Wednesday, March 17, 2010

I'm So Vain... I Probably Think This Blog Is About Me...


I'm ForexDiva and no pip is too small for me!

Seriously... in hindsight, I could have gotten a lot more out of the market on these JPY crosses I have been trading. I mean they're JPY crosses and by their very nature, are supposed to be volatile and therefore yield price action. But I got all fraidy cat again and missed out on some major pips. Moreover, I feel like I'm keeping secrets to myself when the whole point of my blog is supposed to be about sharing my trading mishaps and successes with the handful of people who read my blog. That is, if I haven't offended everyone away with my off-colour remarks, including the one about not doing Chinese guys.

I digress yet again. So, let's take a look at what I've been doing lately since I've been rather vague.

But first, my results. Aujourd'hui, I got away with:

about +18 pips
-0.33% on the standard brokerage
-0.22% on the Roth IRA

I kept changing my mind every 10 seconds during my forex trades. I really should stay away from my computer and learn some set it and forget it. A politically incorrect colleague of mine recently mentioned I was micro-managerial. I'll admit it! And why shouldn't I?

Right... so it seems with the blink of an eye, my portfolio suddenly started smokin' like a chimney. It's still way off-base and I still have some major recovery to do, but I think I'm on the right track to board some more trendships with benefits.

First, I had a garage sale and got rid of the old, salvaging whatever I can from the junk that was in my account, including ABK, ABK bonds, etc. Whatever I didn't like, I sold. It was painful, but in hindsight, it seems to be worth it.

I then took the remaining capital and I topped up on some $10 and under plays, as well as high beta stocks - mainly in the financial sector. I literally analysed hundreds of balance sheets, scanning for stocks that were trading below book value with a low Price/Sales ratio. The Five Car Parking Lot idea proved to be quintessential to my portfolio recovery. My major lesson: if you can find a stock that meets your investment criteria that now trades at a lower price than your current stock and you feel like your current stock has met some resistance, it may be worth it to switch to the new stock if you can get more shares out of the new one.

I made some more mistakes along the way, including selling IPG, BGCP, AA, BNHNA (which I had written off for good) and BX all too soon. My major lesson: not recognising that by getting out straight away, I had also killed some trendships with benefits with the proverbial double edged sword.

I made some good plays as well, including catching some falling knives such as MS at $26.20 (very near to its recent support level - one gold star, no make that two) and sticking with C for a few years.


And now, for what I thought was my top secret super duper forex trading strategy... don't take it from me... it seems others, such as Todd Gordon, have been trading it for a while, which means I need to open my eyes and pay attention to what other better traders are doing.

The world is big and hiding behind a coral reef all the time doesn't work!

I need to start thinking about scale now.

Keep thinking big, Happy Shiny Forex Traders! The worst thing anyone can say about your trading is probably... your pips are too small.



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