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

Friday, November 10, 2006

Posts Of Interest - Part III: Self Assessment

Since I use Blogger to blog, it makes it very difficult to categorize and sort my posts. This blog is coming up to 200 posts and so I have gone through all my posts and sorted them out into categories that may be of interest to readers.

Over the next couple of weekends, I will be posting "Posts Of Interest", which is simply a collection of posts that I thought would be helpful for readers to see what mistakes I have made (and continue to make), and to get a better idea of how I do things (without having to click through the archives).

Part 1 was entitled "The Way I Trade".
Part 2 was entitled "Trading Principles".
Part 3 is entitled "Self Assessment".
Part 4 is entitled "The NYSE".

This weekend in "Self Assessment" I have collected several posts in which I assess my trading and gives you some insights into my thinking, especially during some of my darkest hours. Some of these posts give a fairly harsh assessment in the way I do things, but I always tried to look to the future and giving up never entered my thoughts.

I have listed the oldest post first and the newest post last. And so, here is my "Self Assessment":

This Blog Should Be Renamed "The Undisciplined Trader" - posted on Mar 29, 2006
  • In this post, I reflected on a day in which too many mental errors and bad judgement calls led to a disappointing day
  • I describe how I lost focus after several bad trades in a row and ultimately led to a lack of discipline

Where's The Missing Piece Of The Puzzle? - posted on May 11, 2006
  • In this post I try to explore what I'm doing wrong and what I could be doing differently after several weeks of mediocre performances
  • This post was interesting because the very next day I had my very first $1000+ day

The Long And Winding Road - posted on May 23, 2006
  • This was posted the day after I had my worst trading day to date and a day in which my confidence level was low - in the post, I tried to keep my head up amidst all the disappointments
  • The post was written shortly after my first $1000+ day, however after that $1000+ day, I struggled to stay profitable

It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The Worst Of Times - posted on May 31, 2006
  • On the very last trading day of May, I summarized my thoughts of the roller coaster ride that was the month
  • There were some great moments in May, and there were lots of bad moments, hence the title of the post

Coming Away With Something Positive On A Negative Day - posted on Jun 5, 2006
  • This was a review of one of my worst trading days in which I had 6 bad trades and managed to lose close to $1000 during the course of the day
  • In this post, I tried to look at the day in a positive light and forced myself to identify what went wrong

Never Surrender - posted on Aug 3, 2006
  • This was posted on a day when I was ready to give up when I classic song encouraged me to stay and to never surrender
  • Though the results were not good, they were much better than before and because I stayed to finish off the trading day

I Love The Commute Home - posted on Sept 6, 2006
  • Another day and another post in which I reflected upon the terrible trading day
  • In this post, I talk about the time to myself that the commute home allowed and what I think about during the 30 minute trip home

Dreams - posted on Sept 8, 2006
  • After several weeks of poor performances, I took a day to write up this post about my dreams and why I continue to work at this
  • In this post, I talk about how dreams and goals can be powerful motivators and how they can give you new life when you feel like giving up

Why I'm Not A Good Trader - posted on Oct 5, 2006
  • As my trading struggles continued, I took some time to write up this post about my weaknesses and what I was going to do about them
  • This was actually a great exercise for myself and I discovered a newfound confidence in what I was doing after this writeup

2 Comments:

  • Hi JC,

    Great summary of past posts.

    For tax purpose, is you trading profit/loss classified as capital gain/loss or just regular income?

    Thank you.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at November 11, 2006 9:00 a.m.  

  • Anon@9:00AM,

    Thanks for your comments.

    Since I work for a prop firm, the profits I make (after I split it with the prop firm) are classified as regular income. However, we are responsible for our own taxes (I guess I'll have to hire someone to do this for me). Also, I get paid in USD and since I'm in Canada, I'll have to convert the funds.

    I'm glad you enjoyed the post! Organizing and reviewing my old posts was also a great exercise for me to see where I've been and hopefully helps me in getting to where I'm going.

    Have a great weekend and let's hope for some good trading next week!

    By Blogger J.C., at November 11, 2006 8:43 p.m.  

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