Week in Review 10-10-2008

I'm glad its over.

From the Kirk Report:

For the week, the S&P 500 crashed -18.20%, Dow -18.15%, the Nasdaq -15.30%, and the Russell 2000 -15.65%.

"Crashed" is the appropriate term here. Holy moly.

Despite the devastation out there this week, I managed to "only" lose 2.75% of my portfolio. I lost 4.5R for the week, but I was trading smaller positions sizes as things continued to go south. Today I continued my string of losses with stupid emotional trades that I made based on rumors and emotion. I traded MOS as the market headed higher and then lost it all (and more) as the roller coaster headed back down. I broke all of my trading rules again (I didn't have a good entry point and I hadn't even calculated a stop when I entered). Just dumb.

I need to learn to be much more patient during times like these. I let my plan get sidetracked by indicators, news, and emotions.