I've always taken a bit of pride in being "different" from the mainstream herd.
Me being left-handed, right-brained, and likes to play the role of the 2 dots in the Tao symbol and all that jazz...
Others lip-sync the tools shepherds impose on their flock like goals and KPIs; I sing the visions and dreams of land owners.
That worked fine until today.
Everyone seems to be doing very well for 2017. All made money!
Idiot!
And I have to be the only blogger to make trading losses for 2017?
I'm not really sure about the "pro" part, but what do you call a person who starts to trade full-time since the beginning of 2013?
Amateur full-time? Weird right?
I did self-appoint myself as a nano hedge fund manager didn't I? So "pro" it shall be then.
LOL!
From $12 in 4 years, its now back down to $11 in 5 years.
I lost $1 for 2017.
Or -8% for those who prefer to count in percentages.
3 main reasons for my sub-par trading performance:
1) Tailwind; headwind
Last year, the USD unexpectedly strengthen after Triump's win. End 2016, USD/SGD was $1.40; now it has weakened back down to $1.34.
80% of my trading account is denominated in USD since I trade mainly futures nowadays; while 20% is in SGD for my Simsci hedges.
Last year got tailwind boost super! This year's headwind not so fun...
2) Hedging costs money
This is the moment of truth to test my trading conviction for 2018.
If I've bought travel insurance for all my overseas travels in 2017, and I've came back safely, does that mean I'm flushing money down the toilet?
So should I continue to flush money down the toilet in 2018 with hedges?
Hmm...
3) I traded poorly
You know what? Cut the bullshit!
The 2 abolve reasons are merely contributing factors...
The main reason I lost money this year is I've traded badly. Period.
Cannot always blame the RNG (Random Number Generator) gods right? (Its a gamer lingo)
That's the advantage where client is me, receptionist is me, trader is me, buy side anaylst is me, and nano hedge fund manager also me!
I can spot my own bullshit as a client!
Since my trading account didn't earn money, its a given there's no 20% performance bonus this year!
As for the 2% annual fee, I think I'll go bang table and ask the idiot fund manager to waive off this 2% fee for poor performance! Never make money still got cheek to charge me!?
Reflection
I've spotted something interesting.
If this had been end 2013, by losing $1 during my first trading year, it would mean I've busted my trading account like 90% of the traders out there!!!
You can't remove the element of "luck" in trading.
See if you can relate my reflection to this old post of mine:
Sea turles.
Singapore Man of Leisure (welcome to my blog; just google it!)
