Spooz Trader

Thursday Wrapup (2/11) - $450 gain

2010-02-11T13:05:00.000-08:00

More activity than yesterday and a bit more dollars to show for my efforts, but still left quite a bit on the table. All in all 50% profitable, $169 avg gain, and $56 avg loss, so still keeping the losses small.

First sequence of the day set the table for the rest of today's trading. Entered a long pullback at 7:30AM, and while I closed with a $112 profit, I mixed an easy exit signal a pt higher that would've also been a short entry signal. So 30 mins later I'm sitting there with a $112 profit when I could've been up $450-550 to start the day. Not surprisingly after this point my next 3 trades where losers, all minimal but still.

From 10:30AM on I had a decent day going 3 for 4 with profits of $538.

Missed a trade here or there, but aside from that opening sequence it was a productive day. Would be nice to get back in the 4 digit daily profit range again, but I've got to take what the market is willing to offer.

Wednesday Wrapup (2/10) - $113 loss

2010-02-10T13:32:00.000-08:00

Just couldn't get anything going today in all the chop. In all took 5 trades of which 3 were losers, 1 breakeven and 1 whopping $13 gain. So if anything, it's nice to see that I'm continuing to limit my losses as my avg loss today was just $42, barely 1 tick per contract. On 2 of the losers, my first tgt was hit and they were all in the money a pt or so before being stopped out on the balance or closing the position due to lack of momentum. So I might have been a tick or two too aggressive with my profit tgts, but nothing to worry about for sure.

At this point I'm down just $213 on the week. Still plenty of time to make it a decent week.

Tuesday Wrapup (2/9) - $188 gain

2010-02-09T12:52:00.000-08:00

Frustrating doesn't even begin to define today's trading. It's days like today which really make you question your approach.

Missed my first, and best, trade of the day after a nice pullback ended around 6:30AM. Was distracted and not really following the charts at the time.

First trade of the day was a gap fade. Figured I'd be able to at least scale out for a small profit. Didn't think the gap would fill, but anything is possible right. Entered with 3 lots and spaced my targets to exit at 33%, 66% and 99% gap fill levels. After a moderate drawdown, price came within a pt or so of my first tgt before reversing higher. At the worst I was in the hole $488 on the trade (usually trade gaps with a 5 pt stop). Didn't like the price action on that first pop higher, so I scaled out for a minimal loss of $138 on the first pullback following the new HOD. And what would happen from there? Nope we didn't re-challenge the high, we fell below the day's OR low. And in the process 2 of my tgts would've been hit. Sure, we ultimately reversed and traded higher, but I would at worst been stopped out for a couple hundred dollar gain.

That's not the worst of it. In addition to my core day trading, I also have a portfolio of automated daily setups I trade. Well one of those went long the Dow around 10AM and quickly moved nicely higher. But on that move lower, I was stopped out 8 ticks from the day's low. And course everyone knows what happens next. So I lost money on the gap fade and on the Dow trade too, both of which could've seemingly been profitable today.

Aside from the gap fade. I went 2 for 4 on my other trades today. Made $175 on these core trades.

I guess the good thing about today is that my frustrations didn't provide the fuel for a huge loss day.

UPDATE: Guess I posted too soon. Had a nice pullback into the closing bell that I sold at 4:02PM. Scaled out for a $150 gain over the next 30 mins.

Monday Wrapup (2/8) - $288 loss

2010-02-08T13:08:00.000-08:00

Lousy day overall as I could never get into a rhythm with the market. Seemed like all day I was a tick short of either entering a trade or getting out of one.

Only hit on 1 of 6 trades placed today and the sole winner was just $63. So if anything, I have to be pleased with the level of risk management as my avg loss was just $70 on 3 contracts. Not even 2 full ticks.

On 3 of my 5 losers, my 1st profit target was hit but wasn't filled as we never traded thru those levels. And on at least 2 of the trades after I exited the market continued in the intended direction. Things were definitely a bit choppy so I'm sure this had something to do with it.

Only forced maybe 1 trade and I would've still given myself a B- on that setup.

The best part about today is that I can recover this loss with one avg sized winner tomorrow. I started off last week with a loss as well and ended up ok.

Feb 5th Weekly Recap - $1601 gain

2010-02-05T13:22:00.000-08:00

For the first time in a few weeks I can say I actually turned a profit. Feels good, really good.

This week 49% of my trades were winners. Avg gain of $197, avg loss of $90. 120 contracts traded for an avg profit of $13 per contract traded.

Friday Wrapup (2/5) - $100 loss

2010-02-05T13:20:00.000-08:00

Got off to a good start this morning with my first trading hitting a $238 profit. But afterwards a series of small losses.

Then couldn't find but 1 low risk entry on the PPT buying spree so I largely stayed on the sidelines and didn't force anything, which I'm quite happy with in itself. I was perfectly calm sitting here watching the price action unfold and didn't feel the need to enter any silly trades or see something that wasn't there. But I was ready to execute had the right setup unfolded.

Overall went 2 for 6 today. Avg winner was $138, avg loss of $94.

Ready to get back at it next week. This week's trading has me much more confident in myself to say the least.

Thursday Wrapup (2/4) - $825 gain

2010-02-05T06:21:00.000-08:00

Three days in a row! Woo hoo!

Continuing to see the market well and today was my best day in a long time. Took 9 trades total, 1 breakeven, 2 losers and 6 winners. 75% win rate.

Only negative from today is a couple of missed trades where I tried to get too cute with my entry prices. Missed at least 2 trades by 1 tick or so that would've added $400-500 to my daily gains. Not sure what's worse entering a bad trade or not entering a decent setup at all. Guess I'll take the latter.

Best decision of the day was not to fade the opening gap. After yesterday's action printed a doji bar, I had the feeling we'd move lower and when we opened below yesterday's low I decided to stay away. Had I entered the trade I would've been stopped out for a $500-600 loss. Sometimes the best trade I guess is the one you don't take.

Need to carry this momentum over to tomorrow and finish out the week on a strong note.

Wednesday Wrapup (2/3) - $400 gain

2010-02-04T06:17:00.000-08:00

Putting together an impressive string of gains here! Two days in a row!

Best trade of the day was clearly the opening gap fade. Scaled out of this one for a nice $512 gain. And essentially lost $112 on 2 for 7 trading the rest of the day.

We were stuck in a range all day and I just had a hard time getting anything going,. Did a good job of keeping losses small. But I've got to kick it up a notch on staying out of a dull market. Had just watched the video below yesterday where one of the main points was only trading when you have an edge:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DydWmbcfgaE&feature=player_embedded

Definitely feeling much better about the quality of my entries right now. Let's keep it going.

Tuesday Wrapup (2/2) - $513 gain

2010-02-02T17:02:00.000-08:00

Way too early to tell if I'm back in the groove but today's trading was very smooth and felt entirely natural. Aside from one somewhat ill-advised trade (trade entered right before lunch when it was fairly clear we were in chop, no higher his or lower los) that I gave back $113 on, I let the market come to me and stayed out of the late day chop for the most part. Had good visibility of the underlying action and entries and exits were crisp.

Starting at just after 7AM, I was up $588 after 3 profitable trades in a row to start the day. From that point my next 6 trades resulted in 2 scratches, 1 gain and 3 minor losses. My average loss today was $54, and my avg gain $169 on 3 contracts traded per setup.

On at least two trades, I exited nearly perfectly. Got out of dodge when the momentum in my direction seemed to stall. Booked profits on the table rather than risk them to chance. But I was able to hold onto trades until my targets were hit where the trend momentum remained intact.

Let's see if we can carryover today's momentum for the rest of the week. One day at a time.

Monday Wrapup (2/1) - $38 loss

2010-02-02T07:30:00.000-08:00

Never got into a groove today. Took 8 trades total with 1 breakeven, 2 winners and 5 small losers.

Second trade of the day was placed a bit haphazardly and that was the difference between a profitable day. I've been trading off the 2500 tick chart, because it's helped smooth things out a bit, but I dropped down to the 1000 tick chart on this one and it went against me from the start.

Finished the day up with a nice winner for $238 with 1 tick heat. Hoping to carry over this momentum into tomorrow.

It's a new month, let's get this ship righted!

Jan 29th Weekly Recap - $426 loss

2010-01-30T16:42:00.000-08:00

Still in the red for the week, but definitely improving. Though I largely was trading differently this week than I have been so not going to read too much into these results.

45% winners, $180 avg winner, $193 avg loser. 96 contracts trade for a $4 loss per contract.

Friday Wrapup (1/29) - $238 loss

2010-01-30T16:40:00.000-08:00

Started the day out with a gap fade off the open. My first two targets were hit and I moved my stop to just above the then HOD before the 9:55 econ news. Sure enough I was stopped out 1 tick from the temporary high, and I was frustrated as all get out. Broke even on this trade. And then of course the market moved lower immediately after stopping me out, but at least it did ultimately bounce back above my stop loss area.

From this point I hit on just 1 out of my next 5 trades (still using my filters). In fact the only trade I made money on I nearly got stopped out of before the trade reversed to close with a decent profit.

The trouble I realized today with my filters is that they get me into the action way too late. On 99% of the trades I took this week I took a drawdown of at least 2-3 ticks right after entry. So I originally said to myself, that I'd just enter on a limit order 2-3 ticks above where my filter would normally have me entering. But then I'd miss 100% of the easy winners, the ones that don't move against you at all.

So near the end of the day, I felt like I had good read on the market action and I decided to re-try my old style. Entering at the first instance of selling in a short pullback, or buying in a long setup. This afternoon that meant looking for a NR bar, doji, etc. Something to indicate a slowing of momentum in the current direction.

Any how with this in mind, I took my last 3 trades of the day after 3PM and went 2 for 3 with a $270 profit. Still finished the day in the red, but thanks to this solid trading I cut my losses in half.

Finished the day down $238 on 3 for 8 trading.

Clearly trading with filters which are always one step behind price action are not the answer for me. And why did I move away from what's worked for me in the past anyway? Sure I've had a terrible couple of weeks here to start the year, but the market has changed. I just haven't adopted to the new rhythm. But that doesn't mean my methods themselves are flawed.

Next week I need to concentrate on wholesale entries. Getting in before everyone else. Because if I continue to follow a MA filter or something similar, I'm late to the party with the other 95% of traders that fail. I just need to watch price action and not get caught up in % retracements, fibonacci, etc. While these are helpful visual tools, ultimately price pays.

Thursday Wrapup (1/28) - $163 gain

2010-01-28T14:32:00.000-08:00

Had some nice early success this morning, but the afternoon session was crap. But still two profitable days in a row!

Firs trade and easiest trade of the day was a gap fade off the morning gap up. With just one tick of heat I scaled out into the gap fill for a $325 gain on 3 contracts. Easy pickings.

Next two trades were short pullbacks, one at 10:43 and the other at 11:17AM. Nothing fancy on either. Unlike yesterday I didn't try to let the last contract ride, I scaled out at successive price points as I normally do. At this point after 3 trades I'm up $800.

My next trade was taken just after 2PM on the first pullback following a push higher. Never had a chance on this one. Price blew threw my stop for 2 ticks negative slippage on my exit and I was out for a loss $337 on 3 contracts. Should've lost $250 had my stop been honored. Haven't had that much slippage in a while.

My next trade I quickly closed right after entry at breakeven because I realized the trade wasn't part of my current setups. I had found myself reverting back to my old setups. In this case, at best I would've broke even, but the reversal off this pullback @ 2:40PM would've been a nice trade.

And finally my last trade came at 3:48PM. Again price had risen sharply into the Bernanke news, and I bought the pullback on the first push above the prior bar's high. Two minutes later I was out for a $300 loss. The trouble with this trade was that sure it was a valid setup, but the trend was clearly broken. I was blindly following my filters without taking into account the current market structure. It's as if with these new filters I'm using, I've lost my trader intuition. I'm just too happy to see a valid signal, and not taking a sec to step back and look at things from a larger perspective.

Find myself wanting to revert back to my old trading style today, but trying to honor the filters I've put in place. Trouble with filters is that they are always slower than price action itself, which means I'm always going to miss good trades. But I guess I'll miss some bad ones too! Anyhow the filters have definitely cut down on my trades placed, which is good and bad. Whereas I've previously averaged 8 or so trades per day, now I'm down to 3 or 4. So it's much harder to overcome the negative p/l effects of one bad trade. Feel like I'm just babbling here, but want to get my thoughts on paper (or the screen that is LOL!).

The positive takeaway from today's trading is that I followed my set rules and filters. When I didn't, I exited the trade right away.

Wednesday Wrapup (1/27) - $238 gain

2010-01-27T14:44:00.000-08:00

Yes, I back in the green for a change. Not many trades placed today as they market was fairly choppy overall until the 2:15 FOMC release.

Finished the day 2 for 3 and up $238. On my first two trades I left way too much profit on the table though. For some reason I came into today with the mindset that I'd let my profits run, instead of my usual scalping style. With my first trade I was up as much as $300, but ultimately closed the trade for a $125 gain. Should've had at least $250 on this one. And my second trade was even worse. I gave this trade way too much room to work. After being up as much as $162, I closed the trade for a $138 loss. I also stayed in this trade way too long (58 mins) when it was clear I no longer had an edge.

Also, at the start of the week I made it clear I'd only be trading pullbacks this week, but there was a beautiful countertrend setup today around 3:30. Would've been good for $300 or so on 3 contracts. Never came close to pulling the trigger, but I certainly thought about it. At some point I'll re-add this setup to my repertoire, but I'm not quite ready yet.

Tomorrow I need to come in focused on my exit points. Don't want to leave money on the table again. Maybe one of these days I'll put it all together again.

Tuesday Wrapup (1/26) - $400 loss

2010-01-27T05:49:00.000-08:00

Missed an easy trade last night at 9PM. Tried to get cute with entry and try to shave 2-3 ticks, but price fell 2 pts in a hurry. And so tomorrow begins early.

4PM
Finished the day in the red again on 2 for 5 trading. If it weren't for 2 questionable trades I would've finished the day with a marginal profit. First mistake was a long pullback taken about 10 minutes before the opening bell, not only was it an ugly setup the trade was opened way too close to the open. Lost $263 as I got stopped out right before the market reversed and headed higher.

Fast forward to 3PM. Got trigger happy after missing the only decent trade of the day because the entry didn't quite fit into my new filter params. So what did I do? You guessed it I took the next trade that was very similar, but again didn't pass my filter test, and sure enough this one was a loss. Fortunately I had a valid entry about 10 minutes later which erased this loss.

So take these 2 bad entries out and I finish up on the day maybe $50 or so. Not great but at least a profit nonetheless. And honestly there were so few opps today, I'm not sure the old me would've returned a profit today either.

Tomorrow I need to put it all together. Focus from market open to close. Concentrate on nailing a few good setups, no marginal trades.

Monday Wrapup (1/25) - $188 loss

2010-01-25T15:40:00.000-08:00

While I finished the day in the red I generally felt good about today's trading. Midway thru the day I was 1 for 7 and down almost $500 trading off a 1000 tick chart. At this point I switched to a 2500 tick chart and promptly nailed a pullback setup. Overall on the day I finished 2 for 7 with two nice wins and many small losses.

As I try to adapt to the changing market, I need to find a balance between closing a lifeless trade and letting the trade work. On several occasions today I closed a trade for a small loss only to have the trade quickly reverse back in the original direction. Had I held the trade my results today would've been much better.

Tomorrow I'm going to start out with a 2500 tick chart and only move to a faster chart if the market action is fast.

Feeling positive overall about the rest of the week's trading. Will be nice to get that first daily profit back on the board. Seems like I went for a month or so without one losing day, but now I cannot buy a profit.

Reflections to Start the New Trading Week

2010-01-24T09:32:00.000-08:00

After some further reflection this weekend, it's clear I've got to tweak my setups to meld with the current market environment. Would've been nice to have made these adjustments two weeks ago, but I guess now's better than later.

For starters I've been taking way too many trades as the market action has intensified. So I'll be adding a moving avg filter and stochs to my charts to help me screen trades. I'm usually more of a price action trader, not relying on technical indicators, but when things start moving fast, technical indicators help provide a nice visual representation of what's going on. Sure I might miss a solid trade here and there, but I'll also miss some losses too.

And I'll be limiting myself to half my usual size until I can string together several solid days and feel comfortable with my trading.

Eager to get the week started.

Jan 22nd Weekly Recap - $2,589 loss

2010-01-23T08:23:00.000-08:00

Lost $2,589 over 4 trading days. 44.5% winners avg gain of $156.25 and avg loss of $321.75. 222 contracts traded which is sure sign of overtrading.

Lots of works to do for next week.

Friday Wrapup (1/22) - $988 loss

2010-01-23T08:22:00.000-08:00

6:30AM
It's early in the day and I'm already frustrated. Just entered a decent short pullback setup just after 6AM. Clean entry and after 1 tick heat price moved in my favor and hit my first 2 tgts. Moved my stop down and sure enough we temporarily reverse stopping me out of the trade for a $12 profit. Moments later we reverse yet again and would have easily hit all of my targets. So instead of $450 to start the day, all I have is $12. Wanted to keep my stop close with GE earnings on the slate. But the market confirmed that it was too tight. Woulda coulda shoulda.

And the frustration continues. I'm adding this entry so that I can be aware of my psyche right now. Don't need any vengeance trading to say the least. Need to remain level headed.

4:00PM
As with yesterday too many trades to break out separately. Took 21 trades today with just 33% winners.

No sugar coating here, I have been and remain in a funk. I sensed the market was changing in a journal entry shortly after the new year began, but yet I just haven't made the adjustments.

My entries which have been ultra precise are now being overshot 1-2 pts consistently after entry. So rather than 1-2 ticks of heat before a trade moves in my favor I'm now seeing $300-500 drawdown on a 6 contract trade. And when this happens I immediately turn on the risk mgmt hat causing me to exit many trades early that ultimately go on to be nice winners. Instead I'm left with a minimal loss of say $50, but this adds up quite fast when you are talking 20 trades a day.

The key element here is that I've made significant money in the past when volatility was high and I can do it again. But I need to spend the weekend reviewing my setups and making tweaks to account for the new market regime. And I need to have better trade selection too. Right now I'm clearly over trading.

Looking forward to getting some rest this weekend.

Thursday Wrapup (1/21) - $938 loss

2010-01-21T17:04:00.000-08:00

8:30AM
No pre-market trades thus far. Slept in late this morning after watching my beloved Wolfpack lay it to the Dukies. Didn't miss much from the looks of things.

Had a clear countertrend setup after the GS earnings release, but didn't take the trade because the risk:reward ratio didn't make sense. I usually like to enter these CT trades with a 1 pt risk at most. Would've needed 2-2.5 pts on this trade, so I passed.

Let's get this day off to a good start. Don't force things - take only what the market is willing to give. And above else, manage risk.

12:00PM
Lots of trades this morning, 6 total so far. First 3 were losers and I dug myself an early $450 hole. Came back strong with the next 3 generating $563, and was up $112. And my last trade was a $313 loser.

That last trade was a pullback setup off the 3 min chart. Felt the entry was solid, but the trade went against me from the start and I had no desire to stay on for the ride. After a quick 2.5 pt drawdown, I got out onthe first mini pullback. Should also note that I only traded 1/2 size with this trade. because the risk was a bit greater than my norm setup. Good idea!

Even though my results thus far are in the red, I've managed risk very well. Case in point, I took a long CT at 10:30AM where we had a clear vol spike on the 3 min chart. Had I not kept a tight stop, I would've lost a boat load as price continued its steep descent. And I've also stayed away from trying to catch a falling knife.

Sure I'm down, but the good news is that I'm only a trade away from profitability. Let's see what the afternoon session brings.

4:00PM
Clearly way too much trading after noon. All total there were 10 trades, 8 of which were shorts, taken over this 4 hr period. There were CTs and pullbacks taken and it didn't matter on the setup or direction as only 3 of the 10 were profitable.

As I look back at the trades I placed I was clearly caught up in the euphoria. But honestly out of all the trades I placed today, maybe just 1 or 2 were questionable entries. The trouble is the market is changing and I remain a step slow after being lulled to sleep over the past few months with volatility at low levels. And still finding myself a bit gunshy after the last week or so of trading.

I know I'll snap out of this funk soon enough. Just need to concentrate harder and manage my risk.

Wednesday Wrapup (1/20) - $100 loss

2010-01-20T13:38:00.000-08:00

10:30AM
Just one trade so far in the young day. This was a countertrend long @ 7:15 right after the B of A earnings release. There was a clear volume spike which usually indicates a temp bottom. I didn't take the first entry, but instead waited for the 2nd chance opp on the 1st pullback. Worked out well even though it took a while to develop. Scaled out of the trade for a $250 profit. Closed the last 2 lots early when momentum seemed to wain, and didn't want to risk the profits with WFC still left to report. At the end of the day I left about $100 on the table with where my last 2 tgts were positioned.

I've also missed two more excellent CT setups. The first was a short setup after the WFC release. Perfect setup with little to no heat. And then a long CT setup at around 9:48AM on a clear vol spike following a push lower. Both of these were picture perfect setups. Missed the first while I was in the shower, and the second because I stepped away from the computer for a few mins. Ugg.

4:00PM
Another day not much has changed. Actually that's not entirely true. Aside from one bonehead trade, a long CT setup, taken at 11:00AM where I lost $450 I didn't trade horribly today.

Started the day 3 for 3 and up $487. Then I took a long after a nice volume spike at 11AM, but didn't manage my risk well and choked into the collapse. And of course a few mins later we were back up near my original entry. Nice job, not!

Last 3 trades of the day essentially lost $138 as I couldn't get into any kind of rhythm.

Despite losing $100 on the day, I feel like I can build from today's activity. Need to re-focus and come into tomorrow ready to rock n' roll. And stay out of trouble in the pre-market.

Wednesday Pre-Market Thoughts (1/20)

2010-01-20T03:26:00.000-08:00

Today my goal is to focus on my two core setups (pullbacks and countertrend scalps), manage my risk well, and at the end of the day if I'm profitable great. In looking back at my records over the past few weeks, I've been much too sloppy. Taking setups that were very marginal. I had been on such an impressive run after Thanksgiving, that I got a bit cocky. I've been taking marginal setups with the thought that I could always exit for small loss, worst case. At this point in my trading I need more structure to right this ship.

Oh yeah, and today at least I know that B of A and Wells Fargo are due to report earnings before the bell. Major brainfart yesterday with C. With this in mind, I'll be limiting my pre-market trading until we get thru the crux of earnings season.

Tuesday Wrapup (1/19) - $562 loss

2010-01-19T13:07:00.000-08:00

4:00PM
Pretty much sat on the sidelines for the better part of the day as I got off to a horrid start and knew I was far from sharp today.

My first trade of the day was decent enough. It was a short pullback taken at 5:45AM that I traded at half-size. Managed to scale out for a $188 gain over 30 mins or so. Took maybe 1 tick heat.

Next trade was the dummy move. Opened a full position short at 8:20AM right before Citigroup released their qtrly earnings. Sure I checked the econ calendar, but this is earnings season dummy! And of course right after the release price gapped higher and never looked back. I had my worst case stop in place that I talked about last week, and while it came close to getting filled ultimately I scaled out for a $750 loss. Not only did I enter the trade before a market moving earnings release, I didn't manage the trade risk well to start with. After my entry the trade had broke down ever so slightly and I should've moved my stop down just above the swing high pt. Would've lost at most $150 or so had I managed the trade right.

Definitely in a funk right now. Where everything was so clear only a few weeks ago, the lights have been dimmed quite a bit. I know I'll snap out of this soon enough, so I just need to keep trudging along limiting my losses until things become clearer.

Jan 15th Weekly Recap - $2,973 loss

2010-01-16T06:22:00.000-08:00

Yeah this week was ugly no matter how I skin it. Of course with a manageable loss on Tuesday I would've finished at worst flat on the week.

Traded 168 contracts this week for avg loss of $19 per contract. 47% winners.

This may sound simple, but one of the rules I'll be implementing going forward is a hard stop (that I can move no matter what!!) which limits my losses on those days that get out of hand. Looking back at my trading records over the last 6 mos, I've had 2 days like Tuesday where I've had outsized losses. On these days I need to cap my losses at an amount that's easily recoverable within say 2 days. 99.9% of the time these stops will never come close to being filled. But on the other 0.1% of the time, they'll save my quite a bit of cash.

A lot of trading is realizing how old school wisdom applies to your own trading. You can read about these things all you want, but until one truly understands how they apply to their own trading, they're useless.

Friday Wrapup (1/15) - $415 gain

2010-01-16T06:13:00.000-08:00

10:00 AM
Fairly active pre-market session today as we had some decent ranges before and after earnings reports. I placed 4 trades in total. First trade was an easy short pullback taken at 5:48AM. After a 1 tick drawdown, price fell and easily hit my targets for a $213 gain.

Followed that up that with 2 more short pullbacks that went nowhere, one at 6:37AM and another at 7:18AM. The second one was a bad entry and I suffered about 6 ticks of drawdown before closing the trade on the first pullback for a $12 loss.

Fourth trade was taken after the econ reports at 8:44AM. Solid entry with just 1 tick heat, but left much on the table profit wise. Managed to take just $128 of profit after a max run-up of $350. Market showed signs of reversing and I didn't waste any time closing the last few lots.

Up $315 on 2 for 4 trading to start the day.

4:00 PM

Pretty much sat on the sidelines after 10AM, as the market was confined within a tight range after the initial move lower. Not unexpected on options expiration day.

Took a short pullback at 10:45 that went nowhere. After a few ticks of heat, I closed the trade for a $50 loss 10 minutes after entry.

Another short pullback @ 12:51PM that also went nowhere that I closed for a $25 profit.

And finally my last trade of the day was a countertrend short off the last pop higher at 3:32PM. Was a terrific entry looking back, but I left quite a bit of profit on the table. Only managed a $125 profit after being up as much as $300. Still it was nice to close the long weekend with a win.

Finished the day up $415 on 4 for 7 trading.

Thursday Wrapup (1/14) - $288 gain

2010-01-14T12:59:00.000-08:00

1:00PM
Not much happening so far today. Being very conservative with my entries and trading half size.

Taken 3 trades so far this morning. First was a short pullback after the initial push lower falling the 8:30 econ report. After a 2 tick drawdown, the trade hit all of my targets relatively painlessly. It was nice to book a profit again to take the edge off a bit. So I started the day with a $225 profit.

Next 2 trades pretty much treaded water on. Took a long pullback at 10:19 that went no where and I exited after 6 mins for a $12.50 gain. And the last trade was a bit of a questionable countertrend entry as there wasn't much of a volume spike to support the entry. Anyhow trade pretty much went against me from the start, but I remained patient and got out for a $62.50 loss after being down as much as $225.

So I'm up $175 on 2 for 3 trading heading into the afternoon. Just need to stay patient and re-find that tunnel vision I had before the holidays.

3:50PM
Took 4 short countertrends from 2PM till now with the first two essentially breaking even, and the last two producing a profit for $138.

Left about $200 on the last two as I was a bit aggressive on my target orders thinking we'd see a deeper pullback into the close. My first target was hit on both setups, and price came within a tick of my targets before reversing and I ultimately closed the trade back near my original entry.

Sure it's not stellar by any means, and at this rate it'll take me a good two weeks just to earn back what I lost yesterday. Ouch. But nonetheless, it's nice to be back in profit column.

Planning to continue trading at half size for at least a few more days till I feel like I've got the hang of the market action again. On a side note, maybe next time I'm seeing the market clearly I should double my size LOL!

Wednesday Wrapup (1/13/10) - $3,788 Loss

2010-01-14T03:08:00.000-08:00

4:00 PM
Wow where does one even find the words. I'm embarrassed to write this post, but I suppose that's the point. Yes, that's not a misprint, I lost $3800 today. Regardless of one's account balance that's a big number, about half of what I expect to make in an average month.

I've had these days before, and I'm sure this won't be the last. In a game of seconds one bad decision is all that separates a trader from huge wins or losses. And today I just wasn't sharp enough. Even last night I sensed that I might need to scale back until I got a handle on the current market action.

As for the day's events my first 3 trades were pretty much a wash. Lost on the first two countertrend long setups, but gained all that back on the third. Note that these were all re-entries of the same setup as I figured we'd bounce off the lows. Turns out I was right, but only captured a small part of the move.

Where I dug my grave was on a countertrend short setup at 11:13AM. After a few minutes it was evident that the trade was going no where so I started orders to exit the trade at a decent price (which at the time may have been a minimal loss of say $100). Got filled on my first limit order, and then the big trade hit. Sure everyone saw it on their charts. 200K + contracts traded hands and the market shot higher with me short. What's worse is that I added to the trade higher like an idiot thinking that a top had formed after that huge volume spike. Looking back it was a decent CT setup as my 1st tgt was hit easily, but I was jaded on my risk management due to have an existing short position on. From there I was pretty much was a deer in the headlights. I rode the trend up all day long still firmly believing we would reverse. And in the back of my head I knew that I was relying on hope, but was paralyzed.

I'm only thankful the market reversed slightly near the EOD because it could've and should've been much worse. I'll return tomorrow trading 1/2 size and will continue to do so until I have a good feeling of the market structure. Let's hope this is the most embarassing post I ever have to write in this blog.

Tuesday Wrapup (1/12) - $388 loss

2010-01-13T05:42:00.000-08:00

11:30AM
Off to a decent start today. Woke up early and was greeted with a nice pullback setup around 5:45AM after price had printed a new overnight low. Took an initial short entry with half size and added another half once the prior bar low was taken out on the 1000 tick chart. After my second entry I took 3 ticks of heat as price quickly reversed, but then just as quickly it reversed again and easily hit all my targets. Nice $462 gain to start the day.

Next trade was also a short pullback at 10:26AM though the setup was not nearly as clean. Trade pretty much went against me from the start rising as much as 4 ticks from my entry. As such I scaled out of the trade on the first mini-pullback for a $125 loss which I was quite happy with. So I'm 1 for 2 on the day with a $337 gain to show for my efforts.

On another note it was nice to see some early volatility, but it's been so long since we've had any I honestly feel a step slow. Need to remain focused.

4:00PM
Totally out of sync with the markets this afternoon. After lunch I placed 5 trades, the first 3 of which were long countertrends and the last 2 short pullbacks. Early on I kept thinking we were going to bounce pretty hard, but it never materialized.

As I look back at these trades, the first 2 taken around 12:30 were definitely valid setups. The first countertrend I took I got cold feet after about 3 mins when it went no where. Exited at breakeven which was a good call. Then a few mins later after we had re-tested the prior low, I re-entered on the first break higher. But the market quickly reversed taking me with it. After a 5 tick drawdown I closed the trade for a $275 loss. About a half hour later around 1PM we had nice vol spike on the 3 min chart, and it appeared we'd bounce. But I didn't even manage 1 tick profit before this one too turned lower. Managed to scaled out of this one for a $125 loss after a 4 tick drawdown. The next trade just after 2PM was also valid. We had spiked higher on a nice vol spike and I waited until the 2nd chance opp to enter. Trade initially moved in my favor hitting my first tgt but again reversed and I chose to get out managing just a $25 profit.

And finally the last trade of the day was easily my worst. Sold the first pullback following a driver lower heading into the final hour. But instead of reversing the market shoot higher. Didn't panic despite having an 8 tick drawdown, remained calm and exited on first mini pullback. Exited the trade for a $350 loss which I was pleased with overall. Could've been much worse.

All in all I ended the day $388 in the red with essentially 1 for 5 trading. I have to feel good about minimizing my damage on a day like today where nothing was going my way (except for the 1st trade of the day).

On another note, if I string together one more day like today I think I'll cut my position size by half while I trade myself out of this temp funk. Let's hope today is much more fruitful. In the back of my mind, I'm still expecting a trend day down at some point, but I've got to trade what I see, not what I think.

Monday Wrapup (1/11) - $500 gain

2010-01-11T13:11:00.000-08:00

1:00PM
Not much happening so far today. My hopes for a trend day down were quickly squashed about 30-45 mins after the opening when downside momentum stalled.

Up $700 thus far ont he day on 2 for 2 trading. First trade was a countertrend short at 10:53AM right after ES peaked it's ahead above the prior swing high on a volume spike. Proceeded to scale out over the next 14 mins for a $425 profit. Took maybe 1 tick heat at the start. Doesn't get much better than that.

Next trade was a short pullback at 12:01PM that I had to drill down to the 10 min chart to see. Again took 1 tick of heat. Took roughly 15 mins for my first tgt to get hit that's how slow things were moving. The whole time I was thinking about closing the trade, but I never felt in danger. So I held on. Finally after about 30 mins downside momentum picked up, but seemed to stall about 2 ticks above my 2nd tgt. Note that I had wider tgts on this one since I was trading off 10 min chart and the pullback was larger than my normal setups. When I sensed bid sizes picking up I decided it was time to book my profits. Closed the trade for a $275 gain about 2 minutes before a move down to a new LOD. Ugg what timing. Left at least $250 on the table with this one. But it could've just as easily went the other way too.

Any how happy to be up $700 on a slow day thus far. Let's see what happens this afternoon. Would be nice to break the $1000 profit level.

4:00PM
Good morning and a horrid afternoon. From 2PM thru the close, I kept trying to short the market. Picking tops, which everyone knows is a loser's game. And maybe only one was a valid countertrend setup with a decent volume spike.

In all I took 5 trades from 2PM, all short countertrends. Sloppy to say the least. It's a small miracle I only lost $200 combined. There was certainly no skill involved here. If I trade like this again I'll lose my pants.

Jan 8th Weekly Recap - $1152 gain

2010-01-08T13:18:00.000-08:00

Well aside from the last 15 mins of today's action, I had a pretty good week considering. It's amazing that the S&P was up almost 3% on the week, yet I only had 1 short trade and still made money. And if you take away this afternoon's brain fart and Tuesday afternoon's back to back dummy trades, I would've been above $2000 for the week.

Overall I made $1152 on 40% winners, $249 avg gain and $181 avg loss. 168 roundturns puts my avg profit per contract traded at $7. Not great.

Friday Wrapup (1/8) - $837 loss

2010-01-08T13:12:00.000-08:00

9:30AM
Saw a couple of countertrend setups after the NFP report but didn't have the balls to enter. Don't need to prove anything here. Besides at best I might have broke even on all the trades.

Entered a short pullback trade @ 8:48AM starting with half-size (because risk wasn't well defined) and added another half 3 ticks higher when momentum seemed to stall. This trade pretty much went against me from the start. At the worst I was down 6 ticks on the trade and choose to scale out on first mini-retrace. Ended up losing $262, which honestly was about $150 more than it should've been. Got spooked a bit on the last 2 lots and closed when prices shot higher. Still I can easily recover from such a small loss. Much better than a $600 loss or worse. Now let's get in gear here.

1:00PM
Very slow day, which is surprising considering the recent range consolidation. I was certain we'd see range expansion today after the NFP release. Guess there's still time.

Just one trade since this morning which was a bit forced. Entered telling myself I needed to get in and out fast and failed to follow thru on my plan. The trade was a short pullback at 11:45. My first tgt was hit fairly easily, and I was up at most about $175 on the trade before the market turned sideways. So I held the trade for the next hour or so and ended up exiting for a $50 loss. Should've closed the trade much sooner for no worse than a $50 profit. Down $312.50, but still plenty of time left.

1:45PM
Probably just passed on best trade of the day, a CT short that I didn't think would go anywhere. Thought we'd see another push to a new HOD since we were only a few ticks off the high.

4:00PM
Guess I was too focused on generating a profit. "Found" a countertrend setup at 3:45 that I liked. Thought this was a shakeout move before heading lower, but guessed wrong. And what's worse I added a second position on another CT setup while I still had 2/3rds of the prior setup on. Wow. This could've been much worse, but I tried not to panic and puke into this move. Managed to exit the 1st trade for a $400 loss and the 2nd for $125. Under the circumstances I probably did the best I could. But I should've have been in this trade to start with.

So I finished a crappy day 0 for 4 and a pleasant $837 loss. Screw me I hate going into the weekend like this.

Thursday Wrapup (1/7) - $601 gain

2010-01-07T13:08:00.000-08:00

7:15AM
Off to a solid start to begin the day. Well if I had just woke about an hour earlier I'd be in a much better position right now as there was a nice short pullback available right around 4:30AM EST.

Any how 1 for 1 to start the young day. When I first checked my screen at 5:30, I saw another short pullback opp that I tried to get filled in without luck. So I cancelled the order and studied the charts a bit more. Upon closer inspection I realized that the pullback I was attempting to trade was really just part of a countertrend setup. So I changed hats and looked for a long entry off this pullback. Finally entered my first long of the week at 6:03AM. Entered in two parts because the initial risk was a bit more than I usually like. Added 2nd half a few ticks lower. After a 2 tick drawdown the market moved nicely higher and I scaled out over 45 mins for a $300 profit. With yesterday's first trade going through my brain I wanted to grab my profits while available, so I didn't waste anytime exiting the last few lots once it was clear momentum had stalled. Only left 1-2 ticks on the table so very pleased with this trade overall.

Here's to hoping today will turn into a $1500-2000 day. Haven't had many of these lately.

10:45AM
Sold that first pullback at 10:09 treading very carefully. Started w/ half size and waited for a break lower on 3 min chart to add. Managed to close 1 contract for a profit before we broke higher. Didn't want to get stuck so I scaled out quickly for a $100 loss. Nice sitting on the sidelines while all the other shorts got stuck. Could've easily been me. Up $200 on the day now.

1:00PM
Not much going since last update. I've taken 3 trades all CT shorts, 2 of which I exited 5 mins later at breakeven and first one a loss of $87. The first trade moved against me fairly sharply after entry and it was difficult to remain calm. After a 5 tick drawdown I managed to get out for a minimal loss. Questioned myself on whether I was exiting too early, but I made the right decision. The other 2 just went no where after entry and rather than relying on hope I choose to exit. Very liberating to admit I was wrong and get the hell out. Note to self, do this more often!

Missed a nice CT setup at just after 12:30. To get entry on this one, one needed to anticipate the break because she was off to the races too fast otherwise. Missed the 2nd chance entry on the same trade, just not on my game today. See chart below for a picture of this perfect CT setup.

2:45PM
Just passed on a CT setup after an initial volume spike higher on the 3 min chart. Think I'll play the 2nd entry here. Trend looks too strong to not quickly re-test the high again.

3:15PM
Completed the most beautiful trade I've had in a while just a few mins ago. After that large spike up, I looked to enter on the first mini-pullback. Got my entry and after 2 ticks of heat we had a waterfall decline. Scaled out for a $500 profit with my last 2 tgts a bit wider than normal. Thought about holding onto that last 1/3, but convinceed myself otherwise. Good thing too.

After this trade close I started looking for a short entry on the ensuing pullback. Started a position at 1/2 size, but closed 5 mins later when there was no follow-thru. Lost 1 tick of $37.50. Sitting up $576 on the day right now thanks to the last trade.

My mistake with this last series was not recognizing the countertrend long setup on the push down. I was so caught up in my last trade, that I complete missed the obvious trade. Would've made another easy 2 pts on the move back up with little to no heat. Got to remain focused and not get too excited with my wins the reverse with my losses!

4:00PM
Well finished up with a couple of crap trades on 1/2 size volume. Tried to re-enter on that pullback trade twice, and ended up losing $87 on these two. Did a nice job of getting out of dodge once it was readily apparent the market wasn't going lower.

Last trade was a countertrend setup off the HOD taken at 3:53PM that went basically nowhere. Took one tick heat and had a max profit of $100. Closed trade for a $75 profit at EOD.

Well I didn't get the day I wanted. But one thing is for sure, I had multiple chances to screw up. And each time I made the right decision. Not getting caught in that early morning bear trap. Exiting at breakeven when my positons were lifeless, not leaving things to hope. This is certainly something to build off.

In all 9 trades today, 3 winners (avg gain of $292), 4 losers (avg loss of $69), and 2 scratches.

Expecting some more fireworks tomorrow after the NFP release. Need to get a good night's rest.

Wednesday Wrapup (1/5/10) - $750 gain

2010-01-06T12:57:00.000-08:00

12:30PM
Three trades so far today, all shorts.

First trade of the day was taken right before 8AM on a pullback off the 1000 tick chart. There was about 25 mins before the 8:15 econ release, and my thinking was that hopefully my 1st tgt would at least be hit before the news. Didn't work out like that, I ended up holding thru the news. This wasn't a major release so I was slightly more comfortable knowing that, but I still had a bit of an uneasy feeling. Don't want to gain/lose on a coin flip any longer, because I know that's a loser's game. Right or wrong I kept the trade on, and right after the news my 1st tgt was hit and price quickly stalled just 1 tick above my 2nd tgt. I sensed we might reverse but didn't act on my intution and up we went. Ended up closing the trade for a $250 loss after being up the same. Should've gotten at least $200 on this one had I been quicker on my feet.

Saw a decent countertrend short setup around 9:45 that I didn't take. That one would've netted 2-3 pts at least very easily. Usually don't like trading so close to the open since it's hard to read the price action.

Next two trades were countertrends. First was taken at 10:17 on what was essentially a 3rd push to a new HOD. Could've taken the 2 prior setups and made maybe $100 on each one, but I didn't want to fall into a trap. After a 2 tick drawdown price fell and my first tgt was easily hit. Then we pulled back and I sensed an opp to add to my position once the prior bar's low was broken in the mini-pullback. Got that opp 12 mins later and added another full-size position. My rationale was to treat these as two separate trades each with its own targets and stoplosses. Worked out very favorably as I scaled out of both over the next 15 mins for profits of $725 with just 2 ticks of heat on the first entry and 1 tick on the second.

So I'm up $475 on the day on 2 for 3 trading. Let's not have a repeat of yesterday please.

3:45PM
Done for the day. Two more trades this afternoon.

First was an attempted short pullback at 12:47. Why I'm trading at lunch? Eerily similar setup as yesterday, a nice pullback during the lunch hour, but no follow thru to the downside. This time I was prepared for my own stupidity though and scaled out for a minimum loss of $100 on the trade. Did freak out for a sec though when price jumped like a pt in 2 seconds. But kept calm and waited for my exit opp.

Next trade was a countertrend setup off the 1000 tick chart at 2:45. We had a huge vol spike on the 3 min chart and I knew the HOD had been put in. I missed the first entry so I started a 1/2 position on the first minor pullback. Entry pt wasn't optimal, but I added to the position a few ticks higher. Took maybe a 2 tick drawdown before the market headed lower. Scaled out of 1/2 the position over the next 30 mins or so and found myself wanting to get greedy on the last 1/2 even though the market was telling me to get out (always listen to the market!). Sure enough that greed almost bit me in the ass. Price rallied back up to my entry point but I remained calm knowing that I had at least secured a breakeven trade. So my only risk was the profit on the table. Thankfully the market didn't go any higher and i scaled out of the last 3rd over the ensuing 15 mins on the drive lower and made $375 on this last trade.

So finished the day up $750 despite my best efforts.

Tuesday Wrapup (1/5) - $413 gain

2010-01-05T13:25:00.000-08:00

12:00PM
Certainly not much to complain about thus far. Three trades thus far, all countertrend short scalps, all winners with gains totalling an even $1000. And this comes despite my missing the best trade of the day because I turned my head away from the screen for like 10 secs. That was a countertrend long at 10AM after a big vol spike down left the shorts hanging. Not only did I miss the first entry, but I missed the follow-up as well.

First trade was a countertrend short taken just after 8AM EST. Didn't wait for a confirmation on the 1000 tick chart, and took my entry off the 3 min chart. Figured the worst I'd do was get out a breakeven. There was a clear vol spike after the upward move a few mins earlier. Didn't waste time exiting and after just 1 tick of heat, I scaled out for a $300 over the next 15 mins.

Next trade was even better. Another CT short taken at 10:45. Not 1 tick of heat and I scaled out in 5 mins for $350. Found myself thinking smartly just to get out of this trade and try to nail the first pullback which I did :).

At 11:13 I took another short off the first mini-pullback of the above setup. Again no heat and I scaled out over 12 mins for a $400 gain. Found myself wanting to hold at least a few lots of this one a bit longer than we were setup for a cascading selloff now that the bulls were trapped higher. But corrected my thoughts and stuck to my usual trading style.

Nice start to the day. Let's keep the momentum going this afternoon. And don't do anything stupid!

4:00PM
Wow today was certainly a tale of two halves. Should've shut down my machine at lunch. Ugg.

Here's a summary of my afternoon trades:

Pullback short taken at 12:13 off the 3 min chart. Another beautiful entry with 1 tick of heat and I scaled out over the next 45 mins for a $363 profit. At this point I'm up almost $1400 on the day and living large. The things go down hill.

My next trade came at 2:30PM. Took a pullback short off the 1000 tick chart. Solid setup, but the trade pretty much went against me from the start. So I put on my risk mgmt hat and started peeling off contracts. Whittled down 6 short contracts to 2, but clearly didn't try hard enough on the last 2 contracts. Took just a $75 loss on 4 contracts and a $425 loss on the remaining 2. Ouch. Closed at the EOD.

Just after 3PM, I took a countertrend short that once again did me in from the start. And again I whittled the position down to 4 contracts with a minimal loss of $50 or so. Had multiple chances to get out on last 2 lots at breakeven, but didn't pull the trigger. Looking at the 5 min chart from 2PM on not one freaking bar penetrated the low of the prior bar. I kept anticipating a decent size pullback that never happened. Closed this at the EOD for a $375 loss. $50 loss on 4 contracts and $325 on last 2. Ouch.

And finally in a WTF moment, I opened a CT short at 3:55 on a second chance entry. My thinking was that everyone who had been buying since 2:00PM would want to close their positions before the bell. Wrong again. At least this time I managed to lose just $75, though I'm sure it would've been worse had the market continued higher and I sat their froze in time.

So long story short after being up almost $1400, I closed the day with a measly $413 profit. Sure it could've been worse, but feeling like my bad habits have crept back in. Need to turn the lights off on those bad boys. But I also have to attribute some of this to the market itself. I mean how many days does the market go straight up for 2 hrs without nary a pullback even 2 pts or so? Not many. Sometimes shit just doesn't go your way!

Monday Wrapup (1/4) - $225 gain

2010-01-04T13:00:00.000-08:00

8AM
Well for starters, I took a short pullback last night about 30 mins after the open that I scaled out of for a $250 gain over the ensuing 4 hrs. Was up as much as $375 and down as much as 3 ticks. Seemed like the market had gotten ahead of itself at the open, but not much follow-thru. Still nice to turn a profit on my first trade of the new year!

12PM
Even though the market has been trending higher all day I've had a hard time locating decent long setups. My only trades thus far are 4 countertrend shorts.

Made $250 on the first short taken at 9:48AM after a 2 tick drawdown. Felt good about my exit too.

Next trade was taken at 10:02AM, but I closed about 30 seconds after entry. Trade went against me 2 ticks at the start so I closed at breakeven just due to gut feel. Turns out my gut was wrong as this trade would've made at least $250-300. Oh well.

Took another short at 10:32AM that pretty much went against me from the start. After a 1.5 pt drawdown I managed to close for a $150 loss. At various points I found myself thinking about closing this trade as it went nowhere after entry. Of course, as I was about to exit the trade moves against me. Did a good job of not puking into the up move and exiting on first pullback.

And my last trade this morning was pretty much a repeat of above. Took a short at 11:36AM. Wasn't a great setup. Vol spike was minimal. Entry was on a 2nd chance opp on a pullback after first signal once prior bar's low was taken out. After being down 5 ticks, I closed the trade for a loss of $125 over a series of exits. Could've done much better with these last 2 trades.

So basically I'm down $25 on the day not including last night's gain of $250 which I'll lump in with today's trading.

4PM
Not much going this afternoon except chop. Finished the day up $225 including last night's gain.

Dec 31st Weekly Recap - $737 gain

2009-12-31T14:20:00.000-08:00

Made $737 this week on 10 trades. 75% winners. $196 avg gain and $53 avg loss. 6th straight week of gains.

52 roundturns - avg gain of $14 per contract traded

Thursday Wrapup (12/31) - $87 gain

2009-12-31T14:18:00.000-08:00

Another slow day.

First, and best, trade of the day was a gap fade at the open for a $188 gain. Took just one tick heat and all targets hit within 30 mins.

Took 2 countertrend longs, one at 10:15 and another at 11:45. First one briefly touched my 1st tgt before collapsing lower. After a 1.5 pt drawdown I managed to scale out of this one for just a $175 loss. I didn't take the first entry, but entered on the second test. After 5 mins I found myself asking why I was still in this trade since it hadn't proven itself. Of course, I should've listened to my gut and exited the trade when I had the chance to get out at breakeven. Still, nonetheless, did a solid job of not panicking and closing on first pullback.

Second countertrend was much more favorable though I only took $75 profit out of the trade. Again I didn't take the first entry, but waited on a pullback and bought the break of the prior bar high on the 1000 tick chart. Didn't like the risk on the first setup. After entry price my first target was easily hit without one tick of heat. And I was up as much as $275, but wasn't quick enough to capture the profit. At least I exited the trade when price came back down to my entry point.

At the end of the day I made $87 on 2 for 3 trading. Not great, but not a loss either. Hoping for some range expansion next week. Maybe today's late afternoon selloff is a good sign.

Wednesday Wrapup (12/30) - $200 loss

2009-12-30T13:30:00.000-08:00

Today started out a bit more volatile, but that didn't last long. Just two trades today both losers.

Should be noted that I skipped the opening gap fade setup. After the overnight action, I thought today had the chance of being a trend day. Turns out that was an easy fade opportunity and would've made about $500 on 2 lots with at worst 2-3 ticks of heat. Just goes to show you've got to take every trade.

At 9:50 I took a pullback setup which is not normally part of my arsenal. Price had pulled back after the opening gap was filled and I sold the first break lower on the 1000 tick chart. My plan was to scale out quickly as with my countertrend setups, but I wasn't fast enough. My first tgt was hit, but immediately afterwards the market reversed and stopped me out on the balance. Was up as much as $250, before losing $75 on this trade. Again not one of my core setups so I was definitely reaching for this one. Guess I was just excited about the opening volatility.

Second trade of the day came just before noon on a short pullback setup. Was definitely a valid setup, but I got raked over the coals before exiting for a $125 loss. After entry, upward momentum accelerated and at the peak I was stuck in a 2 pt drawdown. But I remained patient and looked to exit at the first pullback. After a drawdown of as much as $600, I ultimately exited for a much smaller loss of $125. Very pleased with how I handled this one. Not sure I could've done anything differently.

Again all of today's gains were missed when I didn't fade the opening gap. After that filled, we were stuck in a 2-3 pt trading range the rest of the day.

Tuesday Wrapup (12/29) - $562 gain

2009-12-29T18:06:00.000-08:00

A bit more activity than yesterday, but still nothing to write home about.

Faded the gap opening and that was my easiest trade in a long while. Took not 1 tick of heat before my 1st tgt was hit. Not nearly as pretty on the 2nd tgt, but ultimately closed for a $225 total profit.

Took a short pullback off the 1000 tick chart around 10:15 that went against me from the start. After a 1 pt drawdown I scaled out on first opportunity for a breakeven trade. Ultimately this one ended up being nicely profitable had I remained in the trade, but that's just how it goes sometimes. Could've went either way.

From 11:30 to 1:30 I passed on a couple of decent countertrend setups. Just didn't like the volume picture, and had concerns about there being enough movement to profit from this trades. Could've probably squeezed a pt out of all these.

Finally at 1:45 there was a nice volume spike on the 3 min chart, and I got short on the first break lower off the 1000 tick chart. Trouble with this setup was that the break took like 10-15 mins after the initial vol spike. That should've told me something right there. This trade was essentially a matter of entering and then sitting and waiting. Took 30 mins after entry to break out of a 2 tick range. Finally we moved lower and my 1st tgt was hit as volume picked up. I sensed a low was forming, but didn't act. On a bad move, I walked away from my computer for a few mins only to return and find that price moved back above my entry price ( I hadn't moved my initial stop). Yeah sounds like a repeat of a trade from last week, right? Thankfully for me we didn't travel very far.

Ultimately I entered a new countertrend short at 3:15 as we had a decent volume spike after a higher high. Yes, I was still short 2/3 of a position from the prior setup. So now I'm heavy short and price starts heading up again to the tune of a 5 tick drawdown. We temporarily take out the last high which I'm thinking the whole time is nothing more than fake out. Sure enough we get another mini-pullback, which would've allowed me to exit at nearly breakeven on this trade. But I didn't pull the trigger, and we move back up a bit but not above the prev high. So now I've dug my heels in and it turns out I was right this time as price fell into the close and I scaled out of all my positions. Ended up making $100 on the first setup and $237 on the last. But to do so, I took on a $212 drawdown on the first, and $337 on the second. Not good.

Definitely got sloppy there at the end. And was very fortunate to end the day profitable as it could've easily been a $500 loss. Need to tighten up heading into the new year.

I'll give my morning trading an A and the afternoon session a D+. Plenty of work to be done.

Monday Wrapup (12/28) - $287 gain

2009-12-28T12:45:00.000-08:00

Not much to write about today. Just one trade taken at 9:39AM on a short countertrend setup. Took a little longer to develop this most of these setups, but after a 2 tick drawdown, I ultimately scaled out for a decent profit. Was a bit worried at the start of the trade because the setup wasn't the best. Not much of a volume spike on the 3 min chart like I like to see, but there was a nice hanging man candle on the 1000 tick chart after a breakout to new highs.

Was tempted to take a pullback trade around 3:20 off the 15 min chart, but decided against it. Looks like I would've broke even at best. Didn't like the risk. Would've probably entered had we managed a larger pullback.

So that's it 1 for 1 on a slow day. Probably can expect the same of the rest of the week too.

Dec 24th Weekly Recap - $220 gain

2009-12-24T10:20:00.000-08:00

Not much to report this week. Just 9 trades total over 4 days. Did a good job for the most part of staying out of the chop.

Only profitable on 46% of my trades this week with avg gain of $211 and avg loss of $155. 43 roundturns puts my avg profit per contract at $5.

Looking forward to some more volatility which we likely won't see till January. Not what kinda action we'll see next week.

Thursday Wrapup (12/24) - $519 loss

2009-12-24T10:17:00.000-08:00

10:30AM
So far I've taken a gap fade with 2 lots which is currently in a slight drawdown of $350. Really not expecting a trend day today so not sure I'm worried too much about this one getting out of hand. We've gapped up everyday this week and I figure at some point we've got to run out of steam. But maybe not.

Just missed a trade a few mins ago after the first pullback following the HOD print. Was looking for a better entry, but could've entered at least a 1/2 position. Of course, part of my hestitation was likely related to having to close my short gap fade to enter a long position. Could've re-established the short after closing the long, but what happens if the long didn't work out? That's what was going thru my head. Like it better when we are closer to a rollover date when the next series has some decent volume. That way I can trade a play in the other direction w/o affecting my core day trade setups. Not the case this here though with the Jun 10 contracts having little volume at all.

Ugg, and now I've just botched a decent shot on a nice countertrend setup. Was looking to sell a break below prior bar's low here at 10:30AM which I got, but tried to enter on a limit order rather than a stop. That's just not going to cut on a day like today where there's no liquidity.

1:00PM
Well my gap fade never went anywhere. Figured that would be an easy one, but no dice. Lost $400 on that trade.

Then took a pullback trade right before noon that went no where either. Fortunately I only coughed up $119 loss on that one as I patiently scaled out during the last hour chop. Why was I trading again?

Wednesday Wrapup (12/23) - $150 gain

2009-12-23T15:25:00.000-08:00

7:00 AM
Not much going here in the early AM session. Only decent setup I passed on, which was a countertrend trade around 5:30AM. After breaking out to a new HOD we had a surge of vol on the 3 min chart. But I didn't like the risk on the 1000 tick so I decided I'd play the first pullback instead, but it never came. Then I could've bought the pullback, but was waiting on a slightly better price, but that too didn't pan out. So long story short I'm tradeless.

Need to clear my brain of yesterday's last trade and start over fresh today.

8:20AM
Just missed another trade by literally seconds. Had been looking for a pullback to get short on. Left the house for the office and when I got to the office, my pullback was staring at me. Tried to enter, but my order pushed prices down 1-2 ticks. Not that I'm trading that much size, but oh well.

4PM
For the most part, I took the day off. Did fade the gap opening and that was an easy 3 pts or so. Made $225 there with both tgts being filed after the econ report at 10AM.

From there I took 2 trades, one of which was a decent pullback setup albeit with no volume whatsoever. This was taken around 10:38AM, and after maybe 1 tick movement in my direction the trade went against me. So I immediately thought about exiting and after a $300 drawdown I took the first pullback and exited for a marginal $50 loss.

Next trade was a countertrend setup around 1PM after a failed breakout. While there was definitely a volume spike, it will still minimal. I mean when there are gaps on a 3 min chart during intraday trading you know you should be calling the quits. Anyway, with this trade, my 1st target was hit easily and we stalled from there. Ultimately I exited this trade for a $25 loss.

So I fnished the day up $150 on 1 for 3 trading. Just not many trades on an overall dull day. On a positive note, I didn't have a repeat performance on yesterday. Once the 2nd trade went against me I immediately switched from profit mode to capital preservation. Didn't want to puke into the mini-breakout, so I just remained patient and exited at the first opp.

Not sure there will be much going on tomorrow either. Might check in early in the AM and go from there.

Tuesday Wrapup (12/22) - $0 gain

2009-12-22T16:59:00.000-08:00

One word comes to mind today - embarrassed. Despite only having 2 trades today, one of which is was just about perfect, I closed on bad note.

Slept in this morning so was feeling alert and ready for the day. But I also had a lot on my to-do list for my other businesses. So I was only have paying attention to the markets today because I wasn't expecting much movement and I definitely guess right in that regard.

First trade of the day was a short pullback taken after the 10AM econ news. After the news we initially spiked higher before collapsing lower. I sold the first pullback after this low formed and had almost a perfect entry. Scaled out of this trade for a $325 gain and never took more than 2 ticks of heat. My exit could've been a bit better, as I gave this trade too much room to work on my last 1/3, but ultimately everything worked out well.

Around noon I took my 2nd trade of the day, also a short pullback. The setup was perfect, but after entry the trade stalled and went nowhere. The trade fluctuated within a 3 tick range for the next 10-15 mins or so. It was at this point I know I needed to exit so I moved my target orders up to breakeven levels. I exited 1/3 for a 1 tick loss, and that's when things went downhill. A co-worker stopped by my office door with her husband and wanted to chat. So I was away from my screen for about 5-10 mins with a position on and it was killing me, but it's hard to be rude especially when it's Christmas time. So with that chat finally done I returned to my screen to find the position still on and now I was in a 1.5 pt drawdown as prices had turned up. At various points over the next 4 hrs (yes, I held all the way till the close) the position fluctated from being down 2-3 ticks to as much as a 3.5 pt drawdown. Each time when it got close to my orig breakeven point, which happened at least twice, I kept thinking we'd break lower so I dug my heels in further. Ultimately I closed the last 4 lots at various prices over the final 5 mins for a $325 loss on the trade, which I consider to be very fortunate.

I want to think I would've made better choices had I not been interrupted during this trade. But I'm not sure. This is the first time this has happened to me in weeks, and I've been feeling so dialed in, a trade like this re-introduces a bit of doubt in my abilities. It's these types of judgment errors which have always been my downfall in the past.

I guess the positive here is that I knew 10 mins after entry that it was time to exit the trade. It's not like I was relying on false hope. I was ready and willing to take a loss, I just wanted to do so at my price.

On another note, I did pass up several decent entries today. Many of which weren't necessarily one of my core setups. But I kept hearing myself say go ahead and enter the trade, if it doesn't work out you can exit for a small loss. They always say the top traders can make money on random entries just do to trade management alone. Not sure I'm ready to take that step.

Not expecting much for tomorrow, but we'll see what happens.

Monday Wrapup (12/21) - $587 gain

2009-12-21T12:43:00.000-08:00

1:00PM
Not much happening today. Not a single trade until 11AM despite waking at 5AM to catch the middle of the European session.

Only two trades thus far both countertrend trades, one short and one long.

Long was taken at 11:05AM on the 2nd chance entry (as pointed out last week) after the first breakout. Stop placed 1 tick below recent low. Gave this trade probably way too much room to work and almost closed at one point for a much smaller profit. My thinking while in this trade was that I'd likely have few trades today, so the ones I entered needed to count. Not necessarily healthy. Anyhow after suffering just 1 tick of heat on this one, I scaled out over the next 40 mins for a decent $300 profit. Of course hindsight is always 20/20 and I could've held a few lots for even larger gains, but that's not necessarily my style anyway.

Took a short on a first break after HOD was formed at 12:15. Took 2 ticks of heat on this one before moving along in my favor. Scaled out of this one for a $287 profit. And again as with above, had I held on I would've captured much larger gains.

So as it stands, I'm up $587 on very efficient 2 for 2 trading. Let's see what this afternoon brings.

3:40PM
Still sitting on my hands. Thought about taking a trade just a few mins ago with the 2nd chance opp after a countertrend entry signal. Would've at least broke even on the trade as it stands right now with 20 mins to go, but the volume was just so light even for the last 30 mins

So I'm finishing the day up $587 on 2 for 2 trading. Maybe we'll have some more opps tomorrow, but I highly doubt it. Expecting more range trade until the new year arrives. But as always be prepared for anything!

Dec 18th Weekly Recap - $3223 gain

2009-12-18T15:43:00.000-08:00

Solid week overall especially considering the tight trading range we've been stuck in coupled with the fact that I'm by no means a range trader. Still feeling very locked in at the moment and almost sad the weekend is here. Yes, I know I need the rest, but when I'm in the zone I'd rather not take off any time for fear of "losing my edge."

So I'll be looking forward to Monday morning all weekend LOL. Guess that's better than dreading it.

As for my numbers this week, I finished up $3,223 with no losing days and 63% profitable trades. Avg win was $255 and avg loss $104. 150 roundturns puts my avg profit per contract at $21. Fairly solid overall.

Since the first week I started this blog where I basically bled all but 1 day, I've been on quite a roll. Just 3 losing days (1 of those being a $2 loss) out of the last 20 trading days. During this same time I'm up $10,842 for the most part trading 3 contracts, although this last week I did bump it up a bit.

Definitely feeling in a zone and feeling like I remember with my last run-up. But I need to stay humble, because Mr. Market will take it all away quickly otherwise.

Did a solid job of trade mgmt this week on all accounts: profit taking, risk management and position sizing. Still need to stay focused on these areas next week until they become almost habit. Another positive from this week was my ability to take a loss. Several times I cut lose a trade that I would've likely held in the past. I can tell you it felt good to exit those trades and watch them continuing going against my original position.

All in all looking forward to next week!

Friday Wrapup (12/18) - $751 gain

2009-12-18T15:24:00.000-08:00

9:00AM
Not much to report so far this morning. I've taken 3 trades since 6AM without much to show for them. First trade was a long pullback taken after first drop from the overnight high. First tgt was hit and ultimately was stopped out for a loss of $38. Not much movement after entry.

Next trade was a pullback short taken just after 7AM. First two tgts were hit on this one and I was a bit too careless about closing the last lot and ended up getting stopped out on that one. Made $63 on the trade.

And the last was a countertrend setup that's normally part of my setup. Felt like it was a low risk entry and ultimately I was spot on. We had rallied up to 1100 and pulled back and took out the prior bar's low. Shorted 3 contracts at prior bar low. Without a tick of heat, I was up as much as $187 before ultimately closing the trade for just a $37 profit. Closed the trade early before my stop was hit, and if I had held on this trade would've been nicely profitable over the next 1/2 hour or so. Problem was this wasn't a normal setup for me, so I didn't trust my instincts.

Should note also that I've only traded 1/2 sizes on all 3 trades. First 2 were due to larger risks where I had to place my stops, and the last was because this was a new setup. Up $62 so far with another mtg scheduled at 9:15AM. Ugg.

4:00PM
Was again in business meetings for the better part of the day but did manage two trades during the regular market session.

Faded the opening gap up and scaled out at 50% and 100% retracement levels for a solid $450 gain. Never took more than 1 pt heat on this trade.

And around 1:45 took a countertrend short which I entered a bit differently then usual. I missed the initial entry, so sold the first mini-pullback once we had broke the prior bar's lows. I had made a note to myself about this the other day to watch out for this setup and sure enough there it was. Pulled in $238 on this one. Shortly after entry this one got fairly choppy, so I scaled out fairly quickly. Booked $238 on this trade.

All total for a $750 gain. Not too bad especially considering my relative lack of screen time.

Of note, I missed two nice countertrend entries, one at 11:30 and the other at 3:30, which would've both been nicely profitable either trading the initial break or the follow-up as discussed above. The first one I just flat out missed, the second I was in front of the screen but pre-occupied with something else.

Thursday Wrapup (12/17) - $702 Gain

2009-12-17T17:23:00.000-08:00

9:00AM
Two profitable trades this morning. First was a simple short pullback taken off the 1000 tick chart @ 6:45AM. Fairly straightforward setup though I could've done better with my entry. Initially entered 3 lots, then added 3 more a few mins later as it appeared momentum had stalled and I didn't want to miss the move back down. Ended up taking a 1 pt drawdown before we fell and hit all of my scale tgts over the next 60 mins. Made $425 here. Overall not much to complain about.

Second setuip was another short pullback entered at 8:10AM with 3 lots, and I then tacked on another 3 lots 2 ticks higher just a few mins before 8:30. I figured longs would get scared before the news release and close their positions which would allow me to scale out of at least 1/2 of lots before the news hit the wires. And I was spot on with this thinking. Three targets were hit easily before the news as the bid/ask spread widened, and the last 3 were hit on the fallout after the news release. Overall took only 1 tick heat on the whole trade and made $312 total.

So I'm up $737 on the day before the market even opens. What sucks is that I have a business meeting to attend from 9:30 thru 12:30ish. So I'm likely going to miss the best trading of the week. I've been seeing the market action so well over the last few days, I hate to miss any screen time. Also, from past experience, I need to make sure I don't press too hard this afternoon trying to "earn back" any setups I missed in the morning session.

On another note, I've passed or missed at least two decent countertrend setups this morning. The first I missed completely, the second I tried to enter, but wasn't filled again. But one thing I need to keep an eye out for in the future is the chance to re-enter these setups if we have a mini-pullback. Buy the next breakout above the prev bar's high with stop below this bar. Might even be a slightly better risk profile.

Also, definitely won't be fading this morning's gap. Could be a gap and go especially with futures opening below the 1100 level. Very happy sitting on the sidelines for this one.

12:30PM
Just returned from my meeting. After reviewing the charts it looks like I missed at most 1, maybe 2 quality setups. Feeling better about that, I hate being drug away from market during peak times. Now just need to focus on the afternoon trading and not force anything.

1:00PM
Got suckered out of a decent countertrend entry just now. Had a high volume drop at 12:48 where I entered long on first break with a 3 tick stop. Had thoughts about setting stop at 4 ticks (2 ticks below last bar's low), but decided to keep the orig stop in place. Sure enough I was stopped out and the market immediately reversed w/o me. Geez I know better. Markets play the same old tricks over and over. Up $550 on the day now. Still lots of time left to make this a good day, but don't press anything!

1:45PM
Just closed out a pullback trade gone wrong. Only lost $62 so pleased with my trade mgmt overall. Problem was I entered a trade at a time when no volume was present. Took a short entry with 1/2 size after 1PM thinking we'd quickly re-test the LOD, but things went stagnant shortly thereafter. Added another 3 lots when momentum waned and then for the next 30 mins, we just fluctuated within a 3 tick range before moving higher. While it may very well turn out to be a profitable trade, I took the opp to get out at the first mini-pullback for a reasonable loss rather than take a chance of getting stopped out. Coin flip trades don't help me at all! Up $490 heading into the last 2 hrs.

2:45PM
Countertrend short entry at taken at 2:10PM. Wasn't in love with the setup (then why did you enter it?) so ended up closing for a $25 profit when things got choppy. Don't want to waste money on so-so setups.

Ugg, missed perhaps the easiest trade of the day just now. Need to be willing to take 1 tick slippage on some of these trades. Especially on trades this tight where I can enter with a 2 or 3 tick stop. Clear vol spike just after 2:30 set up a nice countertrend short. Couldn't get filled at the price I wanted so I even moved my limit down and still no luck. Market proceeded to collapse in the ensuing minutes.

3:20PM
Just found myself trying to create a trade that really isn't in my repertoire. Realized the mistake a quickly cancelled the order. A++++

4:00PM
One final trade to end the day, a countertrend short taken at 3:41 on the TICK breakout and vol spike. Sold the prior bar low with a 1/2 size position due to time of day and scaled out for a $187 gain. Finished the day up $702. Not bad, but was hoping much more after the solid AM start. On a positive note though, I didn't give back my early gains! Still feeling locked in. Even the trades I've missed I've seen very clearly.

Tomorrow I've got a few more mtgs, but should be able to get a couple more hours of trading in.

Wednesday Wrapup (12/16) - $535 gain

2009-12-16T13:06:00.000-08:00

7AM
Have been stalking a long entry on this first pullback since the overnight highs. Now I've finally got a decent entry price, but it seems like the reversal has legs. Plus it's taken way too long, and all the upside momentum seems to have subsided. Think I'll pass on this one. Instead maybe I'll look for a short if something comes available.

9:45AM
This morning's econ news offered very little in the way of trading opportunities. Was hoping for a repeat of yesterday to get off to a solid start today, but not the case.

Taken three setups thus far this morning. First was a countertrend long taken just after 7AM. Was up as much as $200 on this trade and thinking more was to follow, but didn't work out that way. Closed at breakeven. Briefly thought about adding to this trade on the first mini pullback, but glad I decided not to. Not part of my strategy anyway.

Second setup was an attempted countertrend, that I quickly realized I had no business being in. Wasn't really a valid setup at all, so I jumped ship at breakeven a few mins later. A+ for me!

And lastly, I entered a gap fade at 9:30 looking for a retracement of the opening gap higher. As usual targets placed at 50% and 100% levels. Let's see what happens.

Overall expecting chop until the FOMC news is released later today. So just need to keep this in the back of my mind with my profit targets. No time to be aggressive, let's just book some steady profits and get the hell out. Not expecting any trends to develop.

12:00PM
So looking forward to 2:15 so we can finally see some movement. Geez I've been lulled to sleep over the last few days.

Two trades since my last update. First was a short pullback taken off 3 min chart. Went against me pretty much from the start and I jumped ship early for a $190 loss as it appeared we would likely challenge the day's highs (which we later did).

Second trade was a countertrend short taking at 11:30AM after we printed a new HOD on a decent vol spike. Milked this one for $250.

As it stands right now I'm up $60 with my closed trades, and currently down $150 on my gap fade. Will hold the gap fade for a while longer, but look to close out before the FOMC mtg.

2:00PM
No trades since last update. Just sitting on my hands waiting for the FOMC news. Closed my gap fade out a few mins ago for a $12 loss. Just didn't want to get caught in the after news whiplash that's sure to take place. Up $50 on the day, woo hoo! Ok, now don't do anything stupid after the news release!

3:20PM
Just one trade since the slowest FOMC pace ever! Took a short pullback at 2:30PM off the 1000 tick chart. First target was hit right away then things got choppy. Had moved my stop down at this point and just decided to let the trade work and prove to me I was wrong (by hitting my stop). That's the beauty of scaling out. Taking some off right away to cover costs, and letting the rest work. Finally after 30 mins or so we have a push lower and I exited for a $462 gain.

Just in the last 20 mins I've passed on a pullback (was waiting for bit more retracement) and missed an entry on a nice countertrend scalp by 1 tick. There was a clear bull trap move there at 3:20PM with a vol spike on the 3 min chart. I tried to get filled at a certain price, but the market ended up moving lower w/o me.

It's interesting how clear I'm seeing the market right now. For example, with that bull trap referenced above I could just see the vol building and knew these folks were likely trapped. Even though I didn't get an entry, I still feel good about seeing the action well.

Up $510 on the day with just 5 trades under my belt right now. It's going to have to be a pretty setup for me to enter at this time of day.

4PM
Took one last trade right before the bell. I know silly me! That pullback was just so structured, I thought we'd fall once 4PM neared. Only took 1 tick of heat, and exited for a $25 gain. Need to 86 this practice, because at this time of day things are so manipulated, profitable setups tend to fall on their face.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll break out of this range. Especially w/ it being op ex week, we're due for some volatility.

Tuesday Wrapup (12/15) - $1149 gain

2009-12-15T12:50:00.000-08:00

10:00AM
Fairly active day already. Not much going on until 8:30, but 5 trades since.

First trade of the day was a pullback short off the 1000 tick chart taken at 7:40AM EST. Initially started with 3 lots, and tacked on 3 more a few mins later as the risk became more defined. Covered half of the lots over the next 30 mins and my remaining targets were hit at 8:30 after the news release. Stoploss was never in danger, but I briefly considered closing the trade before 8:30. Ultimately since I only had a 1/2 position on, I was comfortable holding thru the news and it worked out well. Made $425 on this trade with very little drawdown.

Second trade of the day was a countertrend scalp just after the econ release. First target was hit for 2 ticks, and then I quickly exited the rest at breakeven once more selling appeared on the DOM. A few mins later I took a re-entry and made $250 in 4 mins, but could've clearly held on for more gains.

After closing out the last countertrend scalp, I turned around and got short with a clean pullback setup off the 5 min chart. But the trade never went in my favor, and I elected to exit for as close to breakeven as possible. Ended up losing $75.

Entered a 2 lot gap fade position at 9:30AM as well. Looking to scale out 1 lot @ 50% retracement and the last lot at yesterday's close.

So in 90 mins time, I'm up $600 to start the day. Would love to see a $2000 day today, but not sure what the market is going to offer up. Feeling fairly sharp here in the early going at least. Let's see if we can continue the momentum.

12:30PM
Another slow day, go figure! Is it really possible to have an inside day of an inside day that was already a tiny range LOL!. Geez.

Since my last update, I've exited my gap fade for $312. Fairly straight forward trade as far as gap fades go. Only took at most a 1 pt drawdown.

Also had a $100 loss on a countertrend scalp short that went absolutely nowhere after entry. This was entered just after 10:15 after a nice vol spike on the 3 min chart.

Up $812 on the day heading into the afternoon session. My job is to not get caught playing around in the chop.

3:15PM
Only one trade since my last update. Took a short pullback off the 3 min chart right at 2PM. Took 1 tick of heat before my first tgt was hit a few mins later. From there it just sat stagnant until about about 10 after 3 when the move down finally got underway. Normally I would exit a trade like this much earlier, but my thinking was that I was already having a decent day, the risk was almost non-existent, and as such I was just content to let it ride. Up $1150 on the day now on fairly efficient 4 for 6 trading (not counting 1 scratch). Let's don't do anything stupid here!

3:45PM
Alright I'm content to sit and watch right now. Don't want to watch a day's worth of gains evaporate in 10 mins.

Monday Wrapup (12/14) - $75 gain

2009-12-14T13:08:00.000-08:00

9:45AM
Not much happening so far this morning. Took my first trade on a short pullback setup at 7AM. After moving maybe 1 tick in my favor I stook a 1.5 pt drawdown. Decided at that point that I would exit the trade on the first pullback and got out for a $137 loss after being down as much as $375. Turns out this was a good decision too as I would've been easily stopped out 30 mins or so later.

What I realized with this trade was that it's ok to adjust my line of thinking after entry if the trade doesn't move as expected. In other words, it's ok to revise my targets in line with the drawdown, or exit the trade altogether. Small losses are much easier to overcome then large ones and there will always be another trade. Nice thinking on a Monday morning. It's going to be good week!

10:15AM
Feeling a bit too conservative so far. Passed on a decent countertrend scalp opportunity a few mins ago that would've been nicely profitable. And just now I waited too long to enter a pullback trade off the 3 min chart. Guess this morning's early entry is messing with my mind more than I thought.

12:45PM
A couple of trades since my last entry, but things are very slow. How many more days like this of watching paint dry?

Took a short pullback at 10:30 that I closed early when things stalled for a $212 gain on 6 lots. An hour later took a countertrend trade that went against me from the start. Did a solid job of exiting on first pullback for a $225 loss and not barfing into the TICK surge.

And lastly near 12PM, I took a long pullback (my first long in like 2 trading days LOL). Started position with 3 lots because I didn't have a good feel for where to place my stop, and later added 3 more lots at same price once support seemed to build below. Took a while for this trade to develop, but over 45 mins I scaled out 1 lot at a time for a nice $300 gain. Almost closed the trade once on a slight pullback, but felt like the market makers were just trying to shake out the longs and turns out I was spot on.

Up $150 right now and hoping for more action and gains to follow this afternoon.

2:45PM
Just one trade since my last update. A $75 loss on a short pullback taken at 2PM after a little move lower. Volume collapsed after entry and I just exited with a manageable loss. Not interested in setups where there's no edge. Up $75 currently.

4PM
Wow the last few weeks have been slow but today took the cake. Where is everyone at? For the day I finished up $75. Was tempted there in that final 15 mins to take a trade that isn't part of my setups, but convinced myself otherwise. Sometimes, I think there's a trading devil on my left shoulder telling me to enter trades that I have no business in. Today I didn't listen to him.

While there's not much monetary gain to show for today's efforts, at least I didn't lose money. Plus I managed risk very well today and executed about as well I could have. Exited failed trades early and didn't rely on hope to see them through.

Let's hope tomorrow brings more action.

Dec 11th Weekly Recap - $2187 gain

2009-12-11T14:01:00.000-08:00

Overall a solid week with me finishing up roughly $2200. Thankfully no major boo boos this week, though I was far from perfect.

With the market being up the last two days, it's interesting to note that I didn't place 1 long trade on either day, but still made almost $1500. That's hard to believe.

Also, since the first horrid week when I started the blog, I've now been profitable 14 out of the last 17 trading days. What I've done in the past though is irrelevant to the future, and I know I'm always only one bad trade away.

What I need to focus on next week:

Position sizing - If I'm trading off a longer term chart or with a chart where the nearest support/resistance areas are further away than 2 pts or so, I need to consider smaller size. Several times this week I put on trades where I suffered a drawdown that I didn't feel comfortable with even though the trade was still valid.
Risk management - Quit screwing with stops! And when a trade has traveled too far away from entry, get the hell out on the next pullback opp. In other words don't puke when everyone is buying/selling against my position, but stay patient and get out at the next opp. Assuming my stop hasn't already been hit.
Profit taking - This is a tough one. I don't want to cut my profits short. But the market of late hasn't followed thru much at all. I need to be more cognizant of the market's waves, i.e. if we're in the 3rd leg of a downtrend consider getting conservative with my exits. Else give the trade room to run.

Looking forward to next week in what should hopefully be some better ranges.

Friday Wrapup (12/11) - $1166 gain

2009-12-11T13:52:00.000-08:00

8:30AM
No trades yet in the early AM session. Thought about buying the first pullback to 1102 around 5AM, but just felt like there was too much downside risk. Skipped the idea. Would've broke even on this trade most likely, at best a marginal profit.

And around 8AM I thought about selling the weak pullback around 1103, but this is not really my style so again I skipped the trade. After the fact, this one would've been fully profitable in 15-20 mins.

Just missed a nice countertrend entry after the 8:30 econ release. Wasn't paying attn and tried to get in late, but wasn't filled. Ugg.

10:00AM
Finally my first trade of the day was a quick short pullback right after the open. Don't like trading in this window, so only traded half size. 1 tick of heat before heading lower and up $200 to start the day.

Also took a gap fade with two lots. Decided yesterday that it's best if I trade 2 lots vs 3 as I haven't been comfortable with the drawdowns of late. First tgt hit already (50% gap retracement), let's see what happens on the last lot.

On another note I'm feeling a bit asleep at the wheel and need to be cognizant of such. Almost entered a trade seconds before the econ news at 9:55AM. Yikes woulda gotten stopped out in a heart beat. What's worse is that I checked the econ calendar this morning and saw the release. Just too much going on I guess.

1:00PM
Yet another snooze fest. Geez what is this 2003? Not much happening closed my last gap fade lot. Booked a $375 profit on this fade with 2 lots and a 1 pt drawdown at most.

Also, had my first bonehead trade in a while. Took a short off the first bounce following the LOD print around 11:30. First tgt was hit easily, and we came within 1 tick of my 2nd tgt before quickly reversing. At this point I move my stop loss (had prev moved to 1 tick above new swing hi). Yeah and you can likely guess what happens next. Fortunately for me I realized my lack of judgement and moved my target limits up to try and get out a reasonable price. Had one set filled when I stepped away. And am still short 2 lots.

Right now I'm up $550 not counting the current $225 drawdown I'm on this last two short lots. My goal is to try and get out of this position with the least bit of damage. My gut says this new bull swing is just a trap so I'm leaning short. But I've been wrong plenty of times before! At least this time I only have two contracts on.

4:00PM
Well despite my best efforts I ended the day with solid profits. Since the ES futures had a range of about 10 pts today, I've gotta be pleased with that.

Took 3 trades to close the day. A countertrend scalp just after 2PM that I absolutely nailed. We had a nice volume spike on the 3 min chart and I sold off the first break. Took forever to trigger (break the prior bar's low) and I was tempted to enter early several times w/o confirmation, but held out. This trade was good for 2 pts.

Right after this trade, I sold the first pullback up to 1102 and netted 2 pts out this as well.

And my last trade of the day was another countertrend scalp right after 3:30 that I nailed. Nice volume spike on 3 min chart set this one up, and I took maybe 1 tick of heat before we fell 3 pts fairly quickly.

And last but not least, I closed the trade that I was stuck short in for a $300 loss. That was really my only dummy trade today. Should have been out of that trade for a small profit or at worst a $25 loss.

Overall solid job. And definitely feel like I've got some momentum going into next week. Now hopefully the market will cooperate.

Thursday Wrapup (12/10) - $355 Gain

2009-12-10T08:01:00.000-08:00

For starters, I didn't get much rest last night so I need to take that into consideration as I trade today.

8:45AM
Only one trade thus far since 5AM. A countertrend setup that I traded with half size that I ultimately closed for a $12 loss. Not much movement after entry so I closed it early when it became apparent we'd rechallenge the HOD.

Missed best setup of the day so far after the econ news. Had a clear countertrend short setup at 8:35. Nice vol spike on 3 min chart. While I could see the sellers stacking up on the DOM, I elected to wait for confirmation (break of prior bar low), since I've gotten into trouble trying to read the DOM before. Once the low lifted, I placed a limit order to short, but I wasn't filled. Would've been an easy $300-400 with no heat. Hate to miss these kinds of trades.

10:30AM
Faded the gap opening figuring this was a slam dunk. Took a $600 drawdown before the market reversed course. Man these gaps haven't been easy lately. And thankfully I didn't trade yesterdays. As usual scaling out in 3s with this fade and first target hit. Stop just above HOD.

Took a short pullback a few mins ago that went against me from the start. Took the opportunity on first pullback to get the hell out of dodge for a small loss. A+ for risk mgmt on this one. See it's ok taking a loss!

11:00AM
Right now I'm content to sit on the sidelines until the market figures out which way it wants to go. Down $162.50 on the day after two trades.

1:45PM
Still not much brewing.. One pullback trade since last update that I traded half size on for a $200 gain. Markets are just too wild right now with rollover taking place. Wild swings. Currently in another pullback with my first target being hit already. Currently up $250 on the day not counting unrealized profits on current trade.

3:15PM
Just not much action at all today. Closed out that last trade for a $12 loss. Up $237 now with 2 lots remaining on my gap fade trade from this morning. Will close this out at the EOD if my stop or tgts aren't hit first.

3:45PM
Near perfect pullback entry just after 3:30. Sold 1/2 size due to the time of day. Then added another 3 lots when TICK hit 800 and I saw sellers hitting the bid. Just a gut feel and I went with it this time. While the addition timing was perfect we never went anywhere afterwards. Ended up with $87 of this trade.

Overall, I'll give myself a grade A today for execution. Didn't try to force anything in today's chop. Just weren't many opps to be had today. Hopefully tomorrow will bring a better range.

Wednesday Wrapup (12/9) - $533 gain

2009-12-09T13:18:00.000-08:00

Today's trading was much better than yesterday's, but still lots of work to do. My results were much better until about 3PM. After back to back losses on two countertrend setups I watched my gains go from about $1200 all the way down to $500. Hate ending the day that way. One of these setups was ok, the other was mediocre.

Still missed lots of trades as my attention was directed elsewhere. As for positives, I'm definitely feeling lucky I didn't get caught in the short squeeze around 10:30AM. Thankfully for me I had just closed out my shorts a few mins earlier. Only real negative had to do with my position sizing on a trade I took off the 3 min chart. Clearly I should've traded this with half size as the amount of risk was much greater than I was wanting to assume. Had to take a bit of a drawdown on this trade, but ultimately it worked out nicely profitable.

AM Notes:

Well I got a good night's rest last night so it'll be interesting to see how today's trading shakes out. Already off to a sour start. Took a long pullback around 7:40AM that easily hit my first profit target and briefly touched my second before falling and stopping me out. How many times can this happen to a person? So rather than starting off the day with a nice gain, I'm in the hole $100. It's easy to sense my frustration, so I'll need to be aware of this prior to executing my next trade. No revenge trading needed!

Tuesday Wrapup (12/8) - $755 loss

2009-12-08T15:53:00.000-08:00

To say today was sloppy would be an understatement. I was out of sync from the get go and am lucky I only lost $755. You name it I did it. Missed setups. Moved stops. Adding to losing positions. Getting stopped out on the high tick. It was so bad that on two of my sequences this afternoon where one setup morphed into another with multiple adds, I couldn't even figure out what my max drawdown and favorable excursion were. I only knew that I broken even ultimately on the trade. Now that's bad.

For starters I only got about 5 hrs of sleep last night (and maybe 6 the night before). And for high frequency day trading that's just not enough.

Days like today have killed me in the past and I know better, yet I continue to repeat them over and over. Maybe my trading terminal shouldn't load if I've clocked less than 7 hrs of sleep?

Going to get in bed early tonight and get ready for tomorrow. Should have an interesting matchup between the bulls and bears.

Early AM Trading Notes:

Good thing I slept in this morning. Would already be 0 for 2, instead of 0 for 1 with a small loss, on this young day. Better lucky than good I guess.

First trade of the day was a countertrend fade as we slashed through 1100 on high volume around 6:30AM. Typically this high volume means we should see at least some temporary buying. Because the risk on this trade was larger than normal I only traded 2 contracts. Smart decision. Lost $175 as we continued lower after maybe moving 1 tick in my favor.

Ugg, was stalking a short entry around 7:30AM, but was waiting for another 1-2 ticks, and missed an easy entry totally.

Wow, today isn't starting off too well. Took a nice short entry around 7:30. First tgt was hit easily, moved stop down and watched. Was up as much as $350 before being stopped out for a $50 loss. What's worse, immediately after hitting my stop, the market reversed and would've easily hit all my targets within a few mins. One thing I didn't consider was the fact that I was selling the 3rd pullback of this move and buyers were bound to come in at some point.

Fugg! Luckily I'm only down $225 and I have at least been honoring my stops!

Monday Wrapup (12/7) - $888 gain

2009-12-07T13:17:00.000-08:00

The final tally was a plus, but today's trading mostly horrible. Don't get me wrong I'm happy with the gain, but I've got to get my head out of my ass.

Also on a little housekeeping, this week I'll be trading with a larger lot size. I'll be trading 6 contracts vs 3. This may seem like a big jump, but I've traded upwards of 9-12 previously in the past with no ill effects, so I think I can handle the extra leverage.

Comments from my first trade:

Utterly amazing how badly I screwed up my first trade of the day. I awoke at 5AM sharp to find futures in a nice pullback after hitting an overnight low of 1098 or so. Although no lower high had been formed on my 1000 tick chart, I liked the risk/reward and entered a short. Took a 1.5-2 pt drawdown or so, but that was ok. My profit targets were spread out further than normal so the risk/reward was still acceptable. Anyways, my 1st target was hit a while after, and we got within 2 ticks or so of my 2nd target before heading higher. I had set my stop loss above the previous swing high after the 1st target was hit and was content to watch the action. The futures drove lower again this time stopping a tick higher than before. Rather than close the trade out for a $450 profit or so, I watched my profits disappear. What's worse I hung around as the markets turned choppy, and 4 1/2 hrs later at the opening bell removed my stop altogether. My thinking at the time was that my targets would surely be hit as we chopped around at the open. We rose from the open and for the next hour or so I watched as the market went against my position. At the peak I was down 4 pts on 3 contracts. Not a huge loss by any means, but clearly unacceptable. Fortunately for me I was able to trade around this position during the day session and ultimately realized a nice profit when the markets sold off after lunch. But I should've been out of the position hours earlier. And things could've been much worse had the market continued to rise.

The trouble with this trade was that I didn't want to admit I had made a mistake. I had several opps to close the position for a nice profit within an hour or so after entry, but couldn't pull the trigger. So instead I relied on hope that Mr. Market would give me another exit opportunity. Today he did, but I won't be so lucky next time.

Despite this rocky start I did have some positive moments. Best trade of the day was a countertrend scalp around 1:20PM EST after the lunch false breakout. Covered my costs early and let the last 2/3rds ride a bit longer than usual. Ultimately the market broke down about 45 mins later and I was out for a $450 gain while suffering just 1 tick of heat. Man, I love those kinda trades.

And generally speaking, I did a solid job of honoring my stops and practicing sound risk mgmt. Today just goes to show that one tiny lapse in judgement has the potential to screw up a whole day's worth of good trading.

Today feels eerily reminiscent of my horrible trading week a few weeks back. Going to need to focus extra hard the rest of week because it's clear I'm sharp as a marble today.

Let's get some rest and get back at it tomorrow.

Dec 4th Weekly Recap - $3868 gain

2009-12-04T15:30:00.000-08:00

Nice week overall. 66% winners, $218 avg gain, $87 avg loss

Friday Wrapup (12/4) - $1300 gain (not including gap fill)

2009-12-04T12:39:00.000-08:00

Lots of setups today, but none better than the opening gap play. Little more drawdown than I would've liked, but nicely profitable to say the least. Suppose for future reference that I should wait for 15-20 mins after the opening to enter a position on a day like today where the initial gap is so large. Had confidence this trade would work out due to the overwhelming negative divergence shown with the EURUSD pair. Figured it would ultimately led stocks down and sure enough that's exactly what happened.

Still, today was far from perfect. Entered a countertrend short about 10 mins before the opening bell. Two of my targets were easily hit, but I moved my stop when the bell rang and took a small drawdown on the last lot. Ultimately it was profitable, but bad move by me.

Also, entered a short pullback around noon just after we broke below 1100 expecting a re-test of the lows. My first tgt was hit but not filled, causing me to lose focus and not honor my original stop. On a positive note I realized my error and was able to close 2 of 3 the three lots for a minimal loss, but rode the last one for far too long. I suppose that's a start, but ultimately to survive in this game long-term I've got to remain focused on risk management, and most importantly be willing to take a loss.

All in all took 9 trades today 7 of which were profitable. And my two losses totalled just $37 or 3 ticks. Yeah it was a good day. Including the gap fade, I made right at $2300 on the day. Without the gap trade, I'm up $1300. Not too shabby to say the least. For the week (sans gap fades which I don't consider part of my core day trading) I made a healthy $3300.

More stats: 66.3% profitable trades, $218 avg win (3 lots), $87 avg loss.

Clearly I was on my A game this week. My job now is to remain focused and humble, and come back Monday with a fresh slate. Not let this week's gains affect my psyche.

Note to self - Switch down to 1 min charts when price action gets this fast next time. Would've helped me identify a hi-prob countertrend long. Typically I'm using a 3 min chart coupled with a 1000 tick chart. I'll take countertrend entries on the 1000 tick chart using setups from the 3 min chart.

Thursday Wrapup (12/3) - $938 gain

2009-12-03T12:32:00.000-08:00

Started off the day on a good note with an easy short pullback trade just after 6:30AM. All scale targets hit easily.

Was tempted to enter another short pullback around 9AM, but setup wasn't perfect so I decided no trade was best trade. Plus we we're too close to the open anyway. Update: Well go figure this would've been a nicely profitable trade w/ maybe a 1 pt drawdown with the worst entry.

Exercising good judgement here at the start. Carefully evaluating where I'd place my stop before entering the trade and passed on several already where I didn't have a good feel. On another note, I've already missed two solid trades. Things are moving fast and I've gotta be quick to catch my entries.

Up over $700 on the day and been sitting on my hands since 10:30AM. Snooze fest right now.

So after sitting on my hands the better part of the day, I finally took one more trade around 3:15PM EST. A nice short pullback off the 3 min chart, where I was looking for a re-test of the lows. Noticed some volume come in around 1108.25 and figured I better hop on board. Took 1 tick of heat and the trade moved in my direction rightaway.

Stick a fork in me, I'm done. Don't want any of this post 3:30 action. Had enough of it of late and I'm publishing this post so that I won't place another trade LOL.

Finished the day up $938 on very efficient 4 of 4 trading. Was expecting more out of today after the volatile start, but we went flat after 10:30 or so.

Tomorrow is a big day with the jobs report due. Need to get some rest tonight and wake up tomorrow focused. Up $2000+ on the week and definitely don't want to give it back.

Wednesday Wrapup (12/2) - $2 Loss

2009-12-02T13:05:00.000-08:00

Yes, that's correct! I lost a whopping $2 on the day!

Slept in this morning and it's a good thing as I would've started off the day 0 for 1 with a $200 or so loss. Better lucky than good sometimes.

Was tempted to trade the first long pullback following the initial breakout but thought the better of it. Just sensed the profile of the market was changing.

Missed one of best opps of the day right around 2PM as price broke out on TICK pop on a nice vol spike only to quickly reverse. Had a 2 sec window to enter, and I wasn't paying attention.

Got lucky on last trade to escape with a small profit. As with yesterday, I entered a trade around 3:40 (why do I keep doing this to myself?). Took a countertrend scalp and didn't have a chance to adjust my targets. My usual tgt would've filled easily, but by the time I moved the limit order we were back up. This thru me off and I ended up moving my stop loss. Just sensed this was a shakeout move before the close. Sure enough I was right, but just didn't have the right entry. Took a $225 drawdown to make $25. Not good.

Back at it tomorrow.

Tuesday Wrapup (12/1) - $617 gain

2009-12-01T13:58:00.000-08:00

Solid day overall despite misfiring on my first 3 trades of the day. Hit on my last 4 to end the day up nicely. Also of note I was profitable today despite not taking 1 long trade!

First trade of the day was short pullback taken at 6:30AM EST. We had made a lower high on the 1000 tick chart and I placed my stop 1 tick above this prior high. The overnight high was just 2 ticks away. Sure enough we rallied to the overnight high (but didn't punch thru), stopping me out in the process before heading lower at least temporarily. So starting the day off with a $187 loss. Even though my stop placement might have been less than optimal at least I kept it in place when I was tempted to move. In hindsight, probably should've skipped this trade as it wouldn't have been worth the $300 risk I would've had to take with better stop placement.

Best trade of the day came after lunch around 1:30 PM EST. We broke out to new highs on a nice volume spike which I entered at 1111 as a countertrend trade. Took profit on 1 lot at 3 ticks and normally I would've scaled out of the other 2 lots at successively lower prices. In this instance though I sensed we may have put in the HOD and VIX was rising too. So I elected to leave my orig stop in place and let the last two lots ride. Near the EOD I closed out the last two lots for 4-5 pts each.

Approximately 15 mins before the close I entered a short pullback which was a bit ill-advised. First I entered the setup at least 2 ticks too early. Suffered a 1 pt drawdown before the trade moved in my direction. While this trade made $138 on 3 lots, I've told myself in the past I wouldn't enter trades after 3:30 and here I was doing it again. There's just too much volatility in the last 30 mins to exercise solid risk management. Need to quit this once and for all.

Nonetheless, still a solid day. And today marks my 6th profitable day out of the last 7 days. Need to stay focused!

Monday Wrapup (11/30) - $452 gain

2009-12-01T03:33:00.000-08:00

Fairly solid day of trading especially considering how choppy the action was for most of the day. No bonehead trades and kept my stoploss in place at all times.

Missed a couple of entries, one which hit my limit order but didn't fill and then proceeded straight down.

Took a pullback long at 10:45 when it appeared we'd easily challenge the overnight highs. Kept my stop in place and was stopped out within a few mins. Remember thinking at the time how nice it was not to be stuck in a long trade as the market dragged lower. Too many times have I moved my stop only to find myself stuck in a losing, outlier trade. In this instance I took the loss and moved on to the next trade idea.

Let's keep the focus and have a solid week.

Nov 27th Weekly Recap - $1564 gain

2009-11-27T15:34:00.000-08:00

Decent week especially since I wasn't even planning to trade with it being Thanksgiving.

Friday Wrapup (11/27) - $254 loss

2009-11-27T11:31:00.000-08:00

Well up until 1PM this day was rolling along very smoothly.

Notes from today:

7AM - So far no trades placed although very tempting. i consider it a success that I've been able to watch w/o entering a trade just because I was bored.

8AM - Still sitting on my hands almost entered a countertrend setup but after further review I realized the requisite volume spike wasn't there.

Just cannot bring myself to enter anything yet, don't want to end the week on a bad note.

Took my first trade shortly after the open around 9:45. Suffered about 4 ticks of drawdown before my 1st tgt was hit. Ended up exiting the trade for about a $40 loss when the setup became a bit choppy. Have no interest in being in a so-so trade today (or ever for that matter LOL).

Next trade was a long pullback off 3 min chart. Took 2 ticks of heat before moved in my direction. Scaled out nicely and took last lot off early when momentum appeared to be waning. Made $220 on this setup.

Tried a countertrend short at 10:25, but got cold feet and exited for a 1 tick gain. Vol spike was decent, but trade wasn't going anywhere fast. Don't want to lose money on a marginal setup today. Update - Hindsight is always 20/20, but could've squeezed out much more profit out of this trade as we quickly fell 2 pts.

11:30AM - Sitting on my hands again waiting for setups, it's ok not to trade

Wow, continuing to stay dialed in this week. Nailed a countertrend setup, scaled out of it for best possible profit. The turned around and played the pullback off the 1000 tick chart for maybe 1 tick heat. Now up $575 for the day.

12PM - Content to sit and watch for the rest of the day.

1PM - Ugg had to take one more trade. Sure I wasn't the only one that got caught in the last downdraft. Personally I expected a re-test of the day's highs into the close. Bought the first meaningful pullback and planned to scale out. Touched my first tgt but didn't fill. Added 1 more lot 1 pt lower and is quite often the case, I lowered my stop. I tend to think that when the market is volatile, I'll get stopped out on a runaway tick. Ended up suffering a $1200 drawdown and was lucky to get out for a $850 loss which was about $500 larger than it should've been. A shitty finish to an otherwise good week. Geez I'm pissed at myself. Should've been happy with a $600 gain on a day I wasn't even planning to trade. Had my brain been working I would've realized the time of day and the fact that 1) traders who were long would need to flatten and 2) not many would want to hold over the weekend for fear of further losses.

Despite this last mishap there were many positives to build on. Gained over $1500 for the week, which is decent especially since this week is typically very light trading.

Looking forward to what should be more heightened volatility next week. Will just need to remain focused on risk management and taking good setups. The rest will work itself out easily enough.

Surprise Thanksgiving Day Trading (11/26) - $880 gain

2009-11-26T07:53:00.000-08:00

Slept in this morning because I wasn't expecting much activitiy. Boy was I surprised when I checked quotes around 6AM to find the SP futures off 15 pts. Took a short pullback entry around 6:30AM EST that was almost immediately profitable. Never took any heat and scaled out for a $350 profit.

Not expecting much more activity I closed down my station only to check back a few hours later and saw that ES futures had fell another 10 pts and that I had missed at least 2 setups. And just now I missed a countertrend setup right before my eyes. I saw the trade, but didn't like the risk so I was wanting to shave a few ticks on my entry and never got filled. We raced up 2-3 pts in just a few mins and I would've had another nice profit.

Just completed one more trade to finish the day. Took a short pullback off the 1000 tick chart as we approached 1090. Took just 1 tick of heat and was out of the trade in about 5 mins. Scaled out for a $300 profit. Did a nice job of waiting for upward momentum to stall before entering this one.

Update - Forgot to tack on one more trade from yesterday. Took another pullback short right before the close of the trading session yesterday. Took maybe 3 ticks heat, before ES caved into the close. Scored an add'l $225 profit on the day.

Wednesday Wrapup (11/25) - $563 gain

2009-11-26T07:47:00.000-08:00

Solid day overall today. Made some nice trades, missed a few excellent entries, and only made one bonehead move. Fortunately the bonehead move ended up working out in a profitable trade.

As for my bonehead move, first of all there's simply no reason I should be looking to scalp in this light volume market. This particular trade I entered 2 ticks better than I normally would and because of this I was thrown off from my normal rhythm. Because my entry was only 2 ticks away from my normal stop placement for this setup, I choose to keep my stop further out of the money. So while I should've been out of this trade for a small loss, I ended up staying in it for an hour or so and ultimately the markets did sell off and hit my original profit targets. My trouble with this trade was that I lacked a solid plan. Had the markets continued higher I probably would've held and would've seen a repeat of last week. So definitely got lucky on this one.

Also, missed at least two trades today because I tried to get too cute with my entries. Waiting for better prices.

First trade of the day was a short pullback off the 1000 tick chart around 6:30AM. Ended up getting stopped out for a $25 loss and probably should've exited a bit earlier.

Tuesday Wrapup (11/24) - $100 gain

2009-11-25T06:16:00.000-08:00

Fairly uneventful day all around. In all placed 7 trades, and no blunders. Had one countertrend short trade where I was stopped out for a larger than expected loss due to liquidity gaps. Without that slippage, I'm up maybe $300 on the day.

On another note, I missed first setup of the day around 7AM because I was looking for a larger pullback.

Monday Wrapup (11/23) - $275 gain

2009-11-23T18:10:00.000-08:00

Nice to start off the week on a positive note. Aside from being marginally profitable today was a complete snoozefest after the first half hour or so. Seems to be a reoccuring theme of late.

Managed to get myself into a bit of trouble after the opening trying to short. Kept position size small and was able to get out at breakeven on the first pullback. My instinct was to fade the gap (even though I know Monday gap fades carry the worst odds) since we had gapped sharply higher each of the last 3 Mondays. But once again the gap held.

In the early afternoon I nailed entries on (2) countertrend long scalps. The first came around 12:30 PM EST as prices fell and volume spiked. Got long on first break on 1000 tick chart, closed out a 1/3 early to partially cover costs and scaled out of the rest. The next setup I ended up closing early on because the momentum didn't seem to carryover. A few mins after I exited my original stop would've been filled.

And the last trade of the day was a short on a pullback entry around 2:30 PM. Again I choose to exit this trade just a few mins after entry because I no longer liked the setup.

Clearly today I had better focus and was able to act on my ideas. Whereas last week I would've let the trades ride till either my targets or stops were hit. The trouble with today was that there just weren't enough setups.

Not sure what tomorrow will bring, but I'm expecting more of the same. Ideal scenario is another gap up opening, which I'll be fading all the way down.

Nov 20th Weekly Recap - $3219 Loss

2009-11-22T15:35:00.000-08:00

What more can I say. Crappy

Friday Wrapup (11/20) - $190 gain

2009-11-21T11:31:00.000-08:00

Well for starters it's nice to be back in the positive, although today does little to help this week's overall damage.

Still made too many mistakes today. Letting winners turn into losers and not managing risk well.

First the negatives. Let an early AM short pullback ride that should've been closed out for a decent profit. Gave it way too much room to work and ignored the obvious signs of buying. Entered the trade just after 7AM and was up as much as $200 after 15-20 mins or so, but only took off a 1/3 of the position during this time. Let it ride until after the open and was lucky to get out with a small loss of $162.

Because I was stuck in this short trade, I wasn't able to enter the gap fade which is usually my first play of the day. And as luck would have it that was the best trade of the day session.

As with yesterday I nailed a few countertrend scalps, but one I did enter too early on. Should've waited for confirmation and instead got stopped out of the trade. Did re-enter shortly thereafter for a nice gain after confirmation.

For the week I ended up down $3200 and some change. One of my worst weeks in a while for sure. Clearly this was a tough week for a lot of traders. But that's no excuse, I feel like I should be able to turn a profit in any environment.

It's times like this that one starts to question their strategies. But at the end of the day I know my setups make money as they have in the past. Ultimately it's execution and risk management that caused my losses this week.

Next week should bring either more chop or heightened volatility due to the holidays. Naturally I'm ready to get back at it, but next week is no time to put my foot on the accelerator.

Need to continue focusing on my risk management and taking the choicest setups. Plan my entries better and quit switching timeframes after I've entered a trade.

Thursday Wrapup (11/19) - $535 loss

2009-11-21T11:08:00.000-08:00

The hits just keep on coming. Today started off well enough. Two early AM pullback trades left me up around $400 heading into the opening bell.

Traded the gap fade with 1/3 of my usual size due to gut feel more than anything. Wasn't going to take the trade at all if we opened below 1100. Stopped out for a $337 loss on this trade right away.

Still there were some positives today. I nailed two false breakouts, though only one was nicely profitable. The other I let work too long and ended up exiting at breakeven.

For one reason or another, I'm being way too patient with my exits. In past months, I've found myself exiting trades too early, and now I'm having the opposite problem.

As with yesterday, most of my damage today occurred on an afternoon trade where I was anticipating further downside that never materialized. Today was a strange day where if you didn't short the opening tick and hold for 30 mins you probably lost money. After about 10:30 am it was chop city.

Still regardless of what happens tomorrow this week has been absolutely horrid. I'm now in my 4th day of drawdown. Need to concentrate harder and stay focused on risk management.

Wednesday Trading Review (11/18) - $1763 loss

2009-11-18T13:17:00.000-08:00

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse. The day started off well enough. Hit on my first two pullback trades with only a tick of slippage on both. Missed a trade while I was on the treadmill. So much for exercise right? And missed another trade before the opening bell by 1 tick. So before the market open I was up around $400 on the two pre-market trades.

I knew because of these missed trades I would need to focus extra hard because I tend to want to take out my frustration on the markets.

First trade after the open was a long pullback and I was just crushed. No other way to look at it. My stoploss was hit in a matter of minutes as we rocketed lower. No prob I had a stop loss in place and took a $600 hit on this trade. So now I'm down $100 on the day. Still no sweat.

The day turned awful about 10:15. We had just slid hard to the 1100 area which I figured would provide at least some initial support. I lined up a pullback setup off the 3 min chart and entered short around 1103 looking to scale out as we re-tested the 1100 area. Well we never did surprisingly. The trouble was when it became apparent we wouldn't reverse I switched to the 10 min chart which still had a valid pullback setup. But I had entered way too early to be trading off this longer timeframe chart. Needless to say I rode this position (adding and subtracting along the way, mostly adding though!) all the way up to 1108 or. Then rode it all the way back down to 1101 area where at least I did start to scale out. But I fully expected the 1100 support to break so I wanted to leave some contracts on. By this time I was short around 10 contracts with an avg price of 1104 or so. When we didn't continue to fall I left the trade on. Finally I closed the trade near the close when it became apparent we were heading up. Lost $1800 and some change on this trade.

So far my entry into the blogosphere as been rough. Come to think of it I don't think I've lost 3 days in a row all year. Just not in sync with the markets right now. I'm sure the fact that we've had like 3 NR days in a row has something to do with it too, but still I need to be able to minimize the damage better on days like today.

Tomorrow I'm back at it. Need to focus harder than ever. Sooner or later volatility is going to expand as we break this range.

Update: Made a quick $225 on a short pullback around 9:15PM EST. Textbook entry and exit.

BTW, thanks to the market for falling now!

Recap of Tuesday's Trading (11/17) - $511 Loss

2009-11-17T13:45:00.000-08:00

The trade I took home last night ended up working out for me. Scaled out of the trade and pulled in $500. So my official tally from yesterday was -$600. I know I've said before that taking positions home overnight is a bad idea. But I still had a valid setup on this trade, and hence a plan. As long as there is a plan, and not a reliance on hope, I'm ok with leaving a trade on. Still don't need to be entering anything from 3:30PM on.

Yesterday's posts were a bit lengthy. Let's see if we can keep this a bit shorter but still informative.

Started out the day early with my first trade taking place at 5:30AM. Made a quick $337 on two pullbacks before the day session began. Second one wasn't as smooth as the first. My PC clock wasn't synched, so I ended up getting fortunate that two of my limits were hit followed by a stop out on the last lot after the 8:30 econ release. I was planning to exit this trade before 8:30, but my PC clock was off by 2 mins.

Took a gap fade that hit for a $800 profit despite an initial $900 drawdown.

At 10AM I'm up $1100 on the day and sitting pretty. But the next trade set the tone for the rest of the day. Took a short pullback off the 5 min chart, but placed my stoploss somewhat haphazardly and was stopped out at the high tick. Sat and watched as the trade quickly reversed and would've been fully profitable. So lost $562 on this trade which would've made at least the same. Now I'm up $600 and change vs being up over $2K on the day.

After a breakeven trade around 11AM, I was out of the office for about 3 hrs only o return around 2:00PM. As is often the case, I tend to "find" trades quickly when I return to the office. While there was nothing wrong with the setup, volume was very thin which made it a gamble. Ended up getting stopped out for a $500 loss.

And finally the last trade of the day was also my first big blow-up since my intro into the blogging world. Took a short pullback off the 3min chart with an initial 6 lots that never materialized. Gave the trade way too much room to run. Added 3 more lots. Watched as the trade continued higher. Kept thinking we'd reverse, blah, blah. Anyway after a more than $1100 drawdown, I was fortunate to get out with a $700 loss. Looking back I should've been out of this trade within the first 10 mins and remember having this thought to myself. What's separating me from being a solid trader is acting on these instincts.

So there you have it. Crappy start to the week. Loss of $586 on the day and now down $1100+ on the week. All easily surpassible though. Need to re-focus tomorrow and come back hitting on all cylinders.

Update - One final trade afterhours for a marginal $75 gain. Should've held longer. Loss on the day now at $511.

Monday Wrapup (11/16) - $600 loss

2009-11-16T13:09:00.000-08:00

Took a short pullback off the 5 min chart around 12:30. Traded with Entered at 1106.5 with a 3.5 pt stop. Added 3 lots at 1107.5 per my rules (I can add once), and watched as the trade continued higher. Ultimately I got stopped out for a $1450 loss. Sitting down $1600 on the day now. Honestly not sure I would've done much different with this trade. Maybe gave it too much time to work, but otherwise followed my rules.

What a start to the week. Let's see if we can salvage the day.

First long of the day (LOL) came @ 1:30EST on a nice pullback setup. Started position with 6 lots and added another 3 once risk was better defined. Scaled out 1/3 for 1pt, another 1/3 for 2 pts and last 1/3 was closed early as momentum waned. Gained $700 on this trade and am now down $900 on the day. Let's see if we can continue to fight our way back.

Just missed a nice countertrade trade off a false breakout. Sometimes if you don't enter these on a stop order, you never have a chance. I prefer limit orders to minimize slippage, but I'm also prone to missing trades everything now and then. This one was good for at least 2 pts.

Last trade of the day was a short around 3:20 on the first tradeable pullback following the breakdown from the intraday highs. Initially sold 6 lots and covered 2, and later added 3 and covered 1, both covers for 1 pt profit. Ultimately gave the remaining 6 lots too much room to run thinking that lower lows were around the corner. Well that clearly didn't work out as we re-traced the fall over the final 30 mins.

As it stands right now I'm still short 6 lots at an avg price of 1106 w/ a stop loss at 1109. I know I said before that I wouldn't take a trade home overnight, but this setup is still technically valid and I do have a stoploss and targets in place. So this time is different. I'm not relying on hope, bu rather sticking to my setups.

As it stands right now I'm down $1100 on the day w/ a $400 open loss. Sure the day could've been much worse, but it's no way to start the week. Fortunately this is a loss I can easily recover from.

Monday Morning Trading Review - 11/16

2009-11-16T09:39:00.000-08:00

Geez, that nice opening gap was tempting to fade, but last Monday's gap and go was fresh in my mind. Plus I know the gap fill odds aren't nearly as favorable on Monday as other days of the week.

First trade of the day was a countertrend scalp short. Tight stop loss and looking for 1 to 1.5 pts tops. Exited early for a marginal gain when support held.

Took a second countertrend scalp shortly after about 9:55. Again exited early for maybe a 2 tick gain. Didn't want to chance it with 10AM econ news right around the corner. Up $100 on the day with these first two trades.

Ugg, finally had one of my countertrends bite! Took a $150 loss on this third one. Now down $50 on the day. Quit fighting the trend unless there's good reason! This last trade was very marginal. Wasn't accompanied with any sort of volume spike, etc. which usally translate into high probability pattern. Worse, my gut told me as soon as I entered the trade that I shouldn't have been in it and didn't exit in time. I've got to learn to exit at the market even with some tick slippage, rather than getting cute with limit orders. Positive takeway: I stuck to my stoploss!

Finally nailed a countertrend entry around 11AM. Liked the setup so much I traded with double size. Price tried to breakout to new highs but quickly reversed. Slight volume spike on 3 min chart. Took entry off 1000 tick chart after prev bar's low was breached. Stop set 3 ticks away (cannot get much tighter than that!). Took 1/3 off for 3 ticks, and another lot @ 6 ticks. Decided to be a bit more aggressive on the last 3 lots and let them ride too long. Ended up getting stopped out for a $50 loss on the trade. Piss poor trade management at it's best. Down $150 on the day now.

Can easily recover this loss and then some in the afternoon session.

The Week Is Already Off to a Great Start!

2009-11-15T17:47:00.000-08:00

I don't normally trade the Asian session, but tonight's quick rise out of the gate caught my eye. Took a long entry w/ 3 lots off the first pullback at 1095. Initial stop set 2 pts lower and scale targets at 1096, 1097, and 1098. First two tgts hit and stop moved below new swing low. 3rd tgt hit shortly thereafter. Up just shy of $300 to start the week.

Goals for the Week of Nov 16-20

2009-11-15T11:04:00.001-08:00

Quite simply my goals for this week are to 1) only trade my proven setups, 2) manage risk appropriately, and 3) trade what I see not what I believe. If I can control these elements, I'll have a successful week. If I instead get trigger happy and/or let my losers run, I'll lose money plain and simple.

My Goals for This Blog

2009-11-15T11:04:00.000-08:00

I've been trading for 10+ years with bouts of success, but failures along the way too. In retrospect, this year's trading pretty much sums it up. Twice now I've doubled my account since Jan 1, only to give most of the gains back on a few bad trades.

As a daytrader, my one goal is to go home at the end of the day net positive or worst case with a small loss. Too many times though, I've let a short-term position turn into an overnight investment. That's equivalent to Russian roulette. Yes, all trades have been guilty of this at one point or another, but I've got to eliminate these mental lapses if I have any hope of making in this industry long-term.

I've kept an offline journal offline over the last few years, but have found that keeping this information private has not helped me hold myself accountable. I'm asking for help from the trading community to aid in keeping my ship on course.