2004 coming to an end so how did we all fare?

[jimmy1]

So with 2004 coming to a close, how did we fair on maybe our first year of trading or maybe our last!!!
it seems some people can talk a good story and some do very well also some fail and some fair ok...
on a personal note.. ive done ok but i still have not earned enough to trade of the coast of monaco!!! i wonder if we could have a thread with whos done well and how maybe systems based trading, scalping, swing, spread trading stir arcade trading to see if there are any similarities that emerge and may help us go in a new direction in 2005.....
merry xmas all and good luck and hapy trading for 2005

 

[TheBramble]

Thanks jimmy and the same to you.

To answer your question (and for some uncharacteristic blowing of my own trumpet) 2004 has been my first consistently profitable year (week-on-week) since starting to trade 8 years ago.

This is due, in my view, to the what I've picked up here on t2w.

My trading has been transformed, not just in the profit sense [cents?], but in the way I trade.

I owe thanks to you all.

 

[jimmy1]

That is great a free community helping one another, and you have turned 2004 into a profitable year... hows your trading changed by style or technical?

 

[TheBramble]

That is great a free community helping one another, and you have turned 2004 into a profitable year... hows your trading changed by style or technical?

Strewth - don't want to hog your thread jimmy - this one would take pages to answer! In short - Both.

Gone through the P&V-only (no inds) phase and learnt a great deal. Thrown out all my custom indicators (actually I should market them as what doesn't work) and now use just a few very basic ones that everyone else uses. S&R plays a big part whereas before hardly considered it. Volume too. Before just a param into an ind or ten. Now a big factor in its own right. Really too many things to enumerate here.

Style - dramatically. Risk down to mere fractions of what I was doing before, but paradoxically - taking bigger positions because of it. Confidence - not in expecting all my trdaes to work - but in accepting what the market tells me and acting upon in without hesitation. Lots on the psych side too.

Let's have some others...

 

[jimmy1]

the biggest thing ive learned is to sit on my hands... be disciplined as you are only as good as your last trade...
i also trade small scalps now as i cannot predict the huge moves.. but i can have a good idea o the macro moves using just 3 indicators i like
cci
3line break
and pivot points
i have also learned that you do not need to be in the market all day and that, you can have time out without feeling you are loosing opportunity

 

[Airthrey Capital]

2004 has proved to be a fairly good year....

10 months profitable trading

2 months of losses (October and November)

The combined losses of the 2 losing months were less than the samllest gain in 1 month

Return of 48% of capital, averaging 4% per month.

This was purely through trading FTSE options.

But the year is not finished yet....!

 

[Salty Gibbon]

I realised that the key to trading success is mostly in one's own head.

I also discovered that there is a Holy Grail of trading.

It is called the STOP LOSS

 

[rossored]

Well, I can firmly say that I've had my butt kicked this year - so much so that I'm not trading at the moment, and have gone back to "refining my technique" because it's clearly not much of a technique

 

[jimmy1]

rossored, what have you been trading in the past?
i got whopped last night on the mini dow trying to scalp it... not going near it again it jumps to much!

 

[china white]

rossored, what have you been trading in the past?
i got whopped last night on the mini dow trying to scalp it... not going near it again it jumps to much!

matey - respectfully - if u get whopped on mini Dows with volatilities (front end) of 13% I wud strongly advise u to step back and look at your trading strategies and techniques mate. U shud NOT be losing 2 es points (ok with tick above and brockerage fees etc....) 2.5 es points on a trade which is roughly 22 dow points.

it is either u r disciplined but consistently take the wrong side in your trades - OR u r sharp in taking positions but when it goes sour u go for a pint and let your losses run

not by way of being harsh mate but seriously u hv a prob somewhere.

I will give u an example - look at what u did when u got whopped and assume u were in those trades on CL where we HAVE to put stop losses at 1.5 - 1.7 dpb due to volatility.... this wud perhaps redefine your concept of being whopped

well on a separate note - it was a VERY good year for me here. 2 reasons - 1) I finally threw all the indicators to the bin and started trading 100% on what I AM comfortable with which is dark side 2) I discovered this baby I fell in love with - CL....

 

[jimmy1]

must be me but on the mini dow i was trading it would dick around 4 ticks, and if i am scalping for 2 ticks profit normally it would just ping pong around, i think i need to use it to take either more out the market than 2 ticks .. or use it as a long term play.

 

[RogerM]

2004 has proved to be a fairly good year....

10 months profitable trading

2 months of losses (October and November)

The combined losses of the 2 losing months were less than the samllest gain in 1 month

Return of 48% of capital, averaging 4% per month.

This was purely through trading FTSE options.

But the year is not finished yet....!

Well done AC. What sort of strategies have you been using?

 

[mauzj]

My buy and forget strategy has returned 15%!!!!

 

[jklondon]

34% increase in equity capital over the year - although while that sounds good a) my capital base is small i.e. 4 figures and b) it return is positive for months when Ive had a chance to work on this and then not flat or negative for the other months.

one of my objectives for 2005 is to ramp up my trading activities and venture into commodities - coffee being the first instrument

 

[Airthrey Capital]

Well done AC. What sort of strategies have you been using?

Primarily selling strangles (but legging in and legging out)

I suspect that vols will begin to pick up next year, so perhaps some new strategies will be needed for 2005!

 

[Edster]

Hello All,
I've made just over 5 figures Spread Betting but am left with 3 dodgy March expiry bets so that should see a bad start to the New Year.
(
The things that I've learned are:-
1) I need a plan
2) I need to use stop losses (I only ever put one on to lock in profits! Maybe I should take more note of the actual name - stop LOSS!)
3) I need a plan
4) I really, really want to learn about TA etc.
5) Oh, did I mention that I need a plan?!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to you all.

Cheers,

Edster

 

[ardhill]

2004 was the year I moved from consistently loosing, to being a consistent winner.

I am looking for 2005 to be the year I make enough money to cover all my looses err. training fees.

I have tried various styles and time frames but have come down to Nasdaq stocks and trading small intra moves. Basically I am using support and resistance and breakouts from them. I don't use indicators, but there appears to be an EMA stuck on my screen - hard to let go

I still have a lot to learn, but am happy that I am moving the right direction.

 

[des44]

This thread forced me to crunch my numbers for this year.

+4.48275% per month average gains. 53.793% annual.
Trade U.S. stocks (no options)

d-
*Snow storm here in Indiana tonight. It should be a white Christmas.*

 

[neil]

Spelling check

2004 was the year I moved from consistently loosing, to being a consistent winner.

I am looking for 2005 to be the year I make enough money to cover all my looses err. training fees.

I have tried various styles and time frames but have come down to Nasdaq stocks and trading small intra moves. Basically I am using support and resistance and breakouts from them. I don't use indicators, but there appears to be an EMA stuck on my screen - hard to let go

I still have a lot to learn, but am happy that I am moving the right direction.

looses err. training fees.

LOSSES - tsk - I turn my back and some of you drift back into slipshod spelling

Merry Christmas all, and a profitable 2005 to everyone

 

[Tuffty]

Edster, Sounds like you are letting 3 loosing trades run until March. You say you need to use a stop loss. If I assume correct your stop on these 3 trades is a time stop and it's March 2005. While one can use time stops, 3 months move against you may not be every one's definintion of a good stop loss.