Day trading is not working. Yesterday was a typically bad day. Lost almost $700+ but managed to trim down the loss to less than $400 by taking huge long position on WMT but with 55,000 shares traded, the total loss will still be $500+. The main reason was really bad call on MCD and TGT. My emotion caught me when I missed a big mid-day rally. I then put big long-positions on those two stocks without realizing that they were on a down-trend. Had a wide stop-loss. Left the desk at +$100 and came back and I was down $400+; really awful. I cannot sustain myself with this level of bleeding. In my prop account, which I closed last week due to my failure to pass Series 55, I was break-even in actual profit but if I took into account transaction costs, I was down $4,000.
The next couple of months will be make or break for me in terms of day-trading. I really need to very astute and discipline trader. I really need to focus on my risk-reward, and if the reward is high enough, then put large position to take advantage of the possible gain. My main short coming has been that I have failed to register huge gains because my positions have been limited. My gains have to be huge and losses small.
At this rate, the day-trading thing will not work. I should know it for sure by the end of November. I need to start seriously planning for Plans B, C and D before it is too late.
I really do not miss working at Credit Suisse because the last few years had been so frustrating. I felt that my career had totally stalled. In fact, 2004-08 were the dark years. That's after my manager Paddy left and that's when I lost the momentum in my career as I tried to hung to my position without realizing that I should have taken the risks and taken initiative to take control. I was risk-averse and I paid with my stalled-career. And now my 36 and trying to find a vocation.
Working again in the financial sector is the obvious choice but it is not my first choice. If I were to go back I need to have the full support of the mangers. Also I need to go into the area which is not dead-end.
