ColeTrades.com

I seem to have taken a four month sabbatical from my blog. This certainly hasn’t been intentional. My weekly schedule has just gotten packed solid with teaching school, wrestling practices, Awanas, Cub Scouts, hosting and attending webinars each week, helping run our design firm, and trading options every day. All of this leaves me quite drained. By the time the weekend rolls around, I just want to chill out and sleep in. The hectic pace of my day to day life definitely took it’s toll on me and I ended up sleep deprived with a bad cough which kept everybody in the family awake. I finally went to the doctor and learned that I was dealing with a chronic sinus infection. It and took me another two months to finally get rid of it and get back to normal.

Well, enough of that stuff. The real reason you are reading this blog is because you want to know how my trading journey has been going and to glean some inspiration which will help you on your own trading path. I fully intend to deliver on both…

As you know, 2009 was a stellar year for me. Then along came the pullback in January of 2010 which clobbered my account. I then had some more unfavorable trades in February that continued the demise of my trading capital. To be totally honest, I found my confidence shaken. I knew that I had a very positive track record which would make most traders jealous, but the series of devastating trades which hit my account the first quarter of 2010 made it very difficult for me to bounce back emotionally. In fact, it was August before I truly began to regain my confidence. It was a real fight, but I finished out 2010 in the black– just barely.

Truth is, if you figure in my commission costs, I ended with no profit at all… in fact, depending on how you look at it, you could say I still ended upside down. Yet, considering how deep a hole I dug out of, I am very proud of my accomplishment.

2011
So far 2011 has been full of ups and downs. This market has continued to defy logic. It has continued to climb higher, even in the shadow of negative news, which would normally cause it to pullback. It is a tricky environment for us traders. The trading climate has forced me to continually look at new strategies. And now, with the introduction of the weekly options on many of the high volume equities, I have discovered strategies which have proven to be quite lucrative.

On Thursday and Friday mornings, I have been hosting a webinar in which we focus on entering a 1-2 day trade on the OEX (S&P 100) weekly options. I have been trading the OEX since August and have finished each week in profit, with the exception of only three. I have also been trading diagonal option spreads on F (Ford), by buying a monthly option and selling the weekly options against it.

I will explain these trading strategies and others I have been using in upcoming blogs. For now, I just want to encourage each of you to never give up. There is always an opportunity  to make money in the market regardless of what news-driven event is moving it. Continue to learn something new about trading on a regular basis, and share your knowledge with others. Teaching others to trade is one of the best ways I have discovered to become a better trader myself.

I look forward to hearing from each of you on your journey. Also, if you are interested in hearing my thoughts on the market more often, I welcome you to follow me on Facebook or Twitter. For now, I’ll just say that I am a long term bull who is looking forward to the great entries coming up with a healthy pullback.

Filed under: Trading Tagged: | day trading, determination, encouragement, finance, inspire, market, mentor, options, Spread Trade, stock market, strategy, teacher, Trading, women