Thursday, January 26, 2012

1/27 NDX Iron Butterfly - Weekly Summary

Weekly Summary: I had to close the trade this week, made the mistake of not having contingent orders to stop or hedge the trade and ended up taking a bigger than expected loss (-22% instead of -15%). This impacts my running status and quite a punch to the face. I have since then decided to regroup my efforts and be a lot more diligent moving forward. More on that as I post later on during the weekend.

1/26: Took a 22% Loss instead of a 15% loss by not closing the trade with a contingent order at the right stop point. This is the lesson to be learned during this cycle. Back to the drawing board.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Gustavo
I'm sorry you've had a difficult couple weeks of trading. Keep trading with your plan though, that's important.
I had a very difficult summer last year where every decision seemed wrong and every adjustment poorly timed. But just when I thought I would drop the hobby, three calm, simple trades came along and pulled me out of the hole and above water for the year.
Good luck,
Dave

Gustavo's Trades said...

Thanks for the good words Dave,

I spend time reviewing all my trades for the NDX Iron butterfly and noticed that there is one thing I need to work on: exiting at the max loss.

I also need to work on having contingent orders set up ahead of time and NOT make decisions "on the fly". This frees me up from emotionally making decisions when things are looking bad for the trade. In these cases I find that I seldom make the best choices (aka not sticking with a stop).

You are right, the key is to keep things consistent, and staying for the long run. Last year I took a hiatus of trading after the MAR/11 loss.. Things would probably be better after that.. I also noticed this seems to be a pattern for my trading and will work to stay consistent and stay in the craft. The key for that is to control money management and position sizing.

Cheers!
Gustavo