Trading Weak — Summer Doldrums At House Fly

I am so glad the summer is fast approaching its end and the leaves are on their last days on this earth — for I have been racked with indecision and mediocrity this entire summer. While I haven’t lost money a single month in 10 months, these past 3 months have been nothing short of frustrating. My Quant is up more than 5% this month — 1 trade the first of every month and nothing more than idle cigars and first malt scotch for all of August. My trading has been managed by a psychopath, mixed emotions commingling sentimentality with reality, intermingled with forecasts of uncertainty has all led me to a month where I am flat.

There are many who have done better — trading in concentrated positions and wholly tuned into the cross-currents — easily seeing them as they happen in real time which affords them confidence in action. I know the feeling well and have been there innumerable times. I always harken back, during periods of weakness, to the certainty that I will trade great again — because I have always been able to do it and I am not mentally addled or impugned by drugs, alcoholism or disease. I shall and will trade great again and part of my task now, as I am in a slump, is to limit damage done via poor trading. I do this almost mechanically by stopping out losses quick and limiting position sizes to 5%.

As tempting as it is to toss 20% of my assets into a single idea to crack the spell — I will not do it because desperation breeds ruin and I am not desperate at +208% YTD.

Markets look mixed so far, middling breadth, middling sectors of interest. This being the final day of August, I shall endeavor not to ruin an otherwise milquetoast month.