Welcome to my stock option blog www.pursuingwealth.com. This is not a get rich quick site, nor am I the hottest investor of all time. I’m an amateur investor who trades stock options, and allow you to watch. Please consult with a professional investment adviser prior to making any investment decisions based on information found on this website.
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**NOTE** Click on the picture to make it larger
My account balance as of today is $68.37, and I have two speculative strategies that I’m playing to bring this experiment to its final stages. It’s one of those “do not try at home” trades. I will sit on my hands and see how these trades play out. If you’ve traded options for some time and have heard of buying options that are about to expire then you will have an idea of what I’m talking about. Until I can perfect the craft I won’t dare share it with the world.
You might be wondering why in the heck I’m still trading with such a small account balance. It’s because I refuse to contemplate the idea of failure with this experiment. I didn’t do a good job of focusing on success early on and I believe that if I think about failure, then I will create failure in real life. So until my account is near $0, I will consider myself still in the game. Another point that I learned a long time ago is that the only way to win, is to stay in the game. As long as I am trading there is still a chance that things could turn around. Over the three years I have been trading I have seen people come and go. They usually get burned by a string of losses and then they quit. Quitting then solidifies everything that the naysayers have said about option trading (it’s too risky, you’ll lose your shirt, it’s only for the experts). It’s only because I refused to listen to the naysayers that I was able to see 400-1000% returns in the option market.
Hey losses are part of the game, and the sooner you accept that, the sooner you will be at peace when you lose money. It amazes me at how fearful people are at losing money trading. I firmly believe that if you have that fear it will poison your decision making. If you use proper money management then fear shouldn’t be an issue anyway. Don’t risk any more than 1-2% of your account balance on any one trade. Yes, I know I didn’t follow my own rule, and believe me I’m paying the price.
It’s getting late here and my computer screen is starting to get blurry. I’ll update you on my CELG trade tomorrow.
Take Care, PW
Welcome to my stock option blog www.pursuingwealth.com. This is not a get rich quick site, nor am I the hottest investor of all time. I’m an amateur investor who trades stock options, and allow you to watch. Please consult with a professional investment adviser prior to making any investment decisions based on information found on this website.
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Turning $401 into a million is quite a feat and something I definitely would write a book about IF it actually had happened…
Why did I choose that title, because my account size is now a whopping $401!
Be careful what you ask for. I asked for an opportunity to see just how good I am as an options trader and now I have to trade with $401. If you thought trading with $1000 was hard, try $401. I agree with my mentors and other authorities that it is smarter to start trading with $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000, but I prefer to buck the trend. That's what my other trading accounts are for. This is my $1000 experiment; well to be politically correct it’s now my $401 experiment. Can I turn $401 into $2000, $2000 into $10,000 and $10,000 into millions? Only time will tell, but first things first, let me at least get to $500. Someone once said that you are only as good as your last few trades, so I guess I suck!
I have nothing to hide. I actually hate when Wall Street Professionals and other traders act like they don't lose money or make any mistakes. Heck, with the credit crisis going on and the collapse of companies like Bear Stearns it’s painfully obvious that even the big boys make mistakes, and big ones at that. I am making it a point that you get full trading transparency here at PursuingWealth.com.
It doesn’t bother me that I lost $600 in a month. However, it does bother me that I lost over 50% of my trading account. That’s too high of a percentage and if I keep this up I won’t be trading in this account for long. I don’t fear losing money like I used to, I got over that fear about two years ago when I lost $13,000 on IBM in a matter of hours.
It also helps that my family is tackling our financial independence from all angles:
1.) The $1000 was not our life savings, and it is a dollar amount that we can afford to lose.
2.) We have an emergency fund set aside for a rainy day (and they do come).
3.) We have 5 mutual funds that we contribute to.
4.) We budget every month and spend less than we earn.
5.) We exercise regularly (saves money on healthcare).
6.) We have joined the Dave Ramsey camp, and are radically paying off our debts. We just celebrated last week because we paid off my wife’s car 2 years early. I have no car payments because I drive a 1989 Honda Accord. Yes I know, it’s not as sexy as driving a BMW, but oh well I’m into riches, not reputation.
So we are slowly but surely trying to get our financial affairs in order, and we have worked very hard to get to this point. Trading stock options is a very small part of the plan, It’s the icing on the cake. If I make it rich trading stock options, then great, if I don’t oh well. My savings, 401k, and mutual funds should pick up the slack.
One last point, $1000 isn’t much once you consider all of the other areas of your life where you bleed out money like soda, coffee, going to the club, going out to eat, or even going to the movies. I watched my mutual fund lose value over the last year and I had no parts in that, so losing $600 in order to make money is alright with me. I consider it tuition paid to the school of hard knocks.
Happy Trading, PW
Welcome to my blog www.pursuingwealth.com. This is not a get rich quick site, nor am I the hottest investor of all time. I’m an amateur investor who trades stock options, and allow you to watch. Please consult with a professional investment adviser prior to making any investment decisions based on information found on this website.
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As promised, here is a video where I evaluate all of my open trades and look for any new trades for the next trading day. The volume recorded a bit low so be sure to turn up your speakers.
Welcome to my Blog www.pursuingwealth.com. I am an amateur investor who trades stock options. Please consult with a professional investment adviser prior to making any investment decisions based on information found on this website.
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Here is a video to show my starting balance of my trading account:
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