My Current Struggle as a Day Trader (September Trading Results)
Hey it's clay at claytrader.com. And i want to share with you my current struggle as a day trader i'm going to show you, some of my stock trading, results, that help illustrate. And walk you through the current struggle that i'm going through and i really just want to do this to be transparent, especially with you beginner traders, to let you know that you know what, everybody struggles, now whether or not, they're going to portray, that or reveal, that i mean that's that's a different topic, but you're not alone it's part of the business it's part of trading. And, it doesn't mean you're not working hard enough it doesn't mean that you're not smart enough, it's just trading, is a very mentally, challenging, business, and right now. I've got some mental challenges, going on, and this will this will sound arrogant i don't mean for it to sound arrogant, but i mean i do have at least enough experience, where i'm recognizing, i'm realizing what's going on so if you're looking for like mass bloodshed. And for some sort of like big old. Losing month i mean you're not gonna get any of that but so i am still making money it's a problem, of efficiency, right now and it's a problem of okay clay we gotta fine-tune, some things, for what's going on so that you know you can just make your time make your strategy, as efficient, as possible, now in order for this to all make sense i want to give you a little background, here, and kind of take you on my little journey, so all this makes more sense and. Maybe, something i'll say something or you'd like okay wait yeah, i could see that being an issue so even if you're not a beginner day trader, maybe you have, experience. Perhaps i'll say something or perhaps you can relate in a way that will help you know fine-tune, your strategy and make it that much more efficient. So, background. I always read comments on youtube videos if you watch any past ones you i read them i replied all of them, and over the years, one comment i've gotten, over and over again is, clay. A lot of people, they can't do multiple entries, they can't do multiple exits. Whether that be due to their account size or the pattern day trading rule, i mean that's just that's not very relatable. So therefore clay i mean you're just, your strategy, just doesn't work and, my point is listen my strategy is technical, analysis, my strategy i'm a technical trader. Meaning. Yeah what you see. Is, my personal strategy, but the underlying, aspect is i'm still using the tool of technical analysis, level twos. To, generate the strategy. But i thought you know that that's that's fair, i get it, i i do i you know a lot of people they can't do multiple entries they can't do multiple exits, and i won't even i could do an entire video, on, government regulations, and the pattern day trading rule but i i won't touch that so it is a more than valid point they were making, so in this video here i decided you know what, i'm just going to try for a month and for one month, one entry point, meaning i enter into a stock, and then i have to see what happens it's either going to work out or i'm going to have to take the loss on it and just get out but there's no multiple entries, there's no no nothing, and i did that for one month because i wanted to just say hey. Look, i mean it's not a matter of entry points it's a matter of, do you have a true strategy, are you reading the charts the right way. And, like i said i'm not going to go over that video as the whole but you can see it here on the screen.
But And i'll put a link down below, but in that strategy, i had something totally unexpected, happen and i talked about that there it was one of the lessons i learned, was, wow you know i made respectable. Money. But only in 60 minutes and i say only 60 minutes because up until that point, my goal every day was to be done by you know 11 a.m right so 90 minutes in 11 a.m eastern that is and just be done so i can move on with my day because. I trade not to trade, meaning i trade for the freedom i get a lot of people trade because i want the rolex watch, the malibu mansion the lamborghini, and that's cool like i'm not judging go for it i hope you succeed in getting those goals, but for me it's just freedom of time. And that's why i was always like yeah i want to be done after 90 minutes move on with my day. But like i said after this i was. Whoa wow i made very respectable, money and again i show the, monthly results in that video if you want to watch it but. Very respectable, money. But averaging. 60 minutes. So i thought hey you know that that's pretty nice, 60 minutes. So i that got me on the all right well i'm going to keep working with this strategy. I'm going to, you know i'm not going to follow it exactly. And say i can only do one. But i'm, gonna keep the core premise of it and it's not like it was a brand new strategy i i'd done it before but, for to do it, exclusively. For one month, i mean that was the new aspect, of it, and i wanted to keep on with it because again that time was very very fascinating. And over that i'm not going to go through my entire life story here but the point here being, that's where i'm at i'm going through that. You know the the strategy. And trying to really just focus on the time. To 90 minutes, hey it's looking like 60 minutes could work, and then it started to look like you know what, i think 30 minutes could work i mean clay how awesome would that be, you can make good respectable. Money, in only 30 minutes and then go move on with your day, and i'm not saying this is what you have to do but this is just like i said the background so all this makes a little bit more sense for you but, i have four kids.
And I want to spend time with them i want to just you know they're i'm, trying to get into some other hobbies out there i bought a bow, so i'm getting, you know archery stuff like that so i just like i just want to do other stuff, and if i can just, be done with my day at 10 a.m eastern, 30 minutes make a respectable, amount, you know what at this point, where i am at in life i would be happy with that so that got my mind really locked on 30 minutes. And then in this video, here. Maybe you watched it if you didn't again i'll put the link down below, but this, documented, my results from august. And in august i had a big old, loss. And the big old loss was because i found a great setup. And then i fell too much in love with it so it's not that it was a bad setup it was a great setup, but i felt too much in love with it i went too big position size wise so my money management was off, and then it broke my heart it didn't work out and i i mean everything i. Everything was fine. I just. Man it messed up the money management. And it ended up costing me a break in my heart. So. At that point, excuse me. I'm thinking okay well. You know oh i get it yes clay, it broke your heart, your money management was off but the psychology, like, why, did you fall so much in love with it. And, it's deeper than well because it was a great setup, well no you've had other great setups, and you didn't go off the rails and you did fine so why what was going on with that situation. And. That is what really got my mind, you know turning and turning, and then after this month, september. It got me again, and it, i'm nailing it down and, i know why now and it makes sense and maybe you've been there too but, i want to you know share that with you but let's first, go to my. Uh september, results. So here is my broker which just happens to be lightspeed. And let's actually go down to. Well let me first show you august so you can see what happened in the month that broke my heart. Should stand out like a sore thumb when i scroll down here if you're not familiar. Uh with, light speed or just so over here this is the net p l meaning you know that that was my profit or loss.
After Commissions, and fees, but yeah it sticks out like a sore thumb right. 2 800. Loss. In one day. And. I mean down for the month still made 1800, bucks so again it's not like it was a bloodshed, and i blew up my account or anything like that i still walked away making money, but, i mean it would have been a whole lot more money, had i done this the proper way again i'm not gonna go down to it i'll just at a very surface deep level, it was, felt too much in love my money management, got way out of whack, and that it ended up breaking my heart and like like i said if that had been a nice discipline, loss, then this month would have been, a much much different result, but so that's the heartbreak, and that's what really got me thinking all right yeah, why did that happen so let's go to now. September, results. And, embarrassing. But, whatever we've all been there. You can see, and i'm not trying to hide like i said my goal here is, to show you that it happens, and and maybe this is what's going on with you but, this same thing bit me again, right here, minus 1 500. Right there minus 1800. Now at the end of the day at the end of the month right there i still made money, on the month. But it should have been a, lot more than that okay i'm not saying these days should have been green that's not what i'm saying at all, but those losses should not have been, that big, so it just becomes a question okay well what is going on here why is this occurring. And maybe, this has some sort of uh effect, and maybe this is. Maybe a root cause of one of your struggles, but it's the time component. And, my logic in my head is going like this. I want to be done, in 30 minutes maybe in your situation. For example maybe you're at work, so you only have. 30 minutes you only have. 45, minutes you know you only have some amount of time because well then i got to get back to my normal job, but, point here being there is some sort of time element within your strategy, where you. You just have to be done, and again for me i don't have to be done but i really do that is my goal right now because of the reasons already talked about, i want to be done after right around 30 minutes or better yet i want to average, being done right around 30 minutes.
For Example, just uh, you know some days even on uh friday. I was done, within, and i'm recording this on a saturday by the way so friday for me right now is literally just yesterday i was doing like 20 minutes and i made a respectable, amount, of money and i was after that in 20 minutes other days i'm done in 10 minutes some days i might be done in 40 minutes but i really am, watching, the clock and when it hits 10 a.m eastern. I really am striving, to be done. But, what is that's causing, right now and what i just kind of the light bulb one off is, i'm thinking, and maybe, you're thinking the same way. Well, because i only have this amount of time. Like let's go we need to trade we need to get stuff going on we need to we need to make stuff happen. And when it broke my heart last month where you saw that big loss, that was totally, oh wow a great setup. And i mean i only have 30 minutes, but i mean let's just make this a killer 30 minutes and i'm going to go i'm going to go big because again i only have 30 minutes i want to be done after 30 minutes. And then the wheels fell off the bus. And then it happened, again, i only have 30 minutes so let's do something to do something whoops. Okay, i only have 30 minutes only have their up, whoops, and then it fell off the bus, now down here. That was perfectly, fine that's just i mean you can't be right all the time, even that 28, day. That was basically a losing day, it was a managed loss i just happened to be able to you know get out of the hole there and put myself green on the day, um but, you know that that's, that's okay i'm not saying that, okay my strategy, is is flawed, my mindset, is flawed because i'm taking losing trades now losing trades are supposed to happen, but it is this whole time element. That is really messing with me, and that. I. Would not i think this is a solution like i just need to change my perspective, i need to keep things in perspective, so, what do i mean by that so a point here being is let's just take this number as it is anyways, again it should be bigger. That should have been a much smaller loss that should have been a much smaller loss therefore that number should should, definitely be bigger but you know what i'm going to do and i am kind of just talking myself but like i said, maybe you needed, this can be a good trick that you could potentially use to build perspective, within your strategy. But the trick goes like this so again. 2000. Or yeah two thousand we'll call it eighty-five dollars let's just go two thousand dollars whatever two thousand dollars. And in the month of september, over here, there were 21, trading days, and definitely. On average, it was 30 minutes a day maybe even a little less but let's just keep it at 30 minutes a day, because some days i went slightly. Over other days i was actually quite a bit below. But we'll just call it 30 minutes so let's do some math real quick and again i'm doing this for myself i'm just happening to record it and put it on youtube, so that if you can kind of learn from this little mind trick that i'm currently performing on myself to build perspective, hey if it can help you then perfect. So let's go through the math here as i said 21 days. So we had 21, days and then 30 minutes per day so how many total minutes was that, that i had actually traded. And that comes out to 630. All right well how many, you know how many minutes are in an hour well there are 60 minutes in an hour so let's divide that by 60..
So In other words i was at ten and a half hours, basically quote unquote working. Each day for the entire month ten and a half hours. That is the time scale that i was you know looking to be done in, and how much money did i make well, i made, the two thousand dollars to keep the math easy there, so, i mean what do we do well all right if i made. Two thousand dollars. And let's divide that by well how many hours was i actually, working. Well ten and a half. So the question becomes, well what was my, you know how much did i make per hour right, two thousand dollars. At ten and a half hours, what does that actually. Equate, out to. So let's do. That. 2 000. Divided, by. 10.5. Equals. 190. Dollars. Per hour. 190. Dollars. Per hour, so the question for me, and the question for you becomes. Whatever, amount, of money comes out in your calculation. I mean how do you feel about that. Is that worth your time. And i can only speak for myself, but. Making 190. Working from home. In my pajamas. Pressing, buttons. I'm quite happy with, 190. And again 190. That's with my screw-ups. So it becomes, clay. Why are you forcing, stuff why are you letting that you only have 30 minutes. If you just traded the strategy. I mean that 190. Dollars. Should be a whole lot more than 190. Because i should have made a whole lot more than two thousand, dollars. I mean, so let's just say i had actually gotten that up to four thousand dollars, somewhere, that's much more realistic. Uh compared to you know what i actually had i mean. That's all of a sudden. A whole lot more right, in fact i'm gonna do that now just because hey i'm gonna, i'm gonna, rub some salt into the wound here, so let's say i made, four thousand. Which again very reasonable, considering, what i mean if i just behaved like i should have behaved within the strategy. Divided, by. 10.5. 380. Per hour. That is worth my time, if 380. Is not worth your time. Then hey that's cool well, all i can really say is well done in life like you are killing it in life if that's if you're like no 380. That's not worth my time, then. Hey i'm not i'm not envious, of you i applaud you maybe we should talk and be like hey i would like to know more about your story, because i'm motivated, by that good for you, but for me yeah 380. Is fantastic, but even, 190, that's crazy, and 190. Occurred with me letting the clay you only have 30 minutes you only have 30 minutes. You know. Voice get into my head and screw me up, now for you the learning less may be, if you're being honest and you're like wait a second. My strategy, is, yielding me. Four dollars and 75, cents, 10, per hour. At that point, you know what at least you now know that you probably have some efficiency. Issues, going on with your strategy, right, and that may it might be something that kind of wakes you up that says. You know this isn't really worth my time like if your time is literally. Better spent. Doing something for minimum wage. Then, i'm not saying you need to give up i'm just saying that would be a a warning sign to you that maybe you have some tweaks that you need to work on, or maybe you see the number and you're like. What am i doing why am i forcing, trades like. Maybe you're exactly like me like that's ridiculous, you're being a greedy savage you gotta. Tell this voice to get out of here no you're not gonna let me fall in love with this setup, you're not gonna let me, mess up money management because i, only have a certain amount of time. So hopefully this can help you and because like i said that's my current struggle. The you only have amount of uh you know you only have a certain amount of time voice, but when when you put things into this perspective, it's kind of like whoa whoa whoa. Clay. Greedy greedy, savage. Even with your screw-ups, 190. Imagine if you don't screw up that could have you know been 380. Probably even a little bit more if because i mean i could go through and fine-tune, it but, the general rule here is that you know what.
Is Some sort of time. Component. Perhaps, compressing, on your strategy in one way or another, maybe not exactly. Like me, and it's, but, something similar. Maybe it's not, and in this situation, all i can say is, hey thanks for watching, and i'm sorry i couldn't really offer you up any more value but. And i've been doing this i've been you know you know claytrader.com, has been around since 2013.. I have a podcast, and i've talked to hundreds at this point of people, and well you know you can't say in every single situation, but in many times, if if you really press if you really dig deep enough, there's a time component, there, that's causing some problems it's causing some struggles. And in in some situations, like for me it doesn't mean that you're blowing up your account it doesn't mean that you're even losing money, but in the spirit of hey let's make our time as efficient, as possible. You know what sometimes, just little tweaks. Can help make the strategy that much more profitable relative to the time that you actually you know spend, doing it. So just something to keep in mind, truly ask yourself you know how much time. On average. I know i don't i, suppose you could if you're like super super, in depth but you could like hit the to stop watch. And then time it out and like figure out exactly the amount but just ballpark, it like on average, how much time are you like staring, at your computer, every day. Add that up over a month, how much did you make. And then you know do the math the math is not difficult. Now if you're. Literally brand new, i'm not saying you should be making money right from the start, and well i'm actually losing money well, again that you're a beginner, but i'm just saying as you grow as a traitor. Just realize, that this time, this evil little voice that'll show up clay. You only have 30. Minutes. It turns into a. And it happened to me again. And so far so good we'll go back to. Um. Let me let me bring that up real quick. There we go let's go to uh october, here, which is only. Again as of the recording. Wait daily. Or monthly. There's october. So, so far so good in october. Um in fact, if you uh on the channel this uh this day right here. Was a fantastic. Day actually, um and i say that not because of the amount, but if you watch that day you'll see that i made a trade. The trade it was a beautiful, setup it actually went my favor, a little bit, but i behaved, exactly, like i should. And it ultimately. You know it did cost me money on the trade, but again i didn't let anything spin out of control because, clay you only have 30 minutes nope nothing like that, it uh it worked out and, i you know like i said i was able to fight back, have a a decent sized day but again. The math what what am i averaging right now in fact if you watch the video from, from friday and what i'm referring to here and that day i was done.
In, In 20 minutes, so that's already a little bit below average, and i i'm, pretty sure that was right around uh even even though it was a few days ago i don't remember but it was definitely. Uh you know right around that 30 minute mark so i mean right now, i have an hour in right if i'm 30 minutes here. 30 minutes here and i've made 400. I mean. That's 400, per hour right now that i'm averaging, think about that, that's crazy. Like, 400, an hour, is is that worth, your time. If it's not i commend you, let's talk because i what are you doing in life like i want to learn from you that's fantastic. But for me, 400. So far for about an hour of my time working from home pressing buttons in my pajamas. I'm happy with that, and i need to remember that going forward. That, clay you're, i get it you're kind of you're not kind of you are building a new strategy. The new strategy is all about the time component, here, so just uh you know just keep that focused. And i i am totally talking to myself right now but i do plan on watching this video again just to remind myself for any of those mornings or days where i hear the, clay. You only have 30 minutes. Let's go we got to get those numbers, up, what are you talking about voice, i'm. You know i'm when when i even when i screw up i'm at 190. Per hour, so i mean why would i do that, so yes that was me talking to myself but you know what maybe you need to have the same conversation, with yourself now if you've never traded before, you probably think i'm a crazy person you probably think all traders are crazy like what do you mean talking yourself what do you mean voices. I all i can really say is, it's hard to explain. Until you put your real money on the line. And then then you meet a lot of voices, that exist in your head, so hopefully this helps um and, i don't know if you have any mind tricks or anything like that please leave those down in the comment section below, i, will never proclaim to have everything figured out i'd like to think i have, quite a bit figured out but to say everything. Hey no, maybe something can learn to be fully fair. I mean, as i said this all literally started from me listening to comments and me saying all right well. I'll show you that you can you know do just one entry point, and now it's morphed into, me, freeing up, just so much more of my time almost an hour per day, so that's an extra five hours per week that's an extra 20 hours per month i mean and the numbers just keep getting bigger and bigger so, i mean i do appreciate, the feedback, so yeah leave that down below if you enjoyed the video.
Hit That like button, i don't know mate was this too self-indulgent. I don't know. Like it very well could be but if you do enjoy videos like this then a very time efficient way to communicate that to me just hit that like button, and then finally check out the channel as a whole um a lot of these days, i mentioned already with this day, um, was, you know was recorded so i do record a lot of my days and i'll i'll release them, um so there's a playlist about all my live trading so you can go check that out too but a lot of other variety of videos on the channel but the point here being if you like what you see, from across the channel i really would love to have you as a subscriber, to the channel, so thank you for hanging out uh thank you for let hearing me listening to me, talk out loud about my personal, struggle, my little kind of mind trick and my little solution, to this problem and if it can help you out awesome but yeah thanks for hanging out i appreciate it. First off thanks so much for watching the entire video real quick before you go, i want to invite you to a live webinar, web class, training, workshop, online event, whatever you want to call it but it will be me, live, revealing, to you what i discovered, that has allowed me to transform, myself, from being an employee. To being my own boss, including. How i had only one losing day out of 73, days in total, i'm going to cover three keys that have helped me, unlock, profitable, consistency. Within the markets, the first key is super weird, but in a productive, type of way, the second, key is super awesome because it quite literally, is wired into our dna, as humans. Making it very easy to use, but in a cruel way, this becomes a pitfall for many traders, i'll explain it all though, including how to avoid the pitfall, that it creates for some, and yeah the third key when you hear it sounds way too good way too good to be true but it's not and i'll show you, how it all works then at the end i open it up for a question and answer session that is again. Totally live, even if you can't make the live session, please still sign up as it will be recorded. And you can go back and watch the replay. That i will send you, click the image on the screen or click the link down in the description, box, so you can get the date and time and claim your spot, which i should note is limited due to the fact that this truly is a live event. If you have any questions. Let me know if not, i'll be seeing you soon.
2020-10-06 21:05
