taking profits here in nasdaq longs. closing longs. FLAT dow, nasdaq. the intraday technical picture is very very weak at this time in the nasdaq--decision made to close longs.
i am often asked, "do you systematically exit the index trades like you enter or is it a more discretionary approach?" well, yesterday was a prime example of our "systematic discretionary" approach to closing trades. let me explain, when a trade is first entered and it is entered in the direction of the longer term trend, the stops are wider---- if it is against the longer term trend the stops are VERY VERY close. once there is a profit, i utilize technical analysis to determine when to exit, like yesterday. the nasdaq was just screaming that it topped out---causing me to immediately take profits not a minute too soon. hope this basic explanation sheds some light on this often asked and important point.
we are currently flat the indexes and will be trading the "olde" neogann channels in the indexes today. thanks everyone for your vote on the "journal" thread in chit chat.
yesterday we were stopped out of our dow longs via trailing stops locking in a small profit. the nasdaq was just rejected downward from our upper channel figure of 1323--- stopped a fraction below and dropped. still flat.
market (nasdaq) has been quite volatile around the upper channel figure of 1323 compx. in and out several times today--broke even thus far. currently LONG the nasdaq into thursday morning.