JTC:
I hate to start out the New Year with a correction but your statement calls for one.
"They [stock picking contests] were also the nemesis of the old thread."
Sorry, but if you can't identify the nemeses, that flatulent duo, of the old thread by now, I'm about to give up hope of explaining it. :^) (I'll give you a small hint: start with the Numbnutz Twins and look no further.)
As for 2001, well, there are earning years (2000) and there are learning years (2001), aren't there? JimP referred to 2001 as a "push year." ??
Still, I feel I made tremendous progress, particularly in TA (which I used to view with vast skepticism). I had a great move in January (aided tremendously by the AG cut, the first one, the kindest one of all), did not enjoy techs in Feb/Mar but stayed through the spring recovery and came out ok. Worst thing was I had a great set of energy shorts in April/May and had to cover in late May/early June to begin a very long vacation away from computers. Small profits instead of marvelous ones. Enjoyed shorting builders and retail in the summer, 9/11 didn't harm me a bit, but I was waiting for a 1987 style crash (not in one day but in magnitude) and the recovery surprised me. Similarly, given the circumstances, I was waiting for a stronger selloff in OSX and it didn't happen.
I traded fewer options in 2001 but more successfully, did more shorting than ever before, and enjoyed it more. I learned to take a loss earlier, and want to learn to take a loss almost immediately, before it becomes a loss. Paradoxically, I also wish to hold positions through initial sell downs if the eventual story (and TA) is good.
Given what the country went through this year, though, I can't kick.
As for 2002, I think a mixed portfolio of long and short positions will do well in what I see as a basically going nowhere market.
My best play of 2001. I never had a long position, stock or options in ENE.
My worst play of 2001. I never had a short position or puts on ENE.
Best thing about 2001? All my friends and companions who have been patient and kind toward me, those who have taken the time (repeatedly) to explain things to me, even though I have often not been a very good student. Those damned PnF charts still look like hypertext code to me. Sorry, Gottfried.
Kb |
