Finding Consistency In An Unprecedented Market

Day trading is never easy. It takes a level of consistency and resolve to do well over an extended period of time and those attributes require practice and discipline, and even then it can be a harrowing occupation.

I’m reflecting on this idea because this year has challenged me unlike any before in terms of my own trading habits as well as the market environment we find ourselves in. I’m trading with more size than ever before with more capital in my accounts then ever before and I’m still profiting more than ever before. I finished January with about half of my profits from all of 2020.

But along with that has come bigger losses, massive daily draw downs in the tens of thousands of dollars. I’ve been regularly trading past my max -$25,000 daily loss limit yet I’m still able to end the day in the green like I did last Thursday, trading Monopar Therapeutics Inc. MNPR RCM Technologies, Inc. RCMT out of a -$30,000 hole.

It’s a nerve-wracking style of trading that, even when I do manage to dig out of that hole and post huge green days, never feels the same as confidently making a few thousand dollars and then walking away.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to be sitting where I am at the moment. However, with the volatility in stocks like GameStop Corp. GME and the overall elevated volume, this market is one that I have no context for. It’s uncharted territory that cost me -$300,00 at the start of the month.

While I would like to continue trading with the same strategy that I’ve used for the better part of the past decade, I’m also struggling with how to translate that approach to what is currently going on in the market while also not leaving money on the table.

I don’t know how to reconcile the conflicting impulses of having more profits than ever before at this time while also sustaining losses that seem disproportionately massive. While the results are fantastic, getting them just doesn’t seem sustainable and I feel at times like I’m not implementing a strategy as much as I’m frantically looking for enough momentum to cover my daily losses.

Unfortunately, there’s no clear answer to this frustrating dilemma, and I may just have to strap in and prepare for more rollercoaster trading.

Still, I’m going to try and use the rest of the month to observe how the market is behaving and avoid the draw downs that have shaved off probably close to -$500,000 from my current total. Hopefully, this can become a learning experience that will help to even out my profit-loss ratio. At the very least, I’m still looking forward to more big moves ahead in this unprecedented market.