My Tailored Trading Journey

ulinbac

Hey Guys/Girls,

I have posted on here a few times.

I trade UK Equities mainly through Spread Betting to test my Strategies, of which i have 2. I am still and will always be working on them. I guess I can be counted as a longer term swing or momentum trader. I was doing quite well and got hit the last few days as 2 holdings I held gapped down past my stop loss, but it is all a learning curve.

I am from Ireland but I trade UK equities as I work for a UK company and paid in sterling.

I have a blog which is:

http://www.thetailoredtrader.co.uk/ or follow me on Twittier @TailoredTrader. I call myself The Tailored Trader as I am making my own tailored trading strategies.

Don't worry I am not selling anything nor are there any adds or links on my site. Feedback would be appreciated or if you can spot anything else I am missing. I update once a week unless I am travelling which rarely stops me from updating.


This was started months ago but didn't want to start until there was a bit a of content there to show. The aim of the website is to keep a disciplined diary of my trading events and a bit of fun. If my trades make money then great. If they don't I am not overly worried. Trading to me is not about the money gained but about percentages. I am playing with money I can afford to lose!

The plan is to make 20% a year but lets see how that goes. I will update this thread when I update the blog.

Thanks,

UL/TTT

*Nothing on my website is a recommendation. I am a rookie trader as far as I am concerned.

ulinbac

Hi,

So I made my first big mistake after 4 months trading. Took a decent out of my account from profit but still doing ok. I am not annoyed about the cash but more about the mistakes I made.

I guess this is why it is better to learn on a smaller account and not risk too much in one holding.

Check out the post and let me know what you think or if there is anything I missed.

http://www.thetailoredtrader.co.uk/how-i-made-my-first-big-mistake/

Thanks,

UL

arrowloopboy

whats the basis of your strategy ,and what kind of money management are you using,i'm trading uk stocks via spread betting for the past 5 years ,successfully .

ulinbac

Hi Arrow,

I look for a 52 week breakout first. Then I look at the fundamentals like pretax profit/Mkt Cap Ratio, debt, rising eps etc. On a tech side I look for a good entry point, range contraction with high volume breakout and a good level of support and institutional support. Its all outlined in the blog (well most of it).

Risk limit is between 8 and 10%.

What about yourself?

arrowloopboy

ulinbac wrote: »

Hi Arrow,

I look for a 52 week breakout first. Then I look at the fundamentals like pretax profit/Mkt Cap Ratio, debt, rising eps etc. On a tech side I look for a good entry point, range contraction with high volume breakout and a good level of support and institutional support. Its all outlined in the blog (well most of it).

Risk limit is between 8 and 10%.

What about yourself?

sorry I wasn't referring to how you pick stock.
is that 8/10 percent ,your s/l or the present of equity per trade

ulinbac

So lets say I buy a stock at 100. Depending on how it reacts I will get out if the stock reaches 92 or max 90.

If the stock makes a 15% gain I give it a little extra room deopending on how far it is from its base, so maybe 12%.

I aim to risk 10% or less of my capital per trade. Max loss per trade then would hopefully be 1%,once the share does not gap down and surpassing this as I have seen happen twice in the last 2 weeks.

What Risk management do you use?

arrowloopboy

ulinbac wrote: »

So lets say I buy a stock at 100. Depending on how it reacts I will get out if the stock reaches 92 or max 90.

If the stock makes a 15% gain I give it a little extra room deopending on how far it is from its base, so maybe 12%.

I aim to risk 10% or less of my capital per trade. Max loss per trade then would hopefully be 1%,once the share does not gap down and surpassing this as I have seen happen twice in the last 2 weeks.

What Risk management do you use?

If your risking 10% of your equity ,but setting a 10 % s/l ,your risking 1% per trade,correct ?
I trade a 10% s/l devided into a 2% equity risk ,but its a trailing s/l ,which is very very important.
If you set a strict criteria like that it takes an awfull lot of stress/thinking out of the equation .
I only trade ftse 100/250 companies,the spread on aim companies eats up too much of my 10% s/l .My spread is included in the 10% s/l.

Do you have a benchmark you are measuring yourself against?

arrowloopboy

Deleted User wrote: »

Do you have a benchmark you are measuring yourself against?

I trade in the u.k the benchmark is the FTSE 100 ,which gives 8/10% historically ,I kick the sh1t outa that every year .

ulinbac

arrowloopboy wrote: »

If your risking 10% of your equity ,but setting a 10 % s/l ,your risking 1% per trade,correct ?
I trade a 10% s/l devided into a 2% equity risk ,but its a trailing s/l ,which is very very important.
If you set a strict criteria like that it takes an awfull lot of stress/thinking out of the equation .
I only trade ftse 100/250 companies,the spread on aim companies eats up too much of my 10% s/l .My spread is included in the 10% s/l.

Ya you are right with your first point.

It took me a long time to put my strategies (2 in total) together. I can now look at a share and come to a decision within about 30mins as I am a lot quicker at looking for the info and have it more fine tuned.

I stay away from FTSE 100 and tend to go for FTSE 250 or lower. The lowest I will go is a mkt. cap of £20mln.

I don't include the transaction cost as part of the 10% s/l. The companies I back tend to float around 1-2.5 spread. I won't go above 3.5% spread.

PG633,

I am measuring myself against the FTSE ALL Share. Was 20% ahead last week until my mistake earleir in the week. I am down now still ahead of the index since I began. I am looking to make 15% gain per year though for it to be worthwhile.

arrowloopboy

ulinbac wrote: »

Ya you are right with your first point.

It took me a long time to put my strategies (2 in total) together. I can now look at a share and come to a decision within about 30mins as I am a lot quicker at looking for the info and have it more fine tuned.

I stay away from FTSE 100 and tend to go for FTSE 250 or lower. The lowest I will go is a mkt. cap of £20mln.

I don't include the transaction cost as part of the 10% s/l. The companies I back tend to float around 1-2.5 spread. I won't go above 3.5% spread.

PG633,

I am measuring myself against the FTSE ALL Share. Was 20% ahead last week until my mistake earleir in the week. I am down now still ahead of the index since I began. I am looking to make 15% gain per year though for it to be worthwhile.

You should manage 15% if you work at it ,but don't dismiss the educational value of your new endeavour .
Make a list of criteria ,if a trade doesn't fit in ,don't take it .
Don't take punts on notions .
Money management is by far the most important part of any system ,you need to be disciplined /very disciplined .
Don't let a mistake in your last trade effect your next trade,it doesn't work like that .
Read Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas ,and if you've already read it,read it again.
And Good Luck:D.

ulinbac

I spent a year proper researching and paper traded fine. Doing ok with real life. I find audio books very helpful.

I have entered 2 new trades this week based on my criteria alone so it's ok.

Its a great book that, read it twice and audio book twice .

I really like Market Wizards for hearing experience, also I listen to the Chat with Traders podcast every week, its great!

Andrea B.

Hi arrowloopboy.
Do you adjust your stop loss manually or if not what broker webinterface do you use?
TD does not seem to offer a tsl functio.

ulinbac

Just posted my mistake on KNOS and where I went wrong here:

http://www.thetailoredtrader.co.uk/sell-signals-i-missed-for-knos/

Let me know if anyone can see any more.

Thanks,

UL

arrowloopboy

Andrea B. wrote: »

Hi arrowloopboy.
Do you adjust your stop loss manually or if not what broker webinterface do you use?
TD does not seem to offer a tsl functio.[/Q

Manually ,on non erratic ftse100 equities ,trailing on FtSE250s ,usually ,but i';m not in the habit of trading eratic rubbish .
IG index .

arrowloopboy

What date and price did you enter the trade ?,and where did you get ?

ulinbac

26th Aug, price was 199.63.

See http://www.thetailoredtrader.co.uk/tailored-criteria-for-knos/

That link has a screens hit of deal ticket for proof

arrowloopboy

The only bit of advice I can give you is the power of big round numbers .
Weather it be commodities forex or stock ,i'd never take a trade that close to a big round number ,price never sails straight through ,they nearly always bounce ,if you like the 2.00 level ,you would be better waiting for 2.10/2.15 and a re test of the big round number and maybe some support around that level and then buying .(Fear of missing out can creep in here)
Big round numbers can also be great plaices to hide a stop behind.
This is all very easy to see in the best indicator of them all ,20/20 hind sight .
Pull up any chart and look at the p/a around big round numbers and you'll get a feel for what i'm on about .

Luidin

ulinbac wrote: »

26th Aug, price was 199.63.



That link has a screens hit of deal ticket for proof

Just wondering, why do you bother with keeping a website up, as would the time and money be not better spent with trading?

Lúidín

ulinbac

Luidin wrote: »

Just wondering, why do you bother with keeping a website up, as would the time and money be not better spent with trading?

Lúidín

Hi Luidin,

I keep the website as a discipline factor. It didn't cost me a lot to set up and was to make it more entertaining. My total time in creating the website was probably about 40 hours so not too bad.

Updating the website forces me to look through the mistakes in a critical manner as I know others will see it and can easily call me out if they think I am talking crap. It helps me more in my trading then taking away from it.

Thanks,

UL

ulinbac

Hi,

The last few weeks have been crazy with work, travel, Xmas and life in general so I have not been able to update the site or forum.

As previously posted my hits with KNOS and 32 Red made a decent dent in my portfolio. I have since learned a bit and am bag on track. My portfolio is nearly back to break even as of close of the markets this evening.

Since my last past I have applied my IPO strategy on 3 companies (IBStock, McCarthy & Stone and Softcat. My Stop Losses are tight at 8% here.

My normal strategy of a 52 week breakout has been applied to MJ Glesson and an increased position in 32 Red.

All information in available on the site, including a screenshot of my live positions. I will do my monthly portfolio update hopefully by Sunday evening.

I am currently looking for my entry point for the Santa Rally.

Thanks,

UL

http://www.thetailoredtrader.co.uk/

ulinbac

Hi Folks,

Firstly Happy Christmas and New Year.

Trading has made a nice turn around since not following my sell strategy correctly a few weeks ago. Firstly, I was looking out for the Santa Rally and there was about 3 days of it for me. I was looking at the charts daily and saw a turn around in on the FTSE on the 13th and again on the 14th. When there was a rebound on the 15th I got in @ 5971.3. The increase in the FED Funds rate was heavily expected but I felt the market was pricing it in on the run up as the market tends to be forward looking.

I got in at £2 per point and the FTSE got very toppy once it started hitting the 6100's. I brought my top loss up to 6066 on the 18th and it was hit, with a profit of £188.60.


Unlike what happened with KNOS I followed my rules and was stopped out of Next Fifteen Communications (NFC.L). I still think this is a great company and will consider getting back in if the signals reappear. I bought in at 221.3 and my stop was slightly miss and activated at 242.46 giving a profit of 9.6% or £105.8 after costs within 3 month.

My mining play in Berkely (BKY.L) hit my Stop Loss and I made a 10 point loss of giving a total loss of £52 and the last time I do that.

My IPO strategy is currently in profit with Softcat, IBstock and McCarthy and Stone currently in minor profit and my newest 52 Week breakouts of Sanne is in a loss but MJ Gleseson has turned a profit.

I currently like the look of Zytronic but the entry costs are way too high due to lack of liquidity in the share.

I plan to look for a few momentum stocks next week but will only enter if the criteria is per my strategy.

As usual see http://www.thetailoredtrader.co.uk/spread-bets-14122015/ for details

Thanks,

UL