James Brick and Mortar Discretionary Trades

Discussion in 'Journals' started by JamesJ, Feb 19, 2012.

  1. JamesJ

    JamesJ

    Alright, after some considerations i start a journal posting my discretionary trades in real-time (or near real-time).

    I won't tell much about me to begin with...

    Account is around 500k $, trading through IB.

    I trade a lot of different stuff, and i will post all futures, currency and Stock trades in here from now on.

    Starting balance: 500k USD
     
  2. JamesJ

    JamesJ

    Trade Open SPI (Australian Stock Index Future) on SNFE

    Position: Plenty of Shorts

    Reason for Trade: Looking for lower prices soon, as first reaction after weekend seems too big (considering jump in currencies - other markets closed due to us holidays... japan will open in 45 minuts) - a lot of stops got hit.

    Total Short: 40 Futures SPI@SNFE (25 AU$ / point -> 1'000 AU$ total / point)

    Avg Price: 4223.60

    Scaled in from mid 4210-20.

    Current Price: 4226.

    Looking to Scale out at lower levels

    Stop - time/price depending - not yet established
     
  3. JamesJ

    JamesJ

    Short EUR/USD.

    Reason for Trade: Overreaction and Stop driven up-move on low US-holiday volume

    Position: -900k @ 1.3234. (9'000 per 0.01)

    Current Price: 1.3236

    Target: Looking for <1.32

    Stop: time/price dependant, probably in the 1.329 region
     
  4. JamesJ

    JamesJ

    >>Position Update<<

    Added another 600K, to the EUR/USD short @ 1.3225.
    Pos now: 1.5M short @ 1.32316

    Current Price: 1.3225
     
  5. JamesJ

    JamesJ

    To add a bit mor insight in those trading decisions:

    I was expecting the market to pop up somewhat due to the week-end news.

    They were all pretty good at first sight:

    - China central Bank lowering reserve ratio requirement
    - No greek default


    But then again at a second look and considering the market run-up, they seem more like neutral or even slightly negative...

    - China must have good reasons to do so (btw. the second time within a month), considering the inflationary pressure... Black clouds down the road?

    - No news on greece, well... more or less neutral... no default but also still no solution, and no surprise there are no news, at EU ministers meet on Monday.
     
  6. JamesJ

    JamesJ

    >>Position Update<<

    I took some SPI off the table (8 / 40), as EUR/USD seems to be holding steady to it's gains for now...

    Position Update: 32 SPI, bought back 8 (4220,21,2@22,2@23,2@24) - Stop on the rest -> 4245-50ish

    (PnL will be updated, as soon as whole position is closed).
     
  7. JamesJ

    JamesJ

    >>Position Update<<

    EUR/USD: Closed out 200k @ 1.3213.
    Entered a Scale Order for the remaininng 1.8M with 50k at each 0.0002 Price Step.
    1.3211 - 1.3141

    Looking for a consolidation, now as japan markets just openned
     
  8. JamesJ

    JamesJ

    >> Position Update <<

    SPI: Took some more off at 4221-22ish, as market still steady, and some upside risk with chinese/hong kong markets soon openning.
    EUR/USD: Part of Scale Order got hit

    Remaining Position:
    SPI@SNFE: 20 Short
    EURUSD: -1.65M
     
  9. JamesJ

    JamesJ

    >> Close <<

    After closing some more SPI at sub 4220 and some scalping in the past 2 hours there (closing some <4220 and reentry around 4225: started doing this after it moved back and forth for a while. actually traded 118 on each side to end, never exceeding a position size of 40 - actually after the post above never more than 20), i closed the remainder of the position at the entry. Made a decent profit, however scenario didn't play out as expected, with the market moving into sidewards trading, rather than a pullback on the big gap up. Finally closed the whole position, as often enough on US holidays and no initial pullback, we'll see some more buying towards days end.



    EUR/USD also just closed, only chopiness there now... (here the scalp like short trading took some of the position profit)


    Profit/Loss including Commission:

    SPI: 5655.56 AU$ = +6098 US$ (with a max risk of almost 30k USD)
    EUR/USD: +276 US$

    [​IMG]

    __________

    New Balance: 506'374 (+6'374)



    Open Positions: None

    This won't be a typical day, as i took a pretty big position due to higher than average conviction of my scenario.
     
  10. JamesJ

    JamesJ

    >> Trade Open <<

    Bought some FDAX at 690x levels after first pull back after open, as asian markets were pretty strong into close, and looking for some stop rally on official underlying market open in 25 min.

    Took some off already, now 2 long left with entry 6906, and a small profit of the already closed part.

    Target: >6915
    Stop: 6890.5 after official market open, in premarket time and newsflow dependant
     
    #10     Feb 20, 2012