An NYSE Scalper's Tale - A Trader's Diary

Friday, April 28, 2006

Trading Statistics For The Month Of April

Total Gross for Month of April: +$8,415.21
Total Net for Month of April: +$6,230.77
Total Fees (Gross - Net) for Month of April: $2,184.44
Total Trades for Month of April: 1,033
Total Shares Traded for Month of April: 2,087,878

Best Day for Month of April: Tue Apr 18, 2006 (+$924.11 net)
Worst Day for Month of April: Tue Apr 25, 2006 (-$338.86 net)

Number of Positive Net Days for Month of April: 13
Number of Negative Net Days for Month of April: 2
Number of Trading Days Missed for Month of April: 2 (away on vacation)
Number of Trading Days Lost Due To System Downtime: 2

Compared to Previous Month: +$1,733.67 (up 38.5% from previous month)
Compared to Same Month Last Year: No Data

Top 3 Stocks For Month of April (Net Profit):
Citigroup (C): +$2,006.55
Micron Tech (MU): +$1,570.36
AT&T (T): +$585.01

Bottom 3 Stocks for Month of April (Net Profit):
Pfizer (PFE): -$451.03
Walmart (WMT): -$236.97
Sprint-Nextel (S): -$117.20

Top 3 Most Traded Stocks for Month of April:
Citigroup (C) - Traded on 15 out of 15 trading days
Home Depot (HD) - Traded on 13 out of 15 trading days
Hewlett Packard (HPQ) - Traded on 13 out of 15 trading days

Bottom 3 Most Traded Stocks for Month of April:
(5 tied for last place - each traded on 1 out of 15 trading days)
Alcoa (AA)
Bell South (BLS)
Boston Scientific (BSX)
Maxtor Corp (MXO)
Verizon (VZ)

Total Number of Different Stocks Traded for Month of April: 21

List of Stocks Traded During the Month of April (with net profit):
Alcoa (AA): -$50.46
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): -$36.02
Bell South (BLS): +$155.24
Boston Scientific (BSX): +$46.81
Citigroup (C): +$2,006.55
General Electric (GE): +$552.26
Corning (GLW): +$349.30
Home Depot (HD): +$353.28
Hewlett Packard (HPQ): +$569.21
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): +$305.99
JP Morgan (JPM): +$258.00
Coca-Cola (KO): +$49.89
Motorola (MOT): +$269.17
Micron Tech (MU): +$1,570.36
Maxtor Corp (MXO): -$3.04
Pfizer (PFE): -$451.03
Sprint-Nextel (S): -$117.20
AT&T (T): +$585.01
Verizon (VZ): +$29.33
Walmart (WMT): -$236.97

Monthly Recap
I continued to learn a great deal this month and I am relatively satisfied with the results for April, considering it was a very short month.

It was an eventful April. There was a long weekend, two trading days lost due to system problems, and I missed two trading days while I was away on vacation. In effect, April had only 3 weeks worth of trading days.

Had this been a full month, I think I would have been able to reach my target of doubling what I made last month. Thus, overall I am fairly pleased.

This month also saw the return of consistency for me. On most of the days I was able to make over $400 fairly consistently. There were 2 sub-$100 days - however on those two days, our execution system went down for most of the day.

Towards the end of the month, I struggled for 2 trading days in a row as I attempted to make the transition from trading 6000 shares at a time to 8000 and 10000 shares at a time. Unfortunately the same mistakes I made in March returned, however I was quick to identify the problem and I am in the midst of creating strategies for trading these larger amounts.

There were two negative days this month - on the very first trading day of April (as I was testing some new strategies out) and on April 25th (a day when I tried to up my minimum share size to 8000 shares).

Also of note - I am finding that I am beginning to trade with a lot more emotion. There were many more instances of revenge trading this month than I really care for. I will continue to work on keeping this in check. I think the best way for me to avoid this is to pick my trades wisely and to simply avoid making bad trades (after all, bad trades put me in a bad mood, and bad moods lead to revenge trades).

I believe I have also successfully made the transition from 3000 and 4000 share trades to 5000 and 6000 share trades. I was also fairly comfortable trading 8000 shares this month as well.

Some positive things or things I've learned/re-learned this month:
  • Discipline was fairly good this month. I admit there were times when I let it slip a little, but for the most part, I tried to really stick to my rules
  • On almost all of the trading days, I was usually up $400 or $500 within the first hour of trade
  • I traded fewer stocks than I did last month. In this way, I could focus more on my core stocks, and dabble here and there on stocks that are in the news. I found that this allowed me to concentrate more effectively on what was going on on these stocks. Last month, I found that I was constantly flipping from one stock to another and I never seemed to get a grip as to what was happening with each of those stocks
  • I was able to make money even on days that were fairly choppy or flat. Last month, I would have either made little or would be negative on these kind of days
  • I was willing to trade less, as long as the ratio of good trades to bad trades were up. This comes from the fact that I tried to focus more on when NOT to trade
  • Some of my winners are getting into the $300 , $400, and $500 range. Part of it is that I am using larger share size, but some of it is also my patience in letting my winners run a little
  • I was disappointed that my star stock from last month - Walmart (WMT) - was not so good from me this month. Howver, I was able to identify WMT as being a problem stock for me this month, and so I traded it a lot less
And some things I need to work on:
  • I need to be smart enough to avoid trading stocks I am having problems with. During the entire month of April, I put Pfizer (PFE) on my "DO NOT TRADE" list, but somehow I traded it on 4 different days (and losing money on it on those days)
  • I need to continue to resist the temptation to trade when I shouldn't trade - in other words, I have to continue learning when NOT to trade
  • I have to keep my emotions in check - too many times I succumbed to emotional trading, which often resulted in great days becoming only good days. Upon reviewing my trading journal, I would say that emotional trade/revenge trading probably cost me over $3000 net this month
  • I have to remember not to think about the money. There were many times in which I wanted to make a certain amount on a specific trade, and I held it too long and ended up with a losing trade. That kind of thinking also destroys what would otherwise would be a good day.
  • I need to continue learning patience when it comes to holding winners

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