May be this group of traders may be same group who - did big shorts at 104 level today ( in touch with security situation on the ground ) - week ago pulled to 107 , shorted those high levels at early hours then spread gaddafi shot later in the day and covered at 102 levels
No CL trades today Donna, your detailed style was the one and only factor that allowed you to catch that runup where you did. Another story to tell your grandchildren. I can see where you actually had a good tactic there, worst case would have been a failure to take out the rather ugly previous false breakout up there around 101.80 ish. The news pop handled the rest of the story. Only you would have the detailed steeled nerves to look for such an entry so early with such a minor but solid tactic. I have said in the past that you indeed have a unique "early-bird" brain. I myself credit your rock solid STOP management as the means to do as you proved today. Mere mortals are not ready to trade like you do. Later Gators
Lately, I've been testing the waters with some anticipatory entries. For example, earlier when I wanted to short @ 103.30, that would've been an anticipatory entry, anticipating that previous S would hold as R, since we were in a strong down trend. I prefer to do the anticipatory trades in ranges, though, because there's low volume and less volatility to shake you out, which is why I waited for some confirmation to put on that trade. My long @ 101.54 was the result of noting a very gradual up channel on the 1-min chart. Price was working its way up to test that previous S becomes R level around .76 and I wanted to position myself long in case it tested and broke out. I was nervous placing an anticipatory limit to buy @ 101.47 (a 1-tick break of the 12:31 and 12:35pm ET 1-min bar lows), but once price closed above the 1-min 20-EMA and left the little shooting star, I decided to place the anticipatory order @ 101.54, just about at the 20 EMA itself. That worked perfectly to get me in for the test of .76 level. On the last trade, had I not taken a break, I would've been casting my fishing line in that range, most likely long @ .75, scratch on failure to break .89, then short @ .73, looking for a break of .67, and so on. When I got back to my desk price already had broken .67, found support @ .50, bounced to .64 and was in the .40's. I wanted to try an anticipatory long @ .35 with a double stop to reverse and short @ .32, but I hesitated because price action seemed bearish, so I simply placed a sell stop @ .32. Then when price found buyers at that level and broke back up through .50, I added the buy stop @ .65, because that is my highest probability trade setup. I think the slippage was due to adding the buy stop just prior to the actual breakout instead of having it placed sooner. Once triggered I expected at the very least a break through .89 and a test of 102.12. There was a little moment of wiggle between those levels and I was about to move my stop to lock in 20 ticks, and suddenly it took off and sliced through 102.37 like butter and I realized the next level in play was 103.31 but that seemed crazy, and then it didn't seem crazy at all because price just went on a tear and I was glancing at my R levels that I'd noted very early in pre-market, the levels I thought price would never look at again - 103.29, 103.86, and 104.20 - and I was simply throwing in new stops and deleting the old ones that were left in the dust as the levels broke. There was no plan at all, just a feeling of "any minute now my alarm will go off and wake me". :eek: ADD: The major factor that allows me catch these moves is that for quite a while now I've been trying to trade every valid setup that I'm present for. That's the trader's mindset. You take every setup and if they fail, it doesn't matter because you're that much closer to the Big One.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/03/10/libya.civil.war/index.html - The French government recognized the newly created Libyan opposition movement as the sole representative of the country, - the British foreign secretary spoke to an opposition representative over the phone. - In the United States, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced plans to meet with opposition leaders next week. She said the United States was suspending relationships with the Libyan Embassy in Washington, and an administration official added the embassy "must shut down." ---- The Council of the European Union Thursday announced it will extend restrictions against Libyan entities. "The funds and economic resources of the five designated entities will be frozen and an additional name will be added to the list of 26 individuals deemed responsible for the violent crackdown on the civilian population since 15 February and subject to an assets freeze," the EU said in a statement. Saying NATO is "united," "vigilant," and "ready to act," Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the group's secretary-general, said the body has begun around-the-clock airborne surveillance of Libya's airspace. Rasmussen said that AWACS aircraft, sophisticated airplanes with the ability to detect aircraft and act as command and control centers, have been deployed. However, their presence doesn't mean that NATO is deciding to stage operations now. He said they are monitoring what the Gadhafi regime is doing to its people and that NATO will stand ready to help if there is a clear need and support. "Time is of the essence," he said, adding that the crisis requires "close international coordination" between organizations such as NATO, the United Nations, the European Union, the African Union, and the Arab League.
No, I moved back to LA after graduating, worked for 15 months in accounting, moved to Austin for 9 months, now I'm back in LA waiting to get my passport so I can go to Europe for grad school. Yeah I'm all over the place.
To be honest when we see a move like this I personally don't think it has much to do with levels of resistance. My own take. I think these kind of moves blow through all of that. In retrospect my mistake was in not moving up my stop to maybe 15 ticks below where I exited and give it a chance to run. But hey, it happened all so quickly it caught me flat footed. I was distracted for a few seconds and when I looked back at the screen I was up over $600 and it was starting to pullback. As I mentioned, I thought it was a head fake failed breakout in progress and would retreat back down as it had done several times before that. And it is so volatile now it can drop 40 ticks in less than a minute too. Those are the thoughts that entered my mind. So just on instinct I took the profit. It just happened all so fast and I had no idea, as none of us did, what was up. And then it went up maybe 30-40 ticks and stalled a bit and I knew I left a little on the table and came here to see what was up and post what had happened. I'm not sure I would have reentered as it was so volatile and could have just as easily dropped straight back down. I try to avoid trying to trade that type of volatility. It's like trying to trade some economic announcement. It's great when you're on the right side of those movements. But if you're not, better have a hard stop in place as the price ladder can become just a blur. My 2 cents. ADD Getting ready to watch the Lakers/Heat game on TNT. Should be very good. I think, as Kobe said, Miami will be looking at this game as a chance to right their ship as they've lost 5 games in a row. Lakers are playing great. Since the All-Star break they've really been focused.