Recent content by Bob Jackson

A loss of $130 w/commissions. I'm gonna need to start going long once in awhile...for some reason I'm fixated on the short-side. Tried to go short and stopped out twice in the morning session, both at 903.25 and 903.25. Tried another short in the early PM session (around 1:30) at 913, and...

A loss of $175 w/commissions. I missed the morning session; tried to go short twice, right close to noontime, at 897, and then at 899. Stopped out at 898.75 and 900.50, as the SPs rallied back into the green. Sat out the rest of the session.

It wasn't the complete downside wipeout I was hoping for, but I'll take it. Looked for a gap-up at the open and got it. Went short with 4 SP-emini contracts between 915 and 913, average cost of about 914. I was hoping to hold all of them through the close, but an hour later, I still wasn't...

Another not-so-great day. A loss of about $322, including commissions. I wound up covering my $2-Dow short overnight - woke at 4:30AM, saw the SPs at 906, and decided to take the loss - I was expecting the SPs to selloff afterhours on the Dell news. Of course, ultimately it did - but after I...

Finished today with a total loss of about $230, including commissions. I did violate my own trading rules on not trying to trade against the parameters for u/d and TRIN. I WAS hunting for a breakdown. But given the gap-up, and the fact that yesterday's big rally failed at midday, I thought the...

Went long today on the $2 Dow, at 9:45, it looked like a move higher was setting up ahead of the Greenspan comments hitting the wires. The market sold off, and I had to cover the long at a loss of $100. Of course, after that the market actually did turn sharply higher on the Iraq news. The move...

John Q - To answer your question (not sure if its rhetorical or serious) - I don't care who I lose it to. Its a zero-sum game, so someone's winning when I'm losing. Do I mind losing money? Sure, but if I lose 5 times in a row, at $100 each, and then the 6th time, make $1000...losing money is...

No trades on Tuesday.

Oh how I wish I'd kept that Dow short contract over the weekend! Granted, I thought the bias would be to the upside on Vets Day. At any rate, I had a minor breakdown in discipline. Despite a pathetic u/d ratio and super high TRIN, I tried to go long early in the session at about 8460 with a $2...

Closed out yesterday's $2 Dow short-sale at 8517 for a net overall gain of about $306 w/o commissions. The indexes basically went flat after 11AM or so, and it didn't look like there was much downside left for now, so I offset the trade. I was tempted to hold the short over the weekend, but I...

Thanks Dottom, I'll consider it. Went short at 8670 this morning, in the pre-open, on the $2 Dow futures. My main reason for doing so was no more technical than I had a feeling the market might just turn to mush, and there might not be a particular inflection point to get in. I would have...

A loss today of about $330. Went short with one SP-emini this morning at 914, betting on further downside. Closed with a stoploss of $62.50. Post-Fed, put on one $2 Dow e-mini short, then pyramided a second contract. Covered those as the Dow reversed to the post-Fed highs. So much for "sell the...

Once again, no trades amid generally slow, light-volume 'bouncy' conditions.

No trades today. I elected not to play the open. U/D + TRIN were way too strong to bother going short. I thought I might have a shot at a good long entry later in the afternoon, because a day like today usually will close at or near the high of the day. Of course, I got busy on some other work...

No trades today, Friday. There was one good play at 10:30am, from 830 to 890+. I saw it happen, but never entered a trade. I admit to being a bit cautious after yesterday's choppiness. And the same choppy quality seemed evident today as well (witness the 10AM 5-min bar, which ranged from 882.5...