ERC Trading

End of Day Report 3/3/11

2011-03-04T02:05:00.001-05:00

The portfolio was started on Monday, February 28, 2011. Initial purchases were made then. Unfortunately we did not start posting until today. Here is how our portfolio stands as of 3/3/11.

Tomorrow @ open:

Purchasing more SPY, TD, and opening a position in TJ.
Liquidating TLM given its poor performance in today's strong market.

Starting value: $25,000.00
Current value: $25,228.29
Change %: +00.91%

Portfolio screenshot

We Are Back!

2011-03-03T22:49:00.000-05:00

ERC Trading is back and in full effect.

Our Purpose:
To create a trading system that delivers consistent market beating returns while minimizing risk. Conservative stock positions will be taken initially. Once the position has proven itself, additional funds will be aggressively added to it. Losing stocks will quickly be sold, either by the trader or automatically through a strict 5% trailing stop on all positions.

Rules:

Initial portfolio value of $25,000.
Buy orders will be entered after the market has closed to be filled the next day at market during open. Sell orders can be entered at any time, but will usually be entered after the market has closed as well.
Every buy will have a strict 5% trailing stop.
Initial positions are to be no more than roughly 10% of the total portfolio.
Additions to winning positions will usually be done in 10% of portfolio increments, but any amount can be chosen at the discretion of the trader.

Margin, Options & Futures:

Options will not be used until our account has nearly doubled in value.
Futures will not be used until our account has gained nearly 50% in value.
Margin on stocks will never be used.

We will be using OptionsXpress Virtual Trading platform. It is a very accurate tool that does a good job of simulating real money transactions. We will not attempt to find weaknesses in the platform to give us an edge. If any are found by chance, they will not be exploited.

End of Day Report 5-22

2008-05-23T00:41:00.005-04:00

Do you know one personality trait that all successful people share? They know that there are no easy ways to be successful, only hard ways. They never chase the fast buck, or false hopes, or false dreams. They never gamble. They invest. They invest in themselves, they invest in their education, they invest their money. They take the long term approach to everything that they do.

Ladies and gentlemen, apply this critical component of success to stocks. Realize that although stock trading can be lucrative, it isn't the quick and easy way to a life of luxury. Most likely, it will be the quick and easy way to financial hardship and personal suffering. I have had many hardships because of losses incurred from stock trading, and have seen others suffer even more. Do not put all your hopes into stock trading. If you are going to trade, do it with money you can afford to lose and with a mindset that it is a form of entertainment, not income. With the remainder of your money, invest it.

Remember: slow and steady wins the race.

Account Update

Starting Value: $100,000.00
Current Value: $39,306.01
Account % Loss: -60.69%

Account started on May 6, 2008

End of Day Report 5-21

2008-05-21T16:00:00.004-04:00

Oh no! To get out of this mess it's going to take a miracle. Fortunately for us, we are bona fide miracle workers.

Despite this major setback, we will not quit. We will never quit. The only place to go from here is onward and upward.

Account Update

Starting Value: $100,000.00
Current Value: $40,708.01
Account % Loss: -59.29%

Account started on May 6, 2008

A screen shot of our account will be added later.

End of Day Report 5-19

2008-05-19T23:34:00.004-04:00

Our account is slowly climbing out of the negative. We hope to unload a majority of our SPY calls with a net gain sometime this week.

Account Update

Starting Value: $100,000.00
Current Value: $91,856.01
Account % Loss: -8.14%

Account started on May 6, 2008

End of Day Report 5-16

2008-05-16T16:28:00.004-04:00

The S&P 500 index managed to close in the positive despite the following bad news:

Consumer Confidence Tumbles to 28-Year Low- Reuters

Oil Sets Record Near $128- AP

We take this a sign of growing investor confidence in the short term . We're projecting the market to make a major move upwards next week.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Account Update

Starting Value: $100,000.00
Current Value: $87,667.01
Account % Loss: -12.33%

Account started on May 6, 2008

End of Day Report 5/15

2008-05-16T01:38:00.004-04:00

Our account recovered some of its losses today, but our position is not a secure one. The US economy is still hurting from the mortgage crisis and uneasiness pervades. Any troubling news has the potential to send investors into another selling panic. We will be looking to trim our SPY holdings and transfer our funds to a more secure area.

Account Update

Starting Value: $100,000.00
Current Value: $86,316.01
Account % Loss: -13.68%

Account started on May 6, 2008

End of Day Report 5-14

2008-05-15T00:17:00.005-04:00

SPY calls or bust!

Account Update

Starting Value: $100,000.00
Current Value: $66,802.01
Account % Loss: -33.19%

Account started on May 6, 2008

Maxed Out on SPY Calls

2008-05-14T11:01:00.002-04:00

We are going all in. We have purchased 260 SPY JUN 142 Calls (.SFBFL) @ $2.85, which is $73,580 or about 100% of our account.

End of Day Report 5/12

2008-05-12T22:33:00.005-04:00

Our account was over-leveraged on Friday and we were afraid our account could be drawn down to a level that would be impossible to recover from, so we begged for mercy and sold our SPY calls for a $20,000 loss. Despite selling, we still believe the market is heading upwards in the short-term. We are looking to reenter our position.

Account Update

Starting Value: $100,000.00
Current Value: $78,624.26
Account % Loss: -21.37%

Account started on May 6, 2008

SPY Calls Sold

2008-05-09T12:08:00.002-04:00

We've sold all our SPY calls for a $20,000 loss.

End of Day Report 5/8

2008-05-08T18:14:00.005-04:00

With the purchase of another $20,000 in SPY calls, our account is over-leveraged, leaving no room for any error. We shouldn't have purchased those additional options. We jumped the gun, and because of it there is a real chance that we will be squeezed out of our position with huge losses. Let's hope for the best tomorrow.

Account Update

Starting Value: $100,000.00
Current Value: $82,876.94
Account % Loss: -17.12%

Account started on May 6, 2008

More SPY Calls Purchased

2008-05-08T14:01:00.002-04:00

We have purchased 76 more SPDRs (SPY) JUN 142 Calls (.SFBFL) @ $3.07, bringing our SPY calls total to $50,000, or 50% of our account.

End of Day Report 5/7

2008-05-07T12:56:00.008-04:00

With 30% of our account in SPY calls, our account took a major hit, but our outlook remains positive. Keep in mind that because of the use of options any movement in the underlying security will have a magnified impact on our account. The market did go down substantially, but is still within a range we're comfortable with. We'll immediately sell if the loss from our SPY calls reaches $18,000.

Account Update

Starting Value: $100,000.00
Current Value: $88,445.94
Account % Loss: -11.55%

Account started on May 6, 2008

More SPY Calls Purchased

2008-05-07T10:47:00.002-04:00

We have purchased another $20,000 worth of SPY June 142 Calls, bringing our total amount to $30,000, or 30% of our account.

SPY Calls Purchased

2008-05-07T10:32:00.002-04:00

We have purchased 29 SPDRs (SPY) JUN 142 Calls (.SFBFL) @ $3.45, which is $10,000 or 10% of our account.

Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo (YHOO) Options Sold

2008-05-07T10:26:00.002-04:00

We have sold both our Microsoft and Yahoo options for a $2,000 loss.

End of Day Report Monday 5/6

2008-05-06T21:00:00.007-04:00

We put an insignificant amount of our account into Microsoft and Yahoo options because we consider the two to be a highly speculative play based merely on a guess of how people will react to the acquisition being stopped. We doubt it will yield much profit.

Our main play will be tomorrow where we will purchase a large sum of our favorite: SPY Calls. It is our belief that the stock market has, for the moment, reached the bottom of its downward spiral. Not only has the market stopped its awful plunge during these past few days, but also the talk on Wall Street has taken a more positive tone. When they once spoke of the crumbling economy, they now talk about how the crumbling may not be as bad as once thought, and how the dollar appears to be rebounding from its terrible lows. This new positive outlook showed itself today, where the price of oil reached another historic high, and yet the market managed to claw its way out of the red and close ten points in the green. We don't know what will happen to the economy in the long-run, but in the short-term, we are willing to bet big that the market will recover some of its losses.

Starting value: $100,000

Microsoft (MSFT) Puts Purchased

2008-05-06T11:43:00.001-04:00

We have purchased 34 MSFT JUN 30 Puts .MSQRF @ $1.47.

5% of our account has been put into these puts, or $5,000.

Yahoo (YHOO) Calls Purchased

2008-05-06T11:35:00.003-04:00

37 YHOO JUN 27.5 Calls (.YHQFY) purchased @ $1.30.

5% of our account has been put into these Puts, or $5,000.

We Are Back!

2008-05-05T16:04:00.003-04:00

Our first trade will be executed tomorrow.

The setup is the same as before:

Put $100,000 in a fake account.
Try to double the money as quickly as possible.

As usual we will have daily updates to allow our readers to track our progress. Wish us luck!

Back to the Drawing Board

2007-09-24T23:47:00.000-04:00

We are proud of what we have accomplished, but our current aggressive trading technique is useless for a real account. It's much too risky. No matter how good a trader may be, mistakes are bound to happen, and our current technique just doesn't leave room for them. This is irresponsible, and we do not want these bad habits to become the norm, so we are going to scrap all of our work thus far and begin working on a more conservative system.

In preparation for this trading research our virtual account will be reset and given a paltry $10,000. Our goal will be to consistently gain 7 to 10% a month. Risk will be minimized by using fewer stock options, more stocks, and by diversifying our portfolio. Positions will be held longer than before making market timing less crucial.

From September 25 to November 2nd the ERC Trading website will be silent while we conduct preliminary research and execute test trades. We will report our findings on November 2nd. The technique will then be used for 6 months afterwards to see if it can succeed in consistently gaining 7%-10% per month.

We will be back on November 2nd. Until then, goodnight and good luck.

Old Aggressive Account Update

Starting Value: $100,000.00
Current Value: $189.016.28
Account % Gain: +89.01%

account started August 28, 2007

Positions

SPY Calls Purchased

2007-09-24T11:23:00.000-04:00

800 (!) SPY OCT 153 Calls purchased at $2.80

Is this the beginning of the next leg upward? We think so!

EODR Wednesday 9-19

2007-09-19T16:15:00.000-04:00

The market appears to be in neutral territory with no reason to continue buying (the rate cut has already been acted upon) and no reason to sell either (the rate cut has changed the prior gloomy outlook). We sold our S&P 500 Index (SPY) Calls because we didn't want to risk our entire account during such uncertainty. Our outlook remains positive though, and we will be looking to buy SPY Calls again in the future.

Account Update

Starting Value: $100,000.00
Current Value: $234,016.28
Account % Gain: +134.01%

account started August 28, 2007

Analysis

Positions

Order Status

SPY OCT 148 Call Sold

2007-09-19T13:22:00.001-04:00

SPY OCT 148 Call sold @ $6.80