2013 Trading with the Geek Recap – Follow Me and Make 22% Return of your Investment!
2013 – A Good Year Of Trading. Recapping The Geek Account “To Date”
Any year that you can at least break even is a good one in my opinion. Anyone who has ever traded real money I think will agree with me. Trading is hard, it is hard to make a profit, it is hard to understand market direction and it is hard to overcome personal obstacles. The fact I have been able to post profits in the year is perhaps a testament to the statement that I have been able to overcome at least some of the hurdles involved with trading. One thing that has helped me is trading binary. With binary there is no worry of margins, draw downs, unlimited risk, delta, theta or any of the other option greeks. Binary makes trading a bit more simple so that you can focus on the really hard part, the technical analysis.
Aside from one or two attempts at range and touch options I spent my year trading directional calls and puts. In total I have made over 200 trades on CommuniTraders over the past year with a better than 57% profitability. This is not a huge number but it is above the 54.5% point at which binary trading becomes profitable. For the year, in dollar terms, I have been able to increase my account by nearly 22% (this includes the value of my open trades which I think is relevant here, my account stands at 23,281 with 11 open trades worth $100 each). 22% is not bad, just think, if my account was $100K I would have made $22,000 for the year, not quite enough to retire on but pretty dam close if I do say so myself.
Total Cost Of Trading for 2013 = (216 Trades * $100) = $21,600
Total Return On Winners = $+26,352
Net Profit/Loss = +$4,752 ( +22% return of investment)
Here is the breakdown by statistics provided by the Communitraders platform. I have made 216 trades since the platform came on line and I began tracking the Geek account on it. Of those 119 are winners. My standard trade is $100 at this time but I also made a few trades that were either smaller or larger than my standard. I will be uping my risk amount to $200 for the new year.
My Best Asset: S$P500
My best asset for the year, the S&P 500. This is my favorite asset and top traded asset, I make a tip on it every week. My worst asset is the EUR/USD. I make tips on it almost every week but not quite. My best strategy is calls which makes sense. We are in a bull market so trading bull positions should be better than trading bear positions. My success rate with call positions is over 67%, well above the profitability line. My success rate with puts at this time is a mere 33%, much too low to consider puts a viable for me at this time (this will change when the market does and I switch my trend following calls to trend following puts).
What Should I Do With My Own Trade Data?
What is there and how does this information help me? In a number of ways actually. This is one area of trading that is very important, especially beginners. It can be hard to see where you are making mistakes and where you are having successes without trade data. You may think that one asset is better for you than another, or that you do better when you trade 60 Second options over weekly or monthlies. The data will reveal the truth. Data available from CT is pretty good and will get better in the 2.0 version, don’t forget we’re still in beta. CT lists how many trades you have made, how many were wins and how many were losses. It also breaks that data down into more specific points such as best and worst asset, best and worst strategy and then breaks it all down by day, week, month, year and all time.
First, my best asset, my best asset is the S&P 500. I will keep trading my best asset because it gives me the best returns. The longer I watch the same market the more in tune with it I will be and the better able to trade it profitably. Second, my best strategy is calls. I was already targeting that strategy over puts or touch/range options because of the trend. I will continue to trade calls over puts so long as the trend is up, when it changes so will I. If I target my best asset and my best strategy I should be able to improve my success rate and therefore my profits.
As for my worst strategy, that was puts. Because of this I need to reexamine my put strategy. For now, I will not trade puts on any asset that is not in a clearly defined downtrend. This includes potential trades at the tops of trading ranges, which brings me to the next data point. My worst assets. My worst asset last year was the EUR/USD. I know that many of my failed EUR/USD trades occurred when it was trading at or near the top of potential ranges. I chose puts for these trades and lost several times. Notice how my worst asset and strategy were caused by the same trade.
To be Continued on 2014
My analysis for the total Geek account: Keep trading calls on the S&p 500 and be more careful of signals when trading puts on the EUR/USD. If the Geek account were intended for wild profits I would most likely quit trading the EUR/USD with the currently used strategy in order to cut my “losing streak” and focus on my “winning streak”. However, since I am a tenacious and dedicated trader and the Geek Account is intended for educational purposes I think what I will actually do is redouble my efforts to understand the market, and to wait for better signals.
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