Trade and portfolio summary:
Tragically my portfolio value ending this week was $93607.84 (a loss of nearly $7000!) with an overall -6.39% return and 18/24 ranking=< So far, I brought 15 units of wheat, 10 units of maize and 5 units of soybean. The price of soybean dropped dramatically, from $13.47 to $13.16, which made up most part of my first week’s loss.
Personal reflection & lessons learnt:
As we can see from above, S&P500 was with a high opening, rendered after shock decline trend, markets wait-and-see atmosphere concentration, effective strategies be limited. With a positive correlation between market index and future profitability, I will say the result of losing money this week is somewhat fair(?).
First week’s trading is more like gambling, to be honest. I was more like trying things out with a little rationality back in my mind, saying”hey, you need to diversify your portfolio to limit potential risks.” That’s why I got all of the three items to fill up my portfolio.
Strategy for the week ahead:
1. Get to know your market
After I brought my futures in a rush on Wednesday morning, I started browsing useful sources(absolutely wrong order). CME group definitely helps, along with yahoo business news.Knowing more about the market is key to improve the odds of success and avoid endless stream of losses.
2. Protect yourself & Concentration
Futures trading, like all other trading, does involve a certain degree of risk. To sell or buy stops to limit losses to a relatively comfortable level, does minimize your losses and maximize your gain at the same time. I saw corn has been down sharply on Thursday morning, when I still winning money on my portfolio if I would sell corn at that time.(I was dealing with Kuhn Tucker in FRE501 class!)
New sources found:
1.New York Times Business: Breaking news & business news on Wall Street, media & advertising, internationalbusiness, banking, interest rates, the stock market, currencies & funds.
2.The Economists: Authoritative weekly newspaper focusing on international politics and business news and opinion.
Looking forward for the following week with fingers crossed!