Currently, it is day 47 out of 91 days of my 50% in 3 months challenge. We are just over halfway and the odds are against me making it.

My total returns at this point are a -4.26% not counting my current holdings. Add my current holdings and I am up 1.66%. The S&P 500 has returned a total of 10.59% over the same period of time.

Right off the bat, there are several reasons I have for such a poor performance with the biggest being that I simply haven’t been active enough.

I blame myself for starting this event 2 weeks before my finals started. To add to it, I spent the following 3 weeks back home with my family which shook up my routines and investing habits.

Now, the last thing I want to do is sit here and just make excuses for my shortfalls. So, let’s make this productive and look at how I can finish strong!

Here are the facts:

• There are 32 trading days left. I need to make at least 1.51% a day to make my goal.
• Over the last month, the S&P has returned a total of 4% and has slowed considerably in the last few weeks.
• I am shorting AF and just doubled my position as it made a short-term top. It has declined 20-30% each time it has topped and bottomed.
• The market appears to be stalling and if it forms a top and begins to decline, we could see most stocks take a big drop if it truly is a top and not just a correction.
• If I hold AF and it takes 15 days to reach another short-term bottom, I will be up around 22% with 17 days left.

Ultimately, who knows what will happen. I think that this has been a great experience so far and that any active trader should constantly apply trading goals to themselves. It raises the stakes and puts a little pressure on you to perform better than average.

My strategy from here on out will be to up the leverage a little bit and increase the risk/return scenario. Now that I’m just under 100% invested in my short on AF, I expect to make decent returns and possibly hold it until the very end. If it slows down and moves sideways I will dump it and find something else that is really moving. All in all, I will cut my losses even closer to around 2%, but will at least hold for a day if I do invest in other securities.