My mid-morning verbal assault on my computer screen stopped a robust 300+ point rally dead in its tracks, taking the Dow as low as -200 before late in the day strength took the market back up to +150, only to then finish in the red for the day. All of this volatility is being blamed on artificial intelligence based robots trading hews headlines - maybe my next trading system?
The portfolios remain 100% weighted to the short side, which is unusual because even in the bull market we had downtrends in some stocks to balance out the portfolio. For those who are only trading the indexes, it has been a nerve racking few weeks.
The "Best Returns" column in the table below is just that, the highest return on the particular trade since inception. You will never get that exact return, or maybe not even close to it but by keeping track of these numbers should help with trade management. As an example, 34 out of 36 of the open trades in the portfolio are up at least 25%. Doesn't sound like much, but 25% per trade does add up over time, even if two lose 100%. Better to make less and still be trading, than to keep taking chances on making more, and end up with nothing. The pattern recognition analysis continues to be extremely negative so holding on for higher gains than you would normally target is warranted.
"Round and round she goes, and where she stops, nobody knows."
