Just as texting while driving may leave you stranded in a ditch, trading commodity futures while completing a master’s degree may leave you in debt. Being three hours behind the market you are trading on doesn’t make things any easier either. Once again, good thing it isn’t real money.
Week three was not a good week. Not only did I lose my week two earnings, I find overall portfolio value down 4.4%. My current open positions are as follows:
| Action | Symbol |
Description |
QTY |
Curr. |
Price Paid |
Last Price |
Margin |
Day’s Chg |
Profit/Loss Local/FX |
% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | ZW/Z3 | WHEAT DEC 13 | 14 | USD | 6.769643 | 6.865000 | 37800.00 | -0.022500 | 6,675.000000 | 1.41% |
| C | ZK/X3 | SOYBEANS NOV 13 | -1 | USD | 13.107500 | 12.960000 | 4050.00 | 0.102500 | 737.500000 | 1.13% |
It was an interesting week of trading for me. Trying to balance my other work loads while keeping on top of the markets proved difficult as my flip-flopping from a long to short position on corn implies. Further, my bullish view on wheat came back to get me. I must start selling my long positions when returns are good and not let greed get in the way. Many of my decisions this week were based from online readings, however, unfortunately, many of them proved wrong, or perhaps I did not spend enough time digesting the info before applying it to the markets. I also ran into much difficulty trying to get some early morning trading in. I am confident if I am able to analyze my resources before markets meet midday in Chicago I will drastically be able to improve my portfolio. I also believe if I begin using stop orders I will be able to mitigate some of the problems I have been facing due to the difference in time zones from Chicago. I look forward to trying them out in Week 4!