My experimentation with pair trading stopped today as I simply feel it is too much micro management and gets in the way of my bread and butter game too much. Pair trading is not really a set-up but more or less a trading style that requires full attention.
That said, in the distant future I will definitely revisit the idea, what I really need is a filter that scans for favorable spreads from a list of say 50 pairs. For example, around 12 today there was a huge spread between EP/DYN, I have a moving average on the spread between the two stocks for the last hour (20 period on a 3 minute chart), and the spread was trading almost half a point away from the moving average. Now that is a nice set-up and if I can scan for such imbalances it will make pair trading a legit set-up instead of a trading style that I have to give up a lot of time for.
Besides, I already have a very nice offense with open orders, sector trading, and daily charts, I should focus more on those for now and try to get more out of it. There is a fine line between a diversified offense and jack of all trades master of none.
13300 shares each way on 10 of 21 shooting, +484 before commissions, +256 after, no bullets. Closed the week 4 and 1, +1650, really wish I didn't have to give up yesterday's game but like the situation with the princess, sometimes it is actually better to have a flaw, a disappointment, a defeat, so you can rejuvenate your hunger and want it more.
An interesting aspect of my stat is that I am averaging $322 a day for the year, versus $280 a day in 2001, of course, earlier in 2001 I was making a lot more until April/May slowed me down substantially, but while I know for a fact that I am better than I was last year even if I am making less at equivalent time frame, maybe there is still a chance I can prove that in cold hard numbers come year end . . .
Pre-Market: No real news for me.
9:30: Not exactly a great day for the open strategy as the market ripped hard AFTER the gap-up which is the kind of situation that can put a world of hurt in a strategy that wants gap and craps. Lost 5 cents on KRB short, made 1 cent on LOW, made 7 cents on ONE short, made 15 cents on ABT long. Up just $100.
9:40: Uncharacteristic play as I knew DNA had news and some really big sellers but I thought the market will continue to be strong and bottom picked with 300 shares, lost 60 cents.
9:50: Tried WDR on financial strength but some seller pounded him down hard and I scratched. Tried NOR "Bittersweet" Tony Oz reversal and stopped for a 5 cents loss. Bought again 18.50 and held rest of the way for my biggest winner of the day, unfortunately, market came in as the stock traded as high as 19.10, I will be watching this one on Monday.
10:15: Took DHI/PHM on home builder move but sector sold off hard and I scratched.
11:05: Churned the WFT/NE pair and decided this is not for me. I would rather make directional trades than spread money, at least until I come up with a filter for this. My time is better spend on watching for bigger moves, and keep myself fresh for afternoon trading. To be re-visited later for sure but I was down $100 for the day and I wasn't going to lose back-to-back games.
2:00: OSX sold off quite hard for a while and I expected a bounce, had NE/BHI small shares for 30 cents a piece. Scratched BK/TER as the market ran out of juice on the rally. Unfortunately I could not get out of NOR at the top, it is funny how every time I get out at what I thought to be a top of a daily play to save 20 cents, it keeps on going for another point, every time I try to hold on for the bigger move it stops me out and in this case 15 cents from the high was like 25% of the total profit.
No princess tonight, as I am not the lucky one, yet the war must go on, and at least until I get into another cold spell, work is just too addictive, and I never want to pause, not even for a brief second. The weekends are tough to endure without her (unless I am lucky that there is a gap to be filled), I can't wait for Monday's game.
Team Stats:
10 of 10 Active Traders
88600 shares each way on 36 of 88 shooting (41%)
+609 before commissions (5 of 10 positive before commissions)
-1570 after commissions (3 of 10 positive after commissions)
Top 3 Symbols: PHM, CVX, APC
Bottom 3 Symbols: DNA, CCU, GDW
That said, in the distant future I will definitely revisit the idea, what I really need is a filter that scans for favorable spreads from a list of say 50 pairs. For example, around 12 today there was a huge spread between EP/DYN, I have a moving average on the spread between the two stocks for the last hour (20 period on a 3 minute chart), and the spread was trading almost half a point away from the moving average. Now that is a nice set-up and if I can scan for such imbalances it will make pair trading a legit set-up instead of a trading style that I have to give up a lot of time for.
Besides, I already have a very nice offense with open orders, sector trading, and daily charts, I should focus more on those for now and try to get more out of it. There is a fine line between a diversified offense and jack of all trades master of none.
13300 shares each way on 10 of 21 shooting, +484 before commissions, +256 after, no bullets. Closed the week 4 and 1, +1650, really wish I didn't have to give up yesterday's game but like the situation with the princess, sometimes it is actually better to have a flaw, a disappointment, a defeat, so you can rejuvenate your hunger and want it more.
An interesting aspect of my stat is that I am averaging $322 a day for the year, versus $280 a day in 2001, of course, earlier in 2001 I was making a lot more until April/May slowed me down substantially, but while I know for a fact that I am better than I was last year even if I am making less at equivalent time frame, maybe there is still a chance I can prove that in cold hard numbers come year end . . .
Pre-Market: No real news for me.
9:30: Not exactly a great day for the open strategy as the market ripped hard AFTER the gap-up which is the kind of situation that can put a world of hurt in a strategy that wants gap and craps. Lost 5 cents on KRB short, made 1 cent on LOW, made 7 cents on ONE short, made 15 cents on ABT long. Up just $100.
9:40: Uncharacteristic play as I knew DNA had news and some really big sellers but I thought the market will continue to be strong and bottom picked with 300 shares, lost 60 cents.
9:50: Tried WDR on financial strength but some seller pounded him down hard and I scratched. Tried NOR "Bittersweet" Tony Oz reversal and stopped for a 5 cents loss. Bought again 18.50 and held rest of the way for my biggest winner of the day, unfortunately, market came in as the stock traded as high as 19.10, I will be watching this one on Monday.
10:15: Took DHI/PHM on home builder move but sector sold off hard and I scratched.
11:05: Churned the WFT/NE pair and decided this is not for me. I would rather make directional trades than spread money, at least until I come up with a filter for this. My time is better spend on watching for bigger moves, and keep myself fresh for afternoon trading. To be re-visited later for sure but I was down $100 for the day and I wasn't going to lose back-to-back games.
2:00: OSX sold off quite hard for a while and I expected a bounce, had NE/BHI small shares for 30 cents a piece. Scratched BK/TER as the market ran out of juice on the rally. Unfortunately I could not get out of NOR at the top, it is funny how every time I get out at what I thought to be a top of a daily play to save 20 cents, it keeps on going for another point, every time I try to hold on for the bigger move it stops me out and in this case 15 cents from the high was like 25% of the total profit.
No princess tonight, as I am not the lucky one, yet the war must go on, and at least until I get into another cold spell, work is just too addictive, and I never want to pause, not even for a brief second. The weekends are tough to endure without her (unless I am lucky that there is a gap to be filled), I can't wait for Monday's game.
Team Stats:
10 of 10 Active Traders
88600 shares each way on 36 of 88 shooting (41%)
+609 before commissions (5 of 10 positive before commissions)
-1570 after commissions (3 of 10 positive after commissions)
Top 3 Symbols: PHM, CVX, APC
Bottom 3 Symbols: DNA, CCU, GDW
