(I need a journal entry for my wall)
After reviewing the first 3 weeks of my training journey, both in my head all day long and looking at my trades on my wall, I have found the one thing that hurts me the most. Exiting. My entries are often well thought out, easily executed, and already written in on ETrade for me to hit Place Order. However, exiting is another story, for now.
I grew my account 280% with PaperTrading in 2 weeks. I knew coming into this that PaperTrading is much easier than really trading, for multiple reasons:
1- Everything is on the same screen. When dealing with volatile stocks, the convinience of being able to enter and exit just by clicking 2 inches below the chart is unmatched. It even makes the decision process of actually trading that stock or not much easier.
2-Executions. With PaperTrading I got executed perfectly in sync as the chart was acting, it was very easy to catch stocks on their way up and sell very easily at the top. I don't think the order section of PaperTrading abides by Level 2. Whereas if I put an order in with ETrade, I'll still enter in sync with how the chart is acting, however I know I must wait in line if there are others at the same price that get executed before me. (Anywhere from 1-4 people) Sometimes you can miss your entry/exit and the chart will move on without you since it received its bid/ask on the people in line before you.
3- No Commission Fees. Honestly, commission fees aren't that big of a deal. However the smaller your account is and the more losses you have, the more they stick out in the back of your head when deciding to trade or not.
4- Psychology - It's so easy to play with fake money! You keep your confidence! Losses don't stick out as much. The list goes on. The ordering process on ETrade really chips away at my psychology. Waiting for a new ticker to load, loading both the Preview and Place Order pages, being able to cancel or change my order as I'm waiting for it to get executed on the next page, all kinds of stuff. If a stock is moving, all that latency has a terrible effect on my trading.
Not so much with entering, as exiting.
As stated my entries are often premeditated. It's as simple as waiting for the stock to to exactly what I want it to do and clicking the Place Order button. However, exiting is much different. I find when I a stock reaches my goal (typically not much at all, 10-20-30% / 1.00 Stock - 10-20Cts/Share / 5.00 Stock - 50Cts-1.00/Share) I'll swipe to the ETrade Webpage, click the Preview/Place Order Button, then sit in limbo for anywhere from 20 seconds - 2 minutes until I get executed. In that time, I can change/cancel my order and swipe back and forth between ETrade / StocksToTrade. That time often gives me the opportunity to wonder if a stock can go a little higher and many other things.
Thankfully there are plenty of solutions to my problem. For starters, I think it is obvious that I need to set clear exiting prices for each trade, which I do. However I think actually pretyping the sell order in as soon as I'm done entering will do me a great deal of good. I will have to find out whether having it on either the Preview Order or the Place Order page is best.
Another way over this hurdle is to try using ETrade Pro. I notice many people use it. Most of the lessons I learn from are from it so my eyes are naturally used to the style of candles and whatnot it has. I downloaded it on my laptop 2 weeks ago. I set it up how I like and viewed it during market hours however never actually traded using it. Trading on ETrade Pro will have a similar effect as PaperTrading since there is no swiping to ETrade's webpage I can just enter/exit as I please right there on the chart. Sounds like a great idea and a simple fix, but the effectiveness and comfort level StocksToTrade provides me with makes it a hard option, I might give it a trade or 2 within the next 2 weeks.
Hopefully with these revisions I will begin to exit with a little more grace, and take those $10-$60 wins every chance I get.
Update: I have started placing my orders via the ETrade App on my phone while I look at STT on my computer and have found that to be very helpful with executions so far.
Im absolutely against dollar amount goal - i think thats completely wrong - hear all the big players - Kroyrunner and Dux both tape over their profit \ loss as this can have a real negative effect on your trading - you have to take profits regards to the chart (or offcourse if it has hit your trade plan) - but its so easy to not watching the chart as you should when you set a dollar amount, And seriously - webtrading is SO slow - it really fucks up your entries and excecutions - i used it for my
@Torkers thanks for your input! That was more or less a random thought I through in there rather than a concrete idea, I see exactly what you mean.
@Torkers what options do you suggest to "webtrading"?
DAS grader for instanse - you have a program on you computer wirh direct link
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