Defining My 2008 Trading Goals and Resolutions

Calendar January 6, 2008 | Posted by Jorge

This is taken directly from the Option Addict:

Speaking of which, it might sound corny…but I am a big believer in setting personal goals and resolutions each year. If you haven’t done this already, spend a small amount of time over the weekend thinking it over. Make sure that you dedicate at least 5 specific trading goals. Don’t create a bunch of generic crap like…

I want to make as much money as possible…

I want to read two books that will make me a better trader…

I want to create better trading rules…

Be specific. Challenge yourself. More importantly; be realistic.

Since I found his blog back in November, I’ve become much more focused and have actually made some headway into profiting from the markets. In the three days I’ve traded this year, I’m up $250 on what started as an $1800 for the year. That’s approximately 15% so far in just three days. But in any event, here’s what I’ve come up so far in terms of resolutions and goals for the new year:

  1. I’d like to try and double my current account balance ($1800). The current account balance is small so I don’t think it will be too much of an issue. I may have to take an extra risk here or there but I think it’s achievable.
  2. Grow my deposited balance to $10,000. As much as I’d want to think I could turn a 500% profit in a year, I won’t have $10,000 in my account solely by trading (now if I do, I’m quitting school tomorrow and doing this full time!). I would like to save up enough money during the year to bring my account balance to $10,000 if possible.
  3. This may sound generic, but I need to stick to my rules and become more disciplined. I didn’t have a great start to the year with this resolution and it did cost me. A few days ago I posted a nasty downturn in Mastercard (MA). Had I closed the position when it fell below my line in the sand, not only would I have not taken a $300 hit on Friday’s horrible action, but I would have had more funds available to short other positions which were profitable and perhaps be up more than 15% so far on my account. My puts on Friday brought in $400. Add that to the $300 UNNECESSARY loss I took, and yesterday would have been the single biggest gain since my lucky strike with EMC Corp. (EMC) back in September 2007.
  4. Finish my reading resources! I really need to finish Murphy’s Technical Analysis text as soon as possible. Too many nuggets of information in there to pass up on. I’d also like to read Trading Rules that Work: The 28 Lessons Every Trader Must Master, by J. Jankovsky. The folks at Shadowtrader dot net have been reading excerpts from the book over the past few days and it appears to be a good and interesting read.
  5. Involve my fiancee in our finances and investments.  This will be the hardest task to complete only because she’s so adverse to having any sort of money in an investment.  She’s had a bad experience with family attempting to invest and seeing it backfire.  I’m sure I can get her to begin accepting the markets as a way to bring in extra income, and perhaps make it a way of life one day, but for now we’ll take baby steps.
  6. Improve my blogging habits.  I know I’ve been on a posting tear the past few days but you always find time when you have days off from work.  I know starting tomorrow my postings will become more spaced out since we start back to our routines but I’ll try my hardest to have at least 4 to 5 posts a week although I am enjoying throwing up 2, 3, or even 4 posts a day.

Have you made your goals and resolutions for the new year?  If so, I’d like to hear about it!  Drop me a line or a comment with some of your resolutions.  Have a great rest of your weekend and hopefully we’ll see the markets recover tomorrow (not like I care since I’m 80% cash, hah).

Category Categories: Portfolio Progress, Trading Strategies | Tag Tags: | Comments Comments

  • Congrats on the good start to the year. I also like to have specific new years resolutions. You can check them out here: http://traderbubs.com/2007/12/26/2008-personal-...
  • I have a few personal goals too. I really need to lose about 30 lbs before the wedding (50 days and counting...). I also need to graduate and in a hurry. 8 years of college and not leaving with a medical degree feels almost like a waste of time.
  • Geoff
    What broker do you use?
    I'm curious because I'm in a similar situation; I'm a student with an account of $3000.
    I became discouraged trading options with such a small account because when you factor in the commissions - I use OptionsXpress, and they charge $15 a trade - and the spread, the odds of a profitable trade are not very good.
    The spreads can be controlled by having a rule to only trade options with small spreads, but when I looked around for a cheaper broker, I found that to open an account with most of them required a $5000 minimum deposit, so I was curious to know what broker you trade with, and how much they charge in commissions?
    Thanks!
  • Geoff:

    I use thinkorswim. They have a software platform as well as the web based platform but I highly suggest learning the software platform even though it seems daunting at first. I have commissions of $1.25 per contract so commissions are really not a factor. They say you need to fund your account with $3500 but I did mine in pieces and they still activated my account.

    If you decide to go with thinkorswim, a couple of tips. First, register for an account (just a regular, not a trading) and download their software. Use the software to paper trade for a few days while you learn the software. Then, go ahead and fill out the individual account info. Before the funding process, send TOS an email regarding your commission. They will match whatever commission you can find on the internet with the bigger brokerage firms (like Interactive Brokers, Zecco, etc). They'll match commissions as best as they can. It works well if you trade in single lots. If you trade in 10 lots, they have good fee packages which come with perks such as a rebate for your internet access and no commissions upon closing short positions 0.05 or under.

    I have to write up a detailed review on thinkorswim but I've never been happier. I'll put a review on the front burner in case you need a little bit of a nudge to change. If you do decide to go to TOS, would you mind if I use you as a referral? It's $50!

    Oh, if you're in the US and you fund a TOS account, you get a free monkey. It's a stuffed monkey of course.
  • Geoff
    Hi Jorge,
    That's what I was afraid of; I really wish I could use ToS but I live in Canada and unfortunately they don't offer it here (not yet at least).
    Interactive Brokers allows Canadians to sign up, but it says the account minimum is something like 10k. I'll send them an email asking if there's any way around that.
    Thanks a lot for your reply, and best of luck to you and your trading in the new year.
  • Geoff,

    Not yet, however, TOS has weekly Wednesday chats with their high up folks and they let us know that very soon they'll be offering their services in the Great White North. I think they're looking at a mid-February target for it. If I hear anything I'll let ya know. I came from Zecco which had free stock trades and fairly cheap options commissions. You'd have to pay me a large sum of money to leave TOS. They're that good and so friendly too.
  • Hope all your goals are achieved.
  • Thank you and the same goes to you. Let's make 2008 a profitable one even with the hard times the markets are facing.
  • Nice list. Hope you get there. And good luck with No.5. I gave up trying to get my wife in on the action because whenever I brought it up, the coversation would end up as a discussion on whether I should get a job...
  • Yeah I know what you mean Franklin. Any time I mention the stock market, I get the usual eye rolling. I made the mistake of telling her how I'd like to do this full time. The response? Her secretary job would be the breadwinner of the family. Talk about confidence! Actually once I have a full year of trading under my belt, I'll approach her and let her know what's going on.
  • Geoff,

    If you're still reading this, thinkorswim just opened up in Ontario. Just a heads up!
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