2009 and 2010 were good for most trend followers(bulls) who bought and held tight onto their positions. 2011 was a totally different story. It was basiclly a big range bound market caused by the problems in Europe. There were many opportunities on both sides. That is why I like range bound markets better.
How did I do in 2011? I took a total of 2068 trades and netted $21,316 in a 100k account. That is around 20%. As you can see, I fared better in shorts than longs.
Here is what I think I did well
- A nice equity curve. The draw-downs were very much contained.
- Traded both sides almost equally.
- Risk management was adequate.
Here is what I think need improvement
- Capital was under utilized. Use a little bit of leverage in 2012?
- Exit strategy was shaky when I had a profit.
- Emotion control could be better.
- More efficient time management.
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20k extra cash a year covers a lot of our expenses. Miranda will go to pre school this year, which will cost us a few hundred dollars a month. Our monthly health insurance bill will be 50 dollars more. Health insurance keeps going up every year. Everything goes up except our incomes….. Talk about inflation!
My short term goal is to reach a stable annual income of 50k/year, which is a livable income in many parts of the US.
I hope you did well in 2011 and have a prosperous 2012.
PS, I will try to blog more in 2012.
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