(mostly written on the 23rd, partially written on the 28th)
I can’t let myself celebrate too much because I’m still lacking significantly in my basic competency, but I’ve had two green trading days in a row. 🎉
I think I made $48 on Friday, for an overall $36 gain in my old trading account before pulling my money out because it’s a terrible platform to day trade on.
It’s great for swing traders, but yikes–brutal for day traders.
Anyway, so my money settled in threeish days on my new platform, a full three weeks faster than my old one!
😶
Totally boggles my mind that it took 3 1/2 weeks for electronically transferred funds to settle.
Good gravy.
Anyway, day one of trading on my new platform was really up and down. I was down big at over point and up decently as well at one point. By the time I pried myself away around noonish? I was down about $47 from my high of the day but still up a little over $150 on the day.
🎉
I made mistakes in so many areas (functional, strategic, emotional–everything), so maybe I’m lucky to be green. 😅
The new platform is much better for day trading, but it’s definitely got a learning curve. I can get in and out of positions quicker, as it’s one-button actions, with no required confirmation.
That’s great, unless you accidentally click more times than you meant to, or if you accidentally clicked the wrong button, which… I did of both multiple times, I think.
One of the mistakes actually turned out to be a mistake in my favor, as I accidentally tried to short sold Tesla–twice!!!
The first time, I accidentally sold 40 shares when I didn’t even own any shares. 😶 Gratefully, that turned out to happen right as the stock dropped, so as I frantically tried to get my bearings, trying, with a totally flooded emotion center, to remember what I had to do to get out of the trade.
Once I remembered that I needed to click the buy button twice, I exited the trade, gratefully making a decent but of money on the trade! 😅🥳
I did that one other time accidentally as well, and I think I was somewhere around break even on the trade, as i got out immediately.
I also accidentally clicked out of the order screen–in the middle of a trade–without realizing how I’d done that. It probably took me 30 seconds? to figure out what I’d done, panicked because I couldn’t get out of the position, completely at the mercy of the price volatility.
I didn’t even remember how that particular trade turned out: I just remember being panicked.
Now I know what I did, so I should be ok in the future on that one, but oh boy, it was nerve wracking!
The short selling and losing the order window and the high learning curve getting out of positions were functional failures.
What else… I held too long multiple times. I revenge traded a bit. I traded to hit a dollar goal, I traded less-than-ideal setups…
Those were all emotional failings.
Let’s see… I forgot to check the MACD. I’m still super deficient in understanding how to estimate my risk/reward numbers before a trade. I’m struggling to use Level 2 on the new platform because it’s really far away from the order window buttons, so I either need to find a new layout, or I need to program hot keys.
We’ll see.
I’m still not sure I’m even going to day trade. I’m just feeling it out, mostly because I love the idea of growing my retirement account completely tax free.
🤑
🙃
Anyway, I’ve been pounding away at JustAnswer. Well, Saturday and Sunday, that is… I’ve mostly been trading today and tying up JA odds and ends.
Currently, I’m sitting at the DMV, waiting to get my license renewed because it expires tomorrow. Funny, I remember when I got it. I think I wondered if I even should (I didn’t expect myself to stay in Arkansas very long).
I drove to Nixa yesterday to return that Pixel 7 Pro that hadn’t been paid off. Gratefully, the gentleman took it back, and I drove Rover because, well, first of all, apparently I lost the key to Happy, but also because I could turn on Starlink and make money on the commute, so I did, answering several questions, which paid for the gas and more.
I also did a preliminary install of the cheapo screen on my busted Pixel 7 Pro. Gratefully, it looks pretty decent so far, so… I’ll take it for now.
At the very least, it allowed me to get all my pictures and files off the phone, which I did while working for JA, I think.
Well… that’s all I’ve got for the moment. I’ll be back later tonight.
…
😅
Whoops. It’s the 28th now. 🙃
Let’s see… So to finish out the day, I’ll try and put myself back the way I was thinking , as usual.
At some point in time in the evening, I looked at my account balance, and even though I had made $150 on the day, my account only said that I had 139 new dollars. So I went back and started looking around, and I found that I was charged 11ish in fees.
Wait, I thought trading was free? I had just talked to a representative on Saturday, and she said the only fees that I would be charged would be if I was borrowing money and holding it overnight, or if I was buying foreign stocks.
So where did my $11 in fees come from?
🤔
Well, after getting on the horn with customer service, I found out that they do indeed charge fees. They tout themselves as trans this hugely transparent company that puts any fees up front and easy to see, except for they failed to mention the one fee that everybody has to pay all the time.
Oh wait, they do mention it. It’s footnote number 5 in tiny print at the bottom of the page after they’ve gone on and on and on about how transparent they are with their fees.
To be fair, it’s not actually a see they make money on, I don’t think. They’re just passing along the fees that they are charged from the exchanges, as I guess there were new federal regulations or something about fees that had to be charged, so fees skyrocketed. So even though I made $150, I only actually got to keep $139 of it.
Gratefully, Charles Schwab gave me a $25 one-time credit. But it was still a little disheartening to see nearly 10% of my earnings going to fees.
Anyway, switching topics, I verified today from one of my fellow experts. I just answer, one of the attorneys, that giving them copies of wiring diagrams and what not that are copyrighted is against the law. I’ve gotten flack for not giving out the diagrams because other experts do.
I think I have buckled to the pressure. Maybe two or three times, but now that I have concrete information that it is indeed illegal, that won’t happen at all anymore.
I’m nervous for my birthday tomorrow.
Given my nature, it’s very awkward for me to have a birthday on the 24th. I’m always worried about what people are thinking, and I don’t want to bother people, and so I’m uncomfortable going to any Christmas parties that people are having on my birthday because I sort of feel like a wet blanket or an obligation.
Probably not going to go to any of the family Christmas parties because of that.
Anyway…
I’m grateful
- I’m grateful to have two green trading days in a row, despite the rude awakening with the fee issue
Lift the world.
~ stephen
Lift the World 