Keep Calm and Don't Move Your Stops.....

A little risk management saves a lot of fan cleaning!

The Purpose of Life is Joy!!

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

.5RR

Well I missed the obvious short this morning due to indecision and watched a perfect 2RR or better trade go by.

Then I sat there and watched price grind around and finally took another short. Ill advised out of boredom I think. I realized my error and just closed it as a scratch. The second short was a bit better...a smaller risk and more going for it but not to much more!!! This was a play for the LOD but in keeping with being conservative in a high risk area, I took off before the LOD.

Net for the day: .5RR. Not great but better than a loss.

Monday, February 27, 2017

+1RR

Slow day, I had one small stop out trying to be long followed by a short that didn't really work like I thought it would but it did give me enough to cover the loss and end at +1RR. Happy enough about that.

Its late in the day already, I didn't sleep much last night and I have a test review and a test to do today as well as a long list of honey do's and last but certainly the scariest, registering my kiddo for high school next year. The time flies so fast. Make good use of it while you can!

Cheers

EDIT: I should add that I grew impatient with the trade and simply closed it out....only on the very next bar, price went to my target almost instantly. Lesson here. Never move the stop. I've been pretty good about this lately but perhaps the lack of sleep, the need to get to the books, etc clouded my judgement. Perhaps a clear lesson in not trading tired.

Friday, February 24, 2017

2RR

Pull backs and consolidation = Money in your pocket. Just be smart and patient.

Had to short the box today....and it took a long time but I like being done before the opening bell.

Yesterday I banged out this weeks math class....it was all about mortgage finance, a subject I might know a few things about!!! Got an A on the quiz of course and with that, I cannot fail this class mathematically speaking! I can't tell you how excited I am about finally finishing this thing. I will take a pic of the final results and post them here once its all done.

Today I have a doctors appointment plus a ton of errands to run and then on to next week's class.

Cheers.

Thursday, February 23, 2017

+2RR

Took a break out...sort of...It mostly just poked its head out of the zone but it was holding vs reversing back to the bottom of the zone like it would if it were a head fake.

One and probably done for the day.



Two weeks until end of class. Actually three but this week was all about interest rates, time value of money, etc. All things I have 20 years of experience in so I got it done in one day. On to next week's work.


Wednesday, February 22, 2017

+2RR

Sold 53.94 on the one minute chart after deciding the 5M was gonna be a bit indecisive. Had room on the 30M for a larger trade perhaps but decided to just let it go at 2RR. Very happy with the trade today.


Tuesday, February 21, 2017

+2RR

Narrow range for a while, stepped down in time frame to find a set up near the bottom of the range. Bought 54.72, Exited at 54.92. No heat and nice steady progression toward the target zone. I thought about holding to 55.00 but just decided to take my 2RR and be done for the day. 55.00 was the high so far but no worries.

Three weeks left to go in this last math class and my college career will be over, so far I'm holding an 80.62%. Unless I completely blow it, there is zero chance I fail so at this point, it looks as though I will be the first person (at 48 years old) to graduate from college in my family!! While I probably don't need it, it can't hurt and I'm really doing it for my daughter to show her the value to determination and perseverance in life. She's cheering me on at this point and giving me a high five every time I get a decent score on a quiz or a test.

Speaking of math class, time to hit the books.


Friday, February 17, 2017

No trades today.

As a trader, its important to know when to trade and when not to. Today was rollover day and rollover can be kinda sideways as volume moves to the new contract. I've always traded rollover day with mixed results. My new commitment to doing what is in my best interest means possibly not trading on days where I know it might be sideways. So I just passed completely. I didn't even open the charts today.

Cheers.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

+2RR

Well that was different.

Yesterday I watched a video about price risk vs information risk and decided to try taking information risk today instead of price risk. It couldn't have worked better. No heat but it did take a LONG time, over an hour and it did come back to my price 53.30 twice before it finally made it to my target 65 minutes after taking the trade.

In hindsight, I was early, while price did come back to the break out level, I should have waited until the level and the MA matched. I have noticed this happens A LOT. In any event, it worked and I'm done for the day.

Today is a big day for me personally. I begin the journey toward employment with a huge national bank with all the benefits one could ask for, I got my lab results yesterday, most everything is normal except my LDL is slightly elevated and my triglyercides are slightly elevated. No surprise there, my eating habits haven't been very good last few weeks even though I've lost weight. The weight loss is due primarily to not eating much sugar and cutting my portion sizes way down. My wife and I have been splitting meals instead of a huge plate each, we take one plate and split it in two. Seems to be working well so far.

My daily exercise is continuing which I now enjoy instead of dread. Looking forward to stepping this up over the next few weeks.

Baby girl is out of school early every day this week due to parent teacher conferences, (she's straight A's except for one class) so my dad duties start early every day this week.

Cheers.

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

+2RR Lucky today, +2RR....

Sometimes its better to be lucky than good. Today is one of those days. A truly crappy day for trading for sure.

I bought 52.97 with a ten tick stop, Price went my way for a couple of bars and then reversed against me and went 9 ticks into my stop before turning around and going straight to my target. I was in the shower while that was going on otherwise I'd have probably closed it out for a loser.

I have to say this, the less I manage my trades, the better they seem to work out. I guess its true, the best management is no management.

Cheers....

EDIT

Waited until after inventory, typical stop running on both sides of the market and then a pretty decent set up, bought 53.09, exit at 53.29. I'm normally long gone by now but today I had a few minutes and decided to watch the action. Glad I did.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

No trades today

I had an appointment to get blood drawn first thing this morning which meant I had to fast and I don't do fasting well so I decided not to trade on an empty stomach. Just as well, not much happening today so far.


Monday, February 13, 2017

+2.7RR

Long wait today but we do get paid to wait after all.

Sold 53.40, exit at 53.17.

I feel like crap today, not sure what's going on. Perhaps allergies. The wind has been blowing for two days now and that always puts me down. I have school work that must be done today and I'm dreading it because I feel so crappy.

Here's to grinding it out the remainder of the day....sheesh, I just want to go back to bed!


Friday, February 10, 2017

No trades today

Sharp spike overnight followed by hours of sideways compression and then more driving upwards as the US cash session opened....with no place to get on safely. So just let it go and watched a travel video on Youtube.

Headed to San Diego tonight and spend a nice day tomorrow in my favorite city in the world.

Cheers.

Thursday, February 9, 2017

+2RR

Not the best price action this morning for finding a good trade and I took a trade with very low risk but not ideal set up. As it turned out, it was an easy peasy trade. I had to lean pretty hard on the 30M chart to get a read about what I should be thinking. Even then, I wasn't convinced 100% since the continuation trade on the 30M wasn't the best looking one I've ever seen. So I took a chance on the 5M chart but leaning on the 30M for my direction.

I bought 52.83 and exited at 53.03 at the double top area on the 5M. In all honesty, I'm not sure I'll take a similar trade any time soon. There was lots of hesitation on my part prior to making the 30M the main decision making chart today. I think my desire to make a trade and "keep the streak going" was the primary driver for the trade and not any real overriding logic surrounding the trade. In hindsight, the trade was near perfect but in real time, not so much. I may take a day off tomorrow and let my mind stew on this for a bit. Its the first time in a month I've taken a trade without 100% solid rule driven reasons. This one had an ego and emotional component and I don't want to slip down that slippery slope.

Cheers....

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

+2RR

Price at a possible turning point this morning plus inventory day. I got an early signal with low risk, but going straight into resistance which wasn't that far away, so I decided to take the trade off right at the double top location which was less than the normal number of ticks I set my targets at but it was a 2RR location. Profit target filled and reversed straight away.

Glad to be done early.

I have a long day of math ahead of me. I am carrying a 79% so far which sounds like crap but is about 15 points higher than I have ever managed before. After this week, I'll be half way through the class and 4 weeks away from the degree I've been chasing since I was 19. I'll be SOOOOOO happy when its over. I can't wait.

Cheers.

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

+2.23RR

I overslept this morning. Seems like a trend is developing on that front. The last few weeks my sleeping patterns have been slowing changing and I think its due to me not being sleepy any longer at my normal 9PM bed time. It's very strange, for the last 3-4 years, if I'm not in bed at 9, I've gotten physically nauseous and virtually useless. Now I almost feel like a teenager again with more energy at 9PM than I do at 3PM. Its a bit disconcerting. But this week I am working on being in bed at 9 and just try to regain that rhythm I seem to have lost.

So in oversleeping, I missed the first short opportunity but I got another shot at it a bit later on. I sold 52.65 and added to it at 52.57 a couple of bars later.

Covered the whole thing at 2RR on the first position for a total RR of 2.23. This effectively doubled my daily goal today which I like very much.

I thought after looking at the daily this morning price might make it to 52.21 as I think there are buyers at that level. Currently price is in that area and it does look like some buyers have come in but to early to tell if it will be the turning point or not.

Overall, a good morning with good patience and good execution. I'd say a very successful day!

Time to hit the books.

Cheers.

Monday, February 6, 2017

+2.5RR

Today was slow, I anticipated being long but the 54.00 level was holding overnight as well as on Friday. So I began thinking about a short but didn't really see anything until my day was about over.

I had a chance to short 53.88 early on but I wasn't convinced and it was the break down below the structure which can sometimes now work so well. I figured I'd get another shot at it on the pull back but it took a LONG time to pull back and by then, I wasn't convinced it was short any longer. But it finally did pull back to almost 53.88 but I didn't get filled .

Finally I shorted 53.73, held it for a bit and then added to it at 51.71 and moved my stop to .125% on the combined position.

Price went to 2.5RR on the risk after the add so I was happy about that. The add on experienced no draw down at all and that is always a good thing.

Once again, I've left money on the table. But once again, one has to be satisfied IF one chooses to trade with fixed targets. And for now, this works for me.

I am taking a day off from school and all other forms of "work". I was busy all weekend and I'm tired and mentally worn down for some reason. So rather than force it, I am taking a free day. I have a couple of errands to do but nothing that requires mental fortitude.

Cheers.


Friday, February 3, 2017

-1RR

Not a great day for my style of trading. One opportunity during my allotted hours, one stop out and then nothing.

No worries though, its the price of playing the game. I'm up for the week and that's really the only metric that matters. Did I make money this week? If the answer is yes, it was a good week! If not, then there's always next week.

Time to hit the books....

Cheers.

Thursday, February 2, 2017

+2RR

When you are wrong, you're wrong.

I went to bed last night thinking I would be trading long today. Not so young grasshopper. Indeed it was long all night without me but this morning I had no long signals at all, only shorts which of course are counter trend on the larger time frames but no matter, they still valid trades on the shorter time frame.

I had to wait a long time. I was starting to think I wouldn't get a trade today and indeed, I almost gave up and packed it in. But fortune smiled on me twice. The first time was a short that I missed because I was taking my daughter to school, that one was a loser for sure and then the second time was nearly an hour and a half after I opened the charts. It went to target almost immediately which is always a nice feeling. It would have been a 1RR day had that first trade been taken. Even then I would have been happy with the result.

Skill is nice but luck sometimes also plays a role, perhaps a larger one than we know. Some say we are blind to the role of luck in our everyday lives that we attribute to skill. Perhaps so but if true, I'm grateful for the small amount of luck I experienced today!

Cheers...

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

+2RR

Inventory day.....not my best day for sure and I am not a fan of waking up to the end of a nice move but it seems like it happens quite a lot. Therefore, I've had to adapt to waiting until something different happens or taking what is essentially a trend continuation trade. This is fine if its the first pull back after the new trend gets started but once its had a pull back or two, I start getting less optimistic about the prospects of taking that third pull back on intermediate time frames like the 5M.

However, after looking at the 30M and Daily, I felt there was room for one last leg up so I took the trend continuation trade. It took forever to work out but it did. I bought 53.17 and exited at 53.38 for a 2RR trade. Only 20 ticks but who cares. Grinding out 2 and 3RR trades out every day and adding size works magic in your account!!

Being done early on inventory day is pretty much the only way I think I should be trading it. History has proven my inventory trades are not profitable so its just better to hit the single early on and be done.

54.05 looks like the break out level for later today or perhaps tomorrow if it doesn't get it done today. If we close near there today, I might look for a runner tomorrow if the potential break out looks strong. If 53.55 (yesterday's high) holds and gets rejected, we might be looking at a down day tomorrow. Doesn't look like a lot of volume is there and somewhere the shorts might be willing to defend. However, all this macro stuff isn't necessary for my overall trading strategy, its just nice to indulge in once in a while. The 30M for context and Daily for overall trend is about all I use these higher times for.

Cheers.