Made money on those calls from last week

In the interest of transparency, I'd like to post the actual results of my trade from last week. Here it is.

BOUGHT WED 18-MAR-09 ORCL MAR CALL $18 STRIKE 2@ 0.05 ($ 5) + 3.00 comission = $13.00
SOLD THUR 19-MAR-09 ORCL MAR CALL $18 STRIKE 2@ 0.15 ($15) - 3.00 comission = $27.00

The good news is that I more than doubled my money. I risked $13 (the entire cost of the options), and I ended up with $27 after ORCL reported good earnings after hours, and the stock popped up overnight. To bad I didn't have like 5k in this trade.

The bad news? Well, this is really bad. In this particular account, this was the last $13 I had in my account. I risked 100% of my account because it was toasted anyway. The account started off at 2k. There is something psychological about not going to actual $0.00 from money that started off at 2k. I realize I will have to fund this account again - I am not under the illusion that I can trade my way back to 2k.

The other piece of good news is that I've been reviewing my trades. There is so much to report that I've been delaying doing a post. But to preview the bottom line, it comes down to this: avoiding the fear of taking a loss, and proper money management. What I've discovered is that I am not a horrible trader. In fact most of the issues I ran into came in the September - October timeframe when things tanked at a speed not seen in 80 years, and fighting the trend (going long) cost me dearly. A few big out-of-control losses will quickly ruin an otherwise decent trading account. If I had only been able to cut off a few medium sized losses before they became big losses, I would have been fine. From now on I am going to have one rule above all rules: decide in advance how much you are willing to lose (maximum), stick to that, don't move or take out your stop - and live with it. Even expect a lost, so that your positively surprised if you actually win. Controlling your loses seems to me to be my biggest problem and the biggest killer of my accounts. More details to follow.