ZF Capital

The journal is very basic and includes what trades I made during the day and my reasons for getting into the trade. My journal has changed a little bit over time since my reasons for entering a trade now are pretty consistent. There are two reasons for having a journal, in my opinion. One reason is to have a manual backup in case there’s a system or software failure. I had to take advantage of this a couple of times, in one instance where the software recorded the trade twice and put me short a stock by mistake.

The second reason that I have kept a journal is for learning and improving as a trader. I go back and review, trade by trade, what I was thinking and doing out of the ordinary in a given week that caused my results to be better or worse than average. And really, I don’t need a lot of detail in the journal. For me, just having the trade and the time and any other comments, such as whether it was an active or quiet market, to help me re-live the day.

– Albert Mazzone

I have had a lot of conversations with one very, very successful trader in one of the chat rooms. One of the things that he told me was that trading was very boring for him. When I had this conversation with him about a year ago, I couldn’t picture being bored. But over the last three or four months I’ve actually gotten to the point where trading has become very boring. (laughing)

You know, it’s almost like production factory work. You show up at your station, things come by, you put them together, you collect your check, and you go home. What’s kept my interest is the interaction with the other traders. I regularly communicate with about ten other traders and we spend most of the time during the day discussing various market issues. Also, what help I can be to other people keeps me interested, as well. But the trading itself has gotten very routine because I know the system and it has worked very well.

If it were not for the interactions and the chat rooms, it would be a very lonely profession. I can’t imagine anybody doing this without being involved in one of the various rooms, because you’re essentially sitting at home alone all day. I like to keep active. I do consulting one day a week for a computer company. And last month I bought a small company. As you can see, I get bored quickly.

– Albert Mazzone