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

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Trading Statistics For The Month Of January 2007

Total Gross for Month of January: +$8,226.48
Total Net for Month of January: +$5,964.23
Total Fees (Gross - Net) for Month of January: $2,262.25
Total Trades for Month of January: 1,155
Total Shares Traded for Month of January: 1,994,640

Best Day for Month of January: Mon Jan 29, 2007 (+$1,132.10 net)
Worst Day for Month of January: Fri Jan 5, 2007 (-$615.98 net)

Number of Positive Net Days for Month of January: 13
Number of Negative Net Days for Month of January: 3
Number of Trading Days Missed for Month of January: 5 (4 for vacation, 1 after New Year's Day)

Compared to Previous Month: +$1,705.49 (up 40.0% from previous month)
Compared to Same Month Last Year: +$1,208.03 (up 25.4% from same month last year)


Net Profit Distribution (# days):
(Excellent) +$1000 OR MORE: ** (2)
(**Good**) +$500 TO +$1000: ***** (5)
(*Average*) +$200 TO +$500: **** (4)
(***Poor***) -$200 TO +$200: ** (2)
(****Bad****) -$200 TO -$500: * (1)
(**Terrible**) -$500 OR LESS: ** (2)


Top 3 Stocks For Month of January (Total Net Profit In January):
EMC Corporation (EMC): +$1,441.17
Motorola Inc (MOT): +$1,049.45
Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT): +$727.74

Worst 3 Stocks for Month of January (Total Net Profit In January):
MEMC Electronic Materials Inc (WFR): -$286.54
Corning Incorporated (GLW): -$242.92
Pfizer Inc (PFE): -$210.12

Top 3 Most Traded Stocks for Month of January:
EMC Corporation (EMC) - traded on 8 out of 16 trading days
ConocoPhillips (COP) - traded on 7 out of 16 trading days
(4 stocks tied for 3rd place - each traded on 5 out of 16 trading days)
AMR Corporation (AMR)
Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ)
Motorola Inc (MOT)
Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT)


Total Number of Different Stocks Traded for Month of January: 87

List of Stocks Traded During the Month of January (with net profit):
Alcoa Inc. (AA): +$88.48
Abbott Laboratories (ABT): +$260.07
Alcan Inc. (AL): +$180.82
The Allstate Corporation (ALL): +$14.74
Alcatel-Lucent (ALU): -$78.42
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD): +$557.88
AMR Corporation (AMR): +$251.71
Alltel Corporation (AL): -$25.96
Avaya Inc. (AV): +$26.99
The Boeing Company (BA): -$99.71
Bank of America Corporation (BAC): -$94.86
BB&T Corporation (BBT): +$61.79
The Bank of New York Company (BK): +$381.82
Bristol Myers Squibb Co (BMY): +$228.63
Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX): +$20.03
Citigroup Inc. (C): +$223.03
Continental Airlines Inc (CAL): -$162.40
Chemtura Corporation (CEM): +$84.40
Countrywide Financial Corporation (CFC): +$245.73
Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK): -$95.07
Chico's FAS Inc. (CHS): +$13.55
Caremark Rx Inc. (CMX): -$105.86
Capital One Financial Corp. (COF): +$14.49
ConocoPhillips (COP): +$97.10
CSX Corporation (CSX): -$32.84
Genentech Inc (DNA): -$43.97
Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc (DO): -$11.71
The Dow Chemical Company (DOW): +$55.90
Amdocs Limited (DOX): +$89.65
Eastman Kodak Company (EK): +$130.62
EMC Corporation (EMC): +$1,441.17
Equity Office Properties Trust (EOP): -$201.71
ENSCO International Incorporated (ESV): -$13.89
General Electric Company (GE): -$12.12
streetTRACKS Gold Trust (GLD): -$78.92
Corning Incorporated (GLW): -$242.56
General Motors Corporation (GM): +$5.00
The Gap Inc. (GPS): -$57.54
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co (GT): +$41.93
Getty Images Inc (GYI): -$76.73
Halliburton Company (HAL): +$46.18
The Home Depot Inc (HD): -$121.16
Health Management Associates Inc. (HMA): +$242.43
Harley-Davidson Inc (HOG): -$169.19
Honeywell International Inc (HON): +$33.06
Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc (HOS): -$54.41
Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ): -$152.76
JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM): +$83.18
Kraft Foods Inc (KFT): +$74.35
Lear Corporation (LEA): -$47.68
LSI Logic Corporation (LSI): +$195.71
Limited Brands Inc (LTD): +$308.49
Southwest Airlines Co (LUV): +$9.87
Mattel Inc (MAT): +$155.02
Mellon Financial Corporation (MEL): -$63.06
Altria Group Inc (MO): -$129.13
Motorola Inc (MOT): +$1,049.45
NBTY Inc (NTY): +$369.81
Nucor Corporation (NUE): +$402.64
Novelis Inc (NVL): -$110.29
Pfizer Inc (PFE): -$210.12
The Procter & Gamble Company (PG): -$1.06
Rite Aid Corporation (RAD): +$8.04
RadioShack Corporation (RSH): +$27.47
Sprint Nextel Corporation (S): -$49.52
SAP AG (SAP): -$6.85
Schlumberger Limited (SLB): -$170.23
Sovereign Bancorp Inc (SOV): +$32.23
Supervalue Inc (SVU): -$12.92
The Stanely Works (SWK): -$0.97
AT&T Inc (T): -$14.76
Tyson Foods Inc (TSN): +$190.60
Time Warner Inc (TWX): +$217.32
UnumProvident Corporation (UNM): -$22.40
United Parcel Services Inc (UPS): +$58.59
USG Corporation (USG): +$277.64
United Technologies Corporation (UTX): +$61.38
WCI Communities Inc (WCI): -$79.96
Wells Fargo & Company (WFC): -$63.74
MEMC Electronic Materials Inc (WFR): -$286.54
Weatherford International Inc (WFT): -$36.23
Washington Mutual Inc (WM): -$42.46
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT): +$727.74
Williams-Sonoma Inc (WSM): -$2.53
Wyeth (WYE): -$50.97
United States Steel Corporation (X): +$239.38
Zimmer Holdings Inc (ZMH): -$102.56

Monthly Recap

The first month of 2007 brought about more changes in the way I traded and I'm actually quite happy with the successes I've had with these changes so far.

As you can see, the totals were a bit more than last month's totals, but you must take into account a few trading days missed for vacation.

I continued to adjust and adapt to using 3-minute charts throughout the month and I tried to identify and create new entry rules with them.

I continued what I had started in December and that was to focus on stocks that were in the news or that had reported earnings. I would then focus only on those stocks that were gapping up or down. By doing this, I would have a better chance of capturing a move of significance (rather than trading the same lame stocks that don't move anywhere for the whole day like Home Depot or AMD).

I also tried to step up my new strategies by attempting to trade larger share sizes on those thinner, faster moving stocks. I stepped up my position sizes from my cautious 500 shares back in December to 1000 shares. I would continue to do this for most of the month and as I got more comfortable, I pushed myself to trade larger position sizes up to 2000 shares.

I also found myself having to rapidly adapt to the Hybrid markets and the new way stocks seemed to move. In a way, I'm kind of glad that the rapid implementation of Phase III of the Hybrid market coincided with my new game plan.

I had no pre-conceived notion of how the thinner, faster moving stocks moved before they Hybridized into Phase III, so in a way I was learning from a clean slate.

As usual, I started the month off on a good note as I came in aggressive and determined to get the year off to a good start. But as mentioned in some of my previous posts, my profits would slowly suffer as the week went on and then on the Friday of that first week, I lost a bundle of money. I lost focus on that Friday when we had some system problems and I felt as though I started the day unprepared as it took most of the morning for me to re-setup my trading software.

I also found that I had to adjust the way I traded because the fee structure for entering and exiting trades had changed and if I had continued to trade the way I had in the past, I would have been paying a lot more fees.

The second week of January I found a little more consistency as I continued keep an eye on those stocks that were making headlines and as I practiced using other ways of getting in and out of trades that would keep my costs to a minimum.

During that second week, I also found the my concentration and focus started to wane and I had noted several times in my posts that week that I had difficulty keeping my mind in the game so I took several afternoons off that week.

In the third week of January, I had a very difficult time trying to get things going. The shortened week was littered with poor performances. I found myself making mistake after mistake that week. My mind was not completely into trading as I was preparing to head off to the Bahamas for a quick vacation.

I was away for most of the fourth week of January as I was away attending a wedding for some friends of ours. I think I really needed that break because the results from the third week were really bothering me...that vacation took my mind off things and when I returned I was well rested and ready to tackle anything. I did trade on Friday, but not much happened.

Then during the last 3 trading days of the month, I really tried to turn on the afterburners and I ended January on a relatively high note. One of the things I did was to change my charts from 3-minute to 5-minute charts. I found that by doing this, a lot appeared clearer to me and I had great success using them.

Here's some of the good that was January:
  • I continued to work on my new trading plan along with my new 3-minute (which would later become 5-minute) charts
  • I started getting used to the movements of the thinner, faster moving stocks and I started to trade them with increased share size
  • The hold times on my trades are slowly, but surely increasing and I found that my hold times started approaching the 5-minute mark...enough to capture more of a move than my usual few seconds or 1-minute
  • Bigger moves were being pocketed...gone are the days of 2 or 3-cent winners...I was beginning to take 10, 20, and 50-cent winners; by scaling out of my positions, I was able to buy more time for the trade to work out
  • With the longer-term charts (3-minute and 5-minute charts), I was able to more readily identify which stocks were trending and thus better trading candidates
  • I really tried to make a conscious effort to not let losers run away from me...even though I was trading thin, fast moving stocks, I tried to be quick to accept a loser and exit those losing positions
  • Not as many negative trading days as in the previous months and the distribution of my trading days are starting to look more favorable
  • In short, just pure and simple progress with where I want to take this and I'm fairly pleased with what resulted in January
And now, some of the things that were not so good in January:
  • I was constantly finding myself losing focus during the trading day...either I started getting tired and my mind started to wander, or I'd start putting on those "What was I thinking" kind of trades
  • I really need to trade off the charts a lot more once I'm in a position...there just way too many times I exited my entire position because of the back and forth motions of those fast moving stocks...instead I should concentrate more on the charts and to let the charts tell me when I should exit
  • Though I was good at keeping my losses at bay, I think I may have had my stop-losses a little too close...some trades eventually went in the direction I originally thought it would...this is something I really have to work out because I'm glad I got out of losers quickly (which may have saved me money in the long run), but I still feel I might be taking those losers too quickly
  • There were times I felt that I could have exercised more patience in waiting for a good setup...there were times I took mediocre setups because I either I was bored or I needed to get myself out of a jam
Finally, here are some things I'd like to work on in February:
  • Continue on with the current trading plan and begin taking those bigger risks
  • I must continue to ask myself "Where should I add to my position?" instead of always thinking "Where should I get out of my position?"
  • Try to integrate the thicker stocks into my trading plan...ideally my plan should be to incorporate both thinner, faster moving stocks in the news and the thicker, slower moving stocks
  • Try to find or discover more efficient ways to finding stocks that are gapping up or down or that are in the news...I have a feeling I'm wasting too much time doing too much research, most of which I don't use
  • Try to rest up as much as possible...if my mind starts wandering in the afternoon, really consider either going home or do something to keep me more alert
  • Just remember that losers happen and don't let it get to you and more importantly, don't let it affect your trading





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6 Comments:

  • JC, what trading software do you use?

    DW

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at February 03, 2007 11:17 a.m.  

  • DW,
    Thanks for your comments. The software I use is an in-house developed trading platform...we do tend to have technical difficulties from time to time, especially when they upgrade the software, but for the most part, it gets the job done.
    Hope it helps!

    By Blogger J.C., at February 03, 2007 5:15 p.m.  

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