Double A Penny - Step 20 - The Great and the Terrible

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 StepsDTAMP - Double To A Million Plan Blog

It has been a while since adding a new post, which brings me immediately to, "There is Great News and Terrible News". I am not sure which one to present first.

Lets start with the terrible news so we can end on a good note.

I have been very sick for the last three weeks and just when I started to begin to, maybe, almost start to feel better, there was blood in my urine and the doctor rushed me in for X-Rays, Ultrasounds and appointments with a specialist, with the threat of him putting things into places, no such things should go. Really, I insist. No, No No!

They do not know what is wrong with me at this point, as all the tests are not showing reasons for the problem. There will probably be a CAT scan as well.

This all could not have come at a worse time, mostly because of the great news and that is my wife got a job and was about to start when my sickness started up in full force. Just when she needed to get ready, there was nothing but running from doctor to doctor, hospital, labs, tests, etc. etc.

To boot, when she was was going to start today, last night our furnace failed, plunging us into a pitched battle against 15 degree cold with both of us coming out of the worst colds we have had in years, and her not even having hot water to get ready with.

In other bad news, I haven't made any money of substance for DTAMP since last reporting. I haven't gone many places, just from the bed to my chair, to find coins and I didn't make any trades, to report about.

There are a bunch of other problems that occurred over January and into February, but I won't get into them. To much terrible news is , well, terrible.

So, lets move to the great news. My wife got a job, a good one. No pay cut, better hours, better working conditions, better everything. Its great.

I did manage to make some trades for my personal accounts that did well. The most recent one was with Ultra DJ-UBS Crude Oil ProShares (UCO). After it had come down quite a ways, I bought in at $10.80 . It went down into the $10.40 range and stayed there for the weekend which was unnerving. I didn't have much tolerance for risk that weekend , mostly due to sickness, but come Monday, February 1st it started to climb.

I sold on February 2nd at $11.54 . It looked like UCO was going to keep climbing into the $12, $13 or even $14 range. But I started to get a bad feeling. The gut feeling was saying take a vacation from oil for a while, Don't touch it. After that it plummeted and I was really happy I was out.

I will not report on the current trade I am in with DTAMP funds because every time I do it goes bad. So I will keep it under wraps until the trade is complete and it either makes some money or loses some.

Present Stake: $4088.49

Motto: It is only "one" found penny.
Slogan: As Simple As Finding A Penny.
Theme Song: Chumbawamba - Tubthumping

Regards,

Xinfinitum



This Double A Penny Blog is based upon the Doubling Method "How to Double Your Way to a £Million in 28 Steps". Using the Doubling Rule it is an attempt to "Double Your Way to a Million" by going from one penny to a million dollars, starting from nothing. At the beginning you start by finding a penny and then double a penny until reaching $1,000,000.

Double Your Way To A Million
How to Double Your Way to a Million in 28 Steps
D.T.A.M.P. - Double To A Million Plan
"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

Double A Penny - Step 20 - Unemployment Makes Money

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 StepsDTAMP - Double To A Million Plan Blog

I got into an Oil trade (UCO) yesterday, December 3rd, with the DTAMP stake. I had some money made, but wasn't sure at one point, when UCO was hitting its high of the day, whether to stay in or sell.

I decided to hold on. But an announcement came out on CNBC, proclaiming something to the affect that the White House was saying that the unemployment rate was going to stay over 10% for a awhile. The reporter Steve Liesman said it was an unprecedented announcement the day before the official unemployment report was to come out.

My roughly $100.00 profit in UCO went to a negative shortly after that as Oil dropped the rest of the day.

I held on because I felt oil still had some upside to it, eventually. Today the Non-Farms Payrolls report came out and it had dropped from 10.2% to 10.0% .

Oil (UCO) jumped up and the trade turned into a profit. I sold it at $13.09 . After that UCO tanked and is presently sitting at $12.63 and dropping. When I sold it I was sitting here feeling like I should buy SCO, which is the equivalent of shorting Oil at $13.40 and now it up to $13.95 and climbing.

This is the run down of the winning trade.

DTAMP Equities Plan Report:

12/03/09 - Buy - 300 shares of UCO @ $12.50 p/s - Total $3750.00
12/04/09 - Sold - 300 shares of UCO @ $13.09 p/s - Total $3927.00Total ($177.00) - ($18.01) Fees = ($158.99)Net Gain of (+4.22964)% in the Amount of ($158.99)

Present Stake: $3982.73

Motto: It is only "one" found penny.
Slogan: As Simple As Finding A Penny.
Theme Song: Chumbawamba - Tubthumping

Regards,

Xinfinitum



This Double A Penny Blog is based upon the Doubling Method "How to Double Your Way to a £Million in 28 Steps". Using the Doubling Rule it is an attempt to "Double Your Way to a Million" by going from one penny to a million dollars, starting from nothing. At the beginning you start by finding a penny and then double a penny until reaching $1,000,000.

Double Your Way To A Million
How to Double Your Way to a Million in 28 Steps
D.T.A.M.P. - Double To A Million Plan
"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

Double A Penny - Step 20 - Rich Coast Dimes

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 StepsDTAMP - Double To A Million Plan Blog

Early November has been busy for DTAMP. On the 4th a friend gave me two dimes ($0.20) that she found in the Airport on her vacation, in the country that ranks first in the Happy Planet Index. Costa Rica (literally translated "Rich Coast").

When she saw the dimes she immediately thought of my DTAMP project and brought them all the way from Central America to give to me to add to the stake. Now that is a dedicated DTAMP fan. :) Thank you!

DTAMP does have some dedicated fans and I am grateful for all of them!!!

I also made a stock trade and managed to make a profit on in Oil.

DTAMP Equities Plan Report:

11/06/09 - Buy - 245 shares of UCO @ $13.24 p/s - Total $3243.80
11/09/09 - Sold - 245 shares of UCO@ $13.89 p/s - Total $3403.05Total ($159.25) - ($17.99) Fees = ($141.26)Net Gain of (+4.34279)% in the Amount of ($141.26)

Today, I received a gift ($25.00) for DTAMP from a benefactor.

Thank you for your support.

Present Stake: $3492.68

Motto: It is only "one" found penny.
Slogan: As Simple As Finding A Penny.
Theme Song: Chumbawamba - Tubthumping

Regards,

Xinfinitum



This Double A Penny Blog is based upon the Doubling Method "How to Double Your Way to a £Million in 28 Steps". Using the Doubling Rule it is an attempt to "Double Your Way to a Million" by going from one penny to a million dollars, starting from nothing. At the beginning you start by finding a penny and then double a penny until reaching $1,000,000.

Double Your Way To A Million
How to Double Your Way to a Million in 28 Steps
D.T.A.M.P. - Double To A Million Plan
"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

Double A Penny - Step 20 - You Are Miserable

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 StepsDTAMP - Double To A Million Plan Blog

Finally a Blog Post! I apologize for not updating recently but I have not had anything to report but dreadful news and I was tired of only having to put that up here. I just didn't have the energy to keep things going. I made it through September but only just barely.

But now I do have a few good things to report and some are way over due.

First I want to thank Edo for his gift back on August 30th, 2009 for $10.00. I appreciate the encouragement.

As you can tell from the timeline I took a big loss on that UCO trade I was telling you I was in in my last post. I fouled up big time. I had a signal to get out at $12.65 and I didn't take it. I lost $243.04 on that trade. I had a few chances to get out and didn't and then went into panic mode and dumped everything. Needless to say I lost my cool and it hurt (very badly).

Here is how that trade went:

08/27/09 - Buy - 262 shares of UCO @ $11.60 p/s - Total $3039.20
09/04/09 - Sold - 262 shares of UCO @ $10.741 p/s - Total $2814.14Total (-$225.06) - ($17.98) Fees = (-$243.04)Net Loss of (-7.99684)% in the Amount of (-$243.04)

Had I gotten out at the $12.65 I would have had a profit of around $257.12. But I held the trade instead and on that weekend China announced something regarding their economy and oil tanked that Monday. I was stuck. It bounced up a few time and I could of taken a smaller profit but I held on. By that next friday my emotions pushed me into a bad, bad state and I sold everything. Turned out to be a big mistake. The following Tuesday it started back up and I would have been OK.

If you want to be a trader you absolutely must do several things:

First, study and obey the cover of the book "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", it reads "Don't Panic".

Second, know who you are dealing with, "Always Respect the Market", it can beat the stuffing out of you.

Third, "Know your limitations", going beyond them will cause you to trip and fall, screaming and writhing in pain and anguish, taking years off your life.

Here is something I have noticed when trading. When you get in a trade and it goes against you, somehow hope makes it all ok as it drops continuously. It is easy to take the loss because hope keeps telling you everything will be ok. The little voice inside, though, says, something is wrong, get out. But Hope says, no, don't take the loss, you can't take the loss.

So you hold and eventually it reaches a point when Hope suddenly turns on you and begins screaming, GET OUT!!! at the top of its lungs. Now this is when the Panic Mode sets in. Blind panic in fact. You can no longer even hear the still small voice that could help you. Even the voice of reason is gone. Other people may be trying to calm you but you can't stand the searing fire of pure desperation. You would cut off your right arm if it meant getting free of this situation.

At this point everything is lost. You are a lost cause. So you get out, even making mistakes along the way, but it doesn't matter. Finally you are free. But not really because now the darkness of regret will begin to roll in. The trade then reverses and your loss would have now turned into a gain or at least a break even. You are miserable.

Now what happens when you get in a trade and it goes your way? You keep waiting for the inner voice to tell you when to take your profit. It is an anxious time. Will you hear the voice, will you respond this time? Every tick upwards means more profit, but where is the top.

You are on pins and needles the whole time and that time can go on for days. Days and days of waiting. It never goes straight up alway back and forth. It can be nerve wracking. Eventually you reach a point you can't wait any longer and you put the order in to sell. The next day it keeps going up and you calculate how much more you would have made had you waited. You are miserable.

I know what you are thinking: Why in the world would anyone do it then?

I do not have an answer for that.

To be honest after what happened this September and in fact all the years I have traded it is amazing I continue to trade at all, ever.

But I did and here were the results:

DTAMP Equities Plan Report:

09/24/09 - Buy - 286 shares of UCO @ $9.92 p/s - Total $2837.12
09/29/09 - Sold - 286 shares of UCO @ $10.3017 p/s - Total $2946.21Total ($109.09) - ($17.99) Fees = ($91.10)Net Gain of (3.20091)% in the Amount of ($91.10)

09/30/09 - Buy - 286 shares of UCO @ $10.159 p/s - Total $2905.47
09/30/09 - Sold - 286 shares of UCO @ $11.241 p/s - Total $3214.87Total ($309.40) - ($17.99) Fees = ($291.41)Net Gain of (9.99890)% in the Amount of ($291.41)

I was able to make two trades with UCO and took $382.51 profit after commissions. So I was able to make a recovery from the previous loss and a little extra.

I also received a gift of $50.00 from a friend, I have been helping.

So despite the setbacks, eventually it is two miserable steps forward and hopefully only one miserable step back.

Present Stake: $3297.58

Motto: It is only "one" found penny.
Slogan: As Simple As Finding A Penny.
Theme Song: Chumbawamba - Tubthumping

Regards,

Xinfinitum



This Double A Penny Blog is based upon the Doubling Method "How to Double Your Way to a £Million in 28 Steps". Using the Doubling Rule it is an attempt to "Double Your Way to a Million" by going from one penny to a million dollars, starting from nothing. At the beginning you start by finding a penny and then double a penny until reaching $1,000,000.

Double Your Way To A Million
How to Double Your Way to a Million in 28 Steps
D.T.A.M.P. - Double To A Million Plan
"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

Double A Penny - Step 20 - Drunken Brawl

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 StepsDTAMP - Double To A Million Plan Blog

Overall things have been going dreadfully. I won't go into details but, without any exaggeration, everything is going very badly and we are being attacked in so many ways and from so many sources, I am not sure we will make it through this time without a full blown miracle occurring.

My hope is that one day, if at all possible, life will return to some state of normalcy.

Despite all that is happening, I keep plugging away at DTAMP in whatever capacity I am able to.

Today I found ($0.12) on the floor of the supermarket. The market was very busy and I needed to get to a dime that was in the middle of the checkout aisle. I kept going back to it but there would always be more people in the way. So finally I decided to wait in line and when I got up to the dime I picked it up. The clerk smiled at me. I think they have gotten used to my determination to get stray coins laying around.

There was a bit of a ruckus at the supermarket. I noticed this one guy kind of fall off the curb and landed on his back in the parking lot. I was walking out of the store at the time to get something in the car. Another guy sitting a ways away said to the guy something about getting up.

Then another of the four men got hostile for some reason and started to approach the guy that said something about getting up. The hostile one started to posture and cuss. You could tell he was trying to build up his courage to do something. As I walked away I could tell that there was going to be a fight or something.

By the time I got back one guy was sitting with a bloody face. In the store the guy that fell down was sitting there his face covered in blood. The hostile guy was no where to be seen. Eventually the police showed up with an ambulance.

It was obvious all four men were drunk. Pitiful. It was because of a drunk driver back in 1965 that my Father ended up dying early in life. The bad blood he got when they saved his life back then, ended up destroying his liver. It also destroyed the second liver. The 21 year old kid that hit us (he went out to celebrate his 21st birthday and got drunk), ripping off the driver side of our car, ended up going through the windshield and dying. All four of us survived, but just barely.

The surgeons gave up on my Father because he was a total mess and gave him to an intern to practice on. The intern ended up saving my Father's life. He spent three months in a coma and a year in the hospital. When he got out he died in our living room and saw the light and his body laying on the floor. He came back and they brought him to the hospital again. Turned out one of the arteries from the heart to the brain had broken off and fused to another area. They had to cut him from his heart to his brain to remove the artery and fix the damage.

That surgery had never been done in the world before and specialists from all over the world were trying to get the position to perform it. My Father survived. He went on to play golf every chance he got for the next 35 years. Nothing stopped this man. Not a broken back, crushed vertebrae, a missing artery, nor the destruction of his liver. He was unstoppable.

I never realized what a great man my Father was. Now I will never forget it.

I haven't made any trades for DTAMP since my Father went into the hospital at the beginning of June.

On Thursday, August 27th, 2009 I finally made a trade and purchased 262 shares of UCO @ $11.60

UCO is ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Crude Oil(ETF).

I am still holding it at this point and fortunately it is up around +7.11% @ $217.00 after commissions. Hopefully Monday oil will go up.

The thing about UCO is that it is a leveraged play. The summary says; "The investment will seek to replicate, net of expenses, twice the daily performance of the Dow Jones AIG Crude Oil Sub-Index."

The problem with leveraged ETFs is that the longer you hold them the more of a disparity grows between the pure (2X) ratio and the reality of the actual investment. In other words it loses ground over time. So this ETF is really meant for fast in-out trades.

Present Stake: $3098.64

Motto: It is only "one" found penny.
Slogan: As Simple As Finding A Penny.
Theme Song: Chumbawamba - Tubthumping

Regards,

Xinfinitum



This Double A Penny Blog is based upon the Doubling Method "How to Double Your Way to a £Million in 28 Steps". Using the Doubling Rule it is an attempt to "Double Your Way to a Million" by going from one penny to a million dollars, starting from nothing. At the beginning you start by finding a penny and then double a penny until reaching $1,000,000.

Double Your Way To A Million
How to Double Your Way to a Million in 28 Steps
D.T.A.M.P. - Double To A Million Plan
"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"

Double To A Million - Step 19 - Trading Continued

How To Double Your Way To A Million In 28 Steps
To assist my Stake growth I have continued to do several more stock trades. I am hoping that this will be the method I am able to build my stake in the future.


DTAMP Equities Plan Report:

01/16/09 - Buy - 205 shares of UCO @ $11.3299 p/s - Total $2322.63
01/16/09 - Sold - 205 shares of UCO@ $11.6401 p/s - Total $2386.22Total ($63.59) - ($0.00) Fees = ($63.59)Net Gain of (+2.73784)% in the Amount of ($63.59)

01/22/09 - Buy - 223 shares of UCO @ $10.7399 p/s - Total $2395.00
01/22/09 - Sold - 223 shares of UCO@ $10.85 p/s - Total $2419.55Total ($24.55) - ($0.00) Fees = ($24.55)Net Gain of (+1.02505)% in the Amount of ($24.55)
I missed the good move by not holding that last trade in UCO (Oil) until friday(23rd) as it went up to $13.31 . I had a feeling it was going to break upward soon but I was suffering from a migraine on thursday and decided to sit friday out because I wasn't feeling well. Turns out friday was the day it decided to go higher.

The beautiful thing about it all is there will always be another opportunity coming along later on down the line so there is no need to fret about losing out on this one.

In addition I found ($0.03) on the floor at Burger King. It would have been more as I spotted about ($0.09) on the counter and asked the cashier about it but he took it instead of letting me have it. You can't win them all.

At the present time I am $139.50 away from completing Step 19.

Present Stake: $2420.50

Motto: It is only "one" found penny.
Slogan: As Simple As Finding A Penny.

Regards,

Xinfinitum


This Double A Penny Blog is based upon the Doubling Plan "How to Double Your Way to a £Million in 28 Steps". It is an attempt to "Double Your Way to a Million" by going from one penny to one million dollars, starting from nothing. At the beginning you start by finding a penny and then double a penny until reaching $1,000,000.

How to Double Your Way to a Million in 28 Steps
D.T.A.M.P. - Double To A Million Plan

"For The Next Chronological Post Click Here"