I dont see myself making any more trades this year unless something fucky happens so I put together my closed position data for 2023. Not all these trades opened in 2023, but most did.
Total Closed positions = 49
Closed Equity Positions = 28 (57.1%)
Closed Option positions = 18 (36.7%)
Closed Bond Positions = 3 (6.2%)
Total Positions Closed With Gain = 40 (81.6%)
Total Positions Closed With Loss = 9 (18.4%)
A few observations:
Cutting my bad trades short at a 10% loss worked out in my favor in nearly every trade. In a couple of cases the stock rebounded well, but overwhelmingly, this rule worked out to my benefit. In a couple of trades, I just couldn't get a satisfactory read on the price movement (CVS, MMM) and in those cases I always default to cut my losses and walk away. CVS was the right call and it tanked while MMM rebounded nicely.
I cannot stress this enough. Set a loss percentage and if a trade goes south and hits that percentage, walk the fuck away. Every. Fucking. Time. If you walk away with 90 or 95% of your investment, you can make up that loss on the next trade, or the one after that. Trying to make up 30, 40 or 50% on the next trade is all but impossible.
A few of my trades for loss were I believe fundamentally sound trades but I fucked up the entry price. Its not about just being right. You have to be right at the correct time and the correct price. I call this the Michael Burry rule. It is difficult to nail all three.
I still believe SPIR is and will be a good company. I love their model. This is a trade where emotion got the better of me. That, combined with the large profit I banked on their SPAC conversion, let me to run with it as long as I did. Ultimately that loss ate up all the profit I made on their SPAC conversion plus another 15 or 20%. Never trade with emotion. Trade what's in front of you.
I end the year with a big pile of cash which is not ideal. It earning 5% while it sits so that takes some of the sting out of it. I truly did not see Powell's comments coming and that cost me those shares which I would have preferred not to lose. Only time will tell if it bites me in the ass and how much it hurts. I don't envision making any significant trades through the end of the year unless something really odd happens so we shall see what the new year brings.
Finally, I have been accused of using this thread as a personal blog. I don't see it that way but who knows. The reason I post is to try to share some knowledge and help people here make some money. I don't do "paper trades". I use my real money. A part of why I post as much as I do is I don't believe anyone should be posting actual trades or trading advice here without backing up their thoughts with legitimate supporting info. This thread isnt a Discord pump and dump. Also, I am not referring to posts like "I like this stock" or "I think this sector is gonna moon". Thats generic. Post away those ideas. On the other hand, if you are gonna post specific trade info "I shorted TSLA at $x.xx" or "I went long the cruise lines and airlines", there might be people inclined to follow you into those trades so you should be willing to show you actually did it.
You might need to zoom in on this as I made the font small so it all fit on a single screen. Ps... Fidelity ATP exporting into Excel makes me happy.
View attachment 504741