It's the end of the first month and I'm learning so much... and so quickly too! This month I went from trading a $100k to $250k day trading account and was expected to work harder and be in the right stocks. For the most part, I have developed a sense of confidence. There were many days especially the beginning of the month where I was down $5-700 and still climbed my way out to finish green. Of course, there is the problem of why I was down that much to begin with! Let's start with all of the questions:

1. What contributed to gains/losses? This month I was able to use my Level II reading skills and chart pattern recognition to get into stocks that provided the best risk/reward opportunities. Because I had members of management sit with me during my trade reviews, I was able to get 3rd party critique and feedback on my trading. Doing this frequently gave me the chance to analyze my game every weekend and change my trading rules as needed. Some of the mistakes I made that lead to losses were taking stocks too far away from their levels. Patience and discipline is a huge part of trading and whenever I violated these simple principles, I found myself in a ditch. Towards the end of the month, I felt like I did a better job buying/shorting as close to my level as possible.
2. What were the top plays and losses? My best two plays were in AMZN (daytrade) and RTN (swing). On Friday, the 28th, as the market was selling off, I noticed that AMZN pushed higher in the afternoon with conviction. I noticed the bid held at 117 and I took 117.01 with 100 shares. 117 tested on the bid 3-4 more times and never once dropped. On the 3rd of 4th time, I added 500 more shares with a 2 cent stop. I ended up making about $400 on this trade. Earlier in the day, I shorted it 300 shares and was able to make $500 on it, so almost $1k net in the stock. RTN was my best swing trade. I was able to take 200 shares at 49.99 and make $350 in it. My target was about 4% up so for the most part, I was able to take a lot of shares off at that point. In terms of biggest losses, I did a good job not killing myself in any of my day trades. I did eat a $464 loss in ASTM swing. The flag broke down and took me out pretty hard. During the trade, I did finding myself regretting it. It was just too extended for my taste and it needed a longer time to consolidate. The risk/reward didn't make sense.
3. What could I have done better in January? I could've managed my risk better to the upside. There were a lot of trades that I was up hundreds of dollars in that I ended up scratching at break-even. Often I even found myself 'forcing' and cheering on my trades way too long. So if I knew the first resistance was at +.50 and the next at +.80, I would just root that it would get through the first one. As you can see, sometimes that lead to the stock failing and stopping me out. Scale out on the breakouts and move stops up. Another problem I had was sizing per trade. I made a lot of sizing mistakes due to the type of trade. For example, I categorize my trades with "feelers, full lots, or load it up." Feelers are given minimal $ risk. Full lots are given a normal lot. When I fully believe in an idea and everything about it is right, I give it at least 2-3x the normal size. In January, there were moments where I would be confused with what kind of trade I'm trying to put on. These two problems affected my bottom line. As a solution though, I tried to see the trade differently. When a stock moves 2 pts, does it only move 2 pts? No! It can easily move 75 cents up, then 40 cents back, and then 50 cents up followed by consolidation. There are multiple opportunities to put on a trade. I can't control how much the market gives me. I can only put on a trade and manage my risk from there. Regarding the latter problem, I altered my journal in a way where it makes me write down why I'm sizing the amount I am. This exercise has really helped.
4. Are there any significant losses? No. Biggest loss was ASTM swing, which is less than .5% of my overall swing account.
5. How do I feel about my trading for the month? I feel pretty good. I made a lot of mistakes but there hasn't been a month where I was able to confront each of my problems heads on. I made it a goal to correct each situation right away vs. letting it chip away at my equity balance. For all the changes I had to go through, I think the way I finish the month wasn't so bad. I look forward to performing much better in the upcoming months.
6. What would I need the most help on right now? I find that on my biggest losing days, I was completely unaware of the market direction/bias. This isn't exactly something you should feel responsible for and I am completely aware that it is up to me regarding how I prepare for the day. I'm doing a much better job now listing my levels of importance and alerting myself when these levels are breached. Even more importantly, I'm becoming more active in thinking about the implications of when a level if breached.

The adjusted total was somewhere between -$550-$600 total (day/swings) after commissions/rebates. In my Swing Portfolio, I was able to increase my account by .15%. My next benchmark is 3% a month Swinging.

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