Wednesday, January 17, 2018

At the Opening Bell

Symbol     Qty    Asset    Price    Cost       Mkt Value
JSAIY      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 Value
JSAIY      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%.