TradeForGain.com

Archive for April, 2008

This has been my best month ever so far in 2008. My objective is to make between 4-5% a month on average during the year while maintaining my risk % of capital at 1.5% tops.

This month’s results are way above my target and I’m obviously happy about it but this is not the time to brag, I’m not selling anything on this site. My sole objective here is to be disciplined, record all my trades an most importantly learn from my mistakes.

Things I have done right this month

• Didn’t guess my patterns, they are starting to become more and more clear when I see them — the key one: Failed to Drop or FTD — it’s a cash cow machine, try it.
• My Average Risk % of Capital was 1.5% on average
• My Win/Loss ratio - 59% is very good.
• I cut my losses short - no single trades with losses above 5% (that’s GOOD)
• I feel my method has been gaining consistency and I am probably doing a better job at managing my risks. Blogging and receiving comments on my trades has also been invaluable in making me a better trader.

Things I have to improve

• I said my Average Risk % of Capital was 1.5% on "average" — when looking at my trades (below) I saw a number of trades where I risked too much — that is WRONG!
• My risk x reward ratio was 1.4, which is better than the previous months but is still very low, meaning I’m risking 1 dollar to earn 1.5… it should really be above 2.0. Is this related to my discretionary trading system? It can only be sustained if I keep my Win/Loss ratio at above 53% which doesn’t seem to be a problem.
• Exits are still a bit premature (BAM-A.TO, SU.TO) - have to refine my exit method and stick to it.

Trades this Month - The following are my trades for this month. Most profitable trades are highlighted in yellow. There is a corresponding post in the blog for each one of the trades.

Hope you had a good month too! I have received a number of emails asking about when I will launch my subscription services and the answer is not until end of this year. Will keep you posted.

Good luck to you tomorrow.

Stock has been very depressed over many months, I see a trend change here and will try to capitalize on a move to $56.

Overbought/Oversold levels  - still far away from being overbought .. maybe a good target would be $52-53.

How about volume/participation?

Pay close attention to these stocks, they are well positioned to continue upwards.

Acadia Realty Trust (AKR)

Shoppers Drug Mart (SC.TO)

Laboratory Holding (LH)

Manulife (MFC)

Canadian Pacific (CP)

Closing TD Bank for now. I am not too comfortable with the small volume on the way up. Will get back when it pulls back and makes a higher high. I’m happy with the 1.3% in 6 days.

The stock is now above the bands which could ignite a pullback. Please see below.