NQ Trades RT

SLD 1494 CLOSE 14:42:35

I can't believe how much time I wasted waiting for the market to bottom. Oh well. I had a bullish bias coming into today that I couldn't seem to shake, so at least I didn't do anything foolish trying to go long.
 
Quote from NihabaAshi:

Hi AFterburner,

Good recovery today...the market was weak and I understand why you went short in Trade 1.

As Trend Fader said...the market was weak via rallying on hot air and the dollar was rallying like crazy...

Therefore, I understand your Short bias...

Here's what I don't understand about about Trade 1...

Your posted trade is via central time of 1042am cst or 1142am est...a good Short entry.

1. At 1151am est your sitting on a +3.50 point profit in the NQ and then NQ begins to slowly rise back up on those weak legs...

What was the tape telling you as it rose back up into a loser prior to the big blow off volume top?

Why didn't you lock in some profits and trail a stop for your remainders when you were +3 points on the trade.

Also, you need to remember something you said...

I don't want to fall into the trap of mistaking a good entry for a good trade...

That's a common trap and can freeze traders into letting profits slip away and become losers.

Reason why I was wondering what you were thinking while knowing you had a good Short entry and the trade started retracing back against your position.

Another question...after you covered Trade 1 for a loss...after you patiently watch NQ go up and up and then back down...

2. Why didn't you jump back in with a Short position soon after 2pm est when there was a lot of pressure on the Bid side in the tape and NQ was pushing down hard?

My guess is that Trade 1 froze you long enough to encourage you to spend more time analyzing your feelings (anger)...

that by the time your were able to react...it was too late to get Short...

Now the analysis deepens further...you watch it reach your original profit target...

Freezing you again with anger...not reacting fast enough to the trade signals off the bounce...

The market just hit my original profit target for Trade 1. I am absolutely furious

resulting in a late Long entry...late enough so that you lost some breathing room going into the earnings announcement.

My point is this...I've mentioned this before...

3. Have you ever consider taking profits on some contracts (I know you trade size) and letting the rest ride to see if they can reach your profit targets?

In addition, I have a friend, like you, that plays the after-market earnings announcements and he usually takes a position after 2:30pm est...if he's still profitable going into the close...he'll bank some profits and let the rest ride until around 5pm est...

After 5pm est...the small volatility disappears as the earnings announcement fades into a distant memory...

not worth hanging around...close position and call it a day.

He's been doing this...profitably and consistently for several years.

4. You've mentioned before to me that you have a plan in trading such and that it usually goes your way...

today it did...congrats and I remember last time it didn't go your way.

If you can keep making consistent profits doing that with an occassional loser here and there...

Simply, if it ain't broke there's no need to fix it.

BOT 1509.5 OPEN 14:35:05
SLD 1516 CLOSE (after-market)

5. Once again...I'm really confused about why you allowed Trade 1 to go from being profitable to becoming a loser and why the late entry on Trade 2?

Nothing like a good old contingency plan to fix that freezes.

6. Last question...because of your Short bias...do you control your risk via reducing your position size in Long positions or vice versa when you have a Long bias do you control your risk via reducing your position size for Short positions ?

Once again...good recovery in salvaging the trading day...

It wasn't pretty but it worked.

NihabaAshi
More...

1. I stepped away from the computer for a few moments. While I was gone, it managed to go as low as 1506. When I came back it was at 7.5X8. I thought about closing half the position at 1507.5, but I thought I could do better. When it came back up to 1510, I pretty much knew that I had messed up, but I didn't want to do anything about it. So up until that moment it was a good trade, but when I failed to exit at 1510 the trade went bad.

2. I thought about going short at 1509, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was too worried that it would shoot right back up on me.

3. I've been experimenting with that some. So far, I like it. I find that the times I think about exiting a partial are actually instances where I subconsciously realize the trade is about to move against me.

4. I've found that "news" has the uncanny ability to support the current direction of the tape. Obviously there are exceptions, but for the most part it holds true.

5. I wanted to be absolutely sure about Trade 2 before entry. Consequently I entered about 4 points higher than I could have, but at least I had all the confirmation that I needed.

6. Most of the time I end up trading minimally when my bias is in conflict with market activity. Take today for example. I had a long bias that I couldn't shake, and I ended up watching the market go from 1515 to 1490 without doing much of anything. Hopefully that will be something that I will be able to overcome, but in the meantime I think that I possess adequate self preservation skills.
 
Quote from AC3:

I never had the chance to check out the 1st journal cud u tell me when u hve a moment what the first journals basis was (SP NQ etc) and what is the basis for the trades in the present journal... Thanks
More...

I trade the NQ almost exclusively. My trading is discretionary based off of tape reading. Really the only difference between this and the first journal is that this one is posted in realtime. The trades are about the same. However, I am under more pressure lately, and that has negatively impacted my trading. That's why this journal seems to be different.
 
Quote from AFterburner:

SLD 1494 CLOSE 14:42:35

I can't believe how much time I wasted waiting for the market to bottom. Oh well. I had a bullish bias coming into today that I couldn't seem to shake, so at least I didn't do anything foolish trying to go long.
More...

I'm glad I got out of this one when I did. From my exit point, the market ended up going down even further to settle at 1488.5. It's interesting to note that the NDX closed right at last Friday's level. I thought that I would have a better idea of what to expect tomorrow, but really I have no clue. I would assume that it would probably go down at some point during the day, and I would also think that Friday's low of approximately 1480 should be tested. If I had to guess, I'd say that the market would close tomorrow either unchanged or down slightly. I'd like to be done trading by noon tomorrow.
 
Thank U for ur repsonse and was worried a bit when I sw the post of u buying there at the end ...... that close was seriously hard work and hope it didnt hurt
 
I think now would have been the ideal entry for this trade. I really got hurt bad on this one. At 81X81.5 there were approximately 40 contracts offered when I placed my order. At least 30 traded, and I thought for sure mine were next. Consequently, I never exited and now regret it.
 
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