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Thursday, 31 December 2009
Saturday, 12 December 2009
Friday, 11 December 2009
Dec 11, 2009 PnL $403 on 7 contracts and 3,900 shares
Fridays Trades
Trades Page 1
Trades Page 2
Today I prefered to take trade setups in currencies and commodity related futures contracts because of the increased volatility and volume.
Highlights of the day-
EURO/AUSSIE and Stocks bearish at open. Bullish divergence on Dow vs Nasdaq. Real estate sector trending in afternoon. Gold and Crude continue to have good volatility.
Morning Thoughts-
The stock market has been tightening into a range and volume has been decreasing the last couple weeks, so there are less setups to be found. Off the open I noticed the Euro broke 1.468 and was trending down, so I knew there would be a good chance that US stocks would follow and catchup.Also, the European stock market close (last 30minutes) has had a tendency to selloff the last few weeks.
NQ- Winner
1.Short near the open after signal (Reason- Euro/SMH/AAPL weakness)- Winner
2.Long near lows off signal (Euro support/bounce)- Loser
3.Short off signal - Winner
4.Short off signal - Winner
NQ thoughts-
1. I should have held my first short of the day and looked for selling at the European close.
2. I attempted to pick the bottom on NQ @ 1786.5 but was stopped out. I should have averaged in on that trade using less leverage by going long QQQQ or DIA in hindsight.
PBR- Winner
1.Short near the open (Reason- Crude/Euro/XLE weakness)- Winner
2.Long- midday (Reason- Crude/XLE support/bounce)- Winner
Euro - Winner
1.Long scalp near the European stock market close (Reason oversold/support)- Winner
Euro thoughts- After getting stopped out on NQ, I was still convinced there was support and bullish divergence on the Euro, so I entered long 6E (Euro futures), the trade took awhile and I entered a second contract when I was up 10 ticks. I scaled out at my targets while at the same time scaling out of my Gold long.
AIG - Breakeven
1.Short - Averaged into Breakeven (should have Scaled out on dip)
AMZN- Winner
1.Short (Reason -Tech/SMH weakness/ at PIVOT) - I should have used a tighter stop and taken a loss instead of averaging into this trade. Trade was a winner
GLD- Winner
1.Long (Reason- Pivot/Euro support/bounce) - Winner
GLD thoughts- I decided to scale into the Gold etf (GLD) instead of the Gold futures contract (GC) because I wanted to take on less risk due to the increased volatility and my entry was essentially an attempt at picking a bottom based off Euro Support (confidence was 70% on this trade). I later exited for a profit when the Euro bounced.
IYR- Loser
1.Long (Reason- relative strength, but bad timing) - Loser
2.Short - Averaged a short position for the most of the day (I may have held a bias to the short side after being stopped out earlier on my long earlier in the day, overall, a bad trade on a trending stock) - Loser
IYR Trend chart
SMH - Loser
1.Short -(Reason- NQ/Tech/AAPL weakness)- Should have scaled out on dip, bad entry/exit- Loser
Trades Page 1
Trades Page 2
Today I prefered to take trade setups in currencies and commodity related futures contracts because of the increased volatility and volume.
Highlights of the day-
EURO/AUSSIE and Stocks bearish at open. Bullish divergence on Dow vs Nasdaq. Real estate sector trending in afternoon. Gold and Crude continue to have good volatility.
Morning Thoughts-
The stock market has been tightening into a range and volume has been decreasing the last couple weeks, so there are less setups to be found. Off the open I noticed the Euro broke 1.468 and was trending down, so I knew there would be a good chance that US stocks would follow and catchup.Also, the European stock market close (last 30minutes) has had a tendency to selloff the last few weeks.
NQ- Winner
1.Short near the open after signal (Reason- Euro/SMH/AAPL weakness)- Winner
2.Long near lows off signal (Euro support/bounce)- Loser
3.Short off signal - Winner
4.Short off signal - Winner
NQ thoughts-
1. I should have held my first short of the day and looked for selling at the European close.
2. I attempted to pick the bottom on NQ @ 1786.5 but was stopped out. I should have averaged in on that trade using less leverage by going long QQQQ or DIA in hindsight.
PBR- Winner
1.Short near the open (Reason- Crude/Euro/XLE weakness)- Winner
2.Long- midday (Reason- Crude/XLE support/bounce)- Winner
Euro - Winner
1.Long scalp near the European stock market close (Reason oversold/support)- Winner
Euro thoughts- After getting stopped out on NQ, I was still convinced there was support and bullish divergence on the Euro, so I entered long 6E (Euro futures), the trade took awhile and I entered a second contract when I was up 10 ticks. I scaled out at my targets while at the same time scaling out of my Gold long.
AIG - Breakeven
1.Short - Averaged into Breakeven (should have Scaled out on dip)
AMZN- Winner
1.Short (Reason -Tech/SMH weakness/ at PIVOT) - I should have used a tighter stop and taken a loss instead of averaging into this trade. Trade was a winner
GLD- Winner
1.Long (Reason- Pivot/Euro support/bounce) - Winner
GLD thoughts- I decided to scale into the Gold etf (GLD) instead of the Gold futures contract (GC) because I wanted to take on less risk due to the increased volatility and my entry was essentially an attempt at picking a bottom based off Euro Support (confidence was 70% on this trade). I later exited for a profit when the Euro bounced.
IYR- Loser
1.Long (Reason- relative strength, but bad timing) - Loser
2.Short - Averaged a short position for the most of the day (I may have held a bias to the short side after being stopped out earlier on my long earlier in the day, overall, a bad trade on a trending stock) - Loser
IYR Trend chart
SMH - Loser
1.Short -(Reason- NQ/Tech/AAPL weakness)- Should have scaled out on dip, bad entry/exit- Loser
Dec 11, 2009 PnL $403 on 7 contracts and 3,900 shares
Fridays Trades
Trades Page 1
Trades Page 2
Today I prefered to take trade setups in currencies and commodity related futures contracts because of the increased volatility and volume.
Highlights of the day-
EURO/AUSSIE and Stocks bearish at open. Bullish divergence on Dow vs Nasdaq. Real estate sector trending in afternoon. Gold and Crude continue to have good volatility.
Morning Thoughts-
The stock market has been tightening into a range and volume has been decreasing the last couple weeks, so there are less setups to be found. Off the open I noticed the Euro broke 1.468 and was trending down, so I knew there would be a good chance that US stocks would follow and catchup.Also, the European stock market close (last 30minutes) has had a tendency to selloff the last few weeks.
NQ- Winner
1.Short near the open after signal (Reason- Euro/SMH/AAPL weakness)- Winner
2.Long near lows off signal (Euro support/bounce)- Loser
3.Short off signal - Winner
4.Short off signal - Winner
NQ thoughts-
1. I should have held my first short of the day and looked for selling at the European close.
2. I attempted to pick the bottom on NQ @ 1786.5 but was stopped out. I should have averaged in on that trade using less leverage by going long QQQQ or DIA in hindsight.
PBR- Winner
1.Short near the open (Reason- Crude/Euro/XLE weakness)- Winner
2.Long- midday (Reason- Crude/XLE support/bounce)- Winner
Euro - Winner
1.Long scalp near the European stock market close (Reason oversold/support)- Winner
Euro thoughts- After getting stopped out on NQ, I was still convinced there was support and bullish divergence on the Euro, so I entered long 6E (Euro futures), the trade took awhile and I entered a second contract when I was up 10 ticks. I scaled out at my targets while at the same time scaling out of my Gold long.
AIG - Breakeven
1.Short - Averaged into Breakeven (should have Scaled out on dip)
AMZN- Winner
1.Short (Reason -Tech/SMH weakness/ at PIVOT) - I should have used a tighter stop and taken a loss instead of averaging into this trade. Trade was a winner
GLD- Winner
1.Long (Reason- Pivot/Euro support/bounce) - Winner
GLD thoughts- I decided to scale into the Gold etf (GLD) instead of the Gold futures contract (GC) because I wanted to take on less risk due to the increased volatility and my entry was essentially an attempt at picking a bottom based off Euro Support (confidence was 70% on this trade). I later exited for a profit when the Euro bounced.
IYR- Loser
1.Long (Reason- relative strength, but bad timing) - Loser
2.Short - Averaged a short position for the most of the day (I may have held a bias to the short side after being stopped out earlier on my long earlier in the day, overall, a bad trade on a trending stock) - Loser
IYR Trend chart
SMH - Loser
1.Short -(Reason- NQ/Tech/AAPL weakness)- Should have scaled out on dip, bad entry/exit- Loser
Trades Page 1
Trades Page 2
Today I prefered to take trade setups in currencies and commodity related futures contracts because of the increased volatility and volume.
Highlights of the day-
EURO/AUSSIE and Stocks bearish at open. Bullish divergence on Dow vs Nasdaq. Real estate sector trending in afternoon. Gold and Crude continue to have good volatility.
Morning Thoughts-
The stock market has been tightening into a range and volume has been decreasing the last couple weeks, so there are less setups to be found. Off the open I noticed the Euro broke 1.468 and was trending down, so I knew there would be a good chance that US stocks would follow and catchup.Also, the European stock market close (last 30minutes) has had a tendency to selloff the last few weeks.
NQ- Winner
1.Short near the open after signal (Reason- Euro/SMH/AAPL weakness)- Winner
2.Long near lows off signal (Euro support/bounce)- Loser
3.Short off signal - Winner
4.Short off signal - Winner
NQ thoughts-
1. I should have held my first short of the day and looked for selling at the European close.
2. I attempted to pick the bottom on NQ @ 1786.5 but was stopped out. I should have averaged in on that trade using less leverage by going long QQQQ or DIA in hindsight.
PBR- Winner
1.Short near the open (Reason- Crude/Euro/XLE weakness)- Winner
2.Long- midday (Reason- Crude/XLE support/bounce)- Winner
Euro - Winner
1.Long scalp near the European stock market close (Reason oversold/support)- Winner
Euro thoughts- After getting stopped out on NQ, I was still convinced there was support and bullish divergence on the Euro, so I entered long 6E (Euro futures), the trade took awhile and I entered a second contract when I was up 10 ticks. I scaled out at my targets while at the same time scaling out of my Gold long.
AIG - Breakeven
1.Short - Averaged into Breakeven (should have Scaled out on dip)
AMZN- Winner
1.Short (Reason -Tech/SMH weakness/ at PIVOT) - I should have used a tighter stop and taken a loss instead of averaging into this trade. Trade was a winner
GLD- Winner
1.Long (Reason- Pivot/Euro support/bounce) - Winner
GLD thoughts- I decided to scale into the Gold etf (GLD) instead of the Gold futures contract (GC) because I wanted to take on less risk due to the increased volatility and my entry was essentially an attempt at picking a bottom based off Euro Support (confidence was 70% on this trade). I later exited for a profit when the Euro bounced.
IYR- Loser
1.Long (Reason- relative strength, but bad timing) - Loser
2.Short - Averaged a short position for the most of the day (I may have held a bias to the short side after being stopped out earlier on my long earlier in the day, overall, a bad trade on a trending stock) - Loser
IYR Trend chart
SMH - Loser
1.Short -(Reason- NQ/Tech/AAPL weakness)- Should have scaled out on dip, bad entry/exit- Loser
Thursday, 10 December 2009
P/L $218 on 1300 shares and 1 contract
Today was a fairly choppy day in the morning. I didn't see any good setups in the stock indices today, so I looked for what was moving. AMZN and the Oil sector were IN PLAY today, so I looked for setups in those. I traded smaller size so I could average into my XLE trades. GS was the stock of the day after the news came out on them, but I didn't trade it. I prefer lower priced stocks that I can average into when the market is slow.
I noticed relative strength and momentum in AMZN so I took a long on it initially and then a short later on when I got a sell signal on the ES.
$70 was good suppoert/pivot on Crude, and the Euro was also looking to bounce, so I got a quick scalp on QM. ( I traded QM over CL today because I wanted to reduce my risk today on account of the lighter trading volume)
I took trades in XLE to the Long side when I noticed Crude was setup to bounce.
Goldman Sachs - Stock of the day
I noticed relative strength and momentum in AMZN so I took a long on it initially and then a short later on when I got a sell signal on the ES.
$70 was good suppoert/pivot on Crude, and the Euro was also looking to bounce, so I got a quick scalp on QM. ( I traded QM over CL today because I wanted to reduce my risk today on account of the lighter trading volume)
I took trades in XLE to the Long side when I noticed Crude was setup to bounce.
Goldman Sachs - Stock of the day
P/L $218 on 1300 shares and 1 contract
Today was a fairly choppy day in the morning. I didn't see any good setups in the stock indices today, so I looked for what was moving. AMZN and the Oil sector were IN PLAY today, so I looked for setups in those. I traded smaller size so I could average into my XLE trades. GS was the stock of the day after the news came out on them, but I didn't trade it. I prefer lower priced stocks that I can average into when the market is slow.
I noticed relative strength and momentum in AMZN so I took a long on it initially and then a short later on when I got a sell signal on the ES.
$70 was good suppoert/pivot on Crude, and the Euro was also looking to bounce, so I got a quick scalp on QM. ( I traded QM over CL today because I wanted to reduce my risk today on account of the lighter trading volume)
I took trades in XLE to the Long side when I noticed Crude was setup to bounce.
Goldman Sachs - Stock of the day
I noticed relative strength and momentum in AMZN so I took a long on it initially and then a short later on when I got a sell signal on the ES.
$70 was good suppoert/pivot on Crude, and the Euro was also looking to bounce, so I got a quick scalp on QM. ( I traded QM over CL today because I wanted to reduce my risk today on account of the lighter trading volume)
I took trades in XLE to the Long side when I noticed Crude was setup to bounce.
Goldman Sachs - Stock of the day
Tuesday, 8 December 2009
Learn from the Good trading days
Some of my trades from the day from IB and TS. IB has a nice feature which shows your trades and plots the P/L as a line chart underneath similar to Tradestation's "strategy equity" indicator. I traded the first 3 hours and the last hour. Obviously I should have held my Euro short longer into the afternoon to reap more profits. My trade execution could have been better judging by comparing my signals to my manual entries.
IB YM Trades
IB EURO Trades
IB NQ Trades
IB Gold Trades
QT Full YM chart
Tradestation YM Trades
Tradestation FULL CHART
Learn from the Good trading days
Some of my trades from the day from IB and TS. IB has a nice feature which shows your trades and plots the P/L as a line chart underneath similar to Tradestation's "strategy equity" indicator. I traded the first 3 hours and the last hour. Obviously I should have held my Euro short longer into the afternoon to reap more profits. My trade execution could have been better judging by comparing my signals to my manual entries.
IB YM Trades
IB EURO Trades
IB NQ Trades
IB Gold Trades
QT Full YM chart
Tradestation YM Trades
Tradestation FULL CHART