Author Topic: Mr Div's CFD diary :: How to loose R25K in a few easy steps  (Read 163990 times)

JohnnyH

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Re: Mr Div's CFD diary :: How to loose R25K in a few easy steps
« Reply #165 on: January 29, 2016, 02:22:31 pm »


Did take a look at them once - they actually not traded as heavily as your bigger shares - so the graphs are a bit gappy - so would probably be harder to get in and out at your price, depending on time frame I guess.
[/quote]

Yeah I thought as much. Maybe something popular like the STXIND or STXFIN moves around often enough?

I was kind of hoping to find something, like GT247, with a low-ish cost & the ability to put in stop-losses etc, buy one of the ETFs and let it do its thing, checking back weekly or so. Maybe a share like Sasol that moves with the oil price could work as well. It seems to track the oil movements quite closely.

Comments?

Mr_Dividend

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Re: Mr Div's CFD diary :: How to loose R25K in a few easy steps
« Reply #166 on: January 29, 2016, 02:31:26 pm »
You could - it is pretty cheap, 0.1% in and 0.1 out on the total amount - be hard to find cheaper. BUT you are charged nightly interest on long positions - so it would really depend on your time frame. Lastly, you are leveraged and that can hurt so you need a lot better risk management than on a normal stock account. Correctly sizing the position and using stops would help, of course, but stops are frequently not filled at the exact price you after.




Mr_Dividend

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Re: Mr Div's CFD diary :: How to loose R25K in a few easy steps
« Reply #167 on: February 01, 2016, 06:32:16 am »
Week 5 DAY 29 R-5526.76 R473.24 R-29.82 (I expect R4000 to be paid in today)

So, first day on the new system - opened up with a win, excellent. Then about 4 losses in the morning session - and then three wins in the afternoon. All cancelling each other out and just leaving me with the fees -  :D I do think, from here on in, I might just do updates weekly as it's going to be pretty boring - with no big losses or big wins planned.... But we will see how it goes.

I am pretty happy with the way January went on the whole. Had a couple of expensive trades that where in the black, turn red so quickly I just could not deal with them. But it made me think about and then implement, a proper risk strategy and know why I am implementing it. So now I would be quite happy moving R100K into the account knowing I can control the losses.

I would say, over the last month, if I had exited all trades when I was up or down 1.2%, I would be slightly up or would have broken even on the month. It was my exiting that was the huge problem - trying to let the winners run, but on the whole, watching them reverse, and then refusing to sell them until they really hurt. On the whole, going against the trend and looking for reversals cost me.

February is going to be all about trying to find a good setup(s) that work with the trend and then carry on using strict money management. I am going to carry on using 1.2% as my limit/stop although I should really be managing the trade when i am in it with a trailing stop once i get to 1% or so. I might start doing that at some point in the month but at the moment I am more interested in if the trade works or not vs. how much it works.

Once entering a trade, it can ether loses a lot, lose a little, break even, make a little or make a lot. I've had huge problems with the first one. But I think I have now got a system where I will eliminate it from the equation. The next three, will probably cancel each other out so it will be just a matter of letting the winners run once I get a system going.

My preference is still with day trading as this eliminates the often massive gap that happens often in the morning. I like the idea of getting in making a couple of bucks then closing of the day. I do know that the real money would come from swing trading but I'll let time and experience take me down that path.

I have learn't a massive amount from when I started out a month I just hope it carries on.


Mr_Dividend

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Re: Mr Div's CFD diary :: How to loose R25K in a few easy steps
« Reply #168 on: February 02, 2016, 04:22:27 am »
Day 30 R-5553.87 R4446.13 R-27.11

5 loses, 2 drawn and 1 decent win. You would think, with all the tools and indicators at my disposal, that i could at least pick 50% winners right? My wife, who also is a long term investor, is going to be doing the course I did and then take it from there. Personally, it would be great doing this together. I think having another person there to discuss trades would be great and increase the win ratio.

Mr_Dividend

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Re: Mr Div's CFD diary :: How to loose R25K in a few easy steps
« Reply #169 on: February 03, 2016, 06:52:50 am »
Day 31 R-5465.62 R4534.38 R88.25

Breaking a 5 day loosing streak! Was actually a bit disappointed as I had actually made R160 or so, but looking at the statement I see the monthly fee for being connected live to the JSE was taken off (R72.96). Very happy with the way yesterday went. Only had one loss and 4 wins. The best nicest win was shorting telkom but instead of taking profits at 2 x stop, manually moved the stop down as the share decreased - I actually then got double what I had originally planned.


Mr_Dividend

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Re: Mr Div's CFD diary :: How to loose R25K in a few easy steps
« Reply #170 on: February 08, 2016, 07:34:38 am »
Day 34 R-5662.72 R4337.28

As said, not going to update this every day - now I've got some risk management in place it's going to get a bit boring. Although I have had no problem loosing some money BUT learning about the importance of risk management - I do not think I need to loose money while finding a system that works for me. In fact, once I find a system that I am comfortable with, I really am going to want some money to play with. So have started using the demo account but if I see a trade that is too juicy to pass up, will risk my 1% on it.

Patrick

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Re: Mr Div's CFD diary :: How to loose R25K in a few easy steps
« Reply #171 on: February 08, 2016, 12:32:14 pm »
now I've got some risk management in place it's going to get a bit boring
Ah come on, you've got losses to win back. Double up so you can make it back quickly  >:D

Probably school fees well spent actually. Glad you're only risking what can be afforded.

jaDEB

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Re: Mr Div's CFD diary :: How to loose R25K in a few easy steps
« Reply #172 on: February 09, 2016, 08:46:55 am »
Just to note this is not for the faint hearted,

I had my IG Demo account extended, just mailed them and asked.  :TU:

I used R5000 as if I actually had real money in.

Longed NPN, I lost R4000 so far,  :'( , I have not closed my position, thus if NPN opens down, I lost all my money.

Will see.

update, lost R5000 in 3 working days.

Play play deposit R5000 in account today, my wife is going to kill me dead... :'(
« Last Edit: February 09, 2016, 09:11:07 am by jaDEB »
jaDEB

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Mr_Dividend

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Re: Mr Div's CFD diary :: How to loose R25K in a few easy steps
« Reply #173 on: February 09, 2016, 11:31:22 am »
JaDeb :)

Yup, before committing serious money, you need to have a risk strategy, know how to use it, and then use it. At the moment I am just risking 1% of my capital a time. I always have a stop in place - that's decided before entering a trade. I quite like having a trailing loss for profits. Just need to find a system that can comfortably pick 50% winners  ???   :D

jaDEB

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Re: Mr Div's CFD diary :: How to loose R25K in a few easy steps
« Reply #174 on: February 09, 2016, 01:36:22 pm »
OK, lost another R2500, thus have R2500 left from R10,000 (Demo Account)

Longed KIO, BIL, bang gone.

FFS...
jaDEB

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Mr_Dividend

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Re: Mr Div's CFD diary :: How to loose R25K in a few easy steps
« Reply #175 on: February 15, 2016, 07:08:16 am »
Week 7 R-6342.64 R3657.36 R-679.92

Felt slightly more confident last week - slowly getting comfortable with a system that suits me. Did stuff up on Thursday, watched WHL tank on decent results, felt it was an overreaction and jumped in long, breaking all my rules on position sizes and stop losses. Then had to watch it tank even more AND missed out on a good, planned move on Truworths. Did recover a fair amount on Friday and am still hopeful to make some profit this week. The idea was good, the execution was pathetic. Other than that, have a long in EOH that has been ticking up nicely over the week but have been hurt with small shorts on Anglo. Hell, maybe we did hit bottom in resources! I would be surprised though as I haven't heard of demand picking up at all - bar gold. Dead cat bounce?

Half way through feb and still have more than half my account - things are looking up  :D

Mr_Dividend

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Re: Mr Div's CFD diary :: How to loose R25K in a few easy steps
« Reply #176 on: February 22, 2016, 07:22:04 am »
Week 8 R-5926.38 R4073.62 R416.26

Well, was up on the previous week, so that makes a change. 8 losers and 7 winners for the week. At the moment I am trying to buy less shares but then have larger stop losses and swing trade instead of day trade. This week I plan to start re reading study my material from the start again. Weirdly i am almost less confident in TA as a way to make money than when I first started. I say this, because money I was planning on putting into my trading account, I am thinking I would rather buy an oversea's property share.

Mr_Dividend

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Re: Mr Div's CFD diary :: How to loose R25K in a few easy steps
« Reply #177 on: February 25, 2016, 09:46:36 am »


Getting a bit gatvol TBO.

so on the 19th went short on CML @ 6208
on the whole trade is working well, as it decreases I slowly decrease my stop and plan my exit.
so this morning my limit is @ 5950 in profit, but still some breathing room.

now, you see that spike.

wipes out my stop AND GT247 only get me out it's very peak - 6286. So have lost, of course.

Then it comes straight down and now sitting at 5846.

It's not the first time this has happened.

So what do you do? Not use stops??

Having serious doubts about pursuing this TBO.

JohnnyH

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Re: Mr Div's CFD diary :: How to loose R25K in a few easy steps
« Reply #178 on: February 25, 2016, 10:08:00 am »
Do you think it would have been different with another broker? I read somewhere that some brokers guarantee a stop loss?

gcr

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Re: Mr Div's CFD diary :: How to loose R25K in a few easy steps
« Reply #179 on: February 25, 2016, 10:13:41 am »
Have you ever considered talking to a human being at GT247 to establish how their algorithms actually work and why it took you out at the peak. There was a guy who immigrated to London and he castigated this crowd and he reported that he lost megabucks over their platform
Not fully au fait with all the circumstances but maybe make contact with users of GT247 to see what their experiences have been - especially in volatile markets
 
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