Search results

03-31-2010 SPX is forming a symmetric triangle since Mar 25. It was the 3rd touch of the up triangle today. The retest intraday high on ES shortly after 2pm was on low vol and could not get 1 tick above lunch high. The breakdown at 1168.50 was alarming to bulls. 1168.5 was supported beore...

This probably is debatable since it would depend on individual's trading style, experience, and tolerance to adversity. However, my understanding about trading is minimizing risk is No. 1 priority for successful traders, at least for small traders. How can I protect winner from turning into...

3-30-2010 ES open slightly above yesterday's close this morning and immediately closed gap at 1169. Price broke upside, but sold down quickly. Price bounced above 20 bar (5min) EMA briefly and then broke below it. Shortly price broke 1170 (the extended trend line since yesterday's...

3-29-2010 SPX broke out of falling wedge this mornig (bullish Monday). It touched 1175, the midpoint of the falling wedge. In a large picture, today is a consolidation day. Today's intraday swing low shortly after open closed the gap from Friday's close. Intraday retracement failed to retest...

Most time I was in meetings this morning. I was able to check briefly the market during small breaks. There are times that trader's dicipline would partially/completely breakdown. I believe that I've suffered this problem for the last two days. It was the gambler's mentality that takes control...

3-25-2010 Another bad day for me. I was completely controlled by my emotion. Tried to catch falling knife and just got stopped out numerous time. I have to say I got complacent with the "buying the dip" stuff. Of course, theer is nothing wrong with "buying the dip", but a trade needs to know...

3-24-2010 What do I learn from today's mistakes? 1. wide stops: why set wide stops? because I don't really know where I should enter the market. 2. forgot stops? So I was lucky that I didn't get wiped out holding losing trades and hope it would come back. When in doubt, get out and...

3-24-2010 Total trades: 5 RTS winner: 1 loser: 4 net P/L: -4 pts I've made numerous mistakes today. My daily money loss limit is 200 and I would stop after the limit get hit. From now on, I will also limit my daily max number of trades to 5 RTs. Today is a consolidation day after...

3-23-2010 No trade today I was in several meetings until 3pm. I did check market from time to time, but didn't really have time to trade. Price broke out ascending triangle at 3pm. This was the second leg since yesterday's open rise. Based on my limited experience, after such long...

3-19-2010 Total trades: 2 RTs winner: 2 net p/l: 2.25 pts ES open at low of overnight trading range and immediately run into last Friday's close. It consolidated at or slightly below last Friday's close and then broke thru the resistance. It was nice two leg move up. I was able to trade...

3-19-2010 I am afraid that I won't have time to trade today. So far, it looks like the double bottom scenario (second at 12:30) has failed to break the neckline. Buyer may be trying to absorb the selling with flat price (narror rectangle consolidation). It can drop more if the support can.t...

3-18-2010 Total trades: 1 RT winner: 1 net p/l: 1.75 pts I had several meetings this morning until 12:30pm pacific time. I had a 15 minutes before 1pm EST. I saw a double bottom setup with stop run exhaused selling and retest intraday low with dimished vol at 12:40pm. 1055 was an important...

I've been watching tapes and charts for some months whenever I have the chance. I feel that I have improved my tape reading as well as chart pattern reading. When I put on a trade, I could tell with my intuition after a few minutes whether it is going to be a winner or loser. However, I could...

3-17-2010 Total trades: 4 RTs winner: 2 loser 2 net p/l: -0.75 pt staretd at 12pm EST The price was forming the second bull flag. The first one had 3 pt retracement. Both the first and second up legs had 4 pts move. Long at 12:30 at 1161.5 for the breakout. The up move was steady and I...

3-16-2010 Total trades: 7 RTs (ESM100 winner: 2 loser: 5 net p/l: 0.5 pt Today is FOMC day. I expected some volatility at 2:15. My trading rules are not to trade 30 min prior to 2:15 announcement and not to trade 30 min after announcement until 2:45. Toay's SPX open was quite...

3-15-2010 No trade last Friday due to my work schedule. Today I was able to trade from 2-4pm EST. Total trades: 1 RT (ESM10) winner: 1 net p/l: 1.25 pts The selling stopped shortly before 11:30 at climax vol. Pirce has retraced 50% of the range defined by extremes prior to 11:30. At...

3-11-2010 Total trades: 6 RTs winner: 4 loser: 2 net p/L: 0.5pt Started at 1pm ET made a wrong order and immediately covered at market order for 0.25 pt loss. Today's price pattern was an ascending triangle. Afternoon price was above the 50% fib level defined by extremes from open...

3-10-2010 total trades: 3 RTS winner: 3 net p/l: 2 pts ES openned slightly above yesterday's close. Nothing was exciting. It went up to retest yesterday's intraday high and reverse to retest yesterday's close 1139.50. The price movement was fairly symmetric both in price and time. 1139.5...

3-9-2010 Total trades: 5 RTS winner: 1 loser: 4 net p/l: -3.0 pts Short at 1pm at 1144.25, price was flat, got out at 1144.50 before the stop run up to 1145.25. Immediately reshort at 1144.50 at 1:30pm after stop run, covered at 1144 (too early). Short at 1143.5, covered at 1143.75 as...

3-8-2010 My plan was to buy the retrace and wait for breakout especially when price is moving above he 50% fib line defined by open extremes. What I've read from $tick data was that sellers were not extremely aggressive today. However, the VIX was green, which implied that the upside breakout...