Early this year, my 'mentor' whom I've never actually met in person made a million dollars in one day. I was able to watch it real time via the daily chat room I attended regularly.

That caused me to change my perspective and I made a goal to make a thousand dollars in one trade. It was a month or two that I came very close - I made almost 900 dollars in one trade.

 I did fall short but still I couldn't complain too much, ya know? Anyway, John Carter (my aformentioned 'mentor') says to take time off trading once you make a big trade like that. He likes to spend some time at home where his wife makes him take out the garbage and he can regain some humility and perspective.

Anyway, I didn't do that and became a little overconfident and I loaded my account full of positions and lost three quarters of my profits!

As you can see, learning how to trade means learning hard, painful lessons.

 My biggest draw down (616 dollars) came from that period as well as a lot of other positions but I don't remember which ones they were).

Here's my trades this year (keep in mind I did take 4.5 months of the past 8 months off):


AAPL APPLE INC ($268.00)
AMZN AMAZON.COM INC ($13.00)
BIDU BAIDU INC ADR ($616.00)
BIIB BIOGEN IDEC INC ($116.00)
CELG CELGENE CORP ($153.00)
CF CF INDUSTRIES HOLDINGS INC COM $53.00
CMG CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL $878.00
CREE CREE INC $51.00
DDD 3 D SYSTEMS CORP ($23.00)
FB FACEBOOK INC $32.50
FXY CUR SH JAPANESE YEN TRUST COM ($50.00)
GCI GANNETT INC   ($15.00)
GLD SPDR GOLD TR GOLD SHS ETF $135.00
GOOG GOOGLE INC CLASS C $45.00
IBM INTL BUSINESS MACHINES COM $105.00
INTC INTEL CORP $128.00
INVN INVENSENSE INC $80.00
KBH KB HOME INCOME $51.00
NFLX NETFLIX.COM INC ($187.00)
PHH PHH CORP COM ($128.00)
QIHU QIHOO 360 TECHNOLOGY CO LTD COM $399.00
REGN REGENERON PHARMACEUTICALS INC COM ($10.00)
SCTY SOLARCITY CORP COM $58.00
SLV ISHARES SILVER TRUST $53.00
SPWR SUNPOWER CORPORATIONS COM ($75.00)
SPX S&P 500 INDEX $390.00
SPY SPDR TR S&P 500 ETF TR ($350.00)
TLT ISHARES 20+ YR TREASURY BND ETF  $171.00
TSLA TESLA MOTORS INC $5.00
USO UNITED STATES OIL FUND LP EXCHANGE-TRADED FUND $49.00

Total: $679