Summary Week Ended Friday 25th July 2014

 

22 Stock Trades:

16 AAL + 251.58 BPS
4 BARC + 79.68 BPS
1 BLT + 2.44 BPS
1 BP + 3.05 BPS

Stocks net  + 336.75 BPS

12 long trades: + 213.25 BPS.
10 short trades: + 123.50 BPS.
21 intraday trades, 1 overnight trade.

I traded 5 days this week.
Return on account for the week + 4.42 % net.
P:L ratio was 24.9:1.


No Index trades.

Thoughts

A busy week.
I shorted AAL a tad early, I was long BARC and again my exits were pretty poor, and closed a long trade on BP criminally early, but that's the trading business.

This week I was reminded of a golden rule regarding trading:

"It's all about exits !!"
With this volatility, it's so easy to let a profit turn into a loss.

North of my 2.5% benchmark, which is good.

Overall, markets were strong this week. Miners were bid up, with BLT and GLEN made new 52 week highs. Oils were weaker, with BP making a 30 day low on Monday, before rebounding sharply.

AAL was volatile, so far this month I have scalped 685 BPS on it, and so far this year AAL has netted me a tad over 2000 BPS.

AAL is a good trading stock, plenty of volatility and decent liquidity as well. 

Changes on the week:

I feel the need for a break from the markets, and therefore I may take some time off in the next few weeks.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

Summary Week Ended Friday 18th July 2014

 

11 Stock Trades:

3 AAL + 291.83 BPS
5 BARC + 175.90 BPS
3 STAN + 45.03 BPS
Stocks net  + 512.77 BPS

8 long, 3 short trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 4 days this week.
Return on account for the week + 7.18 % net.
P:L ratio was N/A (no losing trades).
No Index trades.

Thoughts

A decent week, exceeded my 2.5% benchmark comfortably.
I caught a nice short in AAL on Wednesday. Scalped a few points on STAN and BARC.


I missed lots of trades, and had some poor exits. Had connection problems at the open on Thursday morning, not what you need when short overnight. But thankfully the connection was back up in time for me to lower my stop orders and get out for a decent return on the position.

I hope these recent excellent trading conditions persist. I'm due a negative week soon I feel.

The market finished the weak mostly higher, despite falling late on Thursday after news emerged of an airliner having been brought down over Ukraine.What a terrible tragedy, really shocking.

Changes on stocks over the week:

Looking forward to more opportunities next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

Summary Week Ended Friday 11th July 2014

 

13 Stock Trades:

5 AAL + 53.04 BPS
5 BARC + 66.69 BPS
1 BP + 9.92 BPS
2 EZJ + 188.48 BPS 

Stocks net  + 318.13 BPS

10 long, 3 short trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 4 days this week.
Return on account for the week + 3.3 % net.
P:L ratio was 5.36:1.
No Index trades.

Thoughts

A difficult week. We saw quite a bit of volatility after worries about a Portuguese bank on Thursday. The market finished the weak lower (see table):

I caught a bounce on EZJ, unfortunately I got stopped out at a poor price due to slippage on half my position.
Miners were volatile again, as were the banks. BARC made a new 52 week low.


I took a loss on Thursday (on BARC), which was my first losing day since early February. I realise that losing days are part of the business, but I'd rather not have too many of them. I am due a losing week soon I feel.

Above my 2.5% weekly benchmark anyway.

Looking forward to more opportunities next week.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.

Summary Week Ended Friday 4th July 2014

 

12 Stock Trades:

8 AAL + 88.80 BPS
3 BARC + 79.44 BPS
1 STAN + 11.00 BPS
Stocks net  + 179.24 BPS

4 long, 8 short trades, intraday and overnight.

I traded 5 days this week.
Return on account for the week + 2.75 % net.
P:L ratio was 8.22:1.
No Index trades.

Thoughts

A decent week.
A profit, just scraped past my 2.5% weekly benchmark. Trades were difficult to find.
Miners were strong after an upgrade on RIO.
Friday is a holiday in the US (for some obscure reason) so London was pretty quiet.

The month of June was a decent period for me, with a total of 76 trades completed.
The breakdown was as follows:

BARC was the star performer for the month. Over the course of June, BARC declined just under 14%. I hope to continue to find decent trades.

Going forward, I remain cautious on the equity markets for now, although the US market remains very bullish with new highs made on the SPX500 this week.

Now we have completed the second quarter, I will be looking for signs of a possible reversal in the equity market, although most of the shares on my watch list are still well off the highs of the year.

Changes on the week:

Looking forward to more opportunities during the rest of the month, as well as more World cup drama and the Tour de France which kicks off this weekend.

Stay disciplined.

Stay focussed.

Stay humble.