Levels for today: ES UVA=1269.25 POC=1268.00 LVA=1267.00 YM UVA=10820 POC=10815 LVA=10805 ER2 UVA=728.60 POC=725.80 LVA-724.60 The VA's are so narrow that I can't believe we're going spend much time in them today. Charts for you xxxskier: I'm looking at charts and trying to figure out how to play the open. I'll be back with some sort of plan. bolter
I'm going to stick with the ES for the opening play today because I believe the test of 1264 was so important yesterday that we have have a clear battleline, and we are looking to be open just a chip shot away @ 1266. I've got a feeling we might have some weak buying at the open. I'll be looking to short around the LVA @ 1267 with a stop above the POC. In the event we head lower at the open I will do nothing but wait to see what happens @ 1264. Any strength at this level and I'll be looking for a bounce to LVA, we're I'll be looking to get short. The big play today will be if get below 1264. See what goes across the tape if we get below. If it brings in serious selling look to short on upticks and hang on because there is a chasm down to 1250. Be patient today and don't get married to long positions unless you see serious buying interest coming in. bolter
Very nice! A short @ 1267 would have been great altho I thought UVA was close enough to use as the protective stop. Hope to see that "chasm" filled soon.
bolter, thanks for the charts and the link. Done for the day. Got 5 points out of one roundtrip trade today, shorted at 1263.5, exit at 1258.5. It wasn't a very graceful entry, should of entered closer to 1266 or 1267. i was so tempted to get back in, but i put the mouse down and walked away from the puter......MP and discipline is the only way for me...
Hey thanks guys - what can I say? I must admit that was a pretty good call. We opened farily weak, bounced right off 1264 which bought some immediate buying interest. As expected we rallied back the LVA, in fact we pushed up to the POC which made for an even better short entry, with a stop above the POC. Then we headed back down to retest 1264 - and blew right through! Apart from the test of the shorts resolve back to 1265 we pretty much ground lower all day. This was a 10+ point day for patient traders. When you're trading plan for the day is playing out exactly as expected you really need to press your advantage and swing for the fences. Incidentally, that move back to 1265 may have looked convincing - I'm sure lots of shorts got shaken out. But I had my stop in place and remained committed to the plan. A break of a key level is often followed immediately by a half-assed restest. Additonally, I'm using an eSignal study (BidAskAnalysis.efs) to help assess pressure on the Bid vs Ask - see chart below. This confirmed how feeble the rally was. I recommend eSignal users download in from Central and experiement with it. It could almost replace T&S window. Incidentally, if you're wondering where I took profits todays? When the CCI(20) hit oversold (-200) and the TICK (nearly) hit -1000 3 bars in a row. Later!
hi bolter, I chanced upon this very insightful thread of yours on MP this AM and read it through, oblivious of the rest of the trading day. I just got one meager point on the short side during the first hour, but I am still learning to trade nervously with real money, so no complaint. I have also been observing, and trading lightly, the ES market, within the framework of MP and MA's and seem to have gained some clues on how the ES market moves. I also just use Tradestation's Matrix to get a crude picture of where the bulk of the trades occur and get a sense where VA is and then see how the ES market behaves the next day as it approaches that area. I have two questions for you. If you could kindly answer them when you have time, I would appreciate very much. 1), you track YM and ES both, but when you trade YM, do you cross reference ES's MP or base the trade solely on YM's? Most of the time, these two corrolate well, but as YM is very narrowed based, they move at different pace, if not diverge, sometimes (such as on the day when BA reported better earnings). So far, I have been focusing on ES and often use ES's MP to daytrade stocks. Obviously this question comes from the common belief that ES is where "smart" money is and IS the leading indicator. 2), Do you trade regular session only or also enter trades pre-open based on MP scenario? Sometimes eco news release provides an undertone for the rest of the trading day and offers good opportunity. Eg. last Friday, ES fell right thru previous day's VA (what I observed around 1273.25-74.25) after an initial knee-jerk spike on payroll number, and the regular session opened, ES just retraced and turned downward at the same area again. One could trade the rebound after the open, but it will be counter trend until later in the day. I need to develop a good habit of planning the trades. Thanks very much in advance. Opra