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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam Citron who wrote (56207)	11/23/2001 6:32:15 PM
From: advocatedevil	Respond to of 70976

Sam, Thanks for the kind words. I reply to your questions "shortly" <g>. AdvocateDevil

To: Sam Citron who wrote (56207)	11/24/2001 12:26:54 AM
From: advocatedevil	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 70976

Sam, I'll try to answer some of your questions: Q: how long you have been daytrading? A: I typically swing trade when I trade. I was just having some fun and experimenting a bit with my day trading this week. I've been investing and trading at various intensities for more than 20 years. I've significantly increased my trading volume this year over previous years. Q: how your results may have changed over the years? A: I've never had spectacular results. I feel that I make fewer mistakes these days. I've maintained a respectable record of consistently and significantly beating the averages for a number of years now. Q: whether you began by papertrading or taking extremely small positions? A: I did both in the beginning. It helped in learning the mechanics. Beyond that, I feel paper trading provides little benefit as an indicator of how one might actually do trading. IMO there are major emotions involved in trading real money that must be experienced and understood. Pulling the trigger for a short-term play with your cash on the line is simply not the same as noting a price point on a piece of paper. Q: whether and how your trading style may have evolved? A: I think my style has evolved hand-in-hand with my general maturing as an adult. I entertain less risk with a focus on long term overall security. I trade mostly for the enjoyment of it, not as the road to riches. Q: whether you have noticed much of a "learning curve" and where you think you might be on the curve? A: I've noticed that I became more successful with my trades when I became comfortable accepting losses. I used to beat myself up every time I made a mistake. Now I try to look at mistakes as positive learning experiences. The learning curve is never ending IMO. Like so many things, it seems the more you know about something, the more you find there is to know. I have no idea where I am on the curve. Q: lessons you have learned (especially the expensive ones)? A: My biggest mistakes have been associated with taking profits too early and not taking losses early enough. Similarly, I have a tendency to press losing plays and reduce holdings in winning plays. I've compensated for this by swing trading within preset profit and loss guidelines. More recently my bigger mistakes occur when I disregard my self-imposed rules. I still must "relearn" previous lessons from time to time, but the intervals between recurring mistakes seem to be getting longer. Q: how you monitor and measure your performance A: I don't do anything special here. I review my monthly account statements and compare my YTD results to the major indices. Lately I've been tracking my MTD performance, but only because of I've been trading much more frequently. Q: how you evaluate the suitability of a particular trading vehicle? A: I like to trade stocks/companies that I'm very familiar with. Because of that, I focus on the SCE sector stocks. I also occasionally trade the triple Qs. I like AMAT because it is a large company, it typically trades in a range that suits my short-term profit/loss guidelines, it's not overly volatile and there's plenty of shares traded each day. AMAT is also a stock I plan to soon go long with. Q: what extent SI may be a help or hindrance in your trading? A: SI is a help. There are plenty of bright folks here that provide unique comments and opinions, contribute hard to find news items, and cause me to consider factors and variables I've overlooked. Q: tips or warnings you may care to mention for others who may be interested in a similar style of trading? A: Trade only what you can afford to lose and remember to keep an eye on the SOX, the major indices and the tech bellweathers when you're trading. AdvocateDevil