Trades I know, I know...this journal is very boring (comparing to all the exiting day trading journals). I did enter the following spread: 7 x FCJ5 - FCK5 at 0.67 on 02/28, risk $250, target 3.0. Basis is seasonal and a uptrend channel. The idea was to enter when I see the spread moves up on the close. Well, it did move up on 02/28 but the close was actually below the entry value. Fortunately the spread moved up the next day. I plan to take some profits today 03/02 or tomorrow in front of the meats report on friday (Livestock Slaughter Annual Summary). Open trades: 2 x 50*SK5 - 100*BOK5 at $13,976, risk is $300, basis is seasonal and a 123 low.
Trades Yesterday (03/03) I took profit on my FC spread and got out with 3 contracts at 1.4. I got out in front of the meats report of today. Hyp. profit is $1,095 - commission $150 = $945. Hyp. account is now at $29,997. Open position: 4 x FCJ5 - FCK5 at 0.67 on 02/28, risk $250, target 3.0. Basis is seasonal and a uptrend channel. 2 x 50*SK5 - 100*BOK5 at $13,976, risk is $300, basis is seasonal and a 123 low.
Trades I did exit my 50S K5 - 600BO K5 today at 17,018. Hyp. profit is $6,084 - commission $100 = $5,984. Hyp. account is now at $35,981
hallo Andy, thank u for offering to send some informations about equity spreads. Please, I want some too. I got the book from J.Ross "Spread Trading" since a few days to work it out. best regards from a deep winter in bavaria Manni
Andy I believe this spread is at a loss because you inadvertently assigned $100 to BO on the open of the position and $600 on the exit. Otherwise your postings are educational. Thanks Judge
Hi Andy, I learned spreads from JR, visited him in Texas, met Markus as well. I have a question re your Risk/ Reward: You risk 8% per trade. That is quite high in general. It seems that you manage to make about 15-20% per month, taken the short sample run you have here. That would equal about 2.5R per month, 1 R being your risk per trade (your worst-case stop). Do you have any longer range stats on what your Win/ Loss percentage is? Your expectancy? Your Average win on a trade? What I mean is that your hit rate must be pretty high to risk 8% per trade- otherwise, if you ever hit 5 losers in a row, you are toast. You probably hardly ever get hit the full 1R... Also, would you risk the same amount if you traded 200k? Thanks.
Hi Vienna, you are right about the 8%. The problem is with a small account of 20k you have to be a bit more aggressive. Of course I would reduce it immediately when trading 200k. It is also correct that I hardly get hit with the full 1 R because I also do use I time stop on my trades. To get hit with the full risk is really the worst case. It is always difficult to tell about the % you make every month. As you have seen on the hyp. account, some trades just did shot up and made a fortune regarding the 20k account last month. It's possible that I will get a few month now where I can hardly make any money or where I even lose money. That's the problem with the trading game Over one year I would say it's possible to average around 10% - 15% per month....with the right attitude, risk and money management and discipline! Happy trading, Andy
Trades I did exit my FC spread 4 x FCJ5 - FCK5 at 1.12 yesterday (03/08). Hyp. profit is $900 - commission $200 = $700. Hyp. account is now at $36,681. I did enter a Metals spread: 3 x 50*SIK5 - 100*GCJ5 at -$6,585 on 03/04, risk $800. The spread doesn't want to move up. Will exit today (03/09) if it's not moving up. I did enter a Eurodollar spread: 9 x GEM5 - GEM7 (GE is the elec. market of Eurodollars) at 1.03 on 03/07, risk is $250, target 1.60.