T0rM3nTeD's paper trading journal

Hello everyone! I'll start with a summary about my current situation, and then what my plans are in the near and longer term future.

To start, my name is Chris, I'm 27 years old and married with student loans. I have a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and am currently working as an engineer (???). My wife is also 27 years old and has a Bachelor's degree in nursing and is working in an ER (part time) and in a doctor's office (full time). I graduated College with about $25K in loans and my wife had about $40K. We have paid them off "fairly aggressively" and should be done at the end of this year. We also bought a house 6 months ago, and had to buy some furniture for that house as well. Between the marriage, loans, house, furniture, we've never really had "enough" money to invest.

Obviously we have both contributed to a 401K since starting working full-time when graduating college. I'm sitting with about $7500 in my 401K and my wife has about the same. My 401K is invested in an index fund that correlates with the S&P. We have $10K saved up in a "Savings account" which is purely cash right now just sitting in the bank in case of emergency.

By the end of the year when we have paid off our loans, we will be adding roughly $2K to that savings account every month (hopefully) which is when I'll be able to get out of paper trading and into the market. Those are my plans anyways - to be "practicing" with paper trading for the next year or so as I'm fairly new, and then transition to the market.

Because I don't have a large amount of money, my positions and amount of money that I am "willing to lose" on a trade will not be huge. The type of trading I am interested in is swing trading where I spend a few days to a few weeks in an investment.

While paper-trading, I will try to invest $5K-$10K MAX in one investment as I want to mimic the environment I will be experiencing when I transition to the market. I will RISK somewhere between $100-$500 in one trade depending on how much I like it and how comfortable I am feeling at the time.

I just started paper trading a few days ago, though I have been researching the market on-and-off since 2012. Below are my 6 current open positions (after this post, I'll be talking more about my reasons for trading, any bids that I have put in for specific prices, etc. Just trying to keep this current with my "paper portfolio".).

Current prices that I'm watching for an entry:
WY (SHORT) to hit $31.85 with a stop at $33.00. - The stock has been overbought for quite some time now and has strong resistance at the $32 level. Would be relatively low risk to get out if it breaks through to $33.00.
LULU (LONG) to hit $60.10 with a stop at $58.00. - After a good earnings report, the stock seems to have corrected itself back to the low $60's. There is support at $60 and the 200MA is sitting at just below $58. If the stock bounces off support at $60 it should head back up to the $65 region before needing to be re-evaluated.
SPLS (SHORT) to hit $11.30 with a stop at $12.25. - The stock is currently sitting at resistance with a downtrend in the 200MA approaching at $11.52 currently. The stock is overbought and MACD is about to crossover. Everything points to this stock headed down.

This is a great journal!

Following with interest!