I don’t recall when I opened my first trading account, but I have kept monthly records of my accounts since August 2010. That is when I had a balance of $848.44.
Today I have a balance of $72,725.60, but that is not all profit. Below is a summary of how I reached this total.
| Totals | |
|---|---|
| Deposits | +359,825.97 |
| Dividends & Interest | +21,183.19 |
| Withdrawals | -348,918.01 |
| Monthly P&L | 39,634.45 |
So you can see there is really not much money that I made, if any. I don’t have a breakdown of the taxes I paid every year, but I am sure if I was to account for those, I am more than just negative.
Many months, and year during this time period I did not trade so the numbers are misleading.
I took a long brake from Trading
Once I was learning about options, I decided to trade NetFlix.
Bad earnings and subscriptions numbers caused the stock to take a nose dive. I thought that it will rebound so I bought about $25,000 worth of options.
Well the market did not care about my risk taking and the stock kept on dropping.
At the end of the second week, the options have lost all of their value and I lost all the money I put in.
I did not CRY!
But what I did was that I stopped trading. And I did not do any trades for a few years.
Back in the Day Trading Game
One of my friends kept on talking to me about trading for over the years, and although he did trade during the dot com bubble and lost all his money, he never traded himself.
But him talking about trading gave me the itch to trade yet again.
So I decided to move forward this time all ready, with no new game.
But mentally I think I was better prepared.
I read some books. Actually more than some. Likely twenty or so.
On October 29, 2019 I decided to start trading again full-time.
Since I am on the West coast I woke up everyday at 5:00 am PST.
My Beginner’s Luck
The two days of October 2019, I lost $95.67. But in November 2019 I made $6,799.89.
Wow, I thought this this game is for me.
But the next two months I lost almost all the money I made.
But I did not give up.
My returns for March 2021 to February 2022 are shown below:
| March 2021 | $9,053.88 |
| April 2021 | ($573.21) |
| May 2021 | $4,605.68 |
| June 2021 | $2,508.33 |
| July 2021 | $6,274.94 |
| August 2021 | $12,436.86 |
| September 2021 | $3,110.08 |
| October 2021 | $1,198.86 |
| November 2021 | $5,270.56 |
| December 2021 | $14,888.80 |
| January 2022 | $4,373.92 |
| February 2022 | $7,968.93 |
| Total P&L | $71,117.63 |
As you can see this was not bad. Except for one month of minor loss I did reasonably well. At least for me that was success. I had lost a lot of money in the past and I was excited about my future as a new Day Trader.
Coming Back to Reality
But since then I have not done really well. Actually since my start in October 2019 to November 2024, my net return is $40,520.06 (not accounting for taxes).
I can’t say that I feel I suck at it, but I can’t say that I am much good at this. Actually right after writing that line I feel I do suck at day trading. Probably would have made more money by just by the QQQ or SPY.
My starting amount in October 2019 was $115,455.83
Enough.
I am getting tired of how I trade. I make some money and then lost a lot. Always trying to play catch up with my old balances.
Even though I have knowledge about many patterns, I have no plan or strategy to actually follow.
It is not like I am not aware of what an indicator is or how to use them to create new trading strategies, it is just that I create those in my mind and never implement them.
My biggest weakness is not having control over losses. I actually don’t follow many rules about when to enter a trade and when to exit.
Regardless, to say that my career as a day trader has filed would not be an exaggeration.
What I fail at:
- No plan about where to enter.
- No plan about when to exit.
- Can’t seem to control my risk.
The only thing I excel at is my desire to trade. But I am sure by itself that won’t take me far.
I Need Changing
Yeah, no kidding.
This morning of November 23, 2024, I decided to create this website and write about day trading. But not only write about day trading but also start fresh in my approach to how I trade.
My old ways won’t work
My Path Forward
- Re-learn indicators
- Focus on Price and Volume changes and impacts
- Focus on building my strategies based on what I have found that work
- Automate my trading
- Document my journey and build a trading journal