Good Day in the Market

I’m hoping to have more of these and with the profits generated by analysis rather than just luck.

I’ll also give you a link to the Chartlog share here. This was such a great trade and something that really makes me think this is something I could do on a regular basis. Though I’ve had some success in the rest of the month, this was a top day.

This month has been pretty successful but I don’t want to put a whammy on it by boasting too early. I’ll do the same thing I did back in March on the first of October with a short report and analysis of the month.

This has been one of the more interesting things I’ve done over the past few years. It’s definitely one of the hardest and, at times, frustrating. My logical mind wants to bend the markets to my will and define them in static and concrete ways. It can’t be done and I need to call on the other trait of a software developer and think abstractly to assist in defining rules and seeing patterns in the charts.

Anyone that wants to follow in these steps please be warned: this is not easy and it’s not something that comes quickly. I’ve been messing around with the markets since May of 2021 and only now am I starting to feel like I’m semi-competent.

Anyways. 0730 comes early. Time to hit the sack.

I Feel Gratitude

On my walk today, after a stop at Starbucks for my double stars incentive, I finally realized how lucky I am. It was a beautiful day, I’m on a walk in the middle of that day, delicious coffee in hand and I’m smiling.

And it hit me: I feel gratitude for what I’ve been given and the freedom to do what I want over the past 6 months. I don’t think I’ve ever uttered, or even thought, that phrase before.

Now don’t go crazy on me: I don’t feel gratitude towards some old person with a beard who resides in the clouds and determines if I’ve been naughty or nice and get to spend my after-life in heaven or hell. No, I think there’s something deeper at play and I just wanted to acknowledge it.

That is all.

Why Are Men in Crisis? | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) – YouTube

One of Bill’s guests describes a few problems that may be contributing to why Men are experiencing such hardship in the new society we’re building.

If you immediately threw your hands up to say there’s inequality between the sexes you might want to give some critical thought to the few things that are mentioned here and then dig into the internet a little bit to counter-balance what the historical rhetoric has indoctrinated you into believing.

I think many people aren’t aware of these facts and it might be worth the time to give this a watch. I’m lucky that I don’t have to deal with many of these items but being an ugly guy with a great personality and sense of humor, I wouldn’t do well on a dating app.

Got Told I Seemed “Happier”

That was irritating. I was on a phone call with a family member and they mentioned how upbeat I seemed. I know I’m happier but to have it acknowledged by someone that was only talking to me on the phone was weird. Backhanded compliment, if you will.

It’s been six months since I had to deal with the problems of a boss who didn’t care, an institution that only acknowledged (or offered assistance) when we were in the news for something cool or won an award and the knowledge that things hadn’t changed in three years and probably wouldn’t for the foreseeable future.

There’s a number of things that proved to me that my job was killing me.

The first is a loss of 35 pounds. This one is easy to attribute to the additional exercise I’m getting with my long walks but might also include the sedentary life of an office worker and easy access to ‘snacks’ on the campus. I’m definitely eating better, and less, than I was when I was in the office. But there’s something else: stress. I used to have a midnight snack and I think it’s because I was being effected by stress. This one is difficult to put my finger on because it’s behavioral and I think when we’re looking at ourselves, it’s the behavioral things that are hard to verify.

Next on the list is my sleep schedule. I’ve always been a night owl, not liking to go to bed before midnight. Not a preference I just wouldn’t be tired enough to get into bed and not stare at the ceiling for an hour before drifting off to dream-land. These days I’m up at 0600 to prepare for the markets and then I’m up all day. I start nodding off at my desk around 2100 and finally surrender to the bed before 2330. This is new behavior for me and I’m enjoying it. I’ve got more to say about the ‘Early to bed, Early to Rise’ topic but I’ll tap it later.

I’m happier; I know that. My life is less complicated than it was and I’m the one responsible for that by making the decision to walk away. I need to make my wife happy, keep myself in decent shape and find myself something interesting to do with my days that will provide me with an income. That last one is a work in progress but I’m working on it.

Is this what happiness looks like?

Notes to Self

After a number of stupid decisions:

You broke rules again today, Chris.

You are going to lose money and it will end this endeavor and then where will you be? Sitting at a desk speaking into a headset asking people to turn it off and on again. What will it take? At some point you’re going to ignore and hold a loss until it clears out what you’ve made already.

We need to be ready for losses but they need to be managed by YOU, not by luck. And that’s what happened today. You got lucky. I don’t even want to look at the chart anymore.

This was a three hour fucking trade that NEVER should have happened. Had you taken the loss and then reversed your position, you would have made MORE money than you just did ($37.85). Sure that’s still 12$ an hour but is that the reason you’re doing this? To make minimum wage risking your own capital? That’s not the idea. 

That is all.

Walking is Good Exercise

When I quit my job on the 4th of March, I decided I wanted to do something a little more interesting with my days so I started going for long walks. A few hours for example.

In the beginning I used it as an opportunity to head over to Inglewood and grab some pizza from Inglewood Pizza. They normally have slices available right from opening and the distance was about right. See I have a problem. Or maybe I used to have a problem?

Just going for a walk sounded so boring? Why? Why was I going outside to wander aimlessly around the city? To what end, I ask you?!? In my head it didn’t make sense. I needed a goal! A target to which I could assign my drive! And pizza, my dear reader, is a worthy goal.

So during the first week or so, after my morning trading session, I would lace up my shoes (purchased during my sabbatical) and walk to Inglewood where I would consume two pieces of pizza: one Hawaiian and one House Special. And then I would come home.

And that was enough for me. Until I started to lose some weight. Then it turned into something different. I was no longer walking for pizza; I was walking because I liked being outside, in the sun and fresh air with the real wind blowing in my face, not air from a fan. And I liked the idea that the weather was GOOD for me.

So I’ve been walking every week since. Usually three days but sometimes more. I’ve dropped 30 pounds since I started and might expect a few more to come off but I’m fine if I stay the way I am. My mood is better, I’m helping more at home and hopefully showing my wife more attention than I was when I was working twelve hours a day.

I’ll keep it up and see what happens. Moral of the story is that pizza is the root of all good things.

March 2022 Results of FT Intraday Trading

This is something I wanted to do as time passes; there’s a need in me to provide evidence of accountability in the things I do when there’s the possibility of me … ‘cheating’ to look like things are going better than they actually are. This activity would be more to fool myself more than anyone else but it can’t hurt to have folks who are interested follow along with my progress. I’ll be adding an entry at the end of each month, if not more often, to celebrate my successes and discuss my failures.

Continue reading “March 2022 Results of FT Intraday Trading”