NoDoji's Day Trading Log

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Quote from oraclewizard77:

[B Set reasonable stop and target for the trade. Finally checked back on trade, and saw although it took some heat, I did make real money on the trade.

Seems I do better if I don't watch the trade constantly but instead check back on it once in awhile. Seems like the pros like to trap each other and try to run stops. [/B]
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Tiger woods wife failed to watch him enough. She also made some money. But that is comparing apples to oranges. Trading is not a game of "peek-a-boo." http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1214777/wife_peek_a_boo/

Screen time is about learning how price acts when levels are touched, tested, fail, followthrough etc, etc.

Nod, you are good, real good...........i look for breakouts you look for breakdowns. :D

PS: Do not worry what the pros are doing except if what they do enhances your trade or not, EXAMPLE: if you get a breakout or a reversal signal your concern is will the industry pl;ayers FOLLOW YOU. Do not imagine how they make you lose, thats not cool. The players are not out to screw anyone, they are there to make money like everyone else. The pros just know how to do it better than the beginners, think about that..............if a constant 90% or so do not constantly replace the busted outs.............yhe game would be over. Learn your trade, as learn your profession and you can become a 10%er. :)
 
Quote from bighog:

PS: Do not worry what the pros are doing except if what they do enhances your trade or not, EXAMPLE: if you get a breakout or a reversal signal your concern is will the industry pl;ayers FOLLOW YOU. Do not imagine how they make you lose, thats not cool. The players are not out to screw anyone, they are there to make money like everyone else. The pros just know how to do it better than the beginners, think about that..............if a constant 90% or so do not constantly replace the busted outs.............yhe game would be over. Learn your trade, as learn your profession and you can become a 10%er. :)
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Al Brooks really spends much of his book on this, on how inexperienced traders get trapped and how the pros take advantage of it.

Now please explain why I didn't leave my stop in place on the 1111.25 ES short yesterday, go out and play, have a nice dinner, curl up with a good book ("Reading Price Charts Bar by Bar") and wake up this morning to a $700+ profit???
 
Quote from oraclewizard77:

How does CL compare with ES? You doing ok in it?
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I've been doing very well with CL in sim. It's very fast, so intraday you can't diddle around with anything but the very best entries. But that's what makes it so gratifying for intraday scalping. My trades are anywhere from 20 seconds to a virtual long-term investment once of nearly an hour.

Once of these days you'll see CL appear on my blotter.
 
+ $315

Short ES @ 1099.25 via limit order placed near the outermost channel line, lifted near the high. Covered @ 1094.75 off lower channel overshoot for $220.20.

Put on a small UAUA swing short @ 11.06, initial target 9.75.

Also a small X Jan $48 put position @ 1.85, initial target X retrace to 44.00 area.

Offered 1099.00 ES on test of previous R and missed by a tick or so, then it found support off higher low and I thought there’d be more upside, but it internal double-topped and fell nicely.

By then I was playing X to the short side @ 49.38, pullback from same internal double top, SPY overbought; covered @ 49.18 oversold pivot for +$95. I have a tendency to exit at oversold pivots from the fast stoch, but there seems to frequently be additional move if waiting for the slow stoch to reach oversold. Left an additional .30 of the move on the table by exiting at the first pivot.

With ES overextended to the down side on the hourly and intraday chart and close to overextended on the daily, I watched for a higher low to go long. I actually had my finger on the trigger when it made a new low and hesitated @ 1091.25, but was afraid to pick a bottom, despite having no problem with those plays to the short side after 3 legs of a trend. Aaaarrghhh.

Was watching ANR for a 4th leg up weakness to short and became so mesmerized by CECO on my DOM when the news hit that I missed the ANR signal!

Was watching ES later in the day for 1096.00, but it never made it before pulling back, so that was that for the day.
 

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Good job. You took 1/2 of the day sessions range in a single trade. That in itself beats most of the competition.

The 1005 est bar was a KEY bar, small yes, but we are in small range holiday stuff. That bars low was 1093.25. Remember a KEY reversal must have something to reverse. The previous high before that small KEY was the double top at 1099.50 (or think 1100.x as what they were observing as resist for options expire tomorrow, that is a bias thought so take with a grain of salt).

Anyway it did reverse up to 1098.75 and produced another small KEY at 1100 est which was tested by the double top at 1098.50, a single tick below the last high of 1098.75. Proceeded down to make the days low with a 2 handle retrace from 93.x to 95.x before the low at 1090.75.

I was watching all that but was not trading it. As a sidenote..........i do not pay attention to most small KEY bars unless they are part of at least a 5 handle previous move to reverse.

The ranges during this holiday end of year have been small so we adjust accordingly. January could be a different story, be refreshed for some wide days........... :)

PS: HA!!! My ex's have nothing on me. Women have long memories when they miss out on a few dollars and come back to haunt you. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/wife_dished_to_fbi_qKtBRWgO0S9GEwxBrEyz1N
 
+$123 Day
+$950 Week
+$3094 Month

ES was not winking properly at me from across the dance floor. It was pulled back nearly to the lower channel line on the daily chart, so I was watching for possible long entry if support was established. But it sold off quickly on the first push to the inner upper channel line, not even presenting me with a good short fade off the upper line. Then it moved so stealthily down that I never felt comfortable going either direction.

Around noon it double bottomed, but I missed getting in quickly because I was grabbing some tea and then didn't want to chase because I didn’t trust it to rally hard, since the action was so weak today. I was basically afraid of churning, and as a result missed some very decent “drift trading” with ES all day.

Long COCO @ 12.80 once CECO, the dog of the group, found support. Put in a stop @ b/e and planned to hold till day’s end or stop was hit. Sold @ 13.08 when it broke out of its range and pulled back from overbought: +$54. I didn’t follow my original plan, nor did I re-enter the position, leaving a lot of profit behind as a result.

Short CNW @ 38.39 pullback from HOD, stop above HOD. I then moved the stop down a bit and was stopped out @ 38.59 for -$22. Thought there would be a bit more retracement off that new high, but it started ranging up there.

Tried CNW short again @ 38.94 stop just above HOD, hit for -$10.

Decided to wait for a lower high and take a larger position there. Silly me not shorting the next push up, because that was the pullback I was looking for.

Offered .02 above the HOD for JPM, figuring if it broke out it would be a false breakout due to chronic weakness recently in this stock, missed entry by .02 cents, perfect double top and then it fell nicely. This one doesn’t move enough to chase entry though.

Short CNW @ 38.99 pullback from a lower high. Because this was a confirmed setup instead of “top-picking”, I put on 200 shares instead of 100. Trailed a stop, hit @ 38.73 for +51.00. Ended up eating lunch or something and never did reenter the next lower high, which set up a fantastic move down.

Short JPM @ 40.77, stall just below new HOD, .04 cent stop made top-picking very low risk. Covered @ 40.67 when the fast stochastic pivoted from very oversold at the 20 EMA because this was a counter-trend trade: +$45. The bounce failed and fell further without me. I didn’t trust waiting for the slow stochastic to catch up because it was a countertrend trade, but waiting for it would’ve netted an additional equal move to what I scalped.

Starting watching GLD because I like its strong moves. Almost shorted the HOD after 5 pushes up, but I hesitated, missing a nice pullback.

On what appeared to be a midday “push” to the upper channel line, I placed an offer on ES @ 1095.75, but it missed by a tick or two and I did not feel there was enough reason to chase yet, as an uptrend had been established. It established support at the rising 20 EMA, so I pulled my offer.

Short JPM @ 40.83, pullback from double top; covered near b/e when the price action stalled and found support at an oversold state, and I wanted to take a break and go play: +$5
 

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-$395

No trades yesterday.

This morning I played with CL in sim from pre-market through the open, really getting into a rhythm with it. As a result though I missed some good live trades in the early part of the day, then had things to do. Returned later wanting to make up for what I missed and thought I’d scalp small moves with larger positions, during that time of day I should know better than to trade. I can’t even describe what I did because it was 40+ round trips and I didn’t even look at the charts most of the time, just used the DOM.

OK, proved once again this is not the way for me to trade. Every now and then I guess we need to remind ourselves what happens when we deviate from our tactics.

Merry Christmas, IB! Hope you enjoy the $250 in commissions I gave you. :mad:
 

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Quote from NoDoji:

I can’t even describe what I did because it was 40+ round trips and I didn’t even look at the charts most of the time, just used the DOM.

OK, proved once again this is not the way for me to trade. Every now and then I guess we need to remind ourselves what happens when we deviate from our tactics.
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If that was DEVIATE from tactics what would you call a COMPLETE BREAKDOWN?

A bad day and you lost complete control. That is a NO NO. Ok, you got that out of your system for 2009 and went out with a BOOM. :D

You decided CL was not going to defeat you today and it did not...........YOU defeated yourself. Enough of that. get it together in 2010 and regroup back to what you know and what you do well.

Do not shoot from the hip in desperation. It never works. Never will either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=All9bN0xuqI

PS: You will be fine, in the mean time have a Happy holiday and come back with a bang OPP"S, come back in style next year.

:D
PSS: Drop that trading from the dome bs. :eek:


PSS: If it makes you feel better.............i once got stubborn and sat and watched ES go 13 handles against me. " Go on, chew me up, have fun" , i never will forget that day. In the end it was a terrific lesson to not get mad because i never did it again and laughed later............... I could not believe i did it at the time. BUT, the P/l sheet proved i did. Some lessons are worth the cost.

Let today be a winner for you in the long run. :)
 
Quote from bighog:

Do not shoot from the hip in desperation. It never works. Never will either.

PSS: drop that trading from the dome bs. :eek:
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Actually I didn't shoot from the hip. I was trading CL in sim most of the morning and getting a real good rhythm going based on S/R levels. I was in and out back and forth, all good trades.

Mistake #1 was deciding to trade during a time of day during which I generally end up with scratch trades or small profits and losses. So trying to do a bunch of trades with larger size simply meant I was likely to churn away money mainly with commissions.

Watching the DOM it seemed I really would do well, seeing the same rhythms I was using with CL earlier.

It all started well, but I did what I did last time I tried this (also with X a few months back): I put on the trade with a stop at the invalidation price. The trade moves in my favor and since I'm scalping with larger size, I quickly move the stop just outside b/e and get stopped out. That was a just a blip in radar and the trade continues my way without me and I chase a re-entry and leave the wider stop, which of course now ends up getting hit because the move I was working is now over.

Then on the other side of things, if the trade continued my way very quickly and nicely, I would tighten the stop, get stopped out on a pivot, then watch the trade move another big chunk without me.

It was exactly the same as last time I did this, yet the lesson somehow didn't stick.

Let's see if it can stick this time...
 
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