It Begins

Hello there - I decided it's time to start a blog to keep track of my trades and to see how I perform publicly over a period of time.  Hopefully it will provide some guidance and help others gain more insight into how markets work.

Purpose
My goal is to supplement my current income and to hopefully turn this into a full time opportunity in the future.  I enjoy this business because trading is almost a mirror of life: there are great streaks and long dry spells and it's important to learn how to get back on your feet quickly.  It teaches you to evaluate all possibilities, what could happen, what might happen, and what is likely to happen.  You will be surprised how many times the "what could/might happen" category occurs.

I've been actively involved in the markets for 3 years now but have been more serious about in the past year.  I have had my share of losses (the tuition you pay to learn this business) and had my share of big wins.  To think anyone has been successful from the get-go is folly.

To further add transparency, I am setting a hypothetical $100,000 account starting 2/10/13 and see how the trades persist over time.  The initial goal for 2013 is 50% return.  The ultimate goal is 7 figures.

Trading style
I am a short/intermediate term swing trader and I only trade a few securities: leveraged SPX and volatility ETFs.  My holding period on average is 3 days to 14 days.  Sometimes I will trade a security for only 1 day if I think the risk/reward has been met in that short amount of time.

I would like to point out that I would never recommend these to beginner or even intermediate traders because 1) the risk of loss is far greater 2) risk management is more difficult 3) time decay and 4) timing is difficult.

I'm a believer in mastering a few securities rather than trading a broad spectrum hence why I only mention trading SPX and volatility.  You might see some perspectives on other assets i.e. commodities, real estate, bonds but I believe my edge remains in SPX and volatility.  Others I can move into once I feel the edge is sufficient enough for me to branch out.

Blog Topics
There are a few topics I will mainly focus on:
1.  Trades/Market outlook - the trades are made publicly for accountability.  I have seen many others backtrack on their calls which hurts their credibility.  Here you will see all mistakes and all victories.

2.  Business - As an avid follower of all topics related to business, I may post links/topics I find worthy of discussion.

3.  Psychology - markets are an interesting lens into human psychology.

I hope this blog will be helpful for anyone who comes across it.  Always feel free to send me a note or leave a comment.  Thanks