Having seen the days high (1387.8)arrive exactly at 11am which i had calculated as a cycle turn last night, i fell asleep! When i woke up we had just bounced from the low at 1372.2. A big missed opportunity.Within a few minutes i had placed 2 long trades at 1374.6 1pm-3pm and 1pm-3.50pm.The first trade has won closing at 1376.9.I also have 2 longs into todays close (1 at 1371 and 1 at 1387) and another long at 1371 into thursdays close.the 2 at 1371 are for double the usual stake(£10)
The result today was 1 loss 3 wins so the account is now £15 up with an outstanding long into thursdays close at 1371.
Two winning trades today 10.30 to 12.30 long and my 1371 long into the close brings the account to £30 up-the best it's been so far.With my style of trading there was no point in making any more trades today as most of the move came early on and there was no way i was going short at any point.In the past i might have overtraded and given some back to the market.Maybe keeping this journal is helping with my patience and discipline issues,that and some improvements in my strategy. It occurred to me today that i never mentioned what the opening balance of this account is.I started with £100 figuring that the less money i had the less chance i would overtrade and if i blow out it will be for peanuts but money well spent on the learning curve.So i am up 30% at the moment,but of course anything can happen from this point on. It looks like we have a double bottom support around 1388 this afternoon with higher highs all week,so maybe we will get near 1410 at sometime tomorrow.But certainly,the path of least resistance is long.
It always amuses me how the media sock puppets react to a one day rally.'Is the worst behind us now'? 'is all the bad news priced in'? 'are stocks looking cheap'? You know,if they didn't base their comments on these kind of dumb questions,it's difficult to see what their careers would consist of since they seem to know zero about markets.I well remember when the market was making record highs how an endless procession of experts proclaimed that you should buy because we would be going higher and that stocks were still cheap.Naturally,the market immediately dropped never to return to that level.We are getting near 1410 which would be a 50% retracement from the bear market low.If we get a dip to 1383 today i would buy but i would be more interested in selling 1410 into next week as i calculate a cycle turn due at tonights close
Since the early dip in trading was 1.2points above the pivot and price seems to want to stay above the previous close,i am long 10.30am to 12.30.The price was 1391.0
Having lost the first trade i am now long from 2.20pm to 3.50pm at 1389.9 and also long from 2.30pm to 3.30pm at 1390.6-betting that the previous close becomes support.
3 trades today 1 loss 2 wins brings the account to +£35. There was a markup bar around 2pm that went straight through the previous close which said to me that we would almost certainly close higher today,and that's what convinced me to put on the last 2 trades. I have calculated that there is a cycle turn at the close tonight but i am not going on the short side of the market until i see 1410 become resistance.
I am long from 10.00am to 12.30.The price was 1396.8 I calculated that an intraday turn was due at that time.If i am correct then 1394.4 in early trading should be the intraday low.If i am wrong then 1400 around 10.20am may be the intraday high
Another win today brings the account to +£40.The exit price at 12.30 was 1401.2. Since 1400 was likely to be resistance all day i decided to stay out of the inevitable chop,though i'm sure it was a good day for those of you who prefer to scalp.I am now neutral in outlook until the battle at 1400 is decided.Though i calculated last week that the market was due to turn around fridays close added to the fact that we have not managed a close above 1400,i cannot rule out a breakout above there this week.The most important thing for me personally is that i am finding it easier to stay out and enjoying trading again compared to the stress i was enduring with spreadbetting.At this moment in time that is being reflected in my trading results.I would recommend fixed odds as a good way of gaining market experience with very little risk.