Thus far, today has been constructive as recent heady gains have been consolidating. Joe Baker refers to these as "inside days" since they mostly traded between the BO (breakout) and BD (breakdown) levels. We still have a half-hour to go, however.
FYI - here is the equity curve in my lower-margin account. As you probably know, overnight margin requirements for the EMD, TFS or NQ contracts may be higher than day rates. Thus, I manage this account so that (based on the overnight rate), margin used will never exceed 10k per 25k of equity and is usually much less (worst-case scenario). Meanwhile the market is"behaving". As volume increases towards the close, it is still in support of the positive bias. Translation: we may not "print" 200 on the ES! (just joking)
Hello. Good morning and good trading to all. I will <i>try</i> to make this more entertaining. I never said I was "Mr. Magnetism". A) I've outlined my "longer-term" (vs short-term) view to even want to be in this game (i.e. power of compounding). B) I've detailed my strategy approach and "edge" - both with covered call and e-mini "swing" futures systems. C) I've provided a bit regarding my money management methods and basically my conservative nature regarding this. D) I've provided an equity curve that depicts my 9 month performance. My profile will lead you to my 10 years experience with managing covered calls. E) I've even displayed a bit of my evolution as a pure PA intraday "scalper" (which I tend to avoid like the plague). Now all I expect to achieve is to duplicate expected goals and double my accounts in the next 3-4 months (versus a double in the last 9 months) - provided this market finds it's footing and puts in a solid bottom to begin a new bull rally. Like Charles Barkley's deoderant commercial (a while back): <b>"Anything else. . .would be uncivilized."</b> I would appreciate your comments, encouragement, advise and questions regarding my quest and may just phase out from here with all the postings, since I know most is not much applicable to day-traders and quite boring if not entirely disinteresting. I will soon be looking to expand my horizons and if anyone would like to PM me with a proposal or offer to make a partnership, feel free to respond. Best to all, Pay$ense
This morning will be "interesting", since headline news has pulled futures down to resistance levels. Depending of how things progress (a) my hedge positions will be fine for the drop to the next level (b) I may add a SHORT in ea. account to capitalize (c) It may be expected that the drop will provide an excellent entry for next 1/3 of LONG position. Again, all this is predicated on some or all of the variables I look at - namely the action of leading stocks and price/volume action from the indexes. That being said, the news may already be priced in and buyers (Paulson?) may step in at anytime to support this market and/or passing of the bailout (or any other stimulating newsline) could make for a flurry of buying. Personally, I'd like for the market to break through overhead support of 917 - sooner than later. . .but I am a patient man, lol. Oh and of course. . .all of the buyers and sellers may be exhausted and we may drift. I am thinking that since we have been trading in a range (basing) for a while - with the VIX (volatility index) still quite high. . .we may at some point <b><i>sharply veer in either the up or the down direction</i></b>. "We shall see".
These sure look a lot like Joe Baker's levels, do you have his permission to use them as your own in your journal? Incredible!
<b>Thursday, December 11, 2008</b> 12:30 pm EST <b>Bought (5) YGE Dec 5 (YGELA) call option contracts at $0.90 (ask). Sold 500 shares of YGE (Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd.) at $5.65 (bid).</b> Well I made a call and posted it. Now I'll close it, since with the stock going ITM, I can now realize half the expected gain in just one day. Return: .25/5 or 5%
Those are Joe's levels....but Paysense gave a lot of credit to Joe earlier in the thread, so there's nothing illicit here.
Here is a good one (as long as prevailing market winds are at our back): <b>Thursday, December 11, 2008</b> 1:50 pm EST <b>Bought 200 shares of DRYS (DryShips, Inc.) at $10.05 (ask). Sold (2) DRYS Dec 100 (OOCLB) call option contracts at $1.40 (bid). Stop Loss:</b> $8.65 p$
STO 2EMD @ 511.9 STOP: 513.4 Profit target? (just want to see if this works, better entry and perhaps a nice drop I can enjoy - this time)p$
I know I could have tried to ride this using lower higher & lower lows. . .but like I said - I do not have all the tools most of you have and I can be happy, since much of yesterday's loss has come back to me. I guess I am using the purest of PA - since I just look at a price chart. I get sucked into making the occasional day-trade, but don't they usually end at best about even? I try not to do this <i>too</i> much. BTC 2 (EMD) 508.80 $620 fyi - I wanted to close this with a $799 profit. . .but once it transacted the price changed;( Beside, my thinking is that we may bounce strong off the BD (breakdown) level of 889. pay$