Nine years. 111 months. 3,379 days. There was no Facebook. Digital TV was the next great thing. Lehman Brothers was the place you wanted to put your money. The Phillies were still seven years from winning their second World Series title.
It’s been a loooong time since I had my last negative month. And as I sit here writing this blog, the possibility of that streak ending is a definite reality. I have endured many types of markets in this 9 year stretch. And to me this is one of the hardest. I find that I am fighting not only black boxes and market makers, but myself. My head is my biggest enemy at the moment. I have to admit it. I’m afraid of failure. I’ve taken pride in the fact that I have a “Cal Ripken-esque” streak of not losing money. In my brain, I have convinced myself that a losing month is a failure for me. But to be honest, that’s crazy. Everyone loses money at one point or another (except for apparently Goldman Sachs). You can’t think like that.
There are eight days left in this month. I can definitely get out of this rut. But I have to change a few things. I can’t do the same things I have done in the past because right now they obviously aren’t working. Can I come in and expect to buy 5000 shares of JKS and have it run a dollar? NO. But I can buy 1000 shares of JKS and sell it for a 30 cent profit. My biggest problem right now is knowing I have a very short time to try to make back my losses, and trying to make back my whole month in a few days would be a mistake. Guess what, if I lose, it happens. It will make me a better trader. Pure and simple. I will use this month as an example of what I can’t do in this market. I know I can chop into my deficit and get my confidence back. I just can’t be stubborn. I have to force myself to be a singles hitter again; I can’t come in and think I can make my whole month back in one trade.
The great thing about this job is that each day is a new day, each day we start at zero. Today I can be green, tomorrow I can be green. And when the end of the month approaches, the question will be did I get green? Stay tuned.
-Steve Levay
