Still suffering from pulling the trades too soon. Once I fix it, will work back to 4 contracts and doing the same thing.
Update: trade missed near 8:43 CST was due to pending news. Nothing wrong with missing it really.
Have a good weekend.
Friday, April 30, 2010
4/30 (+54) Friday again, end of month (+230 for week) (+594 for month counting -75 for 4/1?)
Chart says it all.
Still suffering from pulling the trades too soon. Once I fix it, will work back to 4 contracts and doing the same thing.
Update: trade missed near 8:43 CST was due to pending news. Nothing wrong with missing it really.
Have a good weekend.
Still suffering from pulling the trades too soon. Once I fix it, will work back to 4 contracts and doing the same thing.
Update: trade missed near 8:43 CST was due to pending news. Nothing wrong with missing it really.
Have a good weekend.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
A look at my template on ES
Entry 1188 area near close yesterday, still in.
Just for record keeping purposes.
Just for record keeping purposes.
4/29 (+14) Slow day, big grind up from premarket
Price action was very slow moving in my opinion on the cash session. Took one, tried to scale in, ended up costing me today. I still think it is the right idea on the majority of days, and I trust my ability to spot entries.
Was also testing trading multiple DOMs today and new ATM management.
No use in forcing anything will call it a day, after giving much of it back.
Why not 8:34 or 8:53 (too fast i think) long trades or 10:05 short trades? Need to answer this.
Test ATM and multiple DOMs outside market hours. (seems obvious, right?)
Thoughts on trade:
Exited 1 at.21, just in case .20 double bottom held.
Exited next at .18, was predetermined target.
Exited .05, again, predetermined, and then .02, not sure why I moved target here, originally this was .91.
.08 and .11 additions were fine, but would have had to use a .26 stop, too much. Wait for the long signal to show and fail, then take it?
Seems original idea was fine, just needed to give it more room.
Update: also forgot about small trade early in the day, bailed with a few ticks, nothing noteworthy, was aggressive. (C2 on crack on this one?! odd price action here at 8:52, moved up enough to move my stop, then moved like 10 bars in a few seconds?)
Was also testing trading multiple DOMs today and new ATM management.
No use in forcing anything will call it a day, after giving much of it back.
Why not 8:34 or 8:53 (too fast i think) long trades or 10:05 short trades? Need to answer this.
Test ATM and multiple DOMs outside market hours. (seems obvious, right?)
Thoughts on trade:
Exited 1 at.21, just in case .20 double bottom held.
Exited next at .18, was predetermined target.
Exited .05, again, predetermined, and then .02, not sure why I moved target here, originally this was .91.
.08 and .11 additions were fine, but would have had to use a .26 stop, too much. Wait for the long signal to show and fail, then take it?
Seems original idea was fine, just needed to give it more room.
Update: also forgot about small trade early in the day, bailed with a few ticks, nothing noteworthy, was aggressive. (C2 on crack on this one?! odd price action here at 8:52, moved up enough to move my stop, then moved like 10 bars in a few seconds?)
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
4/28 (+81) Inventory / FOMC day
Summary:
Today, I scaled in and out on the nice push which started around 9:40 CST. Worked nicely. I still failed to give it the room it deserved, but worked out well, and reminds me I am able to see re-entry continuation points very well in nice trending moves. "Gut" = experience + focus.
Entries are great majority of the time, just need to give them more room, stick with the targets I picture when I enter the trade, at the very least, for my runner. Great job scaling in and out. Stop limit orders can cause you to miss a trade now and then, but continue to give it a few ticks of slippage to ensure a fill, or look for another entry soon after your original missed entry. Trust your guy / eyes / experience, and don't think "too hard".
Trades and thoughts:
Overall not bad, again, give them more room, great job on pulling the trigger/entries, take a deep breath and check big picture during the move.
Today, I scaled in and out on the nice push which started around 9:40 CST. Worked nicely. I still failed to give it the room it deserved, but worked out well, and reminds me I am able to see re-entry continuation points very well in nice trending moves. "Gut" = experience + focus.
Entries are great majority of the time, just need to give them more room, stick with the targets I picture when I enter the trade, at the very least, for my runner. Great job scaling in and out. Stop limit orders can cause you to miss a trade now and then, but continue to give it a few ticks of slippage to ensure a fill, or look for another entry soon after your original missed entry. Trust your guy / eyes / experience, and don't think "too hard".
Trades and thoughts:
Overall not bad, again, give them more room, great job on pulling the trigger/entries, take a deep breath and check big picture during the move.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
4/27 (+58) Big drop in markets / still much work to do
A picture says a thousand words, so I will leave it to these:
Be patient, wait for your A+ setup, even if you see ticks and ticks strolling by, wait, and then make the market pay by giving your trade room to 'blossom'.
As I write this, CL has 272K vol, and continues to make new lows 82.27, and ES is at 1188.
11:55 Update:
Listening to GS grilling, watching charts, this one called for me. Took one more.
Why?
Triple bottom on 6R, got a signal around .35 the first time around, and then came back to that point, and moved just beyond the chop box formed there. Also DOM was showing buying in this area to me.
Be patient, wait for your A+ setup, even if you see ticks and ticks strolling by, wait, and then make the market pay by giving your trade room to 'blossom'.
As I write this, CL has 272K vol, and continues to make new lows 82.27, and ES is at 1188.
11:55 Update:
Listening to GS grilling, watching charts, this one called for me. Took one more.
Why?
Triple bottom on 6R, got a signal around .35 the first time around, and then came back to that point, and moved just beyond the chop box formed there. Also DOM was showing buying in this area to me.
Monday, April 26, 2010
4/26 (+23) Case of the "Mondays"
So, my wife is off work early today, and so I wanted to finish early, and pushed a few. Yeah, that's it, I'll blame it on her. :)
Market was pretty sideways this morning, had a few opportunities, and then said I was done, but insisted on taking one more trade. Cost me.
F for me today for not listening to myself and being 100% in the zone when trading.
Had late entries, some counter-trend trades, but not a great day in my humble opinion.
As I write this, the 5 minute looks horrible, and we may have found a bottom for CL for today?
Until tomorrow.
Friday, April 23, 2010
4/23 (+57) TGIF (+182 for week)
Today was a decent day overall.
I sat down late, close to 9 o'clock and noticed the nice long in play for about 10 minutes. Entry would have been 83.16.
So, I waited, and waited, and took a trade after a bounce off of .71 support, was a late entry, and so I played it close, +8. Took another trade just after this one, which was only a higher high, but didn't make sense otherwise. -7 Decided to wait.
Took a trade around 9:24, which looking back, didn't make sense. Got lucky with +5. From there, took a good short setup, +11. And, then again, took an aggressive setup, which I thought would be a continuation of the last short after pulling back to resistance, -14. Aggressive, why take this?
Good news was I was quick to get in on the nice long signal and got +18 from it. It was bouncing off of day high, so I wasn't going to give it much room to pull back, it either pushes thru nicely or I am out quickly.
Waited, took a trade which was a breakout of the recent short term high, something didn't feel right so I bailed b/e. Took a deep breath and said there was no reason to exit. Immediately placed another buy order and was very lucky to get filled at .30, exited a little early on the runner, but felt good about getting back into the trade to begin with. +28 I always use buy/sell limit orders, but usually give it a few ticks slippage to ensure I get a fill. Sometimes more or less depending on the type of setup.
Still much work to do, but far less trades and same results almost as previous weeks.
Need to make 2 contracts work 100%, and then get back to 4 on the most premium of setups quickly. 4 is key for me.
Have a great weekend!
I sat down late, close to 9 o'clock and noticed the nice long in play for about 10 minutes. Entry would have been 83.16.
So, I waited, and waited, and took a trade after a bounce off of .71 support, was a late entry, and so I played it close, +8. Took another trade just after this one, which was only a higher high, but didn't make sense otherwise. -7 Decided to wait.
Took a trade around 9:24, which looking back, didn't make sense. Got lucky with +5. From there, took a good short setup, +11. And, then again, took an aggressive setup, which I thought would be a continuation of the last short after pulling back to resistance, -14. Aggressive, why take this?
Good news was I was quick to get in on the nice long signal and got +18 from it. It was bouncing off of day high, so I wasn't going to give it much room to pull back, it either pushes thru nicely or I am out quickly.
Waited, took a trade which was a breakout of the recent short term high, something didn't feel right so I bailed b/e. Took a deep breath and said there was no reason to exit. Immediately placed another buy order and was very lucky to get filled at .30, exited a little early on the runner, but felt good about getting back into the trade to begin with. +28 I always use buy/sell limit orders, but usually give it a few ticks slippage to ensure I get a fill. Sometimes more or less depending on the type of setup.
Still much work to do, but far less trades and same results almost as previous weeks.
Need to make 2 contracts work 100%, and then get back to 4 on the most premium of setups quickly. 4 is key for me.
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
4/22 (+41) Many opportunities
In some ways, I feel like I am starting over as I have committed to forcing myself to leave my runner like I used to and quit being so quick to exit like I have been for weeks.
I did hesitate on a trade or two, and missed a fill on a nice trade, but otherwise stuck to the plan.
First attempt at a trade of the day was a no fill right from the ES open. Was a nice one, but it happens with limit orders.
Next trade I took was a valid signal into the day low, I play these pretty closely, but reward can be much greater than risk should it breakdown nicely. (+8)(B)
Next trade came, I took it because it had just made a lower low on short term by a tick and went no where, and then gave me my nice signal. Took the first off at 8 as planned, and then tried to give the runner room, got an aggressive short signal so exited, it moved up again nicely after this failed. (+20)(A) - I hesitated on the next long trade, cost me. (F)
Next trade, I entered as I should, but bailed prematurely as I had a feeling something wasn't right. Not sure what that was. :) (+3)(D)
The next trade, entered as I should, and played it pretty well, and then called it day.(+14)(B)
Reminder: take every setup, stick to the plan.
There are a million ways to "skin" a market, discipline is the key to doing it consistently.
I did hesitate on a trade or two, and missed a fill on a nice trade, but otherwise stuck to the plan.
First attempt at a trade of the day was a no fill right from the ES open. Was a nice one, but it happens with limit orders.
Next trade I took was a valid signal into the day low, I play these pretty closely, but reward can be much greater than risk should it breakdown nicely. (+8)(B)
Next trade came, I took it because it had just made a lower low on short term by a tick and went no where, and then gave me my nice signal. Took the first off at 8 as planned, and then tried to give the runner room, got an aggressive short signal so exited, it moved up again nicely after this failed. (+20)(A) - I hesitated on the next long trade, cost me. (F)
Next trade, I entered as I should, but bailed prematurely as I had a feeling something wasn't right. Not sure what that was. :) (+3)(D)
The next trade, entered as I should, and played it pretty well, and then called it day.(+14)(B)
Reminder: take every setup, stick to the plan.
There are a million ways to "skin" a market, discipline is the key to doing it consistently.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Added ability to subscribe with your favorite feed reader
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4/21 (+60) A day for following my rules
(update: unbelievable moves in the afternoon right back to where we started!)
I wanted to spend a little more time on today and think I will do more chart screen shots as opposed to Trade Account Performance tab to help myself ride the trades longer and see the big picture / remind myself I am exiting too early.
It was the first time I felt like I followed my rules in a long time.
Today I sat down around 8, looked over my charts, did my usual routine of marking key areas of support/resistance as I see it based on the various charts, overnight, pre-market, etc.
A long signal was already in play from 7:33 from 83.81.
I felt tempted many times after sitting to jump in the long, looking for a reason to get in, but ultimately decided not to, as I had just told myself I would only concentrate on letting my runner go, which meant being patient and waiting for a better setup.
I was also prepared to wait until after the inventory news at 9:30 was released if necessary. I did.
Shortly after the news was playing out, I got a signal.
Here is what it looked like on the 6R:
I had noticed during the blur of price action just after news, that it had failed to get higher than .74-.77 area multiple times.
My thinking at time of entry:
1) It had just failed to get above the .74 area again and made a double top on the 6R.
2) It had just lost what I viewed as a key support area on the 5 minute in the .64 area.
3) It gave me a short signal bar fully below my MA, with a "decent" cut. The angle on the MA could have been higher in a perfect world.
4) The reward was going to be good, especially once it lost the .46/.44 short term support.
5) I set my first 2 targets just above this point, filled. The third I pulled a little too soon on the thought it was going to bounce off of this area. I forced myself to leave the runner in. (this was my key focus today and should be until I fix this "issue")
This trade made it easy to manage the runner as the move down went fairly quickly.
In hind site, I should have reversed the position to the long side as it gave a very nice V shaped GMA X cut when I exited.
Here is what it looked like on the 5 minute:
The most important thing is I followed my rules, was patient, didn't jump into the long, waited for a good signal, and most of all, let my runner do it's thing. Failed to take signals in the afternoon, already decided I was done, but this is one of those days that is just giving it up nicely / gives a reason not to have a set $ daily goal, etc. Trade until you get a good reason to stop.
I wanted to spend a little more time on today and think I will do more chart screen shots as opposed to Trade Account Performance tab to help myself ride the trades longer and see the big picture / remind myself I am exiting too early.
It was the first time I felt like I followed my rules in a long time.
Today I sat down around 8, looked over my charts, did my usual routine of marking key areas of support/resistance as I see it based on the various charts, overnight, pre-market, etc.
A long signal was already in play from 7:33 from 83.81.
I felt tempted many times after sitting to jump in the long, looking for a reason to get in, but ultimately decided not to, as I had just told myself I would only concentrate on letting my runner go, which meant being patient and waiting for a better setup.
I was also prepared to wait until after the inventory news at 9:30 was released if necessary. I did.
Shortly after the news was playing out, I got a signal.
Here is what it looked like on the 6R:
I had noticed during the blur of price action just after news, that it had failed to get higher than .74-.77 area multiple times.
My thinking at time of entry:
1) It had just failed to get above the .74 area again and made a double top on the 6R.
2) It had just lost what I viewed as a key support area on the 5 minute in the .64 area.
3) It gave me a short signal bar fully below my MA, with a "decent" cut. The angle on the MA could have been higher in a perfect world.
4) The reward was going to be good, especially once it lost the .46/.44 short term support.
5) I set my first 2 targets just above this point, filled. The third I pulled a little too soon on the thought it was going to bounce off of this area. I forced myself to leave the runner in. (this was my key focus today and should be until I fix this "issue")
This trade made it easy to manage the runner as the move down went fairly quickly.
In hind site, I should have reversed the position to the long side as it gave a very nice V shaped GMA X cut when I exited.
Here is what it looked like on the 5 minute:
The most important thing is I followed my rules, was patient, didn't jump into the long, waited for a good signal, and most of all, let my runner do it's thing. Failed to take signals in the afternoon, already decided I was done, but this is one of those days that is just giving it up nicely / gives a reason not to have a set $ daily goal, etc. Trade until you get a good reason to stop.
4/20 (+8) Another short day / distractions
Took a long at 8:56 for a few ticks just above $84.
Not my usual setup, breakout, etc.
Working on my wife's research paper, and tried to force it.
Decided to stop and work on the paper.
(still playing with C2, pretty much decided it will not work for scalps with CL, moving on)
Not my usual setup, breakout, etc.
Working on my wife's research paper, and tried to force it.
Decided to stop and work on the paper.
(still playing with C2, pretty much decided it will not work for scalps with CL, moving on)
Monday, April 19, 2010
4/19 (+16) Short day / distracted
Hesitated
Still failing to let runner go
Slippage
Very distracted today
Will come back with a clear mind tomorrow
(c2= -74, I watched it on the second to last trade not fill for many seconds after my position was closed - more testing with manual entries vs ninja, etc in afternoon,need to get more details on equity requirements with C2 per contract)
Friday, April 16, 2010
4/16 (+3) What a day to miss! (+149 for week)
Had to leave before 9 a.m. to take care of personal "bidness"
'Goldman Sucks' news causes some nice volatility and some great moves!
Can you tell I tried to force a few before leaving?
Enjoy the weekend! Don't forget BMT webinar on Sunday - (www.bigmiketrading.com)
(c2 -3 -comm)
Thursday, April 15, 2010
4/15 (-5) Split volume day
Switched to 06-10 contract - Too soon? Volume was more this morning, then 05-10 took over again.
Sent one test trade to C2 for new contract.
Price action looked horrible to me. I stopped fighting it.
Have a great weekend!
(c2 = -6 ticks -comm including -$79 test trade)
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
4/14 (+45) Inventory day
Notes:
Called the 10:00 .10/.11 breakout, but didn't trade it
Missed a fill or two
Was chasing many times
Still need to work on runner
10:09, why not short?
10:21, why not long?
Progress.....
(c2 = +57 - comm)
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
4/13 (+30) Another short day
Was gone by 9:30 CST; took a few trades, made a few mistakes.
I was able to use my runner a bit better than usual lately today and yesterday; still need more work. Still too quick on the exits overall.
(C2 = +28 - comm)
Monday, April 12, 2010
4/12 (+76) Ninja issues
Had Ninja problems, trade history gone, had to repair/reset/reload, all that good stuff.
(C2 shows like +156 or so)
(C2 shows like +156 or so)
Friday, April 9, 2010
4/9 (-29) Ping pong day for me (+108 for week)
Notes:
Still a big F for runner management (there was none)
Spend many hours with market replay to help this, go back and study statistics and trade information from early March to remind me
18 and 16 tick stops?
1 contract trades?
First big stop was right idea, didn't add again once it rolled over again, mistake
MFE was much higher than what I am getting on most trades, again, not giving it room
LOTS OF WORK TO DO THIS WEEKEND! :)
Good:
Still ended up for the week
Recognizing my faults, and will work on this and focus this weekend and next week
Will find a nice medium between quick scalps and runners pulling in the larger trades and hit it 100% next week!
Have a great weekend!
(C2 blew up today, saying not enough margin, ninja didn't transmit an open order 1 or 2 times, basically worthless until I can get buy/sell stops programmed)
Thursday, April 8, 2010
4/8 (+55) Trending up again nicely since open
Notes:
F in runner management
Look more to big picture chart
Moved stop on trade 23/24?
Stopped, and then my setup and the trade of the day happened. :)
(c2 = +9 - comm after -20 trade where it opened position when I was closing one in Ninja due to "not enough buy power" issue)
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
4/7 (-15) Commission anyone?
Notes:
Focus on runner!
Must focus on maximizing trades! Give it more time.
Don't get caught up in 20-40 tick range bound trading.
*** If valid long signal fails miserably, reverse?
Example: 1:00 long
(C2 = -38 - comm; had times where partial fill in Ninja showed full fill in C2, and when closing the position, it still showed the remainder open)
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
4/6 (+32) "Slow" day
Notes:
Runner, oh runner, where for art thou runner?
Good day to brush up on patience, and pay attention when getting close to a signal
Missed a few good ones, gave up for the day as it started to break down
(C2 = $-50 - comm)
Monday, April 5, 2010
4/5 (+62) Continuing trend up
Gary, where did you runner go? :)
Continuing tests with C2 today. Slippage still major factor with current trading method, and me not letting my runner do it's job. (+56 - comm)
Thursday, April 1, 2010
4/1 (-75) "April Fool?" (+192 for week)
So many trades, I can't do one screenshot with all of them.
Notes:
- Told myself this morning, I shouldn't be trading, due to being in a bad mood with personal shit.
- Took 2 pre-market trades, started off with -11; why am I trading pre-market?)
- I had an issue with a trade which ended up -77 early on due to stops being removed and then Ninja had to be restarted, enter orders with basic entry, instead of just hitting close. OUCH (This one trade was -67)
- Started revenge trading, scalps, all the way back to -2 net. Woo hoo!
- Unfortunately, didn't stop there, kept going all way back to -75 which is where I decided to stop fighting it.
- $85 area being a bitch, and price action was pretty sideways today
OVERTRADED, REVENGE TRADED, TRADED WITH WRONG STATE OF MIND TO START WITH :)
Good: Next week is a new week and thank God for the huge Monday!
C2 = -180 ticks (it can't handle scalps well at all, and market orders don't work with C2 and quick small targets, need to program limit orders or bigger targets for this to be profitable with C2)
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