Andy's Spread Trading Journal

Trade 10/26

I did exit my TU-US spread at the same day after the FED announcement.

I got out at the close at 93,109.

Hyp. profit on the trade is $841 - commission of $60 = $781.

I entered 8 x LCG7 - LCM7 on 10/24 at 4.55, risk $300, basis seasonal.

I took already profits with 3 contracts at 5.15. Stop now at break even.

I entered 2 x WZ7 - WH7 at - 55 on 10/23 with a risk of $1,000 per spread (wheat is very volatile at the moment, therefore a higher risk calculation). My stop for the spread is at -59 1/2.

Happy trading,
Andy
 
Trades

Sorry Guys, I was pretty bussy the last week.

Let me try to give you an overview about my spread trades.

I got out of my S-S possition on 11/3 at -25.

Hyp. profit $1,925 - $300 commission = $1,625.

And also out of LC-LC on 11/01 at 4.35.

Hyp. profit $ $320 - $240 commission = $80.

Hyp. account now at $58,357.

I exited my W-W spread on 11/1 at -37 with one lot. Stop for the second lot at break even.

I am flying back to the D.R. on Thursday and back in my "normal" trading business by next Monday. Then, I hope I will get a few good trades before the end of the year.

Happy trading to all of you...

Andy
 
Trades

I entered 3 x KWZ6 - WZ6 on 11/01 at 30, risk is $800 (because of volatility in the wheat market), basis is correlation.

My time stop got hit yesterday, I will exit today. I let you know.

I entered 4 USZ6 - TYZ6 at 4^12 on 11/07, risk is $625 and basis seasonal.
My stop is at 4^05 at the moment, but I will try to cash in some money maybe already today with one contract. We will see. I let you know.

Happy trading,
Andy
 
Trades

I got out of KW-W on 11/08 at 26 1/2 because my time stop go hit.

Hyp. loss is -$525 - $90 commission = -$612.

Hyp. account is now at $58,612.

I am still in US-TY and WZ-WH.

Happy trading,
Andy
 
Hi Guys, I gave you the wrong numbers on the US-TY trade. Because of my aggressive entry and a close stop I did enter 6 contracts with a calculated risk of $375/spread conract. We are close to the Ross Hook and I will try to cash in some money today.

I let you know!

Andy
 
Trade

I cashed in 2 of my US-TY spread contracts at 4^22 today (11/10). My stop is now at break even (4^12).

My stop for my second contract of my W-W spread is at -40 1/2.

Have all a nice weekend,

Andy
 
Andy,
Trying to find a piece of software, preferably free, that will allow me to calculate spread margins.
My old trading platform used to let me just input an order (e.g. Buy 1 ADZ6, Sell 1 CDZ6) and it would just spit out the margin requirements ($1418/spread)...

Is there anything like that out there..???

TIA.
 
Hi TIA,

I have never seen something like that. I have noticed a lot of the margin calculation depend on the clearing firms. For example, whenever you get reduced margin for a 1:2 spread, some clearing firm offer fractionalized spread credits.

I am always looking at the exchanges to calculate the margin but this is sometimes very confusing or I just ask my broker. :-)

Let me know whenever you find something usefull.

Happy trading,
Andy
 
Trade

I entered the following spread:

6 x LHJ7 - LHG7 on 11/13 at 2.0 with a risk of $400 per spread, basis seasonal.

My stop is at 1.3 at the moment.

I am still in US-TY with 4 contracts (stop at 4^17) and W-W with 1 contract (stop at -35 1/2).

Happy trading,
Andy
 
Hi Andy! What markets are you trading and why?

I am trading mainly the Chicago markets using CME and CBOT. There are
different reasons why I prefer these markets:

- Chicago markets are more trader friendly, i. e. if you give a market
order in Chicago it has to get filled in a specific amount of time (as far
as I remember it allows the guy in the pit 5 minutes to fill your order).
Such a rule does not exist in NY and you can imagine what this means to your
fill.

- In Chicago you normally get much less slippage than in NY. Try to leg in
via a market order in any energies spread and you will see what I mean. Even
if the markets are liquid you can get a terrible fill in NY.

- Exchange rules in Chicago are much stricter than in NY, meaning you get
much better treatment as the exchange traders are held to more stringent
standards.

- I am personally not able to follow ALL possible markets. I am
concentrating on the grains, meats, soy complex, interest rates and the
currencies, and this is really enough. For my trading I like to have enough
markets available to find good trades but I also try to understand each
market's individual behavior.
 
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