System Z end of year analysis: $8,923.98

This is a long overdue post for System Z. The goal over these months was to try to make a real profit despite the tremendous brokerage costs from actively trading a $10,000 account. This goal was not met.

In analyzing what what well and what went poorly over System Z's first 7 1/2 months, I am going to adjust our accounting method slightly. Previously, I had been adjusting commission costs based on the assumption that I was paying about 2.5 times what I should be paying in commission. Well, I've done a little research and found that most traders in my situation would pay about 3 to 4 dollars per thousand shares traded (though these costs could go down to as little as 1 dollar per thousand for an extremely active trader). Going forward, I will assume I pay 5 dollars per thousand shares traded. This will surely cover all exchange fees as well.

Making these adjustments, System Z traded about flat for the year. More analysis to follow.

System Z account value (end 2006): $8923.98
commissions paid: $1302.25
shares traded: 37,271
commission at $5 per thousand shares traded: $186
account value corrected for obscene commissions: $10040
account value if no commissions: $10226

System Z actual return since 4/7: -10.76%
System Z corrected return since 4/7: .4%
System Z no-commission return since 4/7: 2.26%

Nasdaq on 4/7: 2339.02
Nasdaq return from 4/7 to end of year: 3.25%