Profits as a % of turnover: I began tracking this because I used to make 1% on total turnover and I thought this was way too low for the effort I was putting in. The reason why it was low was because I was not backing my judgement and letting my profits run. I started tracking this two years ago and backing myself at the same time. The profit margin went from 1% to 10% however turnover halved but I was still better off earnings wise. On short term trading stocks I make 4.1% on turnover (45% of total turnover), medium term is 12.9% (24% of total turnover) and long term is 20.8% (31% of total turnover).
Capital Growth %: The value of the trading/investment company at June 30 is the base. Then I track the revised value each month/week/day. I aim for 5% capital growth per month. This measure is more about encouraging me to build wealth over the longer term.
$ Profit Target per week: $2K per day or $10K per week. This measure is more about making sure I earn enough to pay for all living costs.
Strike Rate: Total ASX stocks sold 98, overall profitable 78, Overall strike rate 81%. From this I know how good my stock selection is.
Percentage of Profits by Classification: Short Term 16%, Medium Term 28%, Long Term 56%.
$ Profits Per Day YTD: Total YTD Profits / 180 Trading Days.
I have a spreadsheet which has a sheet for each stock I have traded where I enter in the each transaction for that stock. That way I can really analyse my performance as deeply as I want to. I tend to look at this during quiet times or when I am on holidays. Each of these sheets feeds into a summary sheet which has one line for each stock code.
I don't trade CFD's and I only ever buy a stock knowing I have the cash to pay for it. I do use CFD's for trading indexes (mostly hedging). I also use CFD's for commodity trading but only small positions.
