Watchlist: RVBD MSFT BRCM SEPR STAR WFR CNW BDK SPWRA CSIQ

I’m glad the week is over…..in my account, I went from like -$78 net after slowly building it back up since mid-June to over -$500 in the red overall as a result of the last seven days of trading. My confidence has bottomed, and it’s time to buck up a bit.

To survive my training and learning stage with capital in my account to continue trading, I need to have the discipline to use basic money / risk management strategies of 1) Always using a stop; 2) Never doubling down; and 3) Stop trading on the day when my behavior or losses get out of control. Even if my strategy eventually proves to be flawed, these principles should essentially keep me break even.

To get to an even slightly profitable trading phase, I need to: 1) Absolutely avoid blow-out days – digging out of a hole now requires a nice winning profit from here on out just to get back to break even; 2) I need to enter higher probability set-ups that enable me to employ tighter stops (smaller losses) and trade less (reduce fees); and 3) Stay in winning trades longer to let them extend to fuller profit. Right now even with like an approximate 50% win rate – if I don’t count my several catastrophic blowout losses – my winning trades barely cover commission costs and small loses.

Stock # Side Gross Fee Net Set-up Actual
SPWRA 400 L X 2 1 -5.63 -4.63 None Mixed
RVBD 200 S 10 -2.78 7.22 ORL-BD Bot-Bou





$2.59

SPWRA – Bottom guessing, first time I was wrong. As soon as I exited – price action was indicating the bounce I was looking for, and I made up for the original loss with a second trade.

RVBD – If I had followed my rules, this would of would been a $15 loser. My analysis was correct that if this stock broke above $20.10, this would be a nice bounce, which it did. However, I took a couple pennies out of this one being a nervous nitty. At this point in the week, I will take the small win to go into the weekend on a minor positive note.