What is up everyone? I just wanted to let you guys know that I'm taking a small break from trading for the next 2 weeks. I just received a few of Tim's DVD's in the mail and I'm going to hit them hard leading up to the Vegas conference. I've been doing OK trading so far but I'm not particularly happy with a few things. Here are some of the things I'll be working on moving forward. 

1) Risk vs. Reward. I've been making these watch lists for a few weeks now and I've noticed that I'm calling whats happening to a lot of these stocks. However, I have not been sticking to my risk/reward and just jumping in making or losing 10 cents here and 20 cents there. If I miss my entry, I need to focus on not just jumping in and chasing it up. 

2) I need to do a little bit better job of researching companies before I jump in. I've gotten in a stock or 2 where I did zero research I was just jumping in because of the chat. The chat is a very helpful tool and you can definitely make a few nice trades by following some advice on certain plays. But I need to do a little bit more DD before I just read the chart and jump in. 

3) Make an excel sheet. I'm currently in the process of working up an excel sheet that breaks stocks down into several categories and then seeing how they react over several periods of time. Example would be earnings winners. And then seeing how they do after day 1,2,3,4,5 then week 2,3,4 etc. I want to start studying these companies and how they react so I put the odds more in my favor. 

4) Saving up a little more capital. I've noticed that when I started with $1,500, it's very hard to see the results add up. The positions that I'm taking are so small that it really takes a big time mover to make a good buck. I just put another $1000 into a TD Ameritrade account. I'm going to try and save up another $1,500-2000 to put into that account so that I can take some larger positions and actually see my account grow and not get eaten up by fees. Yes, you can see your account grow over time with a smaller account but I've noticed that it may be better to save a few more thousand dollars before you get in this game. 

5) Not getting attached. One thing I've noticed is that I'm either cutting my profits too early and letting my losses get away from me. My fear is wasting a trade! And I've noticed that I've held on longer (FORD trade) or got out too soon (VVUS trade) because I was scared of wasting a trade. I've only got 3 trades per week (Now 6) and we all know how quickly 3 trades can be made. 

 

So with all this being said, I'm taking a little bit of time off to hit the books hard and really sharpen up my skills so that by the time I get to Vegas, I'm ready to start trading smarter, more efficiently and more consistently. I'll still be popping in and out of the chat every now and again but I'm really going to try and stick to the DVD's and making these spreadsheets for the next few weeks. Thanks guys for reading and I'll see you all in Vegas!

 

#Hammertime