Doublea's Journal

Quote from itcob58:

just read journal, excellent trend following, personally dont look at so much info to confusing,but good for others.you mentioned futures may not be for you, well try index options.:D
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Yeah, I was going to mention that, but since I don't trade'em, I can't speak on 'em.

They would probably be worth your while as an intermediate between the low and high risk alternatives.

JJ
 
Quote from itcob58:

just read journal, excellent trend following, personally dont look at so much info to confusing,but good for others.you mentioned futures may not be for you, well try index options.:D
More...

That's what it looks like, maybe futures is not for me. Or, I could just play futures from the long side as with stocks. I do not think that I will do index options because I was taught to sell it only and not buy it. I do not think that I will start selling options now.
 
Quote from doublea:

That's what it looks like, maybe futures is not for me. Or, I could just play futures from the long side as with stocks. I do not think that I will do index options because I was taught to sell it only and not buy it. I do not think that I will start selling options now.
More...


Hi D,
I have been trading index options for several years and I believe you have made a wise choice to avoid trading them,
they are a science unto themselves.
The price action of many index options (particulary the OEX)
often do not truly reflect the price action of the underlying index. Market Maker manipulation with the volatility varient is the number one problem and a close second is the size of the bid to ask spread.

Jeff
 
Quote from doublea:

I'm still long SPY from yesterday. Need to see how today unfolds. If Nasdaq and IWM underperform SPY today, I'm out no matter whether we close up or down for the day. If Nasdaq and IWM outperform SPY today, I'll add to my longs and I'm done and will just wait for the upside trend to resume.

If I were day-trading, I'll sell here at 1398 with stop 1402, target close.
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IWM outperformed SP but Nasdaq underperformed. Will do nothing here. I will give Nasdaq another day to catch-up or else I'll get out.
 
I initially started this journal as "What I learned from my mentor" but decided to change the title after that. But let me tell you what he told me in those few years when I worked for him.

Non trading related stuff (that applies to trading too):
1) Be organized
2) Have patience
3) Work-Out regularly
4) Eat right........and so on

Trading related stuff (only applies to stock index):

Who are the players? Hedge Funds, mutual funds and people like most of us. Hedge funds are a different breed (atleast the successful one).

Mutual funds are different story. How do mutual fund managers get their bonuses? Mutual Funds charge you a certain % but the managers get their bonuses(not salary) on their performance. So that means if the market is down 10% and they are down 5% only, they did a good job so they get paid more but if the index is up 10% and they are up 5% only, they are out of luck. This means that the mutual fund managers better be long when the market is up, otherwise they might lose their bonus.

So here is the main thing: When the market is going up stay with it, but when the market is down and you're short, take your profits quickly.
 
After we broke the intra-day support around 2.30 est, I thought the market would go down much lower. If we do not see sell-off on Monday (in the first half hour), I'm going long.
 
One thing that I noticed today is that my futures trades would have ended up much better if I were not to go against my stock trades. What I mean by that is, I was long SPY going into this morning but when I noticed Nasdaq and IWM underperforming SPY, I got out with few cents profit. Usually on days like today I would have gone short around 12 est and that trade would have worked well. All the time when I have lost going short futures is when I am long SPY.

On Monday if in the first half hour the market is strong, I will go long SPY and ES. I cannot post my stock trades because it is a group thing but I (might) post my futures trade because it is my personal account.
 
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