March Results

March is now in the books and I've tallied the final results. It was another great month, yet as I type this I have a really hard time remembering what that's like. April is shaping up to be a real struggle, but I'm working the plan. As for MAR expiration, here is what happened:

Condors:

• 5 trades
• 4 winners, 1 loser
• +5.5% average

Vertical Credit Spreads:

• 10 trades
• 8 winners, 2 losers
• +10.2% average

Calendars:

• 1 trade
• 1 loser
• -56% average

Totals:

• 16 trades
• 12 winners, 4 losers
• Overall ROIC: 6.9%

While an ROIC of 6.9% for the month is good, please don't forget that this is ROIC, not ROE. In other words, this is the return on my capital at risk, and NOT the amount that my overall account grew. I am still keeping a lot in cash so my overall account growth was much lower (3.29% in this case). Nonetheless, I can't complain.

I'd also like to capture my significant lesson for the month. If I had to summarize it in a phrase it would be: "Don't listen to talking heads." One the things I've discovered is that I'm not bad at technical analysis, which when combined with good trading rules makes for a decent outcome. As I start listening to the gurus, or the CNBC talking heads it tends to cause me a lot more confusion. I need to remember to stick to the charts and do my thing and all will be well.

Good trading…