State of the Challenge 1

Archives Challenge Run One
1

I think it might be beneficial to take brief looks at the challenge overall from time to time so I can address how I feel its going, what I think needs work and what is planned in a more direct manner than the daily account updates, which mainly focus on the trades and performance of the account itself.

Initial Thoughts

I’m really happy with how the challenge is going thus far in terms of setup and education. I’ve spoken with many members privately and in public chats who have expressed that they’ve found the challenge extremely helpful and for that reason I already consider it a success. The main goal of this challenge, while ultimately being about demonstrating profitable trading, was to communicate in a better way some of the strategies and psychological skills needed to become a “good trader” with emphasis on managing risk while maintaining decent profit potential.

Thoughts on Account

Clarification On Style

One thing that I think should be clarified is that I’m not currently trading this account how I trade. The reason for this is that I normally take incredibly risky trades with money that I could set fire to, however, for the sake of this challenge, I’m in the mindset that the money in this account is important. My goal is to never add money to the account during the challenge and in order to achieve that goal, its paramount that I trade responsibly. I’m doing this to show people how to change their lives through steady gains and compounding and those “flashy trades” don’t really have a place in an account with only $1,000 in it.

Will there be a time for them? Absolutely. My trading style will evolve with the size of the account. Over $10,000 I might take some riskier bets with a couple contracts, as you’ve seen thus far, I’m not doing things like buying earnings gambles or anything of that nature, it’s primarily been directional bets on swing trades. Over $25,000 I’ll convert the account to margin and start scalping in pre and post market.

Comments on Performance

As far as performance goes, I’m again pretty happy thus far. The account sustained some heavy losses, which I’m not too thrilled about, but they gave some early opportunities to demonstrate how to remain calm and trade out of a bad situation.

The accounts current issue is purely overnight holds. Had I not held SENS overnight, the account would likely be over +100% at the moment and if I had cut XOM yesterday, I probably would be up a decent amount again today as I intended to continue playing it and would’ve bought the dip pretty hard. While I’m not to the point of cutting out overnight holds for the time being, I am certainly considering doing so and placing more of an emphasis on day trading and immediate profit taking to break it out of the ~46% profit range its been bouncing in.

However, I can’t sell myself short, +44% on account is more than a lot of accounts see in a year and we’ve only started the second week. If I get too focused on crazy gains, the challenge will lose something important, so slow and steady it is for now.

What Needs to Change

  1. Pace - I need to trade a tiny bit more actively, I’m focusing on one large trade at a time currently and I’m leaving some profit on the table by doing so. Now that the stream is running smoothly, I will likely attempt to pick up the pace a little bit.
  2. VC - I’m still not active in VC despite saying I would be several times. So yeah, I just need to actually be in VC a bit more.
  3. Forum DD - Linking into #1 and #2, most of my trades are not making proper use of the forum DD quite yet, I’ve started today, but I’m going to really hammer down and start reviewing, contributing to and using the DD on the forum to power the trades in this account.

Closing Thoughts

While the challenge thus far may be seen as uneventful, there is a method to the madness. As the account grows, so will “the entertainment”. For now though, I think we’ve provided some valuable education and helped at least some people make some profitable trades and that’s really what its all about. But either way, I think interest in this will ramp up pretty solidly in the weeks to come.

More soon. :pepepray:

34 Likes
2

I’m really enjoying watching your stream throughout this entire process. Watching you do the TA has been fascinating and probably one of the most helpful components of this challenge for me.

Watching you assess new information and come up with a plan is honestly something everyone needs to learn and you’re providing that know-how.

I also think the pace of the challenge is perfect for right now. Personally, I’m still skittish following ESSC #2 so being able to take smaller and slower positions with you has really helped remind me what trading is all about. Once you decide to pick up the pace, I’ll be ready!

Your regular updates have been great as well and I agree +44% is huge gains but it’s about that growth, this isn’t a speedrun.

Amazing work with all of this, to Valhalla we ride!

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3

I too like the pace right now, your TA on the charts and all those comments pointing out what you’re looking for or why something did what it did are extremely helpful. Each trade is very calculated and methodical, and even when SENS dumped PM you were still taking your time trying to minimize the loss and not just cut at open.

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4

I already know how to make (and more importantly lose) money on overleveraged, risky trades. These past two weeks have been very educational, and probably the most productive of my trading career so far. My win/loss ratio is much improved.

Honestly I’ve only joined in a few of your trades, most of what I’ve played has been from the forums and TF. But the knowledge I’ve gained already is well on its way to making the tuition I paid to the market last year worth it. Things are finally clicking.

Making more calculated, safer, educated plays is the hard part, and you’re exhibiting how to do so in this challenge. IMO it’s plenty entertaining.

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I agree with what others have said, the TA and evaluating plays has been incredibly insightful. I don’t need “more entertainment” on the stream, I can get enough of that in VC, the education is invaluable.

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This. I will say personally that the one thing that keeps me from being profitable trading is managing a losing trade. I personally didn’t play SENS on the day of the blowup, but watching the micromanagement to help protect what you can salvage has changed my habits in legitimately the matter of a week. It’s this ideology of “surviving” that makes me change how I evaluate a, say, -30% trade. Watching the strategic averaging points and how these plays are solely based on thesis alone with no degree of emotion/fomo is an educational experience for me. I’m not as active as some are here, but I do think I speak for most when I claim that these streams have an unquantifiable level of information for those who want to tap into them. Cheers.

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7

Watching Conq’s trades in real-time is equivalent to webinars & worshops investors pay for. Thanks for this challenge!

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Thanks to everyone for the feedback and words of encouragement. It’s really fulfilling to see people being helped by the challenge. :pepepray:

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:pepepray: :pepepray: :pepepray:

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10

Just an idea but maybe even if the account passed 25k keep it as if you are limited to the day trading rules. So that people can continue to tag along even with lesser funds.

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11

I’ve thought about this, however, nobody should be limited to day trading rules to begin with. I’m trading out of a cash account and the expectation is that everyone is doing the same. At the end of the day, although I am specifically trading knowing that people are “following along” (I’m negating risk, being careful with strikes, avoiding “too much” volatility), if I stand a chance of actually getting this account to the goal, I’m going to need to switch up my styles a bit as it increases in value.

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