The Netflix simulation trading in May was the big boost I needed to get myself mentally prepared for live trading. But there are big differences between how I traded then and how I’ll have to trade for real.
Time Allocation
When trading at work, I can only watch the market between rounds. If, for example, my pattern doesn’t develop between 9:30am and 11:15am, I most likely wouldn’t make a trade for the day. I have to do rounds in the garage at certain times, so that’s a good 45 minutes that I can’t watch the market. I did good with my NFLX trades, but imagine how well I would do with more time and opportunity. Hmm, now that I think about it, that may be a bad thing.
Cellphone Trading
All of my sim trading has been done on my cell phone. When I was doing live trading with no patterns last year, this was easy. I would wait for the number I was looking for and then buy the stock. I would sell the same way. But my trading has changed dramatically since then, and I now follow specific patterns. That means watching tickers go up and down for hours. Wanna guess how strenuous it is on my eyes to watch tickers for hours on a tiny 4” screen? Yeah, it’s awful. Trading at home will allow me to watch my stocks on a much bigger screen without having to take a break to prevent eye strain.
Patience
When I talked about a “bad thing” earlier with time allocation, I was referring to my patience. The problem with the way I’ve been trading is that I’m not used to watching stocks from 9:30am to 4:00pm. Whether it’s to do rounds or to stop due to eye-strain, I haven’t conditioned myself to the point that I can watch stocks go up and down for seven and a half hours. It'll take a while to get used to it, which is why I'll have very low quotas to start.
The goal for the first 4 weeks of trading will be to make $500 total. That’s four trades and $500. Let’s be very clear here. Once I get very good at trading, I should be able to make between $4,000 and $10,000 a month. But I’m just starting out these new trading patterns and I need to build towards that level of confidence and experience. I have to start with small goals because I don’t need the pressure of a large quota messing with my head, increasing my anxiety, and forcing a series of bad trades. Once I get comfortable, the training wheels come off and I can really go for bigger profits.
So what’s my plan? Live trading will start sometime in August. I’m going to apply for the $30,000 loan with Lending Club, as Damon recommended. I love the fact that they can approve and give the money out within a week’s time. And with an estimated credit score of 729, I should be able to get a good interest rate. Once I get the money and get my TD Ameritrade account set up, I'll deposit the $30,000 into the account, then do a 4-1 margin to make it $120,000 of trading power. I’ll start trading once a week by skipping work once a week to trade at home. My loss limit is $5,000 so, should I lose that much overall, I'll have to end my trading and figure out what I did wrong before starting again.
I still have continue building my watchlist. It's been a real pain in the ass finding stocks in the Nasdaq that have the same patterns as NFLX, but I've been able to find a few. It all starts in August. I won’t lie, this is all very exciting to me. I’m looking forward to the feeling I’ll have when I make that first live trade. I can’t wait for the opportunity to prove myself once again in the stock market.
I... I know the stats, okay? 90% of traders lose their money and run for the hills. I get it. But for a guy who considers himself one of a kind, 10% is more than enough.
Time Allocation
When trading at work, I can only watch the market between rounds. If, for example, my pattern doesn’t develop between 9:30am and 11:15am, I most likely wouldn’t make a trade for the day. I have to do rounds in the garage at certain times, so that’s a good 45 minutes that I can’t watch the market. I did good with my NFLX trades, but imagine how well I would do with more time and opportunity. Hmm, now that I think about it, that may be a bad thing.
Cellphone Trading
All of my sim trading has been done on my cell phone. When I was doing live trading with no patterns last year, this was easy. I would wait for the number I was looking for and then buy the stock. I would sell the same way. But my trading has changed dramatically since then, and I now follow specific patterns. That means watching tickers go up and down for hours. Wanna guess how strenuous it is on my eyes to watch tickers for hours on a tiny 4” screen? Yeah, it’s awful. Trading at home will allow me to watch my stocks on a much bigger screen without having to take a break to prevent eye strain.
Patience
When I talked about a “bad thing” earlier with time allocation, I was referring to my patience. The problem with the way I’ve been trading is that I’m not used to watching stocks from 9:30am to 4:00pm. Whether it’s to do rounds or to stop due to eye-strain, I haven’t conditioned myself to the point that I can watch stocks go up and down for seven and a half hours. It'll take a while to get used to it, which is why I'll have very low quotas to start.
The goal for the first 4 weeks of trading will be to make $500 total. That’s four trades and $500. Let’s be very clear here. Once I get very good at trading, I should be able to make between $4,000 and $10,000 a month. But I’m just starting out these new trading patterns and I need to build towards that level of confidence and experience. I have to start with small goals because I don’t need the pressure of a large quota messing with my head, increasing my anxiety, and forcing a series of bad trades. Once I get comfortable, the training wheels come off and I can really go for bigger profits.
So what’s my plan? Live trading will start sometime in August. I’m going to apply for the $30,000 loan with Lending Club, as Damon recommended. I love the fact that they can approve and give the money out within a week’s time. And with an estimated credit score of 729, I should be able to get a good interest rate. Once I get the money and get my TD Ameritrade account set up, I'll deposit the $30,000 into the account, then do a 4-1 margin to make it $120,000 of trading power. I’ll start trading once a week by skipping work once a week to trade at home. My loss limit is $5,000 so, should I lose that much overall, I'll have to end my trading and figure out what I did wrong before starting again.
I still have continue building my watchlist. It's been a real pain in the ass finding stocks in the Nasdaq that have the same patterns as NFLX, but I've been able to find a few. It all starts in August. I won’t lie, this is all very exciting to me. I’m looking forward to the feeling I’ll have when I make that first live trade. I can’t wait for the opportunity to prove myself once again in the stock market.
I... I know the stats, okay? 90% of traders lose their money and run for the hills. I get it. But for a guy who considers himself one of a kind, 10% is more than enough.
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