Updown update

The Updown December is on its way. My simulation account was down $14,771 today. My rank for the contest is 665 which is not really good. Yesterday the market was dramatically down and today we had a nice bounce. I find myself more in a daytrade mode because the contest is only for one month.

This makes me more aggressive in buying and selling. It is actually very difficult to win if you trade based on fundamentals for the long term vs someone who is more technical oriented. I think investors who can interpret the numbers correctly can make money everyday in both directions.

Currently, I shorted MU, RBS, and SLF. I bought them towards the end of the trading session and am hoping that tomorrow the market goes in the direction that makes them a profitable trade for me. I put limit sell orders so I don’t have to sit in front of the computer all day watching the market. Not that I don’t like doing that because I do. I feel that most times when I don’t have a specific goal to sell, I wind up losing my virtual profits.

My goal in this contest is really just to try to make 1-3% a day. That is actually much more difficult than it sounds. Last month when I made an 80% return I felt really good about my performance. If I could do that in real life without the emotions tied into winning or losing real money, then I could literally make a living trading stocks. I can’t so I play this game.