards
2. The Player then calls out the amount he/she wants to bet
3. The Player then picks a card
4. If a black card is picked, the bet amount is won
5. If a red card is picked, the bet amount is lost
6. The gain or loss is then added/subtracted on the calculator
7. Repeat from step 1 until 10 minutes or 100 bets are up, or if you go bankrupt!
   

Then you switch roles to play after that. Now go ahead and try it!

I did a best of 3 and I won! ;D Haha..

I'd love to hear how it went for you.

Week 1: Day 1

Week 1: Day 1, originally uploaded by 10k10weeks.

So much for sleeping on time!

As the US economy recovers, the market was optimistic and cautious at the same time. So, we had a very choppy day as the S&P took a peek over the 1,000 level for the first time since November last year.

I took all the signals generated by my new strategy today, plus one error trade error that shouldn't have been there.

The day started well and I was up over $287.50, until I took that one error trade and then made a loss.

Anyway, I'm happy to end the day positive.

We're up by just $37.50!