In Sept 2015 I started tracking a short term trading portfolio,...

In Sept 2015 I started tracking a short term trading portfolio, or at least it was meant to be short term. This porfolio has been used to develop the tracking measures with the intention of starting to trade full time if it was profitable. I have reported on progress previously and learned a lot along my journey. As we enter Q2 2018 I take the opportunity to share once again, with perhaps a little more detail.

I have too many positions open, some are shells that are waiting to move or be relisted and some stocks I am in too early and in total they contribute an 8% loss to the portfolio. The downtrend from about Trade 57 shows the early closed trades.

For the purposes of quarterly tracking I close the trades out on paper at the last traded price, or as best as I can estimate so that the calculations can be performed.

Over a period of time the cyclical nature of the stock market shows itself.






The system profitability is beginning to average out over the longer timeframe with a return just a tad under 4% per month compounded.



The biggest mistakes so far have been in not closing out positions when the 40 period ema has been breached to the downside. This is a key indicator to me now as profits would have been substantially greater if this simple rule had been stuck too. Most positions were still exited with a gain but this early warning should be adhered to.

In no cases where the 40 period ema been breached did the stock go onto make significant gains in the time periods involved, of course they could do later, but that means capital is tied up for many months doing nothing.