ALL OR NOTHING ATTITUDE

So I did a blog post yesterday on how my trading is going and my plans and my dedication levels, i just want to do a blog post about the kind of all or nothing attitude that i feel i have but i will let you be the judge of this, because someone commented saying i am trying to hard so i will definitely be taking that comment into consideration.

So from when i was young i always wanted to be a professional footballer (Soccer for those Americans reading) and i know you probably thinking it a boys dream and i suppose it is but every one has dreams but people are scared to try and make them into reality, i had tremendous potential i got told year after year until the age of 14 where i played in a summer tournament from a team who put all the best players in the league together and play through the summer where i was scouted by multiple teams such as Manchester city, Blackburn Rovers and Tranmere Rovers the difference between them was that Tranmere offered me a full time 2 year scholarship from the age of 16 to 18 as soon as i sign the papers so i did i signed for them. So my head was n the clouds thought my career was set, i had a excellent attitude while i was there to give a few examples it was pre-season and we where getting our fitness up and on a particular day we where doing a lot of shuttle runs and i started to throw up and i missed out on a good few at the end because i was being sick but when everyone finished i asked if i could finish the ones i had missed so i did and then spent about 20 minutes in the toilet throwing up. Another example was we used to do 14 400 meter sprints with short gaps in between each one and i was up against one of the fittest lads in the team and he kept beating me until my manager said i want you to win this one and we where up to about the 12th round now and to my surprisingly i did win but and undoubtedly threw up afterwards. So i had a great attitude and was always willing to strive for more until the end of my scholarship came and i did not get a professional contract with them.
So of i went heartbroken, but never gave up on that dream just yet, i trained harder than i ever did, my dad wanted me to try to get back into a full time team so i sent my CV of to countless teams and my dad said dont get a job he will look after me, he just told me to focus on being as fit as possible, So every day i would run 5 or so miles, i would do 45-60 minutes worth of skipping, i would go on a exercise bike for 30 minutes, do weight training for 60 minutes and sometime do a exercise dvd called insanity in the evenings, this was my daily routine with every sunday of to rest and also i was playing for a low non league team at the time and they played on saturdays so sunday was my rest day, but no clubs ever got back to me so the dream was fading, but i still had a feeling of satisfaction that i felt i did everything i could so go for my dream which i feel is more than i can say for most people.
I know your reading this thinking it has nothing to do with trading but this post basically is an example of the of person i am and the attitude i have towards stocks, with these stocks i feel i have a new opportunity to be self sufficient not work for ass holes everyday finishing work 10:30pm on the days i do work, to me that is not living that being a sheep, so if from here you can read the first blog post i done called "how i found Tim and what got me interested in the stock market" which is basically a follow on from this but i wrote it before.
And to prove i did play for Tranmere we have a show called Soccer AM here and they do a thing called skills school where they go round all the teams and 2 players will go head to head and show there skills here is mine from someone posting it on youtube poor quality but im the one on the right David McNamara.

Amateur trader feelings, down $1300 and my dedication levels.

Right couple of things I am going to cover is how my emotions have effected my trading, feelings on being down $1300, revision, learning and how much I feel I am dedicated, that last one is an important one and I would enjoy any one to get back to me with how dedicated they are because I have no body to compare myself to because I dont personally know any traders, i am sure i could be more dedicated but i think there a lot more room for being less dedicated in my view, but i will let you be the judge after this post. So firstly my emotions I have discovered in trading so far, I sit in front of the laptop from 5am to 9pm at night (i am in the UK so markets dont open until 2:30PM) so i love starting the day nice and early before anybody gets up its really nice to have that nice bit of peace in the house before my girlfriend, brother, sister mum and dad wake up, even though my dad wakes up just as early most of the time, so I wake up i have my breakfast then onto the laptop i go, i dont even look at making a watchlist at this time i will just be watching tims video lessons, or currently i am watching the how to make millions dvd which is a very good dvd. So i watch that for about 2 hours and then i will do my own DD on Tims watchlist and i will write down on a word document possible entry points and reasons why, i will also plan where i will cut my losses which will be dependent upon price action, then i will do my own watchlist because i want to be self sufficient and going back a little bit when i go through tims watchlist i will write down the tickers without looking at his descriptions and do my own DD on his watchlist and see how it matches up. But going of track a little bit here back to emotions i sit in front of the laptop all day long and i start to get a very tired numb feeling but i do not want to take my eyes of the markets so by the time 8pm comes which will be power hour time in the UK, i am pretty exhausted and those of you who follow tim this is a great time to really focus and try to buy stocks that are finishing strong looking to sell into the following morning, but i have made so many decisions into that power where at the time looked like a home run, but the next morning waking up fresh and looking at the chart and news etc looks like a cow handing himself into the butchers and saying get it over with now, so trying to stop staring at the screen all day recently, i still wake up early dig through the dvd do the watchlists and then i will go for a run or go the gym, or if i dont end up training and do stare at the screen all day and feel exhausted in the evening i will write down paper trades which i have a huge list off, another thing i like to do in the morning is review my trades from previous days. So currently I am down on my account $1300, am i bothered NO, am i disheartened about myself NO, do i think tims strategy isnt going to work NO, do i think trading may not be for me NO, any other questions will be a no also hope you get that point. Being down this much does not bother me at all I have only had a tiny account so these losses could have been double or triple if my account was bigger through this learning process and that is all i see it as, a learning process and a payment towards my education. I can look back at everyone one of my trades that i have lost and pin point where I went wrong, in a old blog i did i said i was only on an apprentice wage when i was first starting out i then went on to be a manager but never left me much room to trade so i demoted myself to a general assistant to free up more time for myself to trade whilst still earning an ok sum of money, my money i get paid is used for a couple of bills and then the rest goes into trading account and yes i mean every penny and my girlfriend does not mind at all she supports me along the way and constantly asks if she can help me grow my account but she takes me out, and i know this sounds pathetic and should be the other way round but i know what shes got coming to her, i work to hard to not do well i always have and always will. So recently i have decided to get a loan to really boost my account which is know a lot of people may advise against but if think like i am and put logic into the situation,i use every penny i get to put in my account and when i get my loan i will need to pay $200-$400 back a month, i have money left over then to do what i want with. Another thing is i work 26 hours over the weekend to free up trading time during the week which is what i requested from my boss and that meant others could have a weekend off so i knew there wouldnt be a problem with me doing it he just looked at me like i was mad and said why would you want to work all weekend ? my answer wasnt a lie but at the same time not the whole truth and that was that i want more time of during the week. So that is where i am at at the minute, and as i said i feel my dedication levels could be better but but there a lot more space for them to be worse, if you could leave a comment and let me know what you think, i would really appreciate it because i enjoy blogging but if nobody is listening whats the point. Please excuse the poor grammar, i just want to get mt points and views across.

Review of trading over the last 7 months

UPDATE ON TRADING OVER THE LAST 7 MONTHS (been learning for 18 months) So Last blog i wrote was about how I found Tim Sykes and what got me interested in the stock market, I just want to update what has been going on over the last 7 months. So i started with a $500 account and probably as most new, naive and enthusiastic traders I expected to turn into millions or at least hit the $1000 mark easy enough especially after how long and hard I had been revising and learning, it is basically a religion for me now, but I blew that money mostly on commissions. I was getting in and out of trades far too quick and when I looked at how many trades I did in and out if accounted for at least $230 worth. So that was over 3 months and I reviewed my losses and my gains and I made so many newbie mistakes. I had to stop trading due to my account size until only last week when I started again still with just a small account but I have a 40 hour a week job. My boss was giving me a lot of hours during the week so I had to find a way to still keep my hours up so I could keep my monthly income so I can keep putting money into my account but still be able to trade as much as possible. So I made a decision to ask if I can work Saturday and Sundays and if I can do most of my hours over the weekend to free up more time during the week, she said yes because nobody wants to work weekends and it also meant other people could have weekends off, my girlfriend was not the happiest about this decision but sacrifices have to be made to take that next step up. I also asked if I could possibly just work 2 days during the week instead of 3 so that means 3 days off to trade and my boss said yes, so that is the point I am up to now. I have done one successful trade up to now and that was shorting Amarin Corp (ARMN) from $2.96 I got in at this point because it had already dropped from $3.33 so when it broke the psychological level of $3 I got in I would of cut my loss if it broke past $3.10 it never so I held overnight and the next morning there was a panic and I covered at $2.68. The pattern was one that Tim has always taught and that was a supernova pattern, so I am trying to focus on the best plays and my account does not bother me at the minute because I just want to focus on making the right decisions. Onto how I research and how much. I do not know anybody who trades in my circles so I do not know how much or less I am doing than the average person, so i constantly research and this is from learning new financial terms to learning everything about SEC filings to watching Tims video lessons, if I am in work and Tim emails video lessons out I have a folder in my email just for those lessons and I will watch them in my spare time (or hiding in the toilet with a set of headphones). I always look at Tim trade alerts even if it not the stock I am watching because I look at the chart for the technical reasons he got in and out and also read his comments on why he got in or out. I a couple of DVDs of his that up to now I have watched 2x over and I do plan on doing a 3rd, 4th, 5th and so on until I can replicate each word. I have also read Tims book an American hedge fund also I have just finished reading his favourite book, reminiscence of a stock operator about jesse Livermore and I can fully understand why it is his favourite book, I also have a list of other book he has read which he mentioned them in one the DVDs so I plan on getting through them also. So that is where I am up to now, please do not judge me on my grammar in these blogs I really can not be bothered reviewing them as this is not a test, I am just hoping people will want an in site on the average person who is trying to learn to trade penny stocks, if anyone has any questions do not hesitate to ask.