Super traders of Van Tharp Institute

I just read a newsletter from Van Tharp Institute. One particular paragraph struck me:

'Most of our Super Traders are doing short term trading in the equities market. Some of them can pull out 4-5R each week, which adds up to 200R plus each year. And one of them is doing 4R per day with just an hour of trading—but it’s not the system that does it, it’s her ability to just flow with the market.'

Hmmph, I am here just doing 15R thereabouts in 6 months. But they are 'Super Traders'. One day I will be like them. I will not be greedy. I will learn and I will be patient.

Anyway, I am looking at the forex market as well. My demo results so far are not bad. But I guess it is too early to tell. I have learnt about risk management and emotional management in the stock market. It should be useful in other markets as well. 

Bought Capitaland at 4.16

4.1 cut loss.

I am buying right at support. Reward: risk is more than 3:1.

Have a Merry Christmas!

DBS cut at 14.58

I have cut DBS at 14.58. Sometimes there is slippage. This is part and parcel of trading.

DBS doji at 14.68

I will look at Dow in the morning and make my decision to cut or not. The market is like a box chocolates: you never know what you gonna get. I trade on that premise. I do not predict. I trade probability over the long term. Any one trade should not make or break you. If it does, then you are a gambler.

As you saw in my blog, I lost more than half of the time, yet my gains far outweigh all my losses. Small losses mark the skilled trader. But when he profits, oh boy does he ride them!

Bought DBS at 14.78

Cut loss at 14.68
Target 15.26
R = 14.78 - 14.68 = 0.10
Reward = 15.26 - 14.78 = 0.48

14.68 is a breach of the 14D MA.

I will look at End-of-Day data only. Meaning for this trade, I will pretty much decide what to do (cut or take profit) only at the end of the day.

Monthly Review of Trades (MRT Nov)

23/10 DBS long $13
24/11 sold $14.84
Profit: 8.5R (Dividend NOT counted)

DBS has dividends too. My profit in this blog do not count them because I do not trade for dividends. Period. If DBS falls off the cliff, I am NOT going to hold for dividends. Period.

As of now about 6 months into the blog, I am making about 15% profits of my trading capital. It is not exact, I know, I do not really count them yet. Just an estimation will do. Trading is not exact science. It is more an art. Any ONE trade does not matter to me. What matters to me is consistency and control of risk over a period of time to emerge with greater growth. That is why I never get too euphoric or disappointed about any single trade. I simply move on to the next trade.

Staying out for now

I see lots of excuses to stay out for now. Bank stocks all breached their supports. OCBC breached and came back up making a reversal doji. But I do not think it is valid. Indices, HSI and Nikkei look like they are losing their footing on a cliff, despite their subdued recovery today.

I do not see any of DBS, OCBC, SIA, Wilmar, UOB, KepCorp having any favourable setup (3:1 reward:risk) to enter on a dip at this juncture. No breakout setups with 3:1 reward:risk either.

So I wait and monitor at the end of the day.

PS. Only Gold (SPDR Gold Shares) shows any promise. But bear in mind when you trade gold, you also need to be mindful of forex.