Dave’s Trading Diary: A Game That Can’t Be Won, Only Played
This excerpt from the trading diary is for educational purposes only and is not to be interpreted as trading or investment advice. See Terms Of Use here.
I was watching the Legend Of Bagger Vance last night, it’s a movie with Matt Damon about a great Golfer who loses his swing and has to find it to win the tournament. In the movie old Bagger (Will Smith) says a line that I thought was just as good for the markets as it was for Golf. It is:
“A game that can’t be won, only played”.
You see no matter how many times you win (or lose) in the stock market, the market will always be there tomorrow. You will always be required to keep your head in the game and your feet on the ground. You never get to hang up your hat and say “Well, I’ve won”, or “I’m finished”. The markets are a game that cannot be won, only played. And if you play them well enough, the rewards can be outstanding.
To play the game well you have to have a tested trading plan, follow it mechanically, ensure your psychology is not sabotaging you, and be able to pull the trigger consistently.
Current Strongest Sectors
Current strongest sectors are Healthcare, Real Estate and Industrials, along with long time favorites (almost a year now) Telecommunications and Utilities.
Gold is still way down in the doldrums, as is Materials and now Energy. There are quite a few new buys in Health Care and Real Estate though and if our market can hold up (i.e. the All Ordinaries) then they could become solid trades.
Some Charts From Our Current Holdings
Here are a few charts from the current holdings in the Trading Diary.
  
 
Current performance is doing well at around 7.00% profit per trade (this is including losers), but not including dividends. All Ordinaries or overall market index is – 11.75% year on year by comparison.
New Buys Using The Trading Diary Methodology
While I didn’t buy anything myself this week, a few stocks are looking like they might be buys on Monday. As promised I’ll be looking at all entry signals within the Top 300, not just the ones that I take myself. These are simply the signals that generate according to the methodology I use, and is useful because the method is notoriously hard to code into Amibroker.  The human eye is still best in this case.
After scanning the Top 300 this weekend I got:
CSV, PRR, ABP, API, and AAD.
Anyone who has been through the Entries and Exits module or Complete Course at this site will understand why these have triggered an entry signal, and will also have good places to put your stop loss and an appropriate amount to Risk. It’s not rocket science in any way.
The S&P ASX 200 futures are pointing to a 30 point fall on Monday currently, so if these stocks hold up well they would be worth a look. See the ASX 200 Top Movers and Price Charts here.
It will be very insteresting to see how the market holds up this week, and the deadly month of May (i.e. “Sell In May and Go Away“) is drawing ever nearer. I’ll just be using a trailing stop loss on my current holdings to protect the downside. After that the up side should take care of itself.
Leave a comment in the comments section below to add to the article or voice your opinion.
Happy Trending!
Dave McLachlan
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April 15, 2012
Tags: All Ordinaries, ASX, asx 200, buys and sells, learn to invest, learn to trade, online trading, sell in may, trading diary Posted in: ASX, Dave's Trading Diary
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