Reviewing My Resolutions From Last Year

by Ryan Mallory

Last year I came up with a list of resolutions that would be meaningless if I didn't review them in the new year and see how I did keeping to them. There were some definite hits and misses, so lets review:

1. Do a better job of keeping winners from turning into losers.

 I would say I did a much better job in the second half of the year than I did in the first half - which leaves me optimistic going into 2012. This is one of the hardest aspects of trading, but I do feel like I did a good job with extracting a good chunk of winners out of the market that would have otherwise been losers .

Grade: B+

2. Exercise more!

I did horrible on this resolution - largely because 2011 involved a lot of new development and long hours that kept me from hitting the gym. In fact I did worse in this category in 2011 than I did in 2010 - Yikes! 

Grade: F

3. Practice more precision on my entries into trades. 

My entries in options leave a lot to be desired, and my tinkering in them in 2011 was probably not the best thing for me. I did great using Adam's Options Income Newsletter on the sell-side but on the buy side (going off of my own ideas) the results were yucky, usually getting in far too early on most trades. 

On the equity front, I think I did a stellar job of timing my entries. They were precise, and typically well executed, except for a few instances of trading high-flier stocks using stop orders. 

Grade: A for Equities; C for  Options. 

4. Avoid stocks that have a less than desirable setup, simply because of its "high-Flyer" status. 

I traded a number of these stocks with reasonable success, outside of buying some NFLX calls at $123 and selling at $117 for a decent loss. I held Apple through earnings during the first quarter with some success as well, but while I might have had some success here, I would say that I was chasing the name of the stock in many cases, so I can't say with much confidence that I did good at succeeding in this resolution. But overall, I did a much better job of not chasing high-fliers than I did in 2010 or any previous year. 

Grade: C+ 

5. Avoid hedging due to market uncertainty, particularly with ETF's (SPY, QQQQ, etc.). 

A definite area that I excelled at, whereby instead of just hedging when I didn't like the market uncertainty, I simply closed out positions to neutralize my exposure to the market. 

Grade: A+

6. Avoid complacency and better recognize when I'm attempting to trade out of boredom. 

I'm definitely an active trader, but I made reasonable improvement in this area, though there were definite times where I traded out or boredom - but not much. 

Grade: B

7. Better Organize my watch-lists and use my alert system more efficiently.

I definitely better utilized the tools around me via Thinkorswim's alert system and using my watch-lists in TC2000. 

Grade: A

8. Increase the amount of time I spend reading trading books

Not thrilled about the results here - in fact I hardly read a trading book all year, mainly due to the demands of the site, and all the development that has taken place over the last 12 months. 

Grade: F

9. Stay always within my style of trading and avoid trading strategies that drift outside of my style and personality.

I experimented with options this year some for the first time, and it felt like trying to drink through a fire hose. Once again Adam is much better suited for this type of trading than I, and while I did good following his option recommendations my efforts at buying options without any outside influences (i.e. minus Adam) was met with mixed results. From an equities stand point, I did a pretty good job of keeping the main thing....the main thing. 

Grade: B-

10. Spend more time Reading the Bible each day. What in the world does this have to do with trading? Good question - I'm a Christian and follow my faith very closely - when I am trading, it is easy to get an inflated view of myself in the grand scheme of things, and think I am somebody that I'm not (and pride always comes before the fall). Reading the Bible, and spending time in prayer, helps me to manage my emotions in trading better, keep a more level-headed view of myself and simply to help me be thankful for what I have and the blessings that I have been given.

This is probably the biggest area of disappointment for me. While I spent a lot of time throughout the year reading the Bible, prayer, and spending time building my relationship with the Lord, I nonetheless allowed a lot of the demands of the site and long hours to push my commitment to my Christian Faith to the background at times. This is at the top of my list for 2012. For any efforts at success or life in general is futile unless the Lord gives the increase. 

Grade: C+

I'll be posting my resolutions for 2012 later today so stay tuned...