Sunday, November 30, 2008

Ugggh...Struck by the PDT Again!

I thought I was going to be able trade one of the stocks on my Monday watchlist, but I won't have any day trades available until Tuesday! So here's to hoping a few of them run up even more on Monday to make them even better shorts on Tuesday.

Looks like I'll just be paper trading these stocks on Monday. At least this will be a good test of my strategy of shorting stocks not tied closely to the market.

I've worked it out so I will be putting $1K per month into my trading account. That's the maximum that I can do right now given everything else that I have going on in my life. If my account stays the same, it will be over a year for me to get to $25K at that rate. Of course, if I actually start making some money in my trading account along with that, I'll get there a lot sooner.

8 comments:

bluecollartrader said...

Yng, Keep plugging away. For most of us, trading as a full-time endeavor is somewhere in the distance but every step brings us closer. Every dollar added to the account, every bad trade, every good trade, every discovery of a new scan, every day in GOTS with Muddy & Laura, and every piece of knowledge passed on to others brings us one step closer to financial freedom and personal satisfaction that is successful trading. And, we're all going there together! I still place your blog high on the list of daily reads.

Allen said...

Hey man, I need help with my excel spreadsheet, I can't get a formula to work, I'd really appreciate if you head over here:

http://allenation.com/excel-help-needed-what-am-i-doing-wrong/104

and try to assist me, thanks a bunch!

Yngvai said...

Allen,

Your site is blocked from my work so I can't look at it right now.

Here's the way I calculate P/L after commissions:

(#shares x exit price) - (#shares x entry price) - total commission

where total commission = commission on entry + commission on exit

Let me know if that works...I'll try to look at your thing when I get home if I don't hear from you by then

Yngvai said...

Thanks, bctrader! You're right...this is a journey and, bit by bit, we'll all get better at it as long as we learn from our mistakes and strive to get better and help each other

Allen said...

Hey Yng,

Thanks for answering, I am actually trying to get the P/L% for the trade after commission. I don't have separate commissions columns, I just add them up and put them in a column.

Sorry for bothering you at work, I can wait this until you get home :)

Yngvai said...

Allen,

I just looked at your spreadsheet.

In my spreadsheet, P/L% is calculated as:

(Exit price x #shares - total commission) / (Entry price x #shares) x 100 - 100

In my Excel spreadsheet, for shorts, I always put my short entry as the "exit price" and my short exit as the "entry price." Thus, my % P/L calculation is the same for shorts and longs.

Your Excel formula is wrong in a number of ways. First, you need to subtract the commissions from your (entry price x # shares)...not add the commissions. Second, you need to divide the (entry x #shares - commissions) by the (exit x #shares). In your formula, you are adding them. Then, you multiply everything by 100, then subtract 100 to get your P/L%.

Allen said...

Hey Yng,

Thanks for the answer. But I think I just messed up the whole setup I worked on with Excel, any chance you can email me your excel setup? of course you pull your numbers out and just keep the formulas..

if that's possible, please send it to heatmaster@gmail.com

Yngvai said...

Just sent it to you