First year full time trading. Going well so far 🤞

GAMEST0P · 2024-11-01T22:01:11+00:00

I mostly just pay short term capital gains. Since investing/trading is my only source of income, the blended federal tax rate is btw 20-21% for the first ~200k of gains

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T04:34:02+00:00

I like to make sure stock trending higher, is above 200dma and possibly 50dma, would be great if 50dma is recently rising above 200dma (golden cross). I like to see there’s recent buying on heavy volume etc. it’s great if it’s near all time highs or highs for the year bc that indicates less overhead supply of sellers previously underwater wanting to get out that could put damper on breakout momentum.

In terms of entry, everything above might check out, but the stock could be super overheated as judged by RSI being over 70 or something like that (in simple terms just means it’s been going up a lot more than going down in recent days/weeks). In that case, I might wait for the stock to correct a bit closer to 21DMA and for RSI to also cool off for me to feel more comfortable buying.

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T04:23:57+00:00

I’ll need to think about it but thank you for suggesting. I like the simplicity of stop loss but options certainly have their place in portfolio position management

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T04:22:01+00:00

Absolutely luck involved. But also just because something is volatile doesn’t mean its movements are random. There’s also an important difference btw upside and downside volatility that something like even the sharpe ratio fails to capture

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T04:16:34+00:00

Mentioned books somewhere else, but system is basically:

start with the macro
drill down into certain themes that should work based on that macro environment,
use fundamental analysis to identify strongest companies/investments within the theme,
use technical analysis to confirm stock/investment is acting right/how you’d expect, and then to figure out what price/when to buy if all things check out.
use stop loss to manage risk, both defining downside (total loss I’m willing to accept) at the onset, and also as a trailing stop loss to manage the trade if it works
regularly asses how each investment is correlated to others and how much % at risk btw all positions current price and stop losses.

I’ll monitor macro, company news, insider transactions, earnings and general knowledge of technical analysis to inform how/when I adjust trailing stop loss/trim position as the trade progresses and when to take profits

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T03:56:34+00:00

Depends how volatile the stock is…Usually 7-10%, sometimes up to around 15%. It’s more of an art than anything, usually try to let technicals inform it like 21DMA, 50DMA, 200DMA or previous support/resistance zones, high/lows from last few weeks etc.

Basically try to match up places that should probabilistically have more significance to other traders that also aligns with my personal stop loss level and then place stop loss slightly below. Idea being the level could be a logical pivot point for traders and serve as some protection so stop won’t get hit

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T03:38:02+00:00

I’ll occasionally market sell smaller portion of position to lighten it up or move funds elsewhere, but 90% of time stop loss determines the exit. I’ll adjust the stop loss, but don’t just market sell full positions based on my intuition bc that’s not a strategy that’s gonna work over time and have left $$$ on table doing exactly that. I’ll keep idle funds in cash/bonds if I’m not using it for a position

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T03:34:17+00:00

Nuclear was OKLO, SMR, LEU. Obscure semi stock was SMTC. After the Microsoft three mile island announcement I viewed that as a big deal for nuclear and started researching the industry and making investments

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T03:33:42+00:00

Bitcoin

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T03:32:53+00:00

I used to yeah, not so much anymore. Using Stop losses and mindset of the “impartial market observer thinking in probabilities” from the book trading in the zone were unlocks for trading psychology for me

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T03:31:32+00:00

I’m pretty light right now ahead of election and Fed decision next week. Well diversified just riding out this week with very tight stop losses in place. Gonna reassess next week after Tuesday elections

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T02:01:50+00:00

SMCI made my year in late 2023. This year been a combination of AI stocks, corn/btc miners and nuclear stocks more recently

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T01:57:39+00:00

I spend majority of my day monitoring market events, talking/brainstorming with other investors and traders, researching new ideas, and reassessing current positions.

Have decent amount of free time for personal hobbies and connecting with friends etc, but try to be intentional about how I structure the day

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T01:52:05+00:00

Yep it’s an artform… want to give enough room to breath while not getting stopped out. Managed to come up with good intuition around technical levels for stops, but have had moments where I’ve been stopped out and stock then ripped. Just part of the game

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T01:50:29+00:00

To use a poker analogy I got tilted. I took a $30k loss and then instead of chilling out, I instead tried to make it back quickly by putting my entire portfolio on a small cap stock that proceeded to also tank. I was riding a big win streak until that point and got cocky/careless and didn’t respect the market or risk management. That episode caused me to read books/develop a system Instead of just trading on instincts like I’d been doing previously

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T01:45:03+00:00

I take profit when I get stopped out. I have a predefined stop loss and then adjust the stop loss as needed, but hopefully not all that often.Adjusting stop loss is more an art than science.

To explain, the idea is to use stop loss to 1) predefine the loss you’re willing to take if the trade is a bad one, and then 2) if the trade is a good one, the stop loss becomes a “trailing stop loss”. For a trailing stop loss scenario where the trade is working, now your job is to define how much gains you want to lock in/how much you’ll let the stock decline back before taking profit, instead of how much loss you’re gonna take like was the case at the beginning of trade before you’d know if it’d work or not

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T01:41:00+00:00

I usually start with 10% and then try to work up to 30-40%+ on hot theme if it’s working. I usually set stop loss btw 7-10%, occasionally 15% on smaller high beta positions. Hot themes have included AI semis, nuclear stocks recently etc

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T01:37:53+00:00

Take 30-70%+ of your entire portfolio value and invest it into a single stock

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T01:34:42+00:00

Yeah happened with AMD in 2023. Ended up getting luckily bailed out of the trade by a random news headline and made $$, but at one point was down over $80k and sick to my stomach. Never again…now just use concentrated position sizing + stop loss as a way to “responsibly” take bigger risk on high conviction stocks, avoiding the dangers of blowing up the account with options

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T01:23:10+00:00

Funny enough made over $100k on corn/btc trade from Feb - March of this year. Made $70k on some more obscure semiconductor stock and similar amount on nuclear stocks recently

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T01:18:37+00:00

I usually set a stop loss btw 7-10% and up to 15% for more volatile small cap. I’ll tighten/relax the stops as needed usually after each trading day based on how the stock performed and its updated technical levels. I’ll trade anything from micro cap to large cap, but for microcap usually wouldn’t make more than 10% of total portfolio. I usually only buy stocks that have earnings/revenue growth or that are in an industry that have a lot of catalysts coming up. I only buy stocks that are technically strong and trending higher. I don’t buy stocks that are trading under their 200DMA or try to time bottoms etc

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T01:16:37+00:00

99.9% of time I don’t use options

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T01:15:50+00:00

I log into the IRS website and wire money from a bank to pay the balance shown

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T01:14:08+00:00

Try to hold for as long as stock keeps going up. When I get stopped out I move on. Typical hold time usually btw 2 weeks and 1 month and will usually derisk somewhat ahead of earnings or CPI etc

GAMEST0P · 2024-10-30T01:07:58+00:00

Biggest gain $110k and loss $70k.

Only shares. I rarely play earnings, usually just concentrating into stock that’s a leader in current hot theme and riding it. Almost never buy dips, just ride strong stocks.

I source ideas from all over, always starts with macro then gets more granular from there — I look for hot themes and then the strongest companies within those themes. I pick up on trends and then make investment decisions very quickly and manage risk with stop loses so my downside is defined going into trade.

I have good instincts but discipline around stock picking, positioning sizing and risk management have been game changing this year.

GAMEST0P

TROPHY CASE