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

A little risk management saves a lot of fan cleaning!

The Purpose of Life is Joy!!

Thursday, August 17, 2017

No Bull Shit Zone

No real trades this week so far. I tried a couple yesterday prior to inventory that scratched out and one after inventory that scratched out. The bull shitters seem to be out in force this week although to be fair, they always are. Maybe I just notice it more now. I've actually been waiting for this price action the last few days but never found a way to be on board without significant risk. Maybe I don't know how to do that but rather than gamble, I'd rather just wait until the risk is both reasonable and readily observable. Neither of these seemed to be the case so this week. On the other hand, today is setting up to perhaps see a nice long break to the upside tomorrow. If the day closes without making a significant move either way, it will close green setting up a decent long signal on the daily chart. I hope to participate in that tomorrow.

On another note, I need to vent just a bit about a non trading thing. My kiddo is 15, she doesn't drive and she is a freshman in high school this year. She also made the cheer team. This means LOTS of work. Two hours a day practice, junior varsity games on Thursday, varsity games on Friday's, fundraisers every month, one or two Saturdays a month choreography and the list goes on....all this is fine, we signed up for that but what we didn't know was the head coach has an 8-5 job and coaches cheer in the evening. This means we pick our kid up at 2:45PM, go home for 90 minutes and then return to the school at 5:30-7:30 5 nights a week except on Thursdays and Friday's where she will probably get home around 10:00 after the games. She is expected to maintain good grades, be involved in other school activities plus whatever family obligations we might have.

The issue is the practice start time. The school just gave the finger to dozens of parents because the coach is a lawyer that won't change her schedule to better accommodate all these parents, many of whom have at least one job and sometimes two. I spoke to the coach and the athletic director and they both essentially gave me the finger. There was no communication about how difficult the schedule was going to be BEFORE we signed the contract to make it to all the practices, games and other events. We knew there would be lots of work but we honestly felt like we got rear ended and then to just be blown off like we were today made me realize how other parents we have know over the years who have been upset with their kid's school feel. I've always blamed the parents for being poor sports or just being assholes about it but now I understand. Its as though the school doesn't give a damn about the parents. They just want the kids on the property for as long as possible. I'm about read to have a coronary over this....and its really not that big a deal. I am more pissed over the attitude than I am over the actual issue. A for profit company would never get away with something like this. There would be blood in street.

All that said, we are leaving the decision to stay or leave the team up to our daughter. It's time for her to begin making bigger decisions that affect her future. We will walk with her through it and guide her through the pros and cons but its gonna end up being her decision. If she decides to stick with it, then there will be a ton of work to maintain grades which come first. We will do all we can to enable her to balance the load and if she decides to focus on school work and quit the team, we will do all we can to ensure her decision isn't regretted later. High school is supposed to be fun and we want to make sure she has her fair share during these next four years. Grades are important for the future (kinda) whereas cheer is not a marketable skill except in the narrowest of situations.

Back to trading.

I have a long trade on right now with minimum size. I am not convinced yet and so I am waiting for a bit more price action in my favor before adding size. So far its just sitting there going on ten minutes. It is showing some signs of heading up but still to soon to know....with the narrow ranges, the targets are fairly small, not sure if the reward is worth the risk in all honesty. This will be my second trade of the day. Both longs. I bought 46.49 early on and only took about 10-15 ticks. Of course its gone much further than that but at the time, that is what I saw as resistance to further upside. But if the day is long and it appears that it will finish that way, then the right choice would have been to hold all day. I didn't have that kind of time so I took what appeared to be the right target. I'm doing the same right now. Smallish target inside yesterday's 50% level. If it gets there that is. I think it will, that would be about the right level for a break out tomorrow.