Monday, May 4, 2009

FFTL, "Failure By Designer Jeans"

Trader A spray choice.

The RO Report, "Day 1" Edition

At about 3:30 I was out weeding my lawn of, well, grass and I thought to myself, "Am I going crazy?" I was out there in the rain with 3 buckets: one for grass, one for grubs, and one for "weeds" that I am going to replant once I rip up the grass. The neighbors would drive by, I'd wave, smile, think, "I don't look crazy, anyway" and get back to weeding.

Meanwhile, the RO was making size.

It's cool. While I was out there I had the REM song "Can't Get There From Here" running through my head and I think that tells the story. You too can make riches in the stock market, but it's not all about numbers... it's mostly about frame of mind. I'm simply working back to that frame of mind. I'm starting from scratch and new traders don't make $30k a day.

Anyway, it was an excellent day for the RO. Out of 32 traders today, 25 were gross positive or 78%. 9 traders made over $1,000 gross and 4 traders lost over $1,000 gross. I was #16 of 32.

About that $30k... guess who? Trader A. Please check Wednesday afternoon for his guest post.

"Lucky Pierre" - Trader A, $31,824 on 301k shares traded.

2. Trader F, $14,478 on 524k shares traded.
3. Trader D, $12,286 on 553k shares traded.
4. Trader B, $8,850 on 470k shares traded.
5. Trader V, $7,589 on 108k shares traded.

"Chambermaid" - Trader H*, -$7,212 on 35,200 shares traded.

2. Trader 9*, -$7,063 on 9,100 shares traded.
3. Trader 10*, -$4,247 on 13,800 shares traded.
4. Trader M*, -$3,110 on 0 shares traded.
5. Trader 6*, -$910 on 500 shares traded.

Trader A Guest Post Drops Wednesday Evening

Beginner's Mind

I'm back in the saddle. After a two day trading break and a weekend of strong surf I feel much better.

This job is like no other in that there is no linear progress. If you were a player 5 years ago, or "ghetto fabulous" even, that doesn't guarantee that you'll be worth shit today. Past success means nothing and future success is no guarantee. The best you can do is work hard, keep yourself healthy, and focus on the market that is in front of you.

So that said, I'm starting today with the mindset of a new trader. I have withdrawn any extra funds in my trading account and will start to slowly build it back up through disciplined trading. It means nothing that I've been successful for 10 years, the market isn't going to give me a dime because of that.

In a happy coincidence, the HCPG collective have started to update their blog again. This is good because they take a very clear-eyed and unbiased look at the market each day. Very helpful if you're looking for some sort of anchor.