Today was a bitter-sweet day. The equity markets were down around 1.5% and I made money... good money. But here's the problem: I got lucky. This is one of those days where I'll certainly take the cash, but I feel bad about it (okay, not that bad).
My goal is to become a better trader, and today the trade that I made most of my profit on was one where I didn't follow the rules. Usually when I break the rules it hurts, me... this time happened to be different, but deep down I know that it could have easily gone the other way. The fact is that I should never have been in the trade in the first place. I bought AAPL because I had a pretty good feeling about it. Yikes! I didn't have a plan for getting out, I didn't have stops set, and I convinced myself that it was a good long-term value. That may very well be the case, but it's NOT part of my trading plan. Fortunately Apple had nice earnings and rose nearly $10.00 in two days. "Good feelings" are no way to trade and I'm embarrassed to be writing this, but I suppose that's what this blog is for... to keep me diligent to my plan, expose my weaknesses, and become a much better trader as a result.
Ultimately my goal is to become a great trader, so when I make money on bad trades I have to be extra careful to remind myself that I got lucky. My mantra about following the rules hasn't changed: Stick to the plan, follow the rules, and the profits will take care of themselves. Luck is not a strategy!
Good Trading...
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