At the Opening Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueVXXB 9 Equity 43.11 486.00 407.43
TOTAL VALUE: 864.89
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
VXXB 9 Equity 43.11 486.00 407.43
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
At the Opening Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueCASH 1357.84
TOTAL VALUE: 1357.84
At the Closing Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueVXXB 9 Equity 41.29 486.00 371.61
CASH 871.84
TOTAL VALUE: 1243.45
Monday, February 5, 2018
Monday, February 5, 2018
At the Opening Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueFB 4 Equity 187.77 769.76 751.60
CASH 614.81
TOTAL VALUE: 1366.41
It seems that over the weekend, FB gapped down, skipping right past my Stop Limit order.
Mondays. Am I right?
At the Closing Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt Value
CASH 1357.84
TOTAL VALUE: 1357.84
Friday, February 2, 2018
Friday, February 2, 2018
At the Opening Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueFB 4 Equity 192.10 769.76 768.60
CASH 614.81
TOTAL VALUE: 1383.41
At the Closing Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt Value
FB 4 Equity 190.05 769.76 760.40
CASH 614.81
TOTAL VALUE: 1375.79
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
At the Opening Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueADVM 30 Equity 8.25 247.50 247.50
VIIX 39 ETF 12.65 502.71 493.35
VXX 16 ETF 30.70 491.52 491.20
CASH 228.40
TOTAL VALUE: 1460.45
Man! You go to bed thinking things didn't turn out too bad. But, you wake up and things look a lot different. C'est la vie, right? Right now, losses (as calculated from $1500) are at 2.64% -- still recoverable.
At the Closing Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueA 7 Equity 73.43 517.71 514.01
CASH 888.96
TOTAL VALUE: 1402.97
So. Much. Blood.
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
At the Opening Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueNFLX 2 Equity 277.20 503.31 554.60
MCD 3 Equity 176.80 530.76 529.50
CASH 418.73
TOTAL VALUE: 1502.83
Today looks to be a rough ride. I set my stop limits using 0.5% rather than the 1% I've been using. I had a pretty good run with Netflix so there's no need to be greedy. As for McDonald's, its just hasn't done much and -- though it was up yesterday -- it's back to middling-to-poor this morning.
On the bright side, VelocityShares VIX Short Term ETN (VIIX) is moving up and looks to be a good place to park my money for the week. My positioning spreadsheet says 40 shares ought to do it.
A Quick Morning Update
Indeed, things looked quite bloody in the first 30 minutes and despite my rule about not making any trades the first 2 hours of the day, I switched my stop limit orders to limit orders and sold both Netflix and McDonald's. By the time they sold (it took a minute or two) and factoring in the commission fees, I was down $50.However, I also had two candidates ready to take their place:
- VIIX -- VelocityShares VIX Short Term ETN
- VXX -- Barclays Bank PLC iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN
My reasoning was today, tomorrow, and maybe the rest of the week might be bumpy so a volatility fund should do pretty good. I picked a handful, reviewed their stats, and selected these two.
Within 20 minutes of purchasing these, I had made back my $50, was in the black, and moving upward. We'll see how this pans out for me over the next few days.
At the Closing Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueVIIX 39 ETF 12.89 502.71 503.49
VXX 16 ETF 30.52 491.52 488.64
CASH 482.83
TOTAL VALUE: 1474.96
Yikes. But, it couldn't been much, much worse. Today, portfolio down $46.19 (3.04%). If we take out the commissions (4 * $6.95 = $27.80) then we'd have ended up down only 1.8% or $27.87. But, we can't so we won't.
Monday, January 29, 2018
Monday, January 29, 2018
At the Opening Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueNFLX 2 Equity 273.60 503.31 547.58
MCD 3 Equity 178.60 530.76 535.80
CASH 418.73
TOTAL VALUE: 1502.11
At the Closing Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt Value
NFLX 2 Equity 285.01 503.31 568.90
MCD 3 Equity 178.47 530.76 534.30
CASH 418.73
TOTAL VALUE: 1521.93
For the day, up $18.65 (1.24%).
Friday, January 26, 2018
Friday, January 26, 2018
At the Opening Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueNFLX 2 Equity 271.29 503.31 542.24
MCD 3 Equity 175.83 530.76 527.24
CASH 418.73
TOTAL VALUE: 1478.07
At the Closing Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt Value
NFLX 2 Equity 274.60 503.31 549.00
MCD 3 Equity 178.36 530.76 535.05
CASH 418.73
TOTAL VALUE: 1502.78
Alright, finally recovered my capital and am back at $1500. Today was a gain of $15.70, or 1.06%. Finally, McDonalds kicked in.
Thursday, January 25, 2018
Thursday, January 25, 2018
At the Opening Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueNFLX 2 Equity 263.45 503.31 526.70
MCD 3 Equity 176.91 530.76 529.70
CASH 418.73
TOTAL VALUE: 1474.63
At the Closing Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt Value
NFLX 2 Equity 269.32 503.31 538.98
MCD 3 Equity 175.66 530.76 526.64
CASH 418.73
NFLX 2 Equity 269.32 503.31 538.98
MCD 3 Equity 175.66 530.76 526.64
CASH 418.73
TOTAL VALUE: 1484.35
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
At the Opening Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueNFLX 2 Equity 251.00 503.20 504.01
CASH 956.44
TOTAL VALUE: 1460.45
At the Closing Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueMCD 3 Equity 176.82 530.76 528.36
NFLX 2 Equity 251.00 503.20 504.01
CASH 418.73
TOTAL VALUE: 1469.69
For the day, up $12.56 (0.86%).
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
At the Opening Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueGULF 20 Equity 18.64 369.60 369.60
JSAIY 36 Equity 14.61 498.24 525.96
CASH 589.36
TOTAL VALUE: 1488.12
At the Closing Bell...
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueNFLX 2 Equity 251.65 503.20 599.20
CASH 970.33
TOTAL VALUE: 1470.53
For the day: down 1.18% ($17.59). If we were to take out the 3 commission fees ($6.95), we'd be up $3.26 or 0.0022%. But, you can't buy a cup or coffee or pay your rent with "If we were take out the 3 commissions..." so I'll accept the gross loss for the day.
Monday, January 22, 2018
Monday, January 22, 2018
At the Opening Bell
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueGULF 20 Equity 18.74 369.60 374.80
JSAIY 36 Equity 14.49 498.24 521.64
CASH 589.36
TOTAL VALUE: 1485.80
At the Closing Bell
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueGULF 20 Equity 18.64 369.60 372.80
JSAIY 36 Equity 14.61 498.24 525.96
CASH 589.36
TOTAL VALUE: 1488.12
For the day, up 0.14% ($2.12).
Friday, January 19, 2018
Friday, January 19, 2018
At the Opening Bell
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueJSAIY 36 Equity 14.19 519.84 571.60
XTN 7 Equity 68.12 479.63 476.84
GULF 20 Equity 18.58 375.88 371.60
CASH 126.22
TOTAL VALUE: 1493.78
Today's plan is to stand pat on these and let the stop limit orders handle any issues.
Over the weekend, I'll research better items in which to trade.
At the Closing Bell
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueJSAIY 36 Equity 14.49 498.24 521.64
GULF 20 Equity 18.74 369.60 375.00
CASH 603.25
TOTAL VALUE: 1499.89
Obviously, I got tired of XTN dragging down or, at the very least, not contributing, so I closed my position in it. Within minutes I was glad because the overall value of the portfolio started tracking up. (I didn't take a hit for commission fees on XTN was because it was offered commission-free through my broker.)
Today, things closed up 0.41% ($6.11). The DJIA was up 0.21%, the S&P 500 up 0.44%, Nasdaq up 0.55%, and the Russell 2000 up 1.33%. So, I beat the Dow but trailed the other three. Eh, I was still up for the day and I'm still learning, so I'm not going to complain.
For the week...
For the week, I ended down 0.0028%, or $4.31.Going Forward
The plan is to continue educating myself trying as best as possible to preserve my capital during this phase.Thursday, January 18, 2018
Thursday, January 18, 2018
At the Opening Bell
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueJSAIY 36 Equity 14.44 519.84 512.28
XTN 7 Equity 67.84 479.63 474.88
GULF 20 Equity 18.77 375.88 371.60
CASH 126.22
TOTAL VALUE: 1496.34
Well, that's a nice Good Morning. Everything gapped up overnight, bringing me pretty close to breaking even. The plan today -- as it has been --is to stand pat on these trades and let the stop limit orders do their work.
At the Closing Bell
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueJSAIY 36 Equity 14.19 519.84 571.60
XTN 7 Equity 68.12 479.63 476.84
GULF 20 Equity 18.58 375.88 371.60
CASH 126.22
TOTAL VALUE: 1493.78
Everything was up or, at the worst, just fair to middling up until the last 20 minutes the market was open. At that point, JSAIY and GULF took a turn and dragged the overall portfolio value down.
There were a few points during the day when the portfolio was only a $1.50 or so from being at break-even again. But, what the market giveth, the market can taketh.
On a day when the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq were all down (0.73%, 0.16%, and 0.03%), I don't feel that bad.
On the bright side...
...I was able to keep my hands off things. I neither bought anything new (even thought I found a few candidates) nor did I react to frustration and sell something. Overall, I'll take this discipline as a win.Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
At the Opening Bell
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueJSAIY 36 Equity 14.23 498.24 512.28
XTN 7 Equity 67.75 479.63 474.29
GULF 20 Equity 18.49 369.60 371.60
GERN 50 Equity 2.02 108.50 101.00
CASH 23.23
TOTAL VALUE: 1491.40
Just like I was supposed to yesterday, I'm going to stand steady with what I have and let things stop out if necessary. I made the following adjustments to my stop loss calculations:
- I had set my calculations based on a portfolio worth of $2500, assuming I would've brought the account up to that amount by now. Alas, a change in employers and the resulting realignment of when I get paychecks (biweekly now rather than weekly, plus I missed the cutoff for the first pay period in which I was employed, means that I am going to be paid this calendar month for only 6 business days, not the average 20 or so) means that I won't bring my account up to $2500 this month. So, I've revised my portfolio value (used in my positioning calculations) down to the realistic and accurate $1500.
- I also set the maximum risk amount for any one trade to 1% of total portfolio value.
These two changes mean that I have a tighter band in which to trade. That is, drops must be smaller to avoid stopping out. On the plus side, this goes a long way towards minimizing risk and preserving capital.
Rules I broke yesterday and their consequences:
- Entered into a trade (GERN) because I was bored. As a result, I have a trade that was minimally researched.
- Entered into a trade (GERN) with a penny stock. Yes, it has decent volume but its volatility cuts both ways. There's a good change I'll stop out before I make any money; indeed, there's a decent chance I'll lose money on this one once commissions are figured into the trade.
I expect to see one or two trades stop out today. I won't be too upset -- that's what the stop loss orders are for -- and will move on. My goals over the next 30 days or so is to preserve capital as I learn, finesse my rules, and build a track record of sticking to my rules. My holdings need to come up 1.00577% to return my portfolio to $1500.
Indeed, I'd like to add a versioning system to my rules so that I can mark each trade with the rules version I used for it. That would allow me down the road to tag gains and losses to specific rules and further do forensic on the good, the bad, and the ugly.
At the Closing Bell
ymbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueJSAIY 36 Equity 14.44 498.24 519.84
XTN 7 Equity 67.85 479.63 474.88
GULF 20 Equity 18.77 369.60 375.40
CASH 123.51
TOTAL VALUE: 1493.63
I closed my GULF position, preferring to take the hit (due to commissions) over watching a slow and painful death. Too, I felt it was a mill stone around the other items' collective neck. Once I dumped it, the buoyancy of the others caught and, overall, the portfolio ended the day up $2.23, or 0.15%.
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
At the Opening Bell
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueJSAIY 36 Equity 14.10 498.24 504.00
XTN 7 Equity 68.96 479.63 482.72
GULF 20 Equity 18.49 369.60 369.80
CASH 147.68
TOTAL VALUE: 1504.20
The plan today is to hold steady on these but keep an eye on GULF. I should've looked at the volume before I purchased -- there's not much going on here though the charts looked good at the time of purchase. If I find something better then I'll ditch GULF and put the money to work on something else.
On the soft side, I think I have the position size rules in place and I'm happy with them. What I want to work on the next few days is my selection criteria. In particular, I want to figure out basic profit targets and add those to my positioning spreadsheet. I can use those targets, then, to figure out at which point I take some profit (say, 50%). This goes against my grain as far as risk -- I always like more risk than the next guy. But, after getting burned a couple weeks ago by my own greed, I think having some rules in place to defend my profits would be a good idea.
At the Closing Bell
Symbol Qty Asset Price Cost Mkt ValueJSAIY 36 Equity 14.10 498.24 504.00
XTN 7 Equity 68.96 479.63 482.72
GULF 20 Equity 18.49 369.60 369.80
GERN 50 Equity 2.02 108.50 109.44
CASH 32.23
TOTAL VALUE: 1501.58
Around midmorning, I took a look at my screener setup in FinViz and found one stock I liked: GERN. I ran the numbers through my positioning tool in Google Sheets and established 50 shares was reasonable, given the capital I had remaining. I probably should've sat this trade out but it looked good up front.
The fact that something "...looked good up front" isn't good enough, is it? I eyeballed the stock, it's chart (1 year, 6 month, 3 month, 1 month, 10 day, 5 day) but I didn't really quantify anything, identify a pattern better than "Hey, it looks like it's going up," or apply any of the rigor and rules of thumbs on which I've been working. It just looked good, I sort of ignored my positioning spreadsheet (I didn't have the capital to buy the number of shares I should have to counteract the commissions I'd have to pay to enter and exit; though, I did ratchet the risk factor from 2% down to .75% to account for the fact that this was a penny stock.)
Given that the major indices fizzled:
Dow -$10.33 -0.04%
S&P 500 - $9.82 -0.35%
Nasdaq -$37.43 -0.52%
Russell 2000 -$16.89 -1.06%
I shouldn't complain about being down $12.80 or 0.85% -- I beat the Russell and sucked only slightly more than the Nasdaq.
Had I not started the GERN trade I probably would've broken even, taking into account the commissions. However, I should let it run and see what happens. I've got the stop limit order on it, which allows me to put it out of mind.
The dog today was really XTN, the SPDR S&P Transportation ETF, which overall was down 1.75% (that is, $8.43).I felt it dragged down everyone else. But, as with GERN, I've got a stop limit order on it and shouldn't worry about.
Monday, January 15, 2018
Monday, January 15, 2018 (Markets Closed)
Monday, January 15, 2018
U.S. markets are closed today, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr Day.
Since Christmas, when I was up nearly 20% over a two week period, I've lost my gains. This clearly shows that greed will beat you in the end. Had I taken some or all my profits at some point, I'd have kept the gains I made. Instead, I watched as the stocks I held took a serious turn, and continued to watch as I told myself, "They'll come back. I know they will."
This is a classic rookie mistake and I can't believe I let myself do it. In any case, I'm the wiser now.
Since then, I've learned to ditch my bad performers and I've learned to more carefully watch those that have lost their momentum. If a stock just wanders, then I cut it loose. Sure, it's not doing any damage while it just sits there, but as long as I hold it, I maintain the risk that it'll go south on me. Better to ditch a non-performer and drop the risk to zero.
What I'm Currently Holding
I current have 2 ETFs and 1 stock:- XTN:
SPDR SERIES TRUST S&P TRANSN ETF ($68.96)
This closed Friday, up 0.06% - GULF:
WisdomTree Middle East Dividend Fund ($18.49)
Closed Friday, up 1.01% - JSAIY:
J. Sainsbury PLC ($14.00)
Up 2.94% for the day on Friday
I bought the two ETFs simply to park my money somewhere while I figured out a better strategy. Looking them over, I figured it'd take about 3 business days, given their recent performance, to restore my capital back to my original investment. (Not only had I lost my gains, as mentioned above, but I had eaten into my original capital.) Fortunately, the ETFs performed well enough that by the close of trading on Friday, I had not only restored my capital to its original level but squeaked out a modest gain of a smidgen over 1%.
The breakdown of my portfolio is:
JSAIY: 34%
XTN: 32%
GULF: 25%
Cash: 9%
Next Steps
As mentioned, my next (and current step) is to re-evaluate my selection process and tighten up my exit strategy. Towards that end, I have:
- Set aside firm rules for stop orders:
- 1% of portfolio value, below original purchase price
- As stock moves up, re-calculate stop loss and replace existing stop loss order
- Started to evaluate exit plans when things go well. For example:
- Once the price exceeds a predetermined value, take a pre-specified amount (say, 50%) of the profits and pocket them.
- Continue educating myself on other strategies.
- Continue educating myself on various screeners, chart patterns, etc.
And, I've become acutely aware that going into a position and then having to bail just a day or so later is really eating into my stake. So, in lieu of anything idea more sophisticated (nearly any rule is better than no rule at all, I fugure), I'll limit myself to 4 trades a week. This should allow 2 round trips a week. Of course, after a week or so, I can adjust this figure, if necessarily. And, when I come up with a better plan to manage commissions paid out, I'll scrap the current plan and implement the newer one.
Also, I expect to let my current holdings ride another few days at least. The two ETFs are a good place to park my money. And, as long as JSAIY keeps eeking out a little profit every day, it'll stay unless or until I find something else that performs better (and given the steps I'm taking above).
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