My portfolio today is worth $225.  That’s after having deposited a total of $210 into the account starting three weeks ago.  I say “starting” because the first deposit was $10.  Another $200 went in a week later.  So it’s been “fully funded” for two weeks.

Some further accounting: Each of the two transfers incurred a $5 service fee.  That’s $10 of capital that never hit the account.  But I received two gifts from the platform provider worth a total of $5.

One of the gifts was $3 worth of Bitcoin, and $2 was another coin.  So all in all the account began with exactly $205 in cash or coins.

I’ve made a few trades.  One was a successful buy/sell round trip netting about $38 in profit. That’s after $2 in commission costs.  If that were my only activity the account today would be worth $243.  That is $205 plus the $38 profit.

But I have incurred $18 in losses.  All are unrealized, meaning I haven’t sold and realized the damage.

I bought two assets, each for around $100.  Each has lost about $9 in value as of today.  The other losses were too miniscule to mention.

You could say I’ve made 20 bucks, whether from trading or from gifts.

It’s all been very time consuming.  Learning the accounting, crafting trade strategies, navigating navigate the software.  It takes a tremendous amount of attention.

As for the financial results, obviously they haven’t been worth the “cost” in effort. But it is better to be in the black than in the red.

I’ve adopted this mental trick. To every dollar figure, I tack on three zeros.  My $38 profit becomes $38,000.  My $20 gain is $20,000.

I multiply every figure by 1,000.  Such are the stakes where I will be trading, eventually.