Awash's Journal

Awash, not to take away from your trading, but I think you could have done much better today. We had really good range on ES and you're at +2 for the day, which is not bad at all, but on a day like today, I think 5-6 ES pts was easily do-able. I know you're good at this (better than myself for sure), and that's why I think you should've banked more points

-Fast

 

Just a minute. 2 points average a day with 10 contracts would
not be a bad way to go...

 

My comment was on today's trading; and you're right 2 pt average on larger size would not be bad, but how do you get that 2 pt average? By banking more than 2pts on the good days to make up for the -2 or -3 pt days.

-Fast

 

Sharkbait,

The NASDAQ Adv/Dec Ratio is just the # of Advancing issues divided by the # of declining issues. It represents the first part of the formula for TRIN.

Personally, I prefer not to use TRIN but I know a lot of traders that find it helpful. Before I knew anything about market breadth indices, I would hear reporters on television say things like "advancers are out wieghting decliners 2 to 1." That number they're reporting is nothing but the ratio of advancers to decliners. Leslie Larouche on CNBC mentions it daily.

Consequently, when it came down to relying on some indices to gauge market breadth, I quickly gravitated toward the NASDAQ Adv/Dec ratio. It's very helpful and I prefer it over TRIN. Maybe later I'll post a chart. If you need more specific information about it just let me know.

 

I didn’t place the best trades throughout the session today, nor did I manage them properly!

Trade#1 – [Short 1067.25 10:16 EST & Cover 1068.25 10:19 EST] [ P/L: - 1 ] After waiting a while I decided to play in the chop and paid the price for it.

Trade#2 – [Short 1068.75 11:21 EST & Cover 1068.25 11:40 EST] [ P/L: + .50 ] Entered trade off resistance level and prior highs but decided to exit because of no downside follow through.

Trade#3 – [Short 1069.50 12:35 EST & Cover 1069.25 13:13 EST] [ P/L: + .25 ] Entered off divergence signal on 3-min coupled with a double top pattern. I failed to manage this trade properly and I had a profit target of 3 points because I was thinking price wasn’t going to move back to the 1070 (major resistance in that area all afternoon). I easily could have made +1.50 points on this trade!

Trade#4 – [Short 1067 14:03 EST & Cover 1066.75 14:13 EST] [ P/L: + .25 ] Super duper late entry! I was late by 2 points again entering on this trade. The market pushed down too fast and I couldn’t get my order at the price I wanted (in fast moving markets it’s best to use market orders). I finally got filled at 1067 and decided to cover after seeing bullish divergence signals form. This is my second day in a row chasing price over 2 points from where I wanted to enter. In the future I’m going to get burned bad.

Trade#5 – [Long 1067.00 14:16 EST & Stopped 1066 14:25 EST] [ P/L: - 1 ] This trade was worth the risk at the time but I failed to manage it correctly and got stopped out.

Stopped trading at 14:25!

 

Awash, I'll try to catch you in the room later this evening.

-Fast

 

looks like u spinnin your wheels with these gutfeel approach. but time will show.

 

Traderkay,

What do you mean? Comment on any trade from today!!!!!!!!! I don't understand why you wrote "gutfeel approach." Please let me know!!!!!

 

Another way to think about late entries: statistically.

For a single trade, a late entry might sometimes not seem
like a bad thing. But look at all of your trades as a whole:
number of trades, divided by number of points captured.
Each type of trading is different; but let's say the quotient is 1-2 points. This means if you are one point late, you have already lost, statistically speaking. (On the other hand, a quarter point late would not be such a big deal.)

Already lost "statistically speaking" means while you may profit from the trade, giving up 1 point on a method that give you 1-2 points per trade, in the long run, kills you. But a 1/4 point of tardiness would just decrease the profits a little.

So I guess we should all know how late we can enter for the ones we happen to miss (hopefully for potty breaks etc., and not fear, another problem entirely).

 

This morning I had a lot of personal distractions that resulted in me not making the most of my trades and it continued into the afternoon session. I’m not too happy with the way things turned out but tomorrow I’ll focus on continuing to eliminate my errors.

Trade#1 – [Short 1070.00 10:03 EST & Stop 1069.75 10:52 EST] [ P/L: + .25 ] Went short off divergence signal after economic report released. Price quickly moved in my favor and I reset my stop to 1069.75. Do to some unforeseen circumstances and personal distractions I had to leave my computer. My stop was tagged an hour later after price dropped to a low of 1066.50.

Had to stop trading for 3 hours due to personal interruptions!!!

Trade#2 – [Short 1072 13:20 EST & Cover 1071.75 13:35 EST] [ P/L: + .25 ] Took divergence signal off three minute chart but I was a bit late by 2 ticks. Decided to cover after price failed to break 1071.50 support. This trade wasn’t going to follow through.

Trade#3 – [Short 1073.25 14:00 EST & Cover 1072.75 14:25 EST] [ P/L: + .50 ] Price failed to get back above the high of the day and that signaled to me another possible change in trend. I entered with good timing on this trade but had no patience! Patience is virtue in this business.

Stopped trading at 15:00 EST! If it isn’t one thing it’s another with my trading. Only time will tell.