Daily Stocks Spreadsheet 30th April 2014

Summary Week Ended Friday 25th April 2014

 

11 Stock Trades:

9 AAL + 48.07 BPS

2 STAN + 24.04 BPS

Stocks net  + 72.11 BPS


Long and short trades, all intraday.

I traded just 3 days this week.

Return on account for the week 1.72 % net.

P:L ratio was 2.02:1.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.

Thoughts

A pretty quiet week. Monday was a holiday, and I struggled to find decent opportunies. I missed a couple of very nice opportunities on BARC and EZJ.

On Friday we saw a bit of a sell off and I didn't fancy carrying positions over the weekend, with the Ukraine situation the way it is at the moment.

Looking forward to more opportunities next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

Summary Week Ended Friday 18th April 2014

 

17 Stock Trades:

4 AAL + 56.29 BPS

10 BLT + 111.30 BPS

3 EZJ + 32.21 BPS

Stocks net  + 199.80 BPS


All long trades, all intraday.

I traded 3.5 days this week.

Return on account for the week 2.93 % net.

P:L ratio was 10.89:1.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.





Thoughts

A quieter week. Stocks on my watch list traded in fairly narrow ranges, and so I had to scalp what I could.

Well above my 2% weekly return benchmark, which is good.

The London market is closed on Friday and Monday for Easter, so we have two, four day weeks, and volumes were nothing special during the week as many people are away from the markets at this time of year. Not me of course !


It's Thursday lunchtime, and I think I'm done for the week.

Looking forward to more opportunities next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

Linda Bradford Raschke – 50 Time Tested Classic Stock Trading Rules

1. Plan your trades. Trade your plan.

2. Keep records of your trading results.

3. Keep a positive attitude, no matter how much you lose.

4. Don’t take the market home.

5. Continually set higher trading goals.

6. Successful traders buy into bad news and sell into good news.

7. Successful traders are not afraid to buy high and sell low.

8. Successful traders have a well-scheduled planned time for studying the markets.

9. Successful traders isolate themselves from the opinions of others.

10. Continually strive for patience, perseverance, determination, and rational action.

11. Limit your losses – use stops!

12. Never cancel a stop loss order after you have placed it!

13. Place the stop at the time you make your trade.

14. Never get into the market because you are anxious because of waiting.

15. Avoid getting in or out of the market too often.

16. Losses make the trader studious – not profits. Take advantage of every loss to improve your knowledge of market action.

17. The most difficult task in speculation is not prediction but self-control. Successful trading is difficult and frustrating. You are the most important element in the equation for success.

18. Always discipline yourself by following a pre-determined set of rules.

19. Remember that a bear market will give back in one month what a bull market has taken three months to build.

20. Don’t ever allow a big winning trade to turn into a loser. Stop yourself out if the market moves against you 20% from your peak profit point.

21. You must have a program, you must know your program, and you must follow your program.

22. Expect and accept losses gracefully. Those who brood over losses always miss the next opportunity, which more than likely will be profitable.

23. Split your profits right down the middle and never risk more than 50% of them again in the market.

24. The key to successful trading is knowing yourself and your stress point.

25. The difference between winners and losers isn’t so much native ability as it is discipline exercised in avoiding mistakes.

26. In trading as in fencing there are the quick and the dead.

27. Speech may be silver but silence is golden. Traders with the golden touch do not talk about their success.

28. Dream big dreams and think tall. Very few people set goals too high. A man becomes what he thinks about all day long.

29. Accept failure as a step towards victory.

30. Have you taken a loss? Forget it quickly. Have you taken a profit? Forget it even quicker! Don’t let ego and greed inhibit clear thinking and hard work.

31. One cannot do anything about yesterday. When one door closes, another door opens. The greater opportunity always lies through the open door.

32. The deepest secret for the trader is to subordinate his will to the will of the market. The market is truth as it reflects all forces that bear upon it. As long as he recognizes this he is safe. When he ignores this, he is lost and doomed.

33. It’s much easier to put on a trade than to take it off.

34. If a market doesn’t do what you think it should do, get out.

35. Beware of large positions that can control your emotions. Don’t be overly aggressive with the market. Treat it gently by allowing your equity to grow steadily rather than in bursts.

36. Never add to a losing position.

37. Beware of trying to pick tops or bottoms.

38. You must believe in yourself and your judgement if you expect to make a living at this game.

39. In a narrow market there is no sense in trying to anticipate what the next big movement is going to be – up or down.

40. A loss never bothers me after I take it. I forget it overnight. But being wrong and not taking the loss – that is what does the damage to the pocket book and to the soul.

41. Never volunteer advice and never brag of your winnings.

42. Of all speculative blunders, there are few greater than selling what shows a profit and keeping what shows a loss.

43. Standing aside is a position.

44. It is better to be more interested in the market’s reaction to new information than in the piece of news itself.

45. If you don’t know who you are, the markets are an expensive place to find out.

46. In the world of money, which is a world shaped by human behavior, nobody has the foggiest notion of what will happen in the future. Mark that word – Nobody! Thus the successful trader does not base moves on what supposedly will happen but reacts instead to what does happen.

47. Except in unusual circumstances, get in the habit of taking your profit too soon. Don’t torment yourself if a trade continues winning without you. Chances are it won’t continue long. If it does, console yourself by thinking of all the times when liquidating early reserved gains that you would have otherwise lost.

48. When the ship starts to sink, don’t pray – jump!

49. Lose your opinion – not your money.

50. Assimilate into your very bones a set of trading rules that works for you.

Summary Week Ended Friday 11th April 2014

 

20 Stock Trades:

4 AAL + 91.13 BPS

13 BLT + 139.08 BPS

2 EZJ + 57.65 BPS

1 STAN + 11.31 BPS

Stocks net  + 299.17 BPS


Long and short trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 5 days this week.

Return on account for the week 4.54 % net.

P:L ratio was 7.08:1.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.





Thoughts

We saw some nice volatility this week.

A decent week's trading, although my exits could have been much better, especially on EZJ !

Above my 2% weekly return benchmark, which was encouraging.

I'm often too early moving my stops to lock in a profit, a couple of trades on AAL were a classic example, since I had a first target sell @ 1588, but was stopped out for a small profit @ 1570. In the next few minutes AAL traded to 1592.50.. In retrospect, I should have been more patient with the position.

Equity markets sold off early in the week but rebounded strongly midweek, only to fall back on Friday. Friday was very busy for me with 6 trades (round trips) made in BLT, AAL and EZJ.

Here are the changes over the week on my watch list stocks:

STOCK	CLOSE	CHANGE	BPS
AAL	1537	-28.00	-178.91
BARC	236.05	-12.10	-487.61
BG.	1113.5	-22.50	-198.06
BLT	1909.5	-51.50	-262.62
BP.	475.45	-14.60	-297.93
CNA	334.9	+6.40	+194.82
EZJ	1700	-127.00	-695.13
GLEN	311.6	-7.10	-222.78
HSBA	617.6	+5.10	+83.27
RDSA	2194.5	-21.50	-97.02
RIO	3330.5	-50.00	-147.91
STAN	1321.5	+57.50	+454.91
UU.	758.5	-35.00	-441.08

It's Friday afternoon, and I'm done for the week.

Looking forward to more opportunities next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

Summary Week Ended Friday 4th April 2014

 

10 Stock Trades:

2 AAL + 14.97 BPS

8 BLT + 69.58 BPS

Stocks net  + 84.55 BPS


All short trades, all intraday.

I traded 4 days this week.

Return on account for the week 1.39 % net.

P:L ratio was 4.47:1.

No Index trades, I am concentrating on stocks.





Thoughts

A quieter week.

Below my 2% weekly return benchmark, reflecting the fact that I didn't find many opportunities to trade.
A profit is still better than a loss of course.

Miners saw more strength this week after the recent sell off in the sector:

Looking forward to more opportunities next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.