Jennifer's Trading Resolutions

Tuesday, January 3, 2012 at 11:46AM
Jennifer Galperin

2011 was a good year for me.  I accomplished a lot, and learned a ton.  Sure, I made some mistakes.  But I definitely learned from them.  Here are some of my resolutions to make 2012 another good year for me:

1. If you find one good trade, look for more similar ones.  Experiment to figure out what about the trade made it good.  Was it the market momentum?  The sector or industry of the stocks?  Did earnings or dividends play in?  Was there a liquidity gap or spike that you capitalized on?
2. Share ideas.  Social media and blogging are great ways to communicate with other smart traders, and get a new perspective on your trading.
3. Don’t over-manage orders.  Accept that you can’t always buy at the exact bottom tick or sell at the exact top tick.  What matters is positive, consistent P&L.
4. Give positions room.  Once you have a position, accept that it might move against you a little.  Set a stop-loss and stick to it.  Again, positive and consistent P&L. 
5. Tweak your framework from time to time.  Maybe you found a good trade that makes you look for others in new places.  Maybe you notice a theme, such as missing some opportunities or falling short of target exits.  Maybe a comment to a blog post makes you think about a new idea.  Experiment with your parameters and you might find something interesting.  

What are your resolutions?

Written by Jennifer Galperin. Follow me on Twitter and StockTwits.

 

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