Panic! - Fulltime trading journal

[Panic!]

Hi everyone!

Joined this forum a couple of years ago, but I've never been an active poster.

I've been trading since 2009, but since I always worked in finance I was somewhat restricted by cmpliance rules, and limited time. As of this month I quit my job to focus on trading, dividing my time between working on my automated trading system and trading manually.

I opened this trading journal mainly to receive some feedback from other fulltime traders. I won't post all my trades, but will post updates whenever I feel like it.

I aim for 2% a month in my manual trading., while keeping risk (net exposure) between 25-50% of my account balance and never risking more than 2.5% on any single trade.

 

[Sharky]

Sounds great @Panic!, congrats on taking the plunge. Looking forward to following your journal, esp. the algo part.

 

[NVP]

hey there

good luck.......and some reasonable targets there to start......i daytrade and sometimes when newbies tell me they will daytrade and aim for 20-30% a month i have to set them straight as they are inexperienced .......it’s hard to hit those numbers unless you are exceptionally talented and the markets are running really well......

if you want to share ideas and strategies here we are are happy to help

also it’s good to have targets but don’t get to tied up in them.......markets do what the hell they want ........so linear results are hard to achieve ........most good traders admit that only 20% of their trades deliver 80% of their profits ......so it can be periods of drawdown and erratic profits ........so don’t get too upset if you get bad months

N

 

[Pat494]

Depends a bit on overnight holding costs.
How much do you pay ?

 

[Panic!]

Thanks for the replies. @Pat494 I'm not paying overnight holding costs, I'm not shorting stocks.

Day 1: 01/03/2019
0 trades.
13 open positions
Risk as percentage of NetLiq: 25%
Daily PnL: +0.64%

 

[Panic!]

Day 2: 04/03/2019
Closed 1 position, opened 2 positions.
14 open positions
Risk as percentage of NetLiq: 28%
Daily PnL: -0.41%
MtD PnL: +0.23%

 

[Panic!]

Day 3: 05/03/2019
Opened 1 position.
15 open positions
Risk as percentage of NetLiq: 31%
Daily PnL: -0.42%
MtD PnL: -0.19%

I'm not getting as much setups as I would like. Going to trade with my current criteria until april expiration and then re-evaluate.

 

[Panic!]

Day 4: 06/03/2019
Opened 2 positions.
17 open positions
Risk as percentage of NetLiq: 36%
Daily PnL: -0.72%
MtD PnL: -0.92%

Obviously I'm not happy about having three losing days in a row, but it's too soon to start worrying/tinkering. I'm fine with losing days/weeks, a losing month would be cause for concern.

 

[Panic!]

Day 5: 07/03/2019
Opened 1 position.
18open positions
Risk as percentage of NetLiq: 38%
Daily PnL: -0.86%
MtD PnL: -1.77%

 

[Panic!]

Day 6: 08/03/2019
Opened 3 positions.
21 open positions
Risk as percentage of NetLiq: 50%
Daily PnL: -1.08%
MtD PnL: -2.82%

All red week. On the upside, I've reached my max risk level, so I guess monday willl just be me sitting back and watching it all play out.

 

[Panic!]

Day 7: 11/03/2019
Opened 0 positions.
21 open positions
Risk as percentage of NetLiq: 50%
Daily PnL: +1.42%
MtD PnL: -1.45%

 

[Panic!]

Day 8: 12/03/2019
Closed 2 positions.
19 open positions
Risk as percentage of NetLiq: 38%
Daily PnL: +0.37%
MtD PnL: -1.08%

 

[Panic!]

Day 9: 13/03/2019
Closed 1 position.
18 open positions
Risk as percentage of NetLiq: 36%
Daily PnL: +047%
MtD PnL: -0.62%

 

[iq200]

Hi Panic! - I'm kind of moving along a similar footpath to you. I have been off work looking after my ill father for the last 3.5 years. Sadly he passed away recently. I was working as a quantitative software developer and rather than go back to work I have started trading too ..... although i might be behind you somewhat as I'm currently paper trading.
I'd be quite interested to know what kind of instruments your trading (sounds like stocks tho not sure if options from your msgs?) and timescale. You can also disclose any particular types of strategies if you feel upto it
BTW I think you may have popped into our discord room (called daytrading) today!
Regards,
iq

 

[Panic!]

Hi iq200,

Sorry for your loss.

I'm happy to share a bit more about what I'm doing, but keep in mind I've only been doing this for 2 weeks now and I'm not even profitable yet, -0,62% for the month so far. If anything I'm here to learn.

I trade mostly equity options, based on fundamental analysis of the underlying and implied volatility. I'll hold a position until my max loss is reached, my thesis no longer holds or I need to free up room to enter a trade with better expected return on risk. A position usually consists of 3-7 legs, to make sure I get the exact greeks I want. Since I have an opinion on the underlying as well, I don't try to be delta neutral. My focus is more on the portfolio risk metrics than the individual trades, so I also track sector exposure etcetera. I expect to trade stocks, etfs or futures to hedge my delta as well, but haven't done so yet.

And yes, I did pop into the chatroom for a bit but then realized I don't own a microphone.

 

[Panic!]

Day 10: 14/03/2019
Opened 1 position.
19 open positions
Risk as percentage of NetLiq: 37%
Daily PnL: +0.10%
MtD PnL: -0.52%

 

[Panic!]

Day 11: 15/03/2019
Opened 0 positions.
Closed 0 positions.
19 open positions
Risk as percentage of NetLiq: 37%
Daily PnL: +0.64%
MtD PnL: +0.12%

Back to where I was at the start of the month.

 

[Panic!]

Day 12: 18/03/2019
Opened 0 positions.
Closed 0 positions.
19 open positions
Risk as percentage of NetLiq: 37%
Daily PnL: +0.68%
MtD PnL: +0.81%

 

[Panic!]

Day 13: 19/03/2019
Opened 1 position.
Closed 0 positions.
20 open positions
Risk as percentage of NetLiq: 38%
Daily PnL: -0.44%
MtD PnL: +0.37%

 

[iq200]

You haven't posted in some time. Any new updates?