Plan C...or maybe I'm on M by now...

Without going into detail I started trading with one plan in mind, plan A, and have since changed plans a number of times. In some cases one plan merged into another so there was no real delineation, just a progression of changes that resulted in something different enough that it could be called plan B.

There have been some parts of each plan that tended to stick, particularly the money management rules and loss allowances. Today I am looking at where I am at overall and I am satisfied with my progress except that I am not using my own system or plan in selection and execution of my trades. While that is disappointing, perhaps it was inevitable.

I mentioned yesterday that my portfolio of options had returned some of the paper losses, today, so far, it has returned another $120. Once again, taken as a dollar amount it does not sound like much but the percentage is a reasonable re-gain.of about 2.5% or 8% depending on how I choose to spin it. My zero value options are still zero but the others that had some value left are returning here and there. I did not place an Optioneer trade as the target was just a hair too low for my liking.

I have entered a few more trades as I would hate to be at the bottom of a pullback and not be there when some nice new positions rally. Trading someone else's plan does involve making every trade... if I stopped right now I could very easily rack up some losses and not take advantage of new positions making good gains from this low point.

So all in all I like the place that I am at in my trading right now.

Having said all that I am pining for my own trading plan. I am hoping that a break from playing with my own plans will give me a slightly different perspective...or return one of my previous perspectives that I had for a while. I still like the idea of using a handful of familiar stocks and keeping the trade entry trigger or indicators extremely simple. Seeing as most of my cash is allocated now, I may try some paper trading or do some curve fitting to select a method for my next foray into formulating a trading plan.... I must be on plan M by now.

I figure that I should do dome targeting... four high volume stocks from each main sector...that makes 32 depending on how many sectors I choose. I will stick with the eight main ones. Set up each sector separately, do a bit of loose backtesting to get a feel for the S&P correlations and temperments. Then apply one decent indicator (not MACD, it never really did it for me) and stick primarily to trend lines again. Maybe go back to P&F charts as they were dead simple to work with.

So, Plan M it is.

Jeff.