Daytrading As A Spiritual Practice

The other day, in one of the comment sections here, I told someone that daytrading is analogous to a spiritual practice.

Sounds funny, I know, but it's true.

I mean, I write down these rules, all of the age-old daytrading adages, like, (add booming voice of God coming down from mountain), "let your profits run young man, but cut your losers" yet I still make the same mistakes.

I have the wisdom, it's just hard to implement it in the reality of the market moving. It's so easy to look back at static graphs and no where you went wrong. But when the futures are moving one way, ticks are moving another and news is constantly hitting, it's hard to keep your presence and perspective.

It's like "love thy neighbor." I mean, okay, I get it, but when I get cut off by some shithead driving a Hummer and talking on a cell phone, it's a good thing I don't carry a gun.

I freak out. I lose my presence and perspective. 10 minutes later I can look back and know that throwing my water bottle against my windshield only hurt myself and not the Hummer shitcake, but that doesn't help me in the heat of the moment.

So here are two trades that I wish I could make again.

First off, LFG. It was as perfect an afternoon play as any.



I bought 200 shares at $49.85 at 2:41 in anticipation of a move up to the figure. So far, so good. The most the trade moved against me was 22 cents. Now here's where I begin to fuck up. At 2:50, I sell 100 shares at $49.90 locking in the 5 cents of profit... YES! And then, at 3:16 I sell my last 100 shares "all the way up" at $50.13. Total profit, $32.

Meanwhile, look at the move! I should have made a straight point on my shares without question! There was never a reason for me to sell. The market wasn't coming in. Furthermore, I should have added to my position when the market broke $50 and then came back on light volume. In other words, I made $32 on a trade that I should have made hundreds of dollars on. It was an easy trade. My execution is all wrong.

Here's another, MTW. While this trade wasn't as perfect, still, it should have brought me more money than I let it bring.



Again, I bought 200 shares in anticipation of a breakout at 2:20. The stock had been in a long tight base and the market was moving higher. Volume started increasing to the upside. And here's where I screwed it up. I sold 100 shares at $38.65 and the other 100 at $38.72. Why? I don't know. Again, here's a trade that didn't even run a dime against me yet the moment it ran a little in my favor I locked in the profit, $37.

In this trade, I'm not as upset that I didn't buy more because the position never really tested the base. It just ran. Here, I'm upset that I didn't have the patience or the confidence to let a winner run.

Here's a final analogy for you Seinfeld fans. Remember the episode where Jerry makes a plane reservation but then his seat is sold anyway? He gets into an argument with the ticket representative and repeats over and over to her, "You see? You can take the reservation, but you can't hold the reservation..."

It's like that.

Anyway, I can't get into the system to give all the stats. Enjoy your weekend. I'll post here once or twice this weekend, so check back.

P&L, $155
27,600 shares traded.

NOTE: Again, I apologize if there are egregious spelling errors in this post. Spellcheck isn't working. WTF, blogger?